Universal announces "Alpha Dog" and "The Hitcher (2007)" for HD DVD on May 1 (1 Viewer)

[Jesse Blacklow]

Well, they each barely made $15M at the box office, but it's the first news in more than two weeks from Universal. Be prepared for sticker shock, because these are $40 combos:
Well, at least "Alpha Dog" gets lossless audio.

 

[Dave Mack]

hmmmm......

 

[ppltd]

While Alpha Dog does nothing for me, and the original Hitcher blows the remake out of the water, at least it is good to see more day for date releases is High Def. Other than that, these titles will be a pass for me.

 

[Doug^Ch]

Total Crap! Come on Universal; Is this the best you can come up with!!

 

[Paul Arnette]

Be still my beating heart!

 

[Yumbo]

Alpha Dog trailer looks good.

 

[LarryH]

That'll show 'em!

 

[Jon Moss]

With announcements like these it's hard not to feel I'm backing the wrong horse with HD-DVD :frowning:

Universal need to announce some titles that people actually want to own, and show off their equipment with. Plus as per Universal's decison to release almost all upcoming new day & date titles as Combo discs, it means anyone who is interested in them is paying through the nose!!

It's gonna take more then Children of Men and the promise of a few Hitchcock films later this year, Universal. I know Blu-ray is getting dodgy titles too, but for every dodgy title announced for Blu-ray they also get a slew of decent titles.

What with these and Warner releasing titles like The Wicker Man, anyone would think they wanted the format to fail..

 

[Chris Dugger]

Well....

Consider this..... Based on Uni's last year theatrical release schedule, we have gotten most of the high profile releases.

The only ones missing are:
American Dreamz (dvd released 10/06)
United 93 (dvd released 9/06)
Inside Man (dvd released 8/06)
Idlewild (dvd released 12/06)
Black Dahlia (dvd released 12/06)
Man Of The Year (dvd released 2/07)
Let's Go To Prison (dvd to be released 3/07)

Basically, Uni has announced 4 HD-DVD releases out of 6 of their new theatrical releases (Good Shepard / Children Of Men / Alpha Dog / The Hitcher)

The only titles missing so far are:
Smokin Aces
Because I Said So

and I am sure those will get an announcement in the next 4 - 6 weeks as they will conclude their theatrical window.

But.... rest assure that these will all get combo releases.

So, with that tidbit of info, the majority of Universal's support for HD-DVD is going to have to come from their library....

and considering that their top ten released films are mostly controled by Steve Sp (5 titles) or already have gotten a HD-DVD release (3 titles)..... it could be a while before we get what we really want from Uni.


1E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial $359,197,037 6/11/82
2 Jurassic Park $357,067,947 6/11/93
3 Meet the Fockers $279,261,160 12/22/04
4 How the Grinch Stole Christmas $260,044,825 11/17/00
5 Jaws $260,000,000 6/20/75
6 Bruce Almighty $242,829,261 5/23/03
7 The Lost World: Jurassic Park $229,086,679 5/22/97
8 King Kong $218,080,025 12/14/05
9 Back to the Future $210,609,762 7/3/85
10 The Mummy Returns $202,019,785 5/4/01


Dugger

 

[Jon Moss]

Good points Chris!

I suppose when you look at it that way, Universal aren't doing too badly at all in terms of releases. It's just with a dearth of announcements we're all awaiting the upcoming releases with bated breath, and when the next big release turns out to be The Hitcher remake it's like someone pissed in the punch