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What was the 1st movie released on DVD? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Ben::H
- Start date
Ryan Belfast
Stunt Coordinator
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Im guessing Air Force One, Mars Attacks, or Contact. 
Greg_S_H
Senior HTF Member
Four IMAX titles were the first DVDs, followed by a slate of WB movies.
http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?p=%...icp=1&.intl=us
http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?p=%...icp=1&.intl=us
Very interesting Greg. Looks like the movies your link mentioned, The Color Purple, Blade Runner and Twister were all released 03-25-97. The first DVD I owned was The Matrix which I received Christmas of '99. Guess I was a little late to the party. Thanks for the info!
Greg_S_H
Senior HTF Member
The Matrix may have been among those first 25. I don't have a list. I know Gone With the Wind and The Searchers were among WB's earliest, as I got both of those in '97.
nolesrule
Senior HTF Member
The Matrix was released in September 1999. DVD was 2.5 years old by then.
Air Force One was in Feb 1998, at the tail end of the first year of DVD releases (and was the first DVD I bought).
That's one of the nice things about DVD Profiler. It has release dates for almost every DVD (at least in Region 1 US). There are errors occassionally, but the release dates in the database are pretty accurate.
Air Force One was in Feb 1998, at the tail end of the first year of DVD releases (and was the first DVD I bought).
That's one of the nice things about DVD Profiler. It has release dates for almost every DVD (at least in Region 1 US). There are errors occassionally, but the release dates in the database are pretty accurate.
RodneyT
Stunt Coordinator
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FYI, here in Australia, the first commercially available DVD's were pan/scan editions of:
The Crow (barely watcheable transfer, and still not re-released)
Se7en (worst transfer of any DVD I have ever seen)
Adventure of Priscilla: Queen Of The Desert (the best of the bunch, but that's not saying much.)
These were available for the first part of 97, followed after what seemed an eternity by early Universal releases (like Twister...)
The Crow (barely watcheable transfer, and still not re-released)
Se7en (worst transfer of any DVD I have ever seen)
Adventure of Priscilla: Queen Of The Desert (the best of the bunch, but that's not saying much.)
These were available for the first part of 97, followed after what seemed an eternity by early Universal releases (like Twister...)
Dane Marvin
Screenwriter
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I remember my uncle getting his DVD player in 1997 and having to order the DVDs from a store in California. The first one he had was Blade Runner.
Dean L
Stunt Coordinator
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I seem to remember Rock And Roll High School and A Boy And His Dog in the first batch of releases.
Paul Sandhu
Supporting Actor
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1997.... The first time I remember hearing about DVD was like in 1999.
Yes... I lived under a rock.
Yes... I lived under a rock.
In late 1997, when I was working at what was then Video Update (now Movie Gallery), I remember having devoted like..12 spaces to DVD, and none of them ever really rented, lol. I vaguely remember one of them being softcore title, like a space cowgirl or something.
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- Ronald Epstein
I believe Warner was the first studio to
roll out a handful of titles that included
Batman.
The rollout was restricted to a few select
cities. New York was one of these cities and
it was inside Virgin Megastore one cold February
day in '97 that I saw a DVD of Batman
playing on their monitor.
Being an LD owner, I was vehemently against DVD.
However, looking at that monitor I could instantly
see that the picture had none of the video noise
that I came to know from laserdiscs.
Within a week I plunked down $1K for a Sony player.
roll out a handful of titles that included
Batman.
The rollout was restricted to a few select
cities. New York was one of these cities and
it was inside Virgin Megastore one cold February
day in '97 that I saw a DVD of Batman
playing on their monitor.
Being an LD owner, I was vehemently against DVD.
However, looking at that monitor I could instantly
see that the picture had none of the video noise
that I came to know from laserdiscs.
Within a week I plunked down $1K for a Sony player.
That's funny because I remembered buying my first dvds in June, 1997 and they were Batman, The Fugitive and Unforgiven. What's really funny is that I bought those dvds and I didn't even have a dvd player yet to play them on.
Anyhow, I took care of that little problem, the next month when I bought that same Sony DVD player.
DVD's started with The Matrix, in my case, October 1999 it was, plonked down £400 for a JVC multiregion player, now you can get players for £40 that are much better, better sound and can play anything. You guys went from LD to DVD, I made a much bigger leap, from VHS to DVD, what.. a.. difference! So I always associate The Matrix with the beginning of the dvd age. I couldn't believe how good the picture quality was, and all those extras crammed into one cd-sized disc. I was gobsmacked and hooked! And here I am now, 1400 dvds later.
Jack Briggs
Senior HTF Member
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Superb sig image, Steveroo!
Thanks Jack, from a 37 year-old film jam-packed with stunning imagery.
nickGreenwood
Second Unit
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- Nick Greenwood
The Sixth Sense was mine, I vaguely remember Wal-Mart starting to really get into the DVD thing, but everyone just passed over them and went to the VHS section. Now it's tuff to even find the VHS section.
Rolando
Screenwriter
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- Feb 19, 2001
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Gosh this brings back memories.
You were not alone Robert, I bought my first DVDs before I got my first player too
Actually the very first 2 or 3 were gifts from someone I had been talking to about getting my player.
My first player was a Pioneer Elite DV-05. I wish I had kept it, that thing played anything you threw at it. never had a problem with a single release. That was a great thing in the days were it seemed every other player had a problem with at least one release.
You were not alone Robert, I bought my first DVDs before I got my first player too
Actually the very first 2 or 3 were gifts from someone I had been talking to about getting my player.
My first player was a Pioneer Elite DV-05. I wish I had kept it, that thing played anything you threw at it. never had a problem with a single release. That was a great thing in the days were it seemed every other player had a problem with at least one release.
Kajs
Second Unit
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- Real Name
- Kurt
I remember the day that DVDs were announced they were available at Circuit City and I stopped there that same day and their demo DVD has clips from Contact, Carrotblanca, and Goldeneye amongst others. And Carrotblanca never even made it to DVD until the 2 disc re-release of Casablanca.
Larry Sutliff
Senior HTF Member
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I ordered my first player-the original Toshiba-from Sound City in March of '97. They also sent me the BATMAN DVD, so I guess that's my first. I remember getting CUTTHROAT ISLAND, TOTAL RECALL and a Bela Lugosi double feature from Suncoast around the same time.
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