More Blu-ray title release info
By Erik Hanson 
posted October 4th 2006 3:38PM
posted October 4th 2006 3:38PM
More news from the Blu-ray studios about the release dates and titles for more movies on that "other" high-definition format, with Sony announcing details about the Blu-ray edition of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and Paramount revealing the dates for The Manchurian Candidate (2004) and We Were Soldiers. Not much detail about the latter two except for their street date of January 23, 2007, although we expect them to have similar extras to the other Paramount releases, which has only these two titles unreleased in their catalog of movies released for both Blu-ray and HD DVD.Talladega Nights, on the other hand, will be a day-and-date release with the standard-def DVD and UMD formats, and will be in 2.40:1 widescreen and with a PCM 5.1 soundtrack. There will be an extra 13 minutes in the unrated edition for DVD and Blu-ray, with some additional commercials, commentary, and interviews with the cast. Those fans of
All in all, good news for next-gen fans, as the studios continue to release titles for both formats, and the spread between title counts continues to... erm, stay about the same. As always, check out the Google Calendars for continuing updates on releases and titles:
Blu-ray Release Calendar
HD DVD Release Calendar
I know they're just the current new releases, but why do I want a 1080p copy of Talledega Nights? If I bought a 1080p TV and a Blu-ray or HD-DVD player I want to be visually wowed. I enjoyed Talledega Nights, but it has all the visual flair of a sidewalk.
"but why do I want a 1080p copy of Talledega Nights?"
Jason, apparently, Sony's target market is people who embrace high def, regardless of the content's visual flair (arguably subjective). However, I guarantee you, if (theoretically) you were given the choice of watching ANYTHING in 480p or 1080p, you would choose the high def. This is where average movies stand to gain with high def formats: viewers may pay attention to the increased quality of the audio and video just long enough not to notice (or care) that the movie was just average fare. Hell, Lifetime would probably look great in HD.
Obviously I'd rather watch anything in 1080p rather than 480p, but that doesn't change the fact that completely unimpressive movies are coming out in the new HD formats. It also doesn't mean that I'll appreciate Talledaga Nights more, just because it has a higher resolution - it's not a very visual movie.
Give me Ben Hur in 1080p, give me something worth buying a high definition disc player and 1080p TV. I want to watch a visual spectacle, I want to sit on my couch and say "Oh my God" while watching a film. 1080p equipment is enormously expensive, it should justify its existence with movies worth seeing in 1080p.