Sony Announces Release Date for Blu-ray Discs

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) and MGM Home Entertainment (MGM) have announced the release date for their first salvo of Blu-ray discs . You can expect to see Blu-ray Disc titles in stores on May 23rd.

The first volley of films from Sony Pictures and MGM will include eight titles:

50 First Dates (SPHE)
The Fifth Element (SPHE)
Hitch (SPHE)
House of Flying Daggers (SPHE)
A Knight's Tale (SPHE)
The Last Waltz (MGM)
Resident Evil Apocalypse (SPHE)
XXX (SPHE)

On June 13th a second series of discs will arrive in stores:

Robocop (MGM)
SWAT (SPHE)
Stealth (SPHE)
Species (MGM)
Legends of the Fall (SPHE)
Terminator (MGM)
Kung Fu Hustle (SPHE)

Earlier in the month Sony had announced the retail prices of the next gen movie discs. Consumers can expect a 20% increase over the relative price of a new DVD. Sony plans to charge retail and wholesale outlets $23.45 for new titles, including "Underworld:Evolution" when it's released and $17.95 for catalogued films that'll including titles like "Hitch" and "The Fifth Element".

Sony's entertainment production wing strategically set the release date to coincide with the arrival of the first Blu-ray disc player. Samsung's BD-P1000 will be available to the public on May 23rd at Circuit City, Best Buy and some specialty shops. Samsung had set the price at about $1000 when the device was first presented at CES but the release date at that time was to be April. Samsung has given no word on the BD-P1000's price since its exhibition at CES so our best guess is it should be sticking to the $1000 mark.

Expect to see Blu-ray hardware available from both Sony and Pioneer soon after Samsung's release. Reps from Pioneer and the North American arm of VIAO PCs (Sony also) made announcements about releasing their own Blu-ray hardware soon after Samsung's but no firm dates were forthcoming.

Special Thanks to www.hometheaterfocus.com