Tartan goes Blu-ray

[dugpa]

I hope they don't use region encoding. I'll order Seventh Seal the minute it's available if it's playable on US machines. Yay!

As the home entertainment industry prepares to enter a new world of technology, Tartan Video announces the release of its first High Definition titles. Tartan has chosen three of its most enduring and popular titles to demonstrate the full power of the Blu-ray Disc (BD) format: Paul Verhoeven’s stunning war epic, Black Book; the cult Asia Extreme revenge thriller, Oldboy; and a special 50th Anniversary edition of Ingmar Bergman’s all-time classic, The Seventh Seal.

All three releases are worldwide Blu-ray premieres, the format with broader industry support, a picture quality six times that of current DVDs, and fully uncompressed audio all set to increase consumers’ viewing pleasure beyond their wildest expectations.

Tartan Video’s owner and self-professed early adopter, Hamish McAlpine, says, “To go with Blu-ray was a no-brainer for Tartan. Not only is the format superior to HD-DVD, but also the fact that 7 out of 8 studios have chosen to release their films on Blu-ray means that this so-called ‘format war’ is over before it has really begun.”

In an exciting move, Tartan Video’s Blu-ray releases will be uniquely packaged with the DVD edition of each film to allow consumers who have yet to invest in Blu-ray technology the opportunity to enjoy the films on existing players at no additional cost as they invest for the future.

Both Oldboy and The Seventh Seal contain original English-dubbed soundtracks. All three titles receive their fist appearance on Blu-ray anywhere in the word!

BLACK BOOK
Paul Verhoeven’s epic World War Two drama about a young Jewish woman who joins the Dutch Resistance and gets entangled in a deadly web of double-dealing, betrayal and romance with a Nazi general. This is a stunning, sexy thriller from the internationally acclaimed director of Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers, and Total Recall, featuring Sebastian Koch (The Lives Of Others) and a star-making debut from Carice Van Houten.

THE SEVENTH SEAL – 50th anniversary remastered edition
One the most influential movies of all time by one of the greatest directors of world cinema, Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal is a timeless classic and this newly remastered version is an ideal way of celebrating the film’s 50th anniversary. A battle-weary knight (played by Max Von Sydow) returns from the Crusades to find a land ravaged by plague. When Death appears and challenges him to a game of chess, it becomes a fight for survival and a search for the meaning of life.

Release date for both films: 27 August

OLDBOY
Park Chan-Wook’s classic genre-defining revenge tale of a man who’s wrongly been imprisoned for 15 years and is then suddenly released. Given money and a mobile phone, he’s challenged to discover who incarcerated him in the first place, but he only has five days to uncover the truth. Even with a mysterious young girl to help him, his tortures have just begun. Cannes-winner championed by Tarantino, Oldboy has become a cult favourite, regularly appearing in top ten best movie polls. Brutal but imaginative story-telling.

Release date: 24 September

Black Book (BD/DVD) and The Seventh Seal: 50th Anniversary Edition (BD/DVD) are released on 27 August, whilst Oldboy (BD/DVD) is released on 24 September, 2007. All three titles retail at £29.99 each.

[187ontheVHS]

Oldboy!!!!!!!!

[orko007]

You just made my day dugpa!!

Tartan with Blu-ray, beautiful.

They should be region free, but if not I'm Region B anyway.

Old Boy and Black Book - you bloody ripper!!

Let's hope Battle Royale gets the blu ray treatment too!!


Ouch on the price. That $75AU. Eeek!!

[Sehnzeleid]

So Tartan's head is named "Hamish McAlpine"

Sounds like some mythical Nordic lumberjack.

Though he sounds a bit in lust with Blu-ray, doesn't quite sound like he carefully weighed both options.

[Shawn Watson]

“To go with Blu-ray was a no-brainer for Tartan. Not only is the format superior to HD-DVD, but also the fact that 7 out of 8 studios have chosen to release their films on Blu-ray means that this so-called ‘format war’ is over before it has really begun.”

And I was such a fan of Tartan. I have loads of their films. To ignore the entire HD DVD crowd like this is just plain rude. And 2 other similar UK distributers are going for HD, so why not them? Why not even neutral? I am not happy about this!

Shawn

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Shawn Watson

“To go with Blu-ray was a no-brainer for Tartan. Not only is the format superior to HD-DVD, but also the fact that 7 out of 8 studios have chosen to release their films on Blu-ray means that this so-called ‘format war’ is over before it has really begun.”

And I was such a fan of Tartan. I have loads of their films. To ignore the entire HD DVD crowd like this is just plain rude. And 2 other similar UK distributers are going for HD, so why not them? Why not even neutral? I am not happy about this!

Shawn

Apparently Sony gave Tartan a deal, short term subsidised authoring/replication. And besides, Blu-Ray does have out a ton of players right now. Will have to wait a bit longer for HD DVD to reach critical mass before studios are forced to release for it

[Shawn Watson]

Mmm...first Anchor Bay, now Tartan and now the PS3 price drops. BD has so, soooo much going for it and all HD has is...erm...what was it again? In theory it's the best. In execution...what are they playing at?

