Paramount Announces Sapphire Series (BD) -- Braveheart, Gladiator, Forrest Gump

[SkipKassidy]

Got the press release, regarding Paramount's new Sapphrie Series of titles.

Braveheart and Gladiator to be available on 09/01.




Braveheart Blu-ray Details

Winner of five Academy Awards® including Best Picture, the exhilarating epic Braveheart is one of the most anticipated films on Blu-ray according to Amazon.com and continues to be beloved by fans and critics alike. The film will be presented in 1080p High Definition with English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English, English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles. Among the more than two hours of new special features to be included on Braveheart are:

• Interactive Timelines—Three distinct timelines featuring a combination of video, images, text and audio that can be accessed linearly or randomly.
o Production: A comprehensive chronology of the motion picture from conception through theatrical release, from a behind-the-scenes point of view.
o Historical: Chronological modules feature Scotland’s greatest patriot, along with historical places, figures and events surrounding his life and struggle.
o Fiction: A comprehensive timeline identifying the chronological events of the film.

• Braveheart: A Look Back— Features new interviews with members of the cast and crew reminiscing about their experiences making the film and its enduring impact on cinema.

• Smithfield: Medieval Killing Fields—Relates the remarkable history of Smithfield, which for centuries was regularly filled with the roars of crowds, regal fanfares and rowdy games. Smithfield is also known as the site of
William Wallace’s execution, along with other terrifying spectacles when heretics, rebels and criminals were put to death.

• Battlefields of the Scottish Rebellion— Two major Scottish battlefields, Falkirk and Bannockburn, will be presented as 3D models that can be explored for further investigation into the military strategies and timetables employed in each. Topography, weapons, troop movements, and leadership data can also be accessed. An alternate playing mode will allow the story of each battle to unfold in an “automated” fashion, much like the interactive dioramas displayed at historical site museums around the world.



Gladiator Blu-ray Details

Director Ridley Scott’s triumphant Gladiator is an unparalleled combination of vivid action and extraordinary storytelling that earned five Oscars® including Best Picture and is also on Amazon.com’s top 10 list of most anticipated Blu-ray titles. The Blu-ray presentation will include both the original theatrical version of the film as well as the extended version in 1080p High Definition with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, as well as English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Korean subtitles. The two-disc set also will feature over four hours of bonus material including, but not limited to, the following:

• Audio Commentary—Two separate commentaries accompany the original theatrical version and extended version of the film.

• The Scrolls of Knowledge—The original trivia track has been newly enhanced with focus points allowing viewers to access a series of new behind-the-scenes featurettes exploring key scenes and how they relate to the historical accuracy depicted in the film. The extended version of the film also includes a deleted scene marker.

• Visions From Elysium: Topic Marker—Viewers can tag moments of interest throughout either version of the film, allowing them to create “shopping lists” of topics to learn more about. Thanks to the Blu-ray player’s memory, the topics will automatically be loaded when Disc 2 is inserted, giving viewers immediate access to featurettes and galleries of interest.

• Strength And Honor: Creating The World of Gladiator—The definitive documentary on the origin, production and impact of the Oscar®-winning classic. The documentary includes an all-new Enhanced Viewing Mode allowing viewers access to additional interviews and behind-the-scenes material.

• The Making of Gladiator—HBO First Look special.

• Gladiator Games: The Roman Bloodsport—Learning Channel special.

• Hans Zimmer: Scoring Gladiator—An exploration of the rousing soundtrack.

• My Gladiator Journal—Personal diary of the young actor who played Lucius.

• Image & Design—Featurettes and galleries covering the production design, storyboards, costumes and more.

• Abandoned Sequences & Deleted Scenes

• VFX Explorations: Germania & Rome—Shot deconstruction with the visual effects artists.




Forrest Gump specs to be announced at a later date.

[GizmoDVD]

The fancy name and (likely) slip cover means Paramount can charge $39.99 MSRP for the catalog films vs the standard $29.99 MSRP that they've been doing. More are in the works as well (Tis a Beauty that is Sinking) and I will continue to pass on them because I refuse to pay (the cheapest) $27 on release week for a catalog title. I just finally grabbed Ferris Bueller and Saturday Night Fever when they were $15 which is my max now for a catalog flick.

I know we'll get the people "who pays MSRP for catalog flicks lolz", but once again, Best Buy is the #1 HD retailer and they will slap a $34.99 sticker on these and that's what consumers will see - not the $27ish on Amazon. As much as I'd like to add Gump to my collection I won't be for $27.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by GizmoDVD

The fancy name and (likely) slip cover means Paramount can charge $39.99 MSRP for the catalog films vs the standard $29.99 MSRP that they've been doing.

To be fair, these are some of Paramount's crown jewels and there's a lot more going on in these packages than in those for the standard catalog fare like Saturday Night Fever and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I'm all for lower catalog pricing, too, but these sets, while not cheap, at least look packed with goodness for the price being asked.

[GizmoDVD]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

To be fair, these are some of Paramount's crown jewels and there's a lot more going on in these packages than in those for the standard catalog fare like Saturday Night Fever and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I'm all for lower catalog pricing, too, but these sets, while not cheap, at least look packed with goodness for the price being asked.

I don't have any of these on DVD to compare, but most is just the DVD special features recycled, right? Its not like they are tossing in tons of new material to warrant a $10 MSRP increase. I'm bummed. But the next wave will really make me really mad. One of my favorite flicks will get the raise

[Artman]

I guess it was wishful thinking they'd just treat these as any other catalog title in terms of pricing... I'm glad they're announced, will hold out for a few months though.

