That the first disc processed to test was Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle will be nothing more than a footnote in Blu-Ray's history, if that. The movie will probably be part of the first wave of titles released but I'd bet dollars to donuts it will be one of many.

Maybe they're still in the hole after that film, and are still trying to make a profit off it?

But you'll be missing out on a piece of history!

A little off topic, but what were the first DVD and LaserDisc titles that were released?

Fixed.

...and, seriously?

-JP

259 mil in worldwide box office, and if I remember correctly, another 60-70 mil in DVD sales.

The film did fine.

They picked this film due to the visual presentation. If you've seen the picture, it's quite colorful.

A more accurate question similar to this topic would be: which films were the first to be pressed onto a laserdisc and later on a DVD, for testing purposes? Most people don't remember, or more likely have no idea. In the long run, it doesn't really matter.

FULL THROTTLE may end up being included in the initial batch of Blu-Ray titles from Sony (or even possibly not). But don't worry early adopters, I'm very sure that there will be plenty of other films released on launch date as well.

Fixed.

No cool.

Gallant Pig

I was trying to say that Sony should've tried something that was heavy in special effects like those two, I wasn't saying Sony should've tried those two.

Interesting, since this title is NOT available in its theatrical version currently- the theatrical cut is only out in pan and scan, the widescreen edition is an "unrated" version. I wonder if they used the theatrical version at its proper aspect ratio for this test?

The first prototype movie DVDs included Interview With The Vampire, Four Weddings And A Funeral, and Sleepless In Seattle, which I heard had an interesting effect where Meg Ryan's head would move but her eyes stayed in the same place.

Laserdisc protos go back to the early 70s, most were reels from Universal movies or TV shows. You can see a floppy 1-sided prototype laserdisc played in "Airport 77". Jaws was among the first laserdiscs sold to the public in 1978.

Bernie Mac in HD! Whoopie!

I can't believe no one commented on one piece of info - it's in MPEG 2 format! Hello, we're almost in 2006! How about a new codec like VC-1 or MPEG-4?

Fair enough. I was under the impression that Columbia lost a bundle that year in overspending, and overpromoting, their summer releases (such as that and Bad Boys 2).

When they do get serious about actual releases the matrix trilogy would be a good choice.

Compression really isn't an issue when you have 23GB/layer

Sheesh, this is pitiful.

It's not pitiful because it was just a test/demo, not a commercial release. Sheeeesh!

using mpeg2 over vc1 may be better for now as mpeg2 encoding software is very mature and studios have experience with it, while vc1 is new and still in its infancy.

mpeg2 has improved greatly from dvd's introduction til now and vc1 will do the same eventually.

I thought that there will be dozens of titles available for purchase at the launch of BR. Charlie's Angles may be the first title produced for testing but come "opening day" I remember that up to 100 movies will be ready for consumers.

Yikes - I remember when Nintendo 64 came out and it had three games opening day and it took many months before there were more than ten. So, I think launch of hardware and media is being more coordinated.

Charlie's Angels Full Throttle, hmmm...

Probably a good choice for the blu- ray group. They will be able to calm the studios fears of pirated & bootleg discs, by pointing to the lack of bootleg blu-ray's in the market place. I'm sure there will not be much demand for CAFT other than the fact that it is in blu-ray.

EdL

DVD started out poorly also.The Batman movies were only available in the test areas and the choices besides that were very slim.

What? Gigli unavailable?

Seriously- you want to kick off a format, use Spider-Man or Spider-Man 2.

Jeez you guys are all overreacting.

And for the person that said they should concentrated on films that are special effects heavy. Umm....CF: FT IS FX heavy. Whether the film is good or not does not matter in this case. It is JUST a test disc of a FX heavy loud audio film.

That is pretty easy to understand,and yet everyone is bitching about it. When as it was pointed out. DVDS started off rather crappy and not so special as well. I'm sure the other formats will also start off in a similar fashion...and I won't bother buying into it anyway...until sometime in the far future.

Perception in the marketplace is important. What were they thinking?

Lack of judgement is one of the reasons Apple is kicking their butt.

I'm surprised that greedy bastard Luca$ hasn't released Star Wars on blu-ray yet.

I mentioned that and I got bitched at by fitprod.