'Catch-Up' titles - Released HD-DVDs that have yet to get a Blu-ray release (US Only) (2 Viewers)

I thought this might be a good topic and/or reference.

There have been several HD-DVDs released by Warner, Universal, Weinstein/Genius, etc. that have yet to see a counterpart Blu-ray release (speaking only of the US). The following is a list of all of them. (If I have neglected any, please let me know. Also, if a smaller company's release was HD-DVD only please let me know and I'll add that, too).

Total: 14

City Lights (1)

The Ten

Rhino (1)

James Taylor: A MusiCares Person of the Year Tribute

Universal (5)

Balls of Fury
Carlito's Way: Rise to Power
Evening
The Getaway (1994) - coming to Blu-ray via Shout Factory 4/30/24
The Hitcher (2007)

Vanguard (3)

Channels
Disco Pigs
Rain in the Mountains

Warner (2)

The Dukes of Hazzard (2005)
Troy (Theatrical Cut)

Weinstein/Genius (2)

School for Scoundrels (2006)
Wolf Creek

I guess I can say--thank goodness I have a couple of HD DVD players (I own a good chunk of those titles--all the ones I want, anyway). It will be interesting to see how quickly (or not) some of these titles come to BD. I suspect some of the catalogue titles like Grand Prix and Mutiny on the Bounty may take a while.

I suspect Smallville Season 5 and Troy (Theatrical Cut) may never see the light of day on Blu-ray.

Man, Universal on HD DVD was awesome. It seemed like a new and nifty catalog title or three was released every week, and even the ones I didn't care for, I could see people wanting. I hope they (or someone!) gets into that sort of groove with Blu-ray soon.

There's a number of Universal titles I want on BD from that list.

I think it will be awhile before we see a lot of the Universal titles on the list due to sales numbers. Catalog is still selling at just a fraction of new release numbers. I would anticipate the F&F movies coming out when the new movie they are working on is released. They did hint at the HTF meet last week that they would be focusing on some catalog in 2009 so I guess you never know.

I have to question Universal's commitment to releasing already on HD DVD catalogs on BD when they aren't even releasing the extended cut of Waterworld on Blu at the same time it's releasing on standard def.

Terminator 2 should also be on the list. The extended director's cut of Terminator 2: Judgment Day was released on HD DVD in the UK, France, and Germany. Although T2 has been released here on Blu-Ray, it is the shorter theatrical cut.

Since HD DVD has no region codes, the European HD DVDs will play in American players.

I dunno, Uni seems to release things in floods, I think we will be pleasantly surprised and I will be swamped with re-reviews =)

Timothy E said:

Terminator 2 should also be on the list. The extended director's cut of Terminator 2: Judgment Day was released on HD DVD in the UK, France, and Germany. Although T2 has been released here on Blu-Ray, it is the shorter theatrical cut.
Since HD DVD has no region codes, the European HD DVDs will play in American players.

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Van Ling has been hinting in his Insider's Forum that we may see a flood of James Cameron titles on BD soon. Since Cameron has a new movie coming out Summer 09, we may see the first wave, most likely FOX titles, in Q4 09, to coincide with the DVD and BD releases ov Avatar.
That's just my personal opinion.

Adam Gregorich said:

I think it will be awhile before we see a lot of the Universal titles on the list due to sales numbers. Catalog is still selling at just a fraction of new release numbers. I would anticipate the F&F movies coming out when the new movie they are working on is released. They did hint at the HTF meet last week that they would be focusing on some catalog in 2009 so I guess you never know.

Click to expand...

I think the already overstressed BD replication facilities plus the fact that many of the older catalog titles may require new masters and/or recompression for BD may also be playing a factor in the apparent slowdown of releases across all of the studios.
With no format war, there is no apparent rush to get as many titles out, as well.

I hope so, Todd. Last week when the group was at Fox, I meant to ask them about 'True Lies' on BD but I forgot.

It doesn't look like City Lights's The Ten has hit Blu-ray yet.
I also don't anticipate Region-A releases of my UK imports of Brotherhood of the Wolf or In the Shadow of the Moon any time soon.

Brandon, Thanks for going thru the trouble to compile that list. It is appreciated. Might Universal have been receiving "incentives" to place so many titles in the market at that time...that is is not receiving for Blu ray?

I think a good chunk of it was that you could press HD DVDs on standard DVD replication lines, so if they already had HD masters for cable/satellite, it was not terribly difficult or costly to put a bunch of catalog titles out.
I do think Toshiba was sweetening the pot, but I also think that it was a pretty easy low-risk/decent-reward move on their part.
Whatever the reason, I'm grateful for it. Who knows when the next opportunities to buy HD Streets of Fire and the like will come?

When it comes to Universal, I think the ones that make it out sooner rather than later are the obvious recent hits (Bourne films, King Kong), easy tie-ins (Fast and the Furious films, or something like Liar Liar and/or Bruce Almighty being released when a new Jim Carrey film is released like Yes Man), critical and/or award winners (The Pianist, Traffic, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), or historically well-selling catalog titles (Apollo 13, 12 Monkeys, Happy Gilmore).

Updated - Universal will release Serenity 12/30/08

On the mark with your post #16, Brandon.

I could be pleasantly surprised but, as Adam mentioned, I question whether there's sales justification/motivation to (re-)release on BD some of the HD DVD exclusives I have: Inside Man (already has lossless) and The Pianist (despite its pedigree).

An arguable "kissing cousin" category of this topic is those HD DVDs that exceed their BD counterparts in some way and the (un)likelihood of the BDs getting re-released.

Higher rez aud on HD DVD than BD: Dreamgirls, all three M: I pics, Training Day (with a better transfer I'm told, as well).

True PIP on HD DVD (whereas the BD presents the supps 'out of band'): Azkaban, Blood Diamond.

Wait, what?
I can't believe you made those bolded statements with a straight face. Here's each month of the last two years, with the number of releases:
Jan-0729
Feb-0728
Mar-0714
Apr-0718
May-0724
Jun-0720
Jul-0716
Aug-0713
Sep-0724
Oct-0756
Nov-0732
Dec-0730
Jan-0829
Feb-0827
Mar-0820
Apr-0840
May-0830
Jun-0845
Jul-0869
Aug-0867
Sep-08101
Oct-08103
Nov-08129
Dec-0868 (and counting)
In what world can an average increase of 157% in the number of releases--with most months seeing a doubling, tripling, or even quadrupling of year-to-year figures--be considered a "slowdown of releases across all of the studios" and "no apparent rush to get as many titles out"?!

Boom.
Now we just need new releases to permanently cost under $20 and the PS3 to go to $299 and we can put all of that worry about whether BD was gonna go mainstream behind us once and for all.