Image to release Sony Catalog Titles on Blu-Ray

[AndyDursin]

A fair warning to anyone who is interested in the Blu-Rays of THE DEEP, ST ELMOS FIRE, ABOUT LAST NIGHT, etc. -- Sony put these discs out of print a while ago, and now IMAGE is taking over distribution of them...and taking some of the special features off them in the process (THE DEEP has the 1977 network TV special along with deleted scenes, for example -- if you're interested in this title I would pick it up asap!).

For those of us into catalog content on Blu-Ray, this is a strange occurrence - especially since Sony is the godfather of this format! However it is not unprecedented -- Lionsgate has been releasing a steady stream of Paramount licensed titles on BD over the last year. Looks like this might be the model from here on, with smaller labels releasing big studio titles....just very unusual to see and probably not something that was expected by the so-called "experts."

Image has been real hit or miss so far on Blu Ray, with the Handmade releases being poor but the TWILIGHT ZONE being tremendous -- so I'm glad they are veering towards profitability again and if it means more Sony titles on Blu Ray than what Sony was giving us, so be it....just remember on those already-released titles that it's POSSIBLE some of the extras are gone.

The new DEEP BD is coming out in December, $12.99 (cheap!) retail.

Here's the press release (note ABSENCE OF MALICE and AND JUSTICE FOR ALL are listed) --
http://www.homemediamagazine.com/studio ... ment-20439

Blu-ray.com story --
http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=5225

[Eric W.]

There's really been no excuse for Sony's software output on BD these last couple of years give or take.

And I'm going to agree with something a friend of mine said yesterday who's been a day one BD supporter just I was: Single disc BDs should be under $20 list period postmark 4 years into the format's life.