Whilst Universal Pictures Home Entertainment in Australia still have not issued details on the first local Blu-ray titles, the U.S. branch can’t keep quiet about their new found love affair with Blu-ray. Last week, they released the full specifications for their maiden two titles; The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. Prior to this, Universal Pictures were a staunch advocate of the HD-DVD format with studio heads declaring it as an imminent ‘failure’, and publicly decrying the format.
Of course, now the tables are turned and I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when Universal came slinking to the Blu-ray Disc Association, which seemed to have occurred slightly before Toshiba ceded. I should note as well, that Universals VP of strategic marketing Ken Graffeo was also the co-president of the HD-DVD consortium, which disbanded in March. This coincided with the departure of Graffeo from his post, in the same month.
But I digress; let’s take a look at the confirmed specs for both titles. Step-up features from the original HD-DVD release are in bold.
The Mummy
Minted from remastered HD video Video Codec: Unconfirmed Audio Codec: DTS HD Master Audio (Previously lossy Dolby Digital)
Three Audio Commentaries, U-Control Picture in Picture Video, Picture in Picture ‘Making of’, Visual and Special Effects Formation featurette, An Army to Rule the World featurette, Building a Better Mummy featurette, "Unraveling the Legacy of the Mummy featurette, Deleted scenes, Storyboard comparison, Mummy 3 sneak peek
The Mummy Returns
Minted from remastered HD video Video Codec: Unconfirmed Audio Codec: DTS HD Master Audio (Previously lossy Dolby Digital)
Audio commentary, U-Control Picture in Picture Video, Picture in Picture ‘Making of’, Visual and Special Effects Formation featurette, An Army to Rule the World Part 2 featurette, Spotlight and On Location of the Mummy featurette, Unraveling the Legacy of the Mummy featurette, Deleted scenes, Interview with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Mummy 3 sneak peek
So from this, what can we learn about the strategy that Universal intend to take?
