Lionsgate Brings War to Market With PiP
Lionsgate recently announced a January 1, 2008 Blu-ray Disc arrival for its $30 million-grossing War, day-and-date with standard-def DVD.
Though few details beyond the date were known at the time, full specs are now in, with the studio confirming that War will boast an array of Blu-ray-exclusive content, including the studio's first-ever Profile 1.1-compliant Picture-in-picture video commentary.
Although the studio has implemented the feature on such past Blu-ray Disc releases as The Descent and Crank, those titles had simply encoded a second fulllength version of the film with the picture-in-picture content burned-in. That will change with War's "Behind the Scenes FX Bonus" track, which will make full use of the secondary video decoding capabilities of Profile 1.1-compliant Blu-ray Disc hardware as it guides viewers through the intricacies of the film's special effects.
With War, Lionsgate is now the second Blu-ray Disc studio to announce a Profile 1.1-compatible Blu-ray title. (Late last month, Fox confirmed plans to issue Sunshine as its first Profile 1.1-compatible Blu-ray title on January 8.)
In addition to the PIP content on War, other Blu-ray Disc exclusives include the BD-Java-enhanced interactive game "Yakuza Fighter," a "Blu-Line Slider" interface that allows for enhanced scene access, a custom bookmarking function, and what Lionsgate is calling "dynamic resizing" menu navigation.
The Blu-ray Disc edition of War will also carry over all of the standard DVD's supplements, including two audio commentaries with director Philip Atwell and coscreenwriters Lee Anthony Smith & Gregory J. Bradley, a "War Chest" