James Delahunty
4 May 2006 18:21
Movies on Blu-ray Disc will not be available in stores on May 23rd as originally planned, but have been put back until June 25th to coincide with the launch of the first Blu-ray Disc player from Samsung. Benjamin Feingold, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment President, said that the first batch of BD titles will in fact be ready by the May 23rd but that retailers asked the studio to reconsider the release date.
"The majority of our retail base and hardware partners have requested that we reconsider this date to better coincide with the first commercially available Blu-ray-compatible hardware," Feingold said. HD DVD had a head start on Blu-ray, but on launch date only three titles were available for early adopters to choose. There will be 8 titles available with the launch of the Samsung player.
Those movies are Underworld Evolution (arriving the same day as the DVD), 50 First Dates, The Fifth Element, Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight's Tale, The Last Waltz, Resident Evil Apocalypse and XXX. In addition, the first Blu-ray titles from Warner Home Video are expected to arrive in stores around the same time.
Source:
Reuters
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