Warner to release a Blu-ray title before it's available on DVD
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Apr 23rd 2008 4:45PM
posted Apr 23rd 2008 4:45PM
Warner leads the home media market, and like any leader it is always looking for the next big movie to improve it's sales. It makes sense to us that a good way to promote Blu-ray -- and thus the future of the home media market -- is to make new releases available in HD before their SD counterparts, but we wonder what the rest of the SD world will think of this. It is hard to say if Warner's decision to release the Jack Black movie Be Kind Rewind on Blu-ray on June 10th -- a full week before it's available on DVD -- is one of these tests, but we certainly can't wait to see the results.**UPDATE** New Line has clarified and the DVD will be released the same day.
And my local Blockbuster will get it in August...
But you can swede your own version in the meantime.
FYI, per High Def Digest today, there will NOT be a delay between the Blu-ray and DVD release. They are both coming on June 10. Darn it, I was really looking forward to seeing how this panned out.
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Disc_Announcements/New_Line/New_Line_Says_Be_Kind_Rewind_on_Blu-ray/1678
What really matters for sales is what week of the Sunday Best Buy circular will the movie image be displayed in the TV ads???
This is a great idea. I'd especially think that Sony would want to do this with their own movies.
If you ask me, the guys over at Warner are showing once again that they're just one step ahead of the rest.
I am just glad this one is comming to BD. Perhaps Warner is ready to start pushing BD a bit harder. Lets just hope for Lossless audio.
so if I want to buy this movie that I'm hearing about for the first time now and I don't have a Blu-ray player, I would need to get one for $300 or so, then spend $25-$30 to buy the movie. Or wait a week to get it for $15 on DVD. Hmm....
How is this helping Blu-ray? Make it months (like 6 or so) if you want to force people to buy Blu-ray, not just a week.
The point isn't really to "force" anyone to Blu-ray, just give them one more carrot on a stick to lure them over. I think a one week delay is just about perfect. It's short enough that it shouldn't cheese off SD buyers, but it's long enough so that those who REALLY love the movie and can't wait might be motivated to get it on Blu-ray.
you'd be surprised how many people would seemingly rather die than wait a week for a movie...
It's just another push toward the new format. Mostly psychological, but every little bit raises awareness in the minds of consumers.
your being force into buying a film??? awww. evil Warner! Their begining to act like evil Sony!!!! Screw them for their corporate greed!!!!! Lets all stick to standard definition for ever!!!!!!!!
I think it's petty myself, but companies do this to lure people over to the new platform.
Nintendo did something similar with Zelda - releasing the version for the Wii way before it appeared on the GC. There was no reason for this except hoping it piled pressure on users to buy a new console.
I think I would rather see WB, Disney etc. lure people over to Blu Ray by lowering their prices and using the extra space to produce a superior product.
This should be an interesting test and i wonder if more will follow as this isn't exactly a "big" movie release. It is nice to see Warner taking steps to enhance Blu sales!
my ? is that movie even worth buying in blu? doesn't look worthy of hidef treatment in any flavor?
They're just doing it so they can twist it around and print ads about how the blu-ray sold more than the dvd.
can you point us in the direction of even one ad that compares blu-ray to dvd sales? what are you even talking about?
That would be called Marketing. Last I checked, it isn't a dirty word.
good idea. Im done with SD. I cant even watch it anymore. Its a real shame that the format war ended like it did because now im missing out on paramount hd titles until they get off their asses and start releasing on blu-ray.
Also theres that one company I forget which one who wont release anything in hd. ARRR. I hate dvd. I cant believe so many mainstream public viewers still think its so great. In my eyes, dvd is old technology. Lets have blu-ray take over already.
Mike, get yourself an HD-DVD Player or Up-Converter and rekindle that SD love and I promise you wont be missing much even with a 1080p set you have yet to buy.
Not true, I just watched an upconverted movie yesterday and, at 60", it was very obviously converted. Might not be as obvious on a smaller tv...but I couldn't imagine how bad it would look on a projector. They are watchable, but I wouldn't go so far to say that you won't be missing much.
AWESOME! I've been hoping some studio would do this, but I'm surprised it's happening this soon.
Judging by the number of people out there who rush out to buy a movie the day (or week) it's released, this kind of move will do quite a bit to gently nudge people to the HD side of things. That's great for all of us enthusiasts!
Now, what Warner really needs to do is make a move like this in the fall with one of their "tentpole" summer movies. For instance... The Dark Knight? :)
Engadget HD - you'd think from the name, its leading edge if not bleeding edge content right? ....not so much from a coding perspective!
FIX YOUR CRAP POSTING!
A few mins delay is frustrating but its almost 30 mins in some cases!
+1 million
Interesting that the film they're using for this test seems to be about VHS...
I kept reading comments waiting for the one seeing the irony here.
I think the movie "UHF" should follow suit with the Blu-ray release.
People are going to buy the Blu-ray thinking they're buying the DVD.
I'm really surprised that no one had done this earlier, especially Sony. Really, Sony would have been the company that we would have expected this from because it is the only studio that really had a deep seated interest in which format won. The only problem is that this is going to cause some consumer confusion when people think that the movie is out but then find out that it is only out on Blu-Ray. That, and I wouldn't be too surprised to see some retailers put the DVD out a week early and get hit with heavy fines.
Sounds like there's a battle going on in the marketing department at Warner. The Blu-Ray team pitched this idea, the DVD team probably fought it, and management approved it. Let the in-fighting begin.
Warner will have a fun Christmas party in December.
Most companies did this same thing with DVDs over VHS to expediate(force) the adoption of DVD. Gladiator is one title I remember specifically coming out earlier on DVD than VHS. But I remember it being the case for a lot of titles.
I've been saying that studios should do this for months. They could even decrease the amount of SD produced. Make SD movie only editions. There are alot of ways to push HD. (dropping the price wouldn't hurt either) They did this with VHS & Laserdisc and people just went out and bought DVD.
maybe it would make a difference on a movie that didn't suck
EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Warner--- if you're going to expedite your releases, at least put a lossless track on there.
Last night, I wondered why I only had a DOLBY DIGITAL track at best on Ocean's thirteen....
Turns out the other Ocean's movies have only DD, Superman Returns, and more.
Check when they were released. Some of the early Warner BD releases were missing lossless tracks, but as far as I know all their recent releases have lossless now.
Why waste their time doing that. People who are going to buy the DVD version will just wait and get it. This isn't going to force people to pay the extra $5-$10 for the Blu-Ray verison when they can get the DVD version on sale at Fry's Electronics for $16.99. I have yet to buy any Blu-Ray movies even though I do own a PS3. I've been happy with my DVD collection. Maybe once Blu-Ray becomes mainstream and the price on the disc get down to DVD prices, I might look into it. For now, I'm not wasting my time or money.