Sony announces prices for Blu-ray movies (surprise?)

RC Cola · Feb 7, 2006

About $30, which is about what HD DVD movies will cost according to Warner.

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6305651.html

Although Blu-ray Disc players might cost more than HD DVD players when the two high-definition formats launch later this year, movie prices are likely to be similar.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment president Benjamin Feingold said Tuesday that new release Blu-ray titles from the studio will carry a wholesale price to retailers of $23.45 while catalog titles will be priced at $17.95.

That should put the top cash register prices at about $34.95 and $29.95, respectively.

No other studio has yet announced retail prices for new releases, but Warner Home Video said recently that catalog prices for rival HD DVD releases also would be $29.95.

At one time, the new high-def formats were expected to command premium prices, but as the battle between the contending format camps has heated up, neither has wanted to give the other an edge in the marketplace.

The price ranges targeted by Sony and Warner are 15% to 20% higher than today’s DVD prices but comparable to movie prices at the time the current DVD format launched in 1997.

An announcement on street dates for the first wave of Blu-ray catalog releases is expected later this week.

Titles in the first wave include The Fifth Element, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Desperado, For a Few Dollars More (MGM), Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight’s Tale, Kung Fu Hustle, The Last Waltz (MGM), Legends of the Fall, Resident Evil Apocalypse, Robocop (MGM), Sense and Sensibility, Stealth, Species (MGM), SWAT, Terminator (MGM) and XXX.

Among the first new releases from Sony will be Underworld: Evolution, which is expected to hit DVD and Blu-ray in early summer.

The first HD DVD titles are slated to arrive on store shelves on March 28.

In an effort to ensure a strong impression at retail, availability of the first Blu-ray discs will be restricted to retail outlets that also carry Blu-ray hardware, Feingold said, a decision that could anger some video specialty retailers if the policy remains in place for long.

In recent weeks, prominent software retailers such as Netflix and Movie Gallery have issued statements saying they expect the new formats to give the rental market a shot in the arm and are looking forward to stocking both Blu-ray and HD DVD movies as soon as they’re available.

“Our intent is to create a critical mass of movies and displays at retail that will showcase the escalating availability and abundance of both [Blu-ray Disc] software and hardware in the marketplace,” Feingold said. “There’s no point in putting software into outlets that don’t carry the hardware in the beginning.”

The strategy is similar to the launch of DVD, although plans to limit software availability to hardware outlets quickly broke down as video retailers found ways to stock the new format.

Feingold said Sony would not rule out working with software retailers “who want to be strategically involved in the [high-def] format,” but added, “there needs to be a plan that will work economically for all parties.”

Hardware supplies also are expected to be tight at first.

“I think the biggest challenge will actually be hardware supply, because of the tight availability of lasers and chipsets,” Feingold said. “I think the hardware is likely to be on allocation in the beginning.”
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KaiSeR SoZe · Feb 7, 2006

is this the MSRP? i've seen DVD MSRP prices to be similiar i think

nm..just read the damn thing

JunkyardDwg · Feb 7, 2006

Yet another reason I'm quite happy sticking with current gen formats for now; higher prices for next-gen software and price drops on current gen. Gotta love it!

pradaxpimp · Feb 7, 2006

jesus, talk about price fixing.

apostolic3 · Feb 7, 2006

One positive of having two standards is the competition helps keep prices down from what they would have been.

It seems Blu-ray will prevail over HD-DVD, but that may not mean much. I think online downloading of content will catch fire over the next 2-3 years and blast the whole issue of next-gen DVDs into near oblivion. Because high definition video will snag a segment of the market (plus other reasons), the next-gen DVDs will be somewhat successful. But it will never ignite and take off the way DVDs did against VCs. Competition from downloading could push the price of these next-gen DVDs down pretty low.

IROC it · Feb 8, 2006

They'll be half that within 2-3 years of release, and less on sale prices upon new title releases...

Kilgore Trout · Feb 8, 2006

IROC it said:

They'll be half that within 2-3 years of release, and less on sale prices upon new title releases...
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Agreed. That was pretty much what happened whith DVDs.

I am mostly interested when they will be available for rental.

RC Cola · Feb 8, 2006

Wait, you guys aren’t disappointed or anything like that about the pricing, are you? $30-$35 MSRP for movies on a brand new format is great news, especially since it could have been more like ~$50; at a store, these movies might only be like $5-$10 more expensive that a DVD, and these movies will be offered in HD (up to 1080p), not to mention any of the interactive features that BD-J and iHD offer. That is a pretty good deal newly launched format; as mentioned, I'm sure prices will go down eventually, although $15-$20 MSRP within a few years might be too big of drop IMO ($5-$10 at Wal-mart?). I'm just a little happy that, despite what everyone in the HD DVD camp said, it doesn't appear like there will be any extra costs put on the consumers for purchasing a BR movie as opposed to HD DVD movies. I guess their disc manufacturing advantage wasn't much of an advantage.

Kilgore Trout said:

I am mostly interested when they will be available for rental.
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I believe Netflix said they'd be supporting both formats at launch and to expect the first discs around March; the 1st ones might just be HD DVD since they'll launch first, but that's a rough estimate on when to expect BR/HD DVD rentals from them. I imagine other companies will offer rentals at around the same time.

OldManBernie · Feb 8, 2006

$30 seems to be a very fair price for a next-gen format, at least IMO.

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Sony announces prices for Blu-ray movies (surprise?)

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