Speed Racer BLU-RAY 9/16/08
 

Flopped at the box office. I suspect this one will do better on video.

from www.blu-ray.com:

Warner Home Video has announced that they will bring the Wachowski brothers film 'Speed Racer' to Blu-ray on September 16th, day-and-date with the DVD release. This three-disc set will feature the main feature and supplemental features on the first disc, the DVD game "Speed Racer Crucible Challenge" on the second disc, and a digital copy of the film on the third disc - the last two being exclusive to the Blu-ray release.

Video will be presented in widescreen 1080p VC-1 accompanied by a Dolby TrueHD soundtrack. Extras for this release include:

Spritle in the Big Leagues
Explore the cars and tracks used in the film and see how the heart-pounding races were created without using a single car.

Earlier this year, Warner indicated that they would release The Matrix films on Blu-ray to coincide with the release of 'Speed Racer' as they are all Wachowski brothers films. Warner yet to make that announcement, but hopefully we will hear something very soon.

http://www.thehdroom.com/images/bluray/large/4447.jpg

Nice....might give this a try and pick it up cheap a couple weeks after release.

Had no desire to see it in the theater, but I would like to see it as a rental.

What a horrendous set. Two crappy bonus features -- one perhaps nothing more than an animated short or short film with the monkey -- and an additional TWO DISCS that contain nothing more than a game and the digital copy, respectively? They couldn't even fit the Digital Copy onto the same disc as the game?

DVD Active has a promo sheet with the announcement showing the artwork. Looks like WB will be using a slipcover. Retail price is $35.99.

is this the first announced Digital Copy from WB? are they going to make this a regular practice on day and dates?

It would likely fit, but they assume that most people don't own BD drives.

(But it appears that the game disk is described as a "DVD Game" so who knows why there are three disks.)

Why are they still being referred to as the Wachowski brothers? Didn't one of them have a full sex change already? Shouldn't they be the Wachowski Siblings?

What I don't understand is why this gets a multi-disc set, yet they couldn't put the extras for L.A. Confidential on a second disc to leave more room for the film. They already mastered that second disc for the DVD, so why not use it for the BD like they did with Blade Runner?

BTW, I like that the digital copy is on a separate disc. Provided the price doesn't go up, that means I can use the case for something else. You can't buy 2-disc BD cases yet. I wonder what kind of case they'll use for a 3-disc set.

The set sounds unnecessary... but this is a must own Blu-ray title as far as i am concerned. Pure eye candy.

I'm one of the ones around here who absolutely LOVED THIS MOVIE, so I'm getting this, lame special features or not...

For the record, Discs 2 and 3 are SD-DVDs. Only Disc 1 is a BD.Apparently crew members on Speed Racer laughed when asked if this were true, so I guess Larry changes his mind quicker than he changes his gender.

Rental at first and we'll see after that.

The movie was overlong and kind of grating, but it should look fantastic on Blu-Ray, though forget that other crap and put some decent extras on it.

Based purely on what people have said about how the film looks, I know I'll end up Netflixing this one eventually. But regardless of the reviews and word of moth, the trailers and TV spots for this movie just looked BAD. But then again, I've been surprised before. I'll definitely keep an open mind.

interesting news on the specs for this title from thedigitalbits:
i am really curious what Warner's policy is when it comes to deciding what titles get a BD25 and lossy audio only. is it based on how many units they project they will move? at this point, i'm pretty baffled.

Just when you thought WB couldn't be any worse.

I'm buying this on Blu-Ray solely for using it as a high quality picture mind-blow-fest. I never expected a lot from it but I think it's going to freakin' just be CRAZY in 1080p.

Just wait. The Dark Knight: low bit-rate VC1 on a BD-25 with DD5.1. :lol:

With a family-friendly PG rating, it should've at least made half its budget at the box office but it ended up being a box office and critical disaster. Shouldn't surprise anyone that its getting a less than stellar blu ray release.

Hmmm...this or 2 Criterions... :hscratch:

You joke about it, but anything's possible with Warner these days.

5.1 again? Wonderful. So when is Warner suppose to be going back to TrueHD like in their HD DVD days? Didn't someone here post some "insider information" that this should have been corrected already? Ridiculous.

I know the film bombed (and sucks)...but this is a perfect Blu-ray demo disc. Instead, they opted to go cheap and use a BD25 with DD5.1. Urban Legends is on a 50GB disc with 3 TrueHD tracks yet Warner can't seem to do one? Does anyone even care about some stupid kids game or a digital copy of a movie that is sure to make people puke while watching on their iPods?

I really hope Warner gets their shit together soon otherwise if they continue to sell their Blu-ray discs at a much higher rate then other studios (I Am Legend comes to mind) then other studios may say screw it and discontinue lossless tracks. Whats the point in spending money and making a TrueHD, DTS MA, PCM track is their just going to get outsold my Warner? Get back on track soon Warner.

Yeah, I just cancelled my preorder for "Perfect Storm" Bluray next week. It also has DD5.1 only!? Another movie that should have had great sound. WB is acting like they're still trying to fit everything onto an HD-DVD. Even if they use TrueHD, it's hardly ever 24-bit, like Paramount & Sony use, plus the video bitrates are much lower than other studios. What gives? They ended the format war to release the worst product possible?
I know Speed Racer didn't do well (my son & I liked it alot), but anyone with an HD setup should want this as a demo disc & it would probably sell pretty well. But they're making it as unattractive as possible to the people who would want it for the eye & ear candy. And I hated the HD-DVD Combo discs, and these stupid digital copies are worse. If I just bought a movie in HD, why would I want to watch it on an Ipod in the worst possible quality?

Keep in mind when Warner was doing both HD DVD and Blu-ray, they often used better audio for the HD DVD (even if it was DD+ vs DD5.1) then Blu-ray. Even then, TrueHD/PCM was used on nearly every title, regardless if it was a day and date or catalog. The only reason The Lost Boys (out in 2 weeks) on Blu-ray has a TrueHD track is because the film was done last year and for whatever reason Warner never released it on either format. The sequel due out on the same day is DD5.1 only, while other straight to video releases like Justice League - New Frontier has a TrueHD track.