[KillerCannibal]

I can't believe I bought the Gladiator extended edition DVD when it came out and still haven't watched it. Hopefully, I'll watch the BD at least once. Def. in for Braveheart, too.

[Shazam]

Yay. Two DVDs that look like shit now to be replaced.

EDIT: All three. Forgot how crappy FG looked.

[matome]

In for Braveheart

[droidguy1119]

Originally Posted by GizmoDVD

I don't have any of these on DVD to compare, but most is just the DVD special features recycled, right? Its not like they are tossing in tons of new material to warrant a $10 MSRP increase. I'm bummed. But the next wave will really make me really mad. One of my favorite flicks will get the raise

The press release in this very thread clearly states that Braveheart is getting more than two hours of all-new features. This may not be the case for Gladiator (some new interactive features are mentioned within the list) and FG, but at least one of the titles is getting a real upgrade.

[GreenMonkey]

Too bad. I was eagerly awaiting Braveheart and Gladiator. But not for $40 MSRP.

[droidguy1119]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

Too bad. I was eagerly awaiting Braveheart and Gladiator. But not for $40 MSRP.

As far as I can tell, Gizmo just seems to be speculating on the price point. I haven't actually seen anything that says that, yet.

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by droidguy1119

As far as I can tell, Gizmo just seems to be speculating on the price point. I haven't actually seen anything that says that, yet.

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?id=1289

Amazon already shows the $39.99 MSRP

[droidguy1119]

I figured he was right but I hadn't seen any proof...

[emachine12]

Originally Posted by droidguy1119

The press release in this very thread clearly states that Braveheart is getting more than two hours of all-new features. This may not be the case for Gladiator (some new interactive features are mentioned within the list) and FG, but at least one of the titles is getting a real upgrade.

Basically, all of the extras from the Gladiator EE DVD are present on the Blu-ray Disc. However, the BD producers altered some of the content to take advantage of Blu-ray Disc.

The trivia track now has seamless branching featurettes and during the film you can mark sections so that when you insert the second disc, instead of playing the whole documentary, you can choose to just watch the sections you bookmarked during the film. The documentary on the second disc was also enhanced with picture-in-picture content.

There really was not much to add to Gladiator since the previous EE DVD covered a lot of ground. Braveheart, on the other hand, was not given the full special edition treatment untill 2007 and even then, some folks felt it was underwhelming.

[Michael Corvin]

I never jumped on the Braveheart: SE since by the time it hit, I was already Blu. Kinda pointless at that point in time.

Originally Posted by GizmoDVD

The fancy name and (likely) slip cover means Paramount can charge $39.99 MSRP for the catalog films vs the standard $29.99 MSRP that they've been doing. More are in the works as well (Tis a Beauty that is Sinking) and I will continue to pass on them because I refuse to pay (the cheapest) $27 on release week for a catalog title. I just finally grabbed Ferris Bueller and Saturday Night Fever when they were $15 which is my max now for a catalog flick.

I know we'll get the people "who pays MSRP for catalog flicks lolz", but once again, Best Buy is the #1 HD retailer and they will slap a $34.99 sticker on these and that's what consumers will see - not the $27ish on Amazon. As much as I'd like to add Gump to my collection I won't be for $27.

While the pricing sucks, Braveheart is one of my top 3 favorite films. It will be mine, price be damned.

[GenPion]

Forrest Gump will be mine because it's a favorite... period.

The other two will instead be relegated to rentals now.

[mdc3000]

Not hot on the price or the Sapphire Series banner but I will definitely get all 3 of these eventually - GREAT movies.

[macnorton]

I am down for all three...and I had two copies of Gladiator (EE droped the commentary that was on the two disc), so perfect reason to upgrade!

I don't have Forrest Gump, so hopefully all the extras make it over.

[dx23]

I had posted this in the other thread.

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/hd-talk/553...t-blu-ray.html

[Hammer99]

Great news, can't wait to get all 3! Gump isn't up yet, but I pre-ordered Braveheart & Gladiator from Amazon last night.

[WMAangel]

Originally Posted by GizmoDVD

The fancy name and (likely) slip cover means Paramount can charge $39.99 MSRP for the catalog films vs the standard $29.99 MSRP that they've been doing. More are in the works as well (Tis a Beauty that is Sinking) and I will continue to pass on them because I refuse to pay (the cheapest) $27 on release week for a catalog title. I just finally grabbed Ferris Bueller and Saturday Night Fever when they were $15 which is my max now for a catalog flick.

While the increasing of MSRP always sucks, it should be pointed out that these are 2-disc releases, so I wouldn't expect them to list for the same price as those other, 1-disc catalog titles you mentioned that are basically just ported from the prior DVD....these appear to have some new bonus features too, and it's nice to see them giving a whole disc for the films themselves to "breathe" as they say....
I hope that is only a slipcover with a regular 2-disc Blu plastic case underneath, but based on that picture I am worried it might be some silly new cardboard digipack crap...I sure hope not!
Oh, and nice sly Titanic hint there, I'd love to see it before year end!

[Kal-El]

In for all 3.

[droidguy1119]

There's some information on the Bits about a new roundtable featurette and possibly some other new stuff on the Gump DVD, with confirmation that it's being touted as a new 15th Anniversary Edition. One of the upsides of Gladiator, I realized, is that it collects the 2-disc and Extended Edition bonuses together, so if you have both DVDs you can get rid of both. All in all, the higher price doesn't bother me since these all seem to be getting a substantial upgrade.

[Maxflier]

Fuckin' A! Counting down the days until I can get my hands on Gladiator. Very glad that it has both cuts.

[RichC2]

Since the first thing I think of when I see Gladiator or Braveheart is ... Sapphire.

Terrible line name.