Sony Pictures first three 50GB titles officially announced

Sony Pictures has made it official, they will be the first studio to release a movie on dual-layer 50GB Blu-ray disc, as Click hits shelves October 10th, followed by Black Hawk Down on November 14th, and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby hits December 12th. As we mentioned yesterday, all will include HD special features; for Click the extras are the same as the standard DVD, but in HD. Black Hawk Down includes Blu-wizard, described as a "unique playlist technology which lets consumers customize the way they watch special features". That doesn't sound quite as interesting as the BD-J powered experience we were hoping for, can it match with Fast and the Furious 3's U-control? HD DVD has been well received by reviewers while Blu-ray has struggled at times, some of which was attributed to the lack of 50GB discs. Whether you believe the PS3 is crucial to the success of Blu-ray or not, Sony is providing the biggest push for the format on many levels, next week we'll start to see whether if it pays off. Continue on for a list of the special features on each disc. Click:

• Audio Commentary with Adam Sandler, Director Frank Coraci, Executive Producer Tim Herlihy and Writer Steve Koren
• Four Deleted Scenes
• "Habeeboo Can Do It"
• "Loser Guy Returns"
• "Fatty Sandwich"
• "Sp-Sp-Spit It Out"
• Seven Featurettes
• "Make Me Old and Fat"
• "FX of Click"
• "Design My Universe"
• "Cars of the Future"
• "Humping Dogs"
• "Director's Take"
• "Fine Cooking"

Black Hawk Down:

Special features consumers may customize on the Black Hawk Down Blu-ray
Disc include:

• Audio Commentary with Author Mark Bowden, Screenwriter Ken Nolan, Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Director Ridley Scott and U.S. Special Forces Veterans '93
• "The Essence of Combat - Making Black Hawk Down" Featurettes
• "Getting It Right"
• "Crash Course"
• "Battlefield Morocco"
• "Hymn to the Fallen"
• "Digital Warriors"
• "After Action Report"

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby:

• Audio commentary with Director Adam McKay and Friends (Ian Roberts, Chris Henchy)
• Nine Deleted & Extended Scenes
• "Going for the Win"
• "I'm Hot"
• "Little Sticker on Windshield"
• "Ricky in Hospital"
• "Gas Money"
• "Jenga Scene (Extended)"
• "What'd You Do Today?"
• "Cal Calls Ricky (TV Room version 1)"
• "Return to the Garage"
• * Three Interviews
• "Ricky & Cal Interview"
• "Jean & Gregory Interview"
• "Cal & Carley Interview"
• Gag Reel
• Line-O-Rama (Part 1)
• Bonus Race Footage
• Ricky & Cal's Commercials
• Ricky & Cal's PSAs
• Walker & Texas Ranger
• Will Ferrell Returns to Talladega
• Theatrical Trailer
• Additional added-value features not in high-definition:
• Daytona 500 Spot
• Nascar Chase for the Nextel Cup Spot
• Sirius and NASCAR Spot

[EQC Posted Oct 6th 2006 7:42PM]

Are they using MPEG-2 still? Or will they be using the more advanced (VC-1 MPEG-4?) codec that HD-DVD has been using?

Or, in other words, will they still have inferior picture despite the 50GB disks?

I love blu-ray in concept (50GB Woo!), but if they don't switch over to MPEG-4, then they're just shooting themselves in the foot.

At the very least, I hope they at least dedicate more space for the MPEG-2 video so it doesn't show compression artifacts like folks have noticed.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 6th 2006 9:19PM]

That Blu-Rays struggles have been blamed on the lack of 50GB discs, would seem to imply that Sony is continuing to use MPEG-2 no matter what. If there were to use MPEG-4, wouldn't a larger capacity disc be a non-issue?

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 6th 2006 9:22PM]

what about the Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut? When is that one due out?

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 6th 2006 10:49PM]

I hope they don't use MPEG2. It's old and crusty although it can still do the job well if you give it enough breathing room. All in all I'd rather they use the extra space for some great features like Lossless audio and nice interactivity.

[Xyzzy Posted Oct 7th 2006 12:07AM]

Losless audio and interactivity like HD-DVD has? ;)

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 7th 2006 3:17AM]

yeah we really wouldnt be able to see the perf of these titles until they release. Even though they use mpeg-2, the extra space might permit the quality to rival hd-dvd's VC-1...i guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[DaveBG Posted Oct 7th 2006 6:40AM]

Thanks Sony ;)

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 7th 2006 8:37PM]

Does anyone out there actually want to see Will Ferrel in high defintion?

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 9th 2006 7:52PM]

Xyzzy - HD-DVD discs have had lossless since their inception, remember, Phantom of the Opera was one of the first introduced back in April? Quite a few discs have TrueHD tracks. Firmware 2.0 allows its playback and the IME on discs like Batman Begins, Tokyo Drift, and Troy. So yeah, like HD-DVD already has. ;)