Sony rolls out Kramer vs. Kramer BD Live download
Feature to be accessible to variety of Blu-ray disc owners
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 2/18/2009
FEB. 18 | Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will roll out a Kramer vs. Kramer download not only to owners of the Feb. 17 Blu-ray release, but to much of the studio’s BD Live community as well.
The download features a Q&A with the film’s director, Robert Benton, and co-star Justin Henry, following a Feb. 17 Kramer vs. Kramer screening in Los Angeles. During the event, audience members submitted questions to the pair, and the best ones were posed to Benton and Henry.
Once the download is posted on Sony’s BD Live network, expected by March 4, consumers will be able to pop in their Kramer vs. Kramer Blu-ray disc into a Web-enabled player to view the Q&A program. Additionally, owners of about 35 Sony BD Live titles will have access as well, after loading their discs into Web-enabled players and accepting network updates.
Sony is limiting the Kramer vs. Kramer-compatible titles to PG-13 BD Live releases, presumably to cater to audiences that watch adult dramas. Examples of past Sony releases set to have access to the Kramer vs. Kramer download include Hancock, The House Bunny, Made of Honor, Men in Black, Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist and The Other Boleyn Girl.
Additionally, several upcoming Sony Blu-ray titles will be able to access the Kramer vs. Kramer download, including March 17 release Seven Pounds and April 7 release Not Easily Broken.
Generally, most studios’ higher-profile BD Live features have been title-specific. For example, consumers needed to own Warner Home Video’s The Dark Knight Blu-ray to enjoy the Dec. 18 community screening with director Christopher Nolan.
In the past, Sony has widely offered movie clips and trailers on its BD Live network. The Kramer vs. Kramer feature represents one of its larger programs to bow for Sony's general Web-enabled community.
"With the ever-growing BD-Live community, our Kramer vs. Kramer BD-Live exclusive event has a unique opportunity to reach a vast number of network connected Blu-ray fans,” said Tracey Garvin, Sony senior VP worldwide marketing and content development. “We're making this event accessible across more titles than we have with previous BD-Live title-specific features to not only to foster interest in Kramer vs. Kramer, but in the BD-Live technology as a whole.”
Garvin is also hopeful to further highlight the format’s capabilities by bowing fresh content after Kramer vs. Kramer bows on shelves.
“This event is especially exciting for us, as it showcases the rapid turnaround between production and posting to our BD-Live network,” she said. “And it helps demonstrate the promise of BD-Live, with exclusive content created and posted after the disc's street date."
