Last Warner release on HD DVD: Twister?
January 16, 2008

Barely hitting its May deadline to exit HD DVD, Warner will be streeting a two-disc special edition of Twister on all three standard and high-def formats during that month. Twister streets on Blu-ray and standard on May 6, and then debuts on HD DVD three weeks later on May 28. This is one of the first Warner release announcements since the studio talked about its new Blu-exclu strategy, where in the short-term there is going to be a window between its standard/Blu and HD DVD titles. It'll be interesting to see how retailers treat this pretty big lag between the high-def formats.  Unless Warner pays for it, I can't imagine Best Buy or Circuit City giving up circular space to talk about Twister twice. Or maybe someone will include an asterisk after the Twister May 6 mention? Right below the picture, it could say 'for DVD and Blu-ray, ' and then at the bottom of the page with the corresponding asterisk, say  'hey, don't forget it's on HD DVD on May 28!' Or maybe it could have a double asterisk, with that statement, and then for the second asterisk put 'but oh yeah! after that we won't be advertising any more Warner HD DVDs, because there won't be any!' Well, I admit to being snarky and over-doing it for comic effect. But really the whole thing is confusing, especially for an attempt by Warner to try to end the confusing format war. 

Posted by Susanne Ault on January 16, 2008 | Comments (3)