In case you were living under a rock all year, Watchmen was a pretty big movie adapted from one of the most beloved graphic novels of all time. It did pretty well at the box office, and people enjoyed it for the most part.
We got some scoop early this morning about the upcoming DVD release, and it’s a doozie!
Here’s the details:
Release date July 28th, both DVD and Blu-ray.
There’ll be 3 versions: single disc DVD, double disc director’s cut, and director’s cut Blu-ray
The double disc contains the extras (single disc is movie only), those extras are:
Watchmen: Director’s Cut
The Phenomenon: The Comic that Changed Comics
Watchmen: Video Journals (over 30 min)
Music Video: My Chemical Romance Desolation Row
Digital Copy – Theatrical Version
The Blu-ray extras are:
Watchmen: Director’s Cut
Warner Bros. Maximum Movie Mode
Watchmen: Focus Points (over 30 minutes)
BD Live
The Phenomenon: The Comic that Changed Comics
Real Super Heroes, Real Vigilantes
Mechanics: Technologies of a Fantastic World
Music Video: My Chemical Romance Desolation Row
Digital Copy – Theatrical version
Sounds like it’s gonna be a pretty awesome Blu-ray release. I haven’t seen it yet, but fully intend to once the Blu-ray drops.
Being big fans of the Blu-ray HD format, we’ve compiled a list of ten reasons why you should buy a Blu-ray player, and Blu-ray discs going forward.
10. Price
When Blu-ray first came out, it was pretty cost prohibitive for many people to buy one. A lot of people thought “Why should I buy this new thing, and then re-buy all my favorite movies again?” And they were right. At $800, why would anyone want to spend that kind of money? And then spend $35 a pop for movies?
Nowadays you can get a pretty good Blu-ray player from Samsung for $250, or from Sony for roughly the same price.
Thinking back to the first DVD player I bought in ’96, $250’s a deal.
And now that Blu-Ray Movies are so cheap on Amazon, why wouldn’t you get one?
9. The format war is over They stopped making HD DVD in February of last year. That means the format war has been over for nearly a year and a half. There’s no more worrying about whether you’re buying the “right” thing or not. Blu-ray is it. At least for now. A few years from now, will there be something better? Probably. But for now, Blu-ray is the mack daddy of home DVD viewing.
8. Ease of use People who are afraid of new things are afraid to go Blu-ray. Why? Because they’re used to their DVD player’s controls, and don’t want to learn something new.
Think back to when you got your parents to switch from VHS to DVD. It was painful at first, right? Constant calls asking how to do something. Confusion over which input to put the TV on.
Now that they’re used to it, it’s not so bad, right? Switching from DVD to Blu-ray is seamless. It’s not like switching from VHS to DVD. Think of it as switching from one car, to another. Sure, it’s new, and shiny, and different. But at its heart, it’s still the same thing you’ve known and love.
7. Support from all the major studios Since HD DVD is no longer being made, you don’t have to worry if your favorite movie will become available on Blu-ray. Chances are, it will.
Though, just because it will be available on Blu-ray, doesn’t mean that you need to re-buy it. Chances are, the standard copy you’ve got on DVD will look better on a Blu-ray player anyway. Re-buying the DVD with “remastered content” is sometimes a waste, and isn’t as impressive as movies that were filmed specifically in 1080P.
6. It’ll play your regular DVDs You don’t have to worry about whether or not your old DVDs will play in it. It’s a guarantee that they will, assuming you buy your Blu-ray player in the same country you bought your DVDs.
5. Sound quality There is no comparison. The sound quality on a Blu-ray disc is better than a standard DVD. Most Blu-ray players support the new Dolby Digital Plus format for HD audio. That means full surround sound on any movie on Blu-ray.
Wondered why some of your old DVDs didn’t have any sound coming out of the back speakers in your home theater? Wonder no more. Dolby Digital Plus is all surround sound, all the time.
4. Wireless Updates When there’s new software available for your Blu-ray player, whether it’s a patch to fix something that’s broken, or a new feature that’s being added to the format, you don’t need to do anything.
99% of the Blu-ray models in stores today have wireless networking built into them. So when you configure your player for the first time, you have it connect to your wireless network. The player does the rest, when it needs to.
Of course, it’ll most likely tell you there’s an update, and make you agree to some form of terms of service, for legal reasons. But other than that, it’ll do everything itself.
3. BD Live BD Live is a newer feature of Blu-ray. It’s pretty cool, too. It sounds complicated, but to boil it down: it’s interactive features utilizing the internet through your Blu-ray player.
Depending on your Blu-ray player, you can record your own audio commentary and upload it for others to listen to. You can watch the movie along with your friends, and have an interactive chatroom during the film.
There are other more subtle features, including downloading movie artwork, screenshots, and trailers. Some companies are also doing exclusive content for certain retailers. So if you, for example, buy a copy of The Dark Knight from Target, you may get special content that you don’t get if you buy it from Best Buy.
2. Big Screen TV Prices It’s no secret that you can get a pretty sweet deal on a huge TV nowadays. Where five years ago a 65″ TV would cost you $3,000, now you can get that same TV for $1500 retail.
Now that bigger TVs are getting cheaper, people can afford to buy them. And Blu-ray’s amazing picture is much more noticeable on a larger TV.
While it’s true that you may not notice the difference between 720p and 1080p on a 23″ TV, you certainly will on a 40″ or larger set. We’ve got a 40″ Sony at our place, and when we’re watching Blu-ray, and people walk into the room, they can tell it’s Blu-ray. Regardless of their knowledge of picture quality. It usually starts with “Wow, my DVDs don’t look that good.”
1. Picture Quality Those who haven’t seen Blu-ray will argue this point, citing that it’s not important how good a movie looks, but rather how good it is. Hogwash. Here’s proof.
Dumbledore in Standard Definition - DVD
Dumbledore in High Definition - Blu-ray
Click on the images to enlarge them. The top if Dumbledore (from the Harry Potter series of films) from a regular DVD. The second is from a Blu-ray movie.
If you can’t see the difference you don’t need Blu-ray. But, it’s unlikely that you won’t be able to see it. It’s pretty evident how superior the Blu-ray picture is.
Note: These images aren’t retouched in anyway. They’re straight from the discs. Blu-ray is just that good.
That concludes my list. Hopefully I’ve helped answer some questions you’ve got about Blu-ray, and why you should buy it. Any questions that I didn’t address, or things you want to know, feel free to drop them in the comments section, and I’ll get you an answer.
ComingSoon.net is reporting that they have some inside information from a company that does the physical production of Disney’s Blu-ray discs.
That information states that starting with Pinnochio on March 10th, all Disney Blu-ray discs will also come with a standard edition of the DVD.
Disney says this is so people can enjoy the movie in “more locations in their home.”
The thought behind it, I assume, is that many people only have one Blu-ray player. So when you purchase a Blu-ray movie, you have to watch it in a specific room. That’s the case in our household, and probably the same for many others. I think this is a great move on Disney’s part. It’ll cost them more, and from what we’re told, those costs will not increase the retail price of their Blu-ray movies. I think that’s a great thing Disney is doing. Hopefully it works out.
To promote Transformers in theaters, the marketing folks ran a promotion where you could have Optimus Prime call your friends. Fans were upset when the promotion was removed, but now it’s back to celebrate the release of Transformers on Blu-ray.
The limited-edition Blu-ray gift set includes Blu-Ray high-def exclusive content: The Dark Knight Prologue, plus movie cash to see The Dark Knight in theaters (a $7.50 value), 32-page exclusive Dark Knight Prologue book, 16-page comic book adaptation of the first 6 minutes of The Dark Knight, a Batman Begins lenticular, and five collectible post cards.
It will be released on July 8th, a mere ten days before The Dark Knight premieres. You can also preorder it now.
This is just my personal opinion, but I think studios should get their act together and release the Blu-ray version at the same time they release the regular DVD version. I would have bought a Blu-ray version of Cloverfield, in fact I asked the kid at Best Buy where it was. But since I bought the regular version, thinking there wasn’t going to be a Blu-ray version, I’m not going to purchase the newly released Blu-ray version. There goes the extra $10 they would have made on the price of the Blu-ray disc.
Also out this week is the DVD version of The Andromeda Strain miniseries that aired last week, and that I failed to correctly schedule in my TiVo as a two-night event.
This week’s new releases include two very well placed releases, one thriller that I’m bummed I missed in theaters, and two movies that are probably not worth watching, let alone buying.
Indiana Jones – The Adventure Collection is perfectly timed to get fans ready for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, while The Chronicles of Narnia Blu-ray release is just in time for the release of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
I’m quite looking forward to watching the Diane Lane thriller Untraceable, but I’m actually a little ashamed to have included Mad Money and The Great Debaters in this list.
Indiana Jones The Adventure Collection – Buy at Amazon
This week there’s a very special Blu-ray release – the 1996 movie Twister. While I was living smack in the middle of tornado country at that time, I still loved this movie and was looking forward to the Blu-ray release.
Also available this week are the romantic comedy P.S. I Love You, the all-star biopic I’m Not There, and the super-weird Teeth.
Kai said "Siafu is the Swahili word for Dorylus, you fool..." Indiana Jones Ants are Semi Real Ganesh said "Yes, I am also of the same opinion - the last frame which shows an Angier with an eye open…" The Prestige – explained Carl jolly said "Have you considered if they were twins or if Tesla had made a clone of bale earlier in tests" The Prestige – explained Dyanasthasia Rin said "Hello! I know that’s it’s super late for me to discover the disscussion. However, knowing peope have the same question…" The Prestige – explained mike2 said "I believe it was the one who loved Olivia, cause it fits with my theory above, and that is the…" The Prestige – explained
04/26/2019
for $250, or from 
for roughly the same price.
are so cheap on Amazon, why wouldn’t you get one?
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Despite having 
This week’s new releases include two very well placed releases, one thriller that I’m bummed I missed in theaters, and two movies that are probably not worth watching, let alone buying. 
This week there’s a very special Blu-ray release – the 1996 movie Twister. While I was living smack in the middle of tornado country at that time, I still loved this movie and was looking forward to the Blu-ray release.
Kai said "Siafu is the Swahili word for Dorylus, you fool..."