Jul 30, 2009 by Brian Gallagher

Paramount to Roll Out New Titles on Blu-ray Before DVD

As the landscape of home entertainment keeps changing, one studio has announced plans to keep up with the current trends. According to Variety, Paramount Home Entertainment will start making select titles available for purchase on Blu-ray long before the titles will be available on standard DVD.

It seems the new initiative will start with Dance Flick, which, although it hasn't been officially announced yet, will be released on September 8. Instead of having the DVD and Blu-ray available for purchase on the same date, the film will only be available to buy on Blu-ray, although consumers will be able to rent the film in standard definition and Blu-ray on that date. It was said the standard DVD version of the film will be on sale approximately four to eight weeks after the BD street date.

The new program is meant to reflect changes in the home entertainment field that has seen increases in DVD rentals and Blu-ray sales, but decreases in standard DVD sales. Blu-ray sales have nearly doubled from this time last year and both DVD and BD rentals are up 8.3% from last year as well. Standard DVD sales, however, have seen a sharp 15% decline.

Despite this new strategy, it doesn't seem this staggered release policy will apply to every release. The studio had not announced additional titles to be released in this new strategy and it was said the studio will evaluate release strategies for upcoming titles individually.


Sources: Variety

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Comments (11)

  1. CBF

    No Moviemaniac it is you who is misinformed. Standard DVDs ARE the preferred format of the industry. Blu-ray has NOT toppled DVDs by far. This is a FACT.

    3 years agoby @comicbookfanFlag

  2. jono1018

    twisted mine a blu ray player is 150 euro get a life a buy 1

    3 years agoby @jono1018Flag

  3. mikehd

    first and foremost there's no comparison when comes to blu ray and dvd blu ray is much superior in picture and sound quality but paramount is dead wrong for doing this corporate idiot 's decide this and there going to cause ther self's alot of money people will start to go to other means to get these movies the same day as blu ray more will start buying illegal copys just get to the move they want and not switch over to blu ray because they afford it

    3 years agoby @mikehdFlag

  4. Moviemaniack1993

    Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this news. Blu-ray IS the ultimate at home movie viewing experience and CBF you are grossly misinformed. Yes, the benefit of Blu-ray is to have the HD tv and the surround sound system setup (which I have put together nicely myself) BUT you do not need to have either to watch a Blu-ray, it just enhances it to top tier performance. And Disney even puts a DVD copy with their Blu-rays so if you were smart, you would buy the Blu-ray version and use the DVD until you are able to upgrade. And give me a break. Wal Mart now has sub $100 players and by Black Friday they will be dirt cheap, as well as HD tvs so I dont want to hear people bitch about not being able to get into it. It is the future, and I hope more studios jump into doing this.

    3 years agoby @moviemaniack1993Flag

  5. CB Junior

    So, pretty much all the summer movies will be released on Blu-ray before DVD, since they're all likely to be holiday releases.

    3 years agoby @cbjuniorFlag

  6. CBF

    Very well put, Twisted. Especially in this troubled, country-wide-deficit economy, can most people not afford the expensive luxuries of Blu-ray. Most people I know can't even afford a PS3. Not to mention it's NOT the desired format.

    What pisses me off the most is the lack of options, as Twisted Smile said, with the industry's leading format, standard DVDs. They ARE pushing useless bullsh*t Digital Copies on us while at the same time excluding the most prized special features, to include them on Blu-ray editions ONLY to force consumers' hands, and now delaying standard releases by two months. This all started with "X-Men: The Last Stand" and "The Dark Knight." But it's NOT working, and WILL NOT work. Not to mention Digital Copies are an online thing now that expire a little less than a year later. Can someone please tell me the point of that?

    So, just to get this straight... We are paying $25 for a Two-Disc DVD Edition only to get jipped on that second "bonus" disc for a Digital Copy that we don't even want, yet in a year, it won't even be valid anyway. And I can almost guarantee that when that Digital Copy validation is up, we will still be paying the same price on that DVD. Which, of course, means that it is not the Digital Copy we are forking out the extra money for. I'm sorry, but even I can't see the bang for my buck when paying that much for nothing, especially with the economy so bad and standard 1-disc DVDs WITH THE MOVIE ONLY are $19.99!!! Talk about a rip-off! Anyone can download a torrent and save themselves a 20 bill. The best thing about a DVD is its capacity, and ability to include extras, which is what us collectors target. Like Twisted said, take away that and you are alienating your core consumer.

    3 years agoby @comicbookfanFlag

  7. ikilledbill2wice

    lol...i enjoy CBF's threats.

    3 years agoby @ikilledbill2wiceFlag

  8. Twisted Smile (The Untold Smile)

    I know what your saying Bruce Wayne,I won't doubt your knowledge of it, but you mentioned rentals and not purchases. How can a format be supported based on a $20 rentals a week(going by your example)? A release on Blu-ray is usually $10 or $15 more than it's standard definition,special edition companion. Let's also not forget that the players alone are currently very expensive as well as the televisions needed in order to get the full HD experience. When dvd came out it was more expensive than VHS and you did have to buy an expensive player, but you didn't have to upgrade your television if you wanted to enjoy it. To much is being thrown at the public to quickly. We have just gotten comfortable with dvd's and know we are being asked to switch again during a more hectic economy to something that for many is just to much. It's the same with the HD televisions. Like I said, you need one in order to get the true Blu-ray HD experiences and those televisions aren't cheap. If all the studios were to take the same action they would be alienating a huge chunk of there profit margin. I don't think Hollywood can afford to do that at this time.

    3 years agoby @twistedsmileFlag

  9. BruceWayne

    wow people. BD will become the format. So sorry you'll have to deal with it. Also remember DVDs started out more expensive then VHS. So quickly you forget. BD will go down in price. Also you say you doubt the numbers are right about the spike in rentals and sales. You evidently have no idea. I work at blockbuster and believe me I've had people laid off from work for months...close to a year that come in and rent 20 dollars+ a week in movies. Sorry but when the economy's bad people revert to entertainment, if anything to avoid going crazy or worse.

    3 years agoby @brucewayneFlag

  10. Twisted Smile (The Untold Smile)

    I agree %100 with ya CBF. I understood why they were fazing out VHS,it was a dieing format that had many limitations,but this is ridiculous.The standard DVD format is not that old and is still very popular and not to mention more affordable than the Blu-ray format. I find it hard to believe that these sales numbers are accurate especially during a troubled economy. Let's also not forget that in order to achieve the true Blu-ray experience that is so much talked about with this format, one has to have an HD television and a sound system that caters to the specs of the player. This is just a stupid move and very much what CBF said. This is a marketing gimmick put together to specifically force the movie watching consumer to upgrade to a more expensive format. My guess is they will try it with Transformers 2 when it's released.

    On another matter, who else thinks they are holding back special features in order to push the digital copy? If I was given an option I would chose the special features over the digital copy. It would be nice to have an option. Any thoughts on this?

    3 years agoby @twistedsmileFlag

  11. CBF

    This is why I HATE the industry.

    I know I, for one, am never going to switch to Blu-ray. This is just a marketing scam and it SUCKS! If they start to slowly phase out standard DVDs, I'm going on a murdering spree, starting with Paramount...

    3 years agoby @comicbookfanFlag

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