Audio Video News

In an effort to take the wind out of the sales of the HD DVD promotional armada heading to retail stores this month, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE), MGM Home Entertainment, and Lionsgate announced they're targeting May 23rd of this year to deliver the first batch of Blu-ray Disc (BD) titles at retail.

SPHE says the BD movie releases will coincide with the introduction of the first commercially available BD player, the Samsung BD-P1000 (tentatively $1,000). According to Jim Sanduski, Senior VP of Marketing for Samsung Electronics America, the BD-P1000 will be available "to Best Buy, Circuit City and electronic specialty store consumers" on May 23. BD players from Pioneer (BDP-HD1) and Sony (BDP-S1) - along with a BD-compatible VAIO PC from Sony - will follow soon after that date. (No firm news yet on the arrival of Sony's Playstation 3.)

SPHE and MGM will initially release eight titles on May 23rd:

• 50 First Dates
• The Fifth Element
• Hitch
• House of Flying Daggers
• A Knight's Tale
• The Last Waltz (MGM)
• Resident Evil Apocalypse
• XXX

Lionsgate will release five BD titles to retail on May 23rd:

• Crash
• Lord of War
• The Punisher
• Saw
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Crash and Lord of War will be priced at $39.99 SRP with the remaining three titles priced $10 less at $29.99 SRP each.

SPHE and MGM plan to follow with eight more titles on June 13th, including:

• Kung Fu Hustle
• Legends of the Fall
• Robocop (MGM)
• Stealth
• Species (MGM)
• SWAT
• Terminator (MGM)

The movie Underworld Evolution will street in early summer day and date with the DVD version.

Lionsgate will follow their slate of initial releases with five more at a still-to-be-determined date in June or July. The four $29.99 SRP titles include:

• Reservoir Dogs
• Total Recall
• Stargate
• Frank Herbert's Dune

The fifth title, The Devil's Rejects, will street at a $39.99 SRP.

SPHE and MGM have not issued suggested retail prices.