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Studios to Kick HD DVD Exclusive Content Into High Gear

Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 03:30 AM ET
Tags: Exclusive HD Content, Industry Forecasts (all tags) Hoping to further boost fourth quarter HD DVD disc sales, the studios will be turbocharging their biggest holiday HD DVD releases, including 'Mission: Impossible III,' with bonus content exclusive to the high-def format.

Executives from HD DVD-supporting studios Warner, Paramount and Universal unveiled key features of their upcoming late-2006 releases during the Entertainment Media Expo that began Monday in Universal City, California.

Though no exact street date has yet been announced, Paramount stated that the cornerstone title of the studio's 4Q HD DVD efforts will be the Tom Cruise action flick, 'Mission: Impossible III.' Alex Carloss, Paramount vp of worldwide marketing and entertainment, revealed that all of the disc's bonus content was shot in high-def during production, and that the release would also include an exclusive "picture-in-picture video commentary" featuring the participation of director J.J. Abrams.

Also on display from Universal were some of the unique bonus materials exclusive to the September 26 HD DVD release of 'The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift' which studio representatives showed off during an invite-only "interactivity session" on Tuesday. While watching the movie, viewers will be able to access a special "GPS Navigational Option" to interact with the vehicles that appear onscreen, and even calculate in real-time the "dollar amount of damage" for each car crash.

Warner, too, plans to add exclusive material to many of its top upcoming titles. The studio's lauded "In-Movie Experience" video commentary feature, currently seen on such HD DVD releases as 'Constantine' and 'The Dukes of Hazzard,' will also appear on 'Poseidon,' due on December 5, and in the upcoming 'Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,' and 'Batman Begins' (release dates not yet announced).
Related links:
'M:I III' Shooting to HD DVD [Video Business]


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