Audio Video News

If you have a Blu-ray player and want to pick up Dance Flick for your movie collection on September 8, you're all set. If you have a DVD player, you're not so lucky. If you prefer to watch better movies, it doesn't really matter.

Paramount has announced that it will be staggering its Blu-ray Disc and DVD releases of Dance Flick; the unrated Blu-ray version will be available for purchase on September 8, but the rated DVD version won't hit stores until 4 to 8 weeks later. Both versions will be released to rental channels like Netflix and Blockbuster at the same time, so you can at least rent the film in September. The studio hasn't announced this release strategy for any other upcoming films.

This appears to be a test balloon to determine if such a strategy will improve Blu-ray sales. I'm not sure if Dance Flick is really the best film for testing such a thing; it was a terrible-to-mediocre film, getting 27% on Rotten Tomatoes and 40/100 on Metacritic. Now, if Paramount decided to release the Blu-ray of Star Trek two months before the DVD, we might see some interesting numbers.

— Will Greenwald

[Source: Variety via EngadgetHD]