Everywhere I go, all I see is BD. Sony are pushing this like crazy and the HD group (in the UK at least) is doing sweet fuck all. Massive displays of BD in Virgin Megastore with only launch titles of HD in a lonely corner.

Every day it just reminds me of the end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and no new support and no promotion makes me feel like HD DVD backers just want to give in.

Having said all this (and I know my dollar to pound comparisons in 'rip-off' Britain are getting oooold) the prices they are asking for BD in ANY store is fucking outrageous.

In HMV today I saw AVP for £29. That's the equiv of an HMV store in America asking for $59. It's just waaaay too prohibitive. How any store expects to make sales is beyond my understanding. Anyone who is going to buy into HD is going to shop around...surely! And if so then in-store sales with fucking insane prices like this are going to be slight-to-non-existant.

This is where the no region coding of HD-DVD comes in handy since we can import titles from America for DEAD cheap. But I have no idea how many people are doing that. And if loads were then that would only count towards US sales and they are way below BD US sales. And THAT would only shove actual UK and Euro sales of HD down even further.

A grim, grim situation indeed. What we fucking need is for Universal to release films that people WANT. Not fucking Cat People and not the piece of shit Getaway remake!



Shawn

[dugpa]

Originally Posted by Shawn Watson

Massive displays of BD in Virgin Megastore with only launch titles of HD in a lonely corner.

Virgin here has both BD and HD-DVD in the same display. But since they charge full list price for the discs, I suspect they'll both be lonely for a long time.

What we fucking need is for Universal to release films that people WANT. Not fucking Cat People and not the piece of shit Getaway remake!

But what exactly are these titles? The thing is, besides the Spielberg catalog which is off limits, Universal doesn't really have any big blockbuster titles left (assuming that's what you mean by "films that people want"). These are Universal's top ten box office grossing films:
1. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial Uni.
2 Jurassic Park Uni.
3 Meet the Fockers
4 How the Grinch Stole Christmas
5 Jaws Uni.
6 Bruce Almighty Uni.
7 The Lost World: Jurassic Park Uni.
8 King Kong Uni.
9 Back to the Future Uni.
10 The Mummy Returns

Of those ten, four are Spielberg, five are out on hd-dvd or announced for it, and Back to the Future is the lone holdout left. What else is left?

Let's look at Universals top grossing films from last year.
1. The Break-Up
2. Inside Man
3. You, Me and Dupree
4. Miami Vice
5. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
6. The Good Shepherd
7. Curious George
8. Nanny McPhee
9. Accepted
10. Children of Men

Seven are out on hd-dvd, leaving only Inside Man, Curious George (is anyone really eager for this one?) and Nanny McPhee left.

So I ask you again, just what exactly is it you think Universal should be releasing instead of catalog titles?

Personally, I'm waiting for them to release The Pianist, Mulholland Drive, October Sky and Lost Highway. But none of those are really huge titles that will make the format and probably fall under the category for you of "films that no one wants."

[Ruined]

Remember Universal does have all the Hitchcock titles.

In terms of Blockbusters though, yeah, Universal might not have a ton of them outside of Spielberg, however they do have a MASSIVE catalog of great titles. So I think they should just continue to tap that catalog - Universal is doing just fine.

[dugpa]

Originally Posted by Ruined

Remember Universal does have all the Hitchcock titles.

Not all of them. Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, The Birds, Shadow of a Doubt, Family Plot, Frenzy, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Marnie, Rope, Saboteur, Topaz, Torn Curtain, and The Trouble with Harry are owned by Universal. Strangers on a Train, North by Northwest, Dial M for Murder, Foreign Correspondent, Suspicion, The Wrong Man, Stage Fright, I Confess and Mr. and Mrs. Smith are owned by Warner Brothers. Paramount has To Catch a Thief. The Ring, The Manxman, Murder, The Skin Game and Rich and Strange are owned by Lionsgate. The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, Rebecca, Spellbound and Notorious are public domain.

[Iguana Man]

Originally Posted by dugpa

Not all of them. Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, The Birds, Shadow of a Doubt, Family Plot, Frenzy, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Marnie, Rope, Saboteur, Topaz, Torn Curtain, and The Trouble with Harry are owned by Universal. Strangers on a Train, North by Northwest, Dial M for Murder, Foreign Correspondent, Suspicion, The Wrong Man, Stage Fright, I Confess and Mr. and Mrs. Smith are owned by Warner Brothers. Paramount has To Catch a Thief. The Ring, The Manxman, Murder, The Skin Game and Rich and Strange are owned by Lionsgate. The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, Rebecca, Spellbound and Notorious are public domain.

How the hell does this happen? Meaning how do multiple studios get rights to a 'franchise'. This seems very odd to me.

[dugpa]

Originally Posted by Iguana Man

How the hell does this happen? Meaning how do multiple studios get rights to a 'franchise'. This seems very odd to me.

Hitchcock is not a franchise, Hitchcock is a person. As with most any director, they go where there's someone willing to finance their work. Look at most any director out there, be it Lucas, Spielberg, Eastwood, Howard, Jackson, Burton, Lynch...and you'll see they rarely always make films for the same studio. A franchise, on the other hand, involves a story or characters which the studio often owns the rights to, and thus in most cases tend to remain in the same place. Though even that doesn't always happen. The Terminator series comes to mind, which the rights to have been sold around so much that each film lies with a different studio.

[Shawn Watson]

Eastwood has made about 40 million films for Warner.

Shawn

[dugpa]

Originally Posted by Shawn Watson

Eastwood has made about 40 million films for Warner.

Yet even he has had to go elsewhere from time to time. Flags of Our Fathers was made with Dreamworks, Absolute Power for Sony and his first few films were all with Universal.

[Shawn Watson]

Absolute Power is Warner.

Shawn

[Toefur]

I don't think Rebecca, Spellbound and Notorious are public domain. If they were, Criterion would be able to continue to sell them. Someone has to own them for Criterion to have lost the rights to make them. I wish they were PD though, as I never did buy them back when they were readily available.

[dugpa]

Originally Posted by Shawn Watson

Absolute Power is Warner.

The home video rights are now owned by Warner via their purchase of Castle Rock, but the film was made for and distributed theatrically by Columbia.

[dugpa]

Originally Posted by Toefur

I don't think Rebecca, Spellbound and Notorious are public domain. If they were, Criterion would be able to continue to sell them. Someone has to own them for Criterion to have lost the rights to make them. I wish they were PD though, as I never did buy them back when they were readily available.

I think you might be right about that. Now that I think about it, I think it's the British films, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Thirty-Nine Steps, The Secret Agent, Sabotage, Young and Innocent and The Lady Vanishes, that are PD, and the Selznick ones are now owned by Disney via their purchase of ABC, who had the Selznick library. So that would put Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious and The Paradine Case now at Disney.

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by dugpa

I think you might be right about that. Now that I think about it, I think it's the British films, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Thirty-Nine Steps, The Secret Agent, Sabotage, Young and Innocent and The Lady Vanishes, that are PD, and the Selznick ones are now owned by Disney via their purchase of ABC, who had the Selznick library. So that would put Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious and The Paradine Case now at Disney.

Sweet! I know Disney will do a great job with the highdef versions of these films!

[dugpa]

Originally Posted by ganthc

Sweet! I know Disney will do a great job with the highdef versions of these films!

Yeah, I'm sure they're high on their list of priorities since they haven't even bothered to release them on SD DVD. My hope is that they'll license them back to Criterion, who by that time will have hopefully decided to finally enter the HD world.

[Shawn Watson]

So I am still right.

Shawn

[Derb]

Shawn,

Would like to know what is a good film in your opinion?

[bjh_18]

dvdactive.com has an interesting line in their announcement of Tartan's first wave of Blu-ray titles in the UK:

Title: Tartan Goes Blu-ray
Starring: Various
Released: 23rd August 2007
SRP: £29.99

Further Details:
Tartan Home Video has announced the release of its first wave of Blu-ray titles, starting with Paul Verhoeven's Black Book on the 23rd of August. This will be followed by Park Chan-wook's OldBoy and the classic The Seventh Seal on the 24th of September. Tartan US will also release Oldboy on the 23rd of October. All titles will retail for around £29.99. We don't have detailed specs for each release at this time, but we'll try to update this article as soon as they are available.

http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releas...s-blu-ray.html

I hope this is true

[bjh_18]

A little more info from Blu-ray.com that backs up the previous story:

Tartan Update and US Release

A little over a week ago, Tartan Video announced their exclusive support of Blu-ray and the release of three titles, 'Black Book', 'The Seventh Seal', and 'Oldboy'. Today we have an update on some specs for these UK releases, as well as a US release date for Oldboy. The big news is that Tartan has announced that all their releases will be region free.

All three titles will be encoded using AVC at 1080p. 'Black Book' and 'Oldboy' will feature both DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby Digital audio tracks (no word on 'The Seventh Seal'). Both 'Black Book' and 'The Seventh Seal' will feature the extras from their respective DVD releases, and 'Oldboy' will feature a commentary and possibly deleted scenes.

Tartan US will release 'Oldboy' for Blu-ray on October 23rd, and the release should mirror the UK release. 'Black Book' is being released by Sony in the US on September 25th (a month after the UK release). No US date has been announced for 'The Seventh Seal'.

These releases will be bundled with the DVD release, at least in the UK. No word on if Tartan US plans to continue that trend. And as mentioned earlier, all releases will not include regional coding, making them import friendly.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=336

[dugpa]

No region encoding, that's good news. Looks like Seventh Seal will be mine. Yay!