Fox will expand BD Live use of IMDb

PHYSICAL: Walmart will get combo SKU of Wolverine

By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 9/10/2009

SEPT. 10 | PHYSICAL: Kicking off with the Sept. 15 Wolverine release, movie database IMDb.com is expected to be included in a number of future 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment tentpole Blu-ray Disc releases. IMDb.com has not exclusively aligned with Fox, noted a Web site executive, which conceivably opens the door for the feature to also be added on other studios’ releases.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine represents a whole new world for Fox Blu-ray releases, with its integration of movie information, such as updated filmographies on a movie’s cast and crew from IMDb.

At a Sept. 10 demonstration, Fox executives showed how people will be able look up star Hugh Jackman’s acting credits and see that he has appeared at the Teen Choice Awards, which rolled out after Wolverine was completed.

With Wolverine, IMDb.com is incorporated as a side menu bar that pops up automatically when viewers click a remote control button. Viewers also can access the feature through the film’s main menu. Once in the IMDb.com mode, viewers can look up histories for actors/crew in a particular scene while the movie continues to roll.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is rolling out a similar BD Live feature, called movieIQ, which uses a real-time movie database from Gracenote, a Sony Corp. division.

Danny Kaye, Fox executive VP of global research, said that he advocated adding IMDb.com to Fox Blu-ray releases. He would frequently have questions about cast members while watching movies and disliked moving away to another room to look up the site on his computer.

“With Blu-ray [and its Web capabilities], you should just be able to point to the characters and get the info,” said Kaye.

Mary Daily, Fox executive VP of marketing, added, “IMDb.com allows people to interact with the movie in ways they never have before. Hugh is hugely popular with women, and they are interested in everything about him … Who wants to go to a computer and look it all up?”

Director Gavin Hood, who presented some of the other bonus features, including documentaries and featurettes, said that he is a fan of the Blu-ray Wolverine overall.

“This is a wonderful new medium, and you get to do stuff that’s in a live feed [with IMDb.com],” said Hood. “That’s incredible.”

Also revealed at the demo, Walmart will be exclusively selling a Blu-ray/standard-def DVD combo of Wolverine. A straight Blu-ray version, including digital copy, will be available at all retailers. At Walmart, the Blu-ray/DVD also will contain digital copy.

Even without Wolverine, the X-Men franchise has been a big success for Fox. The three films released to this point have collectively sold 50 million units, according to the studio.