[David Allum]

According to Reuters there will be an announcement today. Forty titles are expected this year, starting with the Mummy "trilogy" on 22 July.

[Chris S]

According to Reuters news service Universal will make the announcement later today that they are going to start releasing Blu-ray titles starting July 22nd with a total of 40 titles available by the end of the year.

Quote:

Universal's Blu-ray strategy includes plans to release about 40 titles in the second half of the year.

Among them are the studio's five big feature films of the summer, including "The Incredible Hulk," with Edward Norton, William Hurt and Liv Tyler; "Wanted," an action thriller starring James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie; "Hellboy II: The Golden Army"; "Mamma Mia," the adaptation of the musical starring Meryl Streep; and the sequel "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," with Brendan Fraser and Jet Li.

Universal officially will enter the Blu-ray market July 22 with a trio of films from its "Mummy" action-adventure franchise: "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns," both starring Fraser, and the spinoff "The Scorpion King," with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

Also planned for domestic Blu-ray before the year is up are the catalog titles "American Gangster," "Knocked Up," "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," "Miami Vice," "End of Days," "U-571" and "Land of the Dead," among others.

(emphasis mine)

Link

[Travis Brashear]

Hell, yeah!

[Dale MA]

That's good news! Really looking forward to picking-up American Gangster on Blu.

I wonder how they'll do Miami Vice? Seamless branching between the theatrical and extended cuts?

[Joseph J.D]

Gonna be an expensive second half of the year. Time to save those pennies.

[Robert Crawford]

I won't be buying any of the Universal BR titles I currently have on HD DVD unless the BRD has a significant presentation improvement. I hope American Gangster BRD has both versions of the film on it.






Crawdaddy

[Paul Arnette]

It's great to finally see an announcement from Universal. While the majority of the titles mentioned by name are a little too close the 'PS3 demographic' for comfort, I am encouraged nonetheless. I am particularly happy about the news that Universal 'will soon release all its new videos on the victorious Blu-ray rival at the same time as its standard DVDs'.

I was surprised not to see Serenity specifically mentioned, but if Fox is putting out Firefly on BD later this year that title is a 'sure thing'. All in all, I think it is safe to draw some conclusions from these early 'announcements'. Namely, if you were interested in picking up some Universal HD DVD titles that fell outside of the 'PS3 demographic', you've probably got a good year or two's wait before you see them on BD.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dale MA

That's good news! Really looking forward to picking-up American Gangster on Blu.

I wonder how they'll do Miami Vice? Seamless branching between the theatrical and extended cuts?

I was wondering exactly the same thing about Miami Vice, and hoping both cuts of American Gangster received HD treatment via the same means.

[Peter Raber]

I'll definitely grab The Mummy and The Mummy Returns.

I'll be interested in seeing what else they plan for release, because as of now I wouldn't pick up anything else from that list.

[Sam Posten]

Hooray, finally! I'm ready when they are!

[Southpaw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert Crawford

I won't be buying any of the Universal BR titles I currently have on HD DVD unless the BRD has a significant presentation improvement. I hope American Gangster BRD has both versions of the film on it.






Crawdaddy

And let's hope they include ALL the extras on the BD version. The HD DVD did not include all the documentaries found on the 3 disc SD.

[Shaun]

It'll be interesting to see if these titles (or future titles, for that matter) get the lossless audio treatment. Crossing my fingers!