Highly Defined – The World of High Definition

Wow, something special makes the top 100 in Amazon sales…

Well if you read comic books and own a next-generation DVD player, this was definitely your week to primp and preen. Batman Begins is coming out on 10/10 to HD-DVD, along with Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Both films will include the Warner In-Movie Experience (and Batman’s will apparently include participation by star Christian Bale if you look at your Warner inserts right). Begins will get a TrueHD track that …s sure to be a floor rumbler, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will include one as a score-only feature, and extras will mirror the two-disc special edition treatment each got.

Oh, and Superman Returns comes out on 11/28 as a combo disc for the world to enjoy, along with a Blu/SD combo to boot. Extras will be the same as the two-disc edition, and will include a Dolby Digital Plus track on the HD version. Moreover, the Christopher Reeve films (particular, the first and second film, the “Richard Donner cut”) will undergo a HD makeover as well apparently, for the same date. Extras are TBD and somewhat interesting, as the SD version of Superman: The Movie is a four-disc version.

And in case you were tired of release news, here’s more release news! Universal will release The Mummy, Dune, An American Werewolf in London and Meet the Parents, all on 11/28. All of those titles will be identical to their SD counterparts. Paramount is prepping Nacho Libre for a Blu-Ray and HD release on 10/24, however specs are TBD at this point.

In terms of hardware news, the HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox 360 has been announced for Japan, the date being 11/22 and the approximate price is $170 US. How much of that translates to the US will be determined, but in a minor surprise, HDMI is not included in the hardware. However, HDMI will apparently now be included on the PS3. Word ‘round the campfire is that Warner is developing a Blu/HD/SD combo that apparently would be the size of a pizza stone or something, but it would definitely make things easier as far as platform wars go.

This week’s new releases are enough to choke a horse, if he were watching a HD-DVD of course. Blu-Ray adopters get to choose from The Corpse Bride, Four Brothers, The Fugitive, House of Wax, Lara Croft Tomb Raider, Lethal Weapon 2, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Sleepy Hollow, Space Cowboys and Swordfish. HD-DVD owners get to choose from the original Adventures of Robin Hood, The Dirty Dozen, The End of Days, The Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Grand Prix, Land of the Dead and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Both sets of adopters can compare and contrast The Lake House.

So until next week high definers, keep your brightness set low and your resolution set high!