Disney Unveils First BD-50 Titles

Continuing the rapid adoption of the BD-50, Buena Vista Home Entertainment has announced the release of its first four Blu-ray dual-layer 50GB discs in time for the holiday season.

As reported late last week, both 'Pearl Harbor' and 'Invincible' will hit Blu-ray on December 19, the latter Disney's first day-and-date release on the next-gen format. The studio has today confirmed via this press release that both titles will be BD-50s. They will be joined by the hit thrillers 'Enemy of the State' and 'Flightplan,' which the studio previously announced for a November 21 Blu-ray release last month.

Extras on all titles except 'Pearl Harbor' will mirror the bonus content found on their DVD counterparts. 'Invincible' will also included a bonus featurette exclusive to the Blu-ray release, while 'Flightplan' adds a new Blu-Scape short film entitled "Jet Stream."

Note that 'Pearl Harbor' was released on standard-def DVD in two versions: a two-disc set, and one of the more lavish box sets ever on the format, a four-disc monstrosity teeming with extras. The Blu-ray release appears to mirror the two-disc set, with three featurettes, a music video and trailers.

With the House of Mouse now onboard the BD-50 bandwagon, they join Warner, Paramount, Fox, Sony and Lionsgate, who have all announced dual-layer Blu-ray releases. All studios have pledged to continue their aggressive support of the format well into 2007, so we should continue to see a steady stream of new BD-50 titles announced.

Retail for all four of Disney's BD-50 titles has been set at a suggested $34.95 each.

We've updated the listings for all four titles to our Blu-ray Release Schedule.

We also set up dedicated threads for all releases in our new Forums area -- click the following links to discuss the ''Flightplan' Blu-ray release, the 'Enemy of the State' Blu-ray release, the 'Invincible' Blu-ray release and the 'Pearl Harbor' Blu-ray release.