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JAN. 21 | Teen phenomenon Twilight will be sold on Blu-ray Disc only at Target and Best Buy stores for a limited time following its March 21 bow, Summit Home Entertainment confirmed.

The studio continues to build a unique launch strategy for the film that involves limiting the availability of certain SKUs. Retail access to a single-disc standard-defintion version of Twilight will be restricted to rental stores and a very limited sell-through account base, which Summit has declined to detail.

The Blu-ray also will be available for rental.

Target and Best Buy will be the sole Twilight Blu-ray sellers until May 5, when Summit will make the high-def version widely available to retail.

The studio declined to give the exact reason for curbing the initial availability of Twilight on Blu-ray. Nearly all major theatrical hits now launch widely on both standard-definition DVD and Blu-ray on the same date.

However, Summit Home Entertainment president Steve Nickerson noted that the overall idea is to street Twilight in its various versions so that it best attracts its specific young female fan group.

“This is an unprecedented place, where you have the size of the [Twilight] box office versus this targeted audience,” said Nickerson.

Although Twilight is packed with special effects that are likely to shine in high-def, core Blu-ray buyers remain mostly male, according to recent NPD Group surveys, while Twilight fans are mostly female.

Twilight’s largest focus is the previously announced two-disc special edition with extensive bonus content, available everywhere at retail on March 21, which execs believe will carry the most appeal for the film’s many repeat theatrical viewers.

Twilight also could be heavily purchased as a digital download, matching how many fans bought the film’s soundtrack album.

Regardless of Summit’s motivation for this staggered Twilight launch, the DVD industry is coming to expect creative studio thinking in light of the current retail environment. During the fourth quarter, studios heavily experimented with non-traditional weekend street dates for such titles as Paramount Home Entertainment’s Kung Fu Panda and Eagle Eye.

“I think you’ll see studios shaking up their marketing strategies based on economic uncertainties,” said Tom Kielty, senior VP of sales at wholesaler VPD. “You’re already starting to see it with the street date changes. And they will continue to test the waters on street dates, pricing and all sorts of things.”

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