Blu-ray titles without features on the SD-DVD versions

This thread is in response to Adam Jahnke's excellent "Blu Thunder" article over at The Digital Bits that, amongst other things, criticized the studios for dropping special features that had been included on the standard definition DVDs.

The Bottom Shelf by Adam Jahnke

I am actually surprised to not see that there is a thread
already here about this topic (Jahnke's article has been up for several weeks.),
since, personally, I find it very frustrating and, in many cases,
it prevents me from purchasing Blu-rays of some films.


While I know some special features can get dated
(How many of us REALLY want to watch yet-another documentary on
how the CGI effects were created?),
but why would Fox, for example,
not included the two commentary tracks, at the very least,
on "The Usual Suspects" Blu-ray that were on the SE SD-DVD?

The SE SD-DVD bonus content included:
-Deleted Scenes with John Ottman introduction
-"Perusing the Suspects" featurette
-"Keyser Soze - Legend or Lie" featurette
-"Doing Time with The Suspects" featurette
-"Heisting Cannes..." featurette
-Gag Reel with introduction by Bryan Singer
-Audio Commentary with Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie
-Audio Commentary with John Ottman
-Easter Eggs, Trailers, and TV spots

The Blu-ray bonus content?
-Original Theatrical Trailer

But Fox isn't alone. One would think Sony, wanting to push the Blu-ray format,
wouldn't diminish demand for their Spiderman films, but
the Blu-rays for "Spiderman" and "Spiderman 2" are missing almost all
of the bonus content from the SD-DVD releases. Only "Spiderman 3"
has all the bonus materials one would expect on the Blu-ray.
(Weakest film in series = need to include bonus content?)

I have to believe one of many things is happening:

-Studios want us to double-dip and repurchase later SE versions
of previous released "bonus content MIA" Blu-ray releases.
-Costs associated with porting over bonus materials that might
require more data storage on Blu-ray
-Concerns of audio/video quality suffering because of space needs
of bonus materials
-Legal reasons: commentary tracks/bonus features where contracted
to be used for DVD release only; possible additional fees and/or expenses
to "talent" involved in their bonus content should it be included
on any subsequent home video format, or, in the case of Criterion, bonus content
(i.e. Jodie Foster's "Silence of the Lambs" commentary)
is property of an entity not releasing the Blu-ray.

For naysayers, yes, I do understand it is "about the movie," ultimately.

Personally, I really love commentary tracks, especially when done well.
I watch "Alien" (the original DVD release) as often with Ridley Scott's commentary track on as not.
(I also know more than a few people who have held on to that
original DVD release because of the isolated musical score, only available on it.)

I want to upgrade to Blu-ray, but in many cases, I do not.
Barring reports of sub par audio or video on the Blu-ray release,
the absence of pre-existing bonus materials,
available on the DVDs but not the Blu-rays, is usually the reason why.

Thoughts?

Re: Blu-ray titles without features on the SD-DVD versions

Fortunately for me, I was not into Blu-ray yet when Casino Royale was
first released...then earlier this week, on a trip to Wal-Mart to pick up some
things for my gran, there was the two disc, SE Blu-ray of Casino Royale for $15,
which made that one a no-brainer to pick up.

So, reading all your comments, it seems like some studios are better
than others, or more dependable as far as making the initial BD release
contain all the SE-DVD's features. Good to know.

Like some of you, too, I will hold on to disc 2 of a DVD set
(Peter Jackson's King Kong comes to mind.), but, sadly that doesn't help
when the DVD has a commentary track and the BD doesn't.


Thanks again for your comments! Most helpful as I turn Blu.

I agree with ATimson, and would take it further:  While I want all the extras from the SD-DVDs, I don't want them to compromise the quality of the main feature, the film.  They should be whatever their OAR was and look as good at least as good they did on DVD.  I do tend to revisit "making of" features and I can imagine it would be a storage eater to port over some in HD without putting them on a separate disc, which would then up the costs-per-unit to manufacture, making them have a higher price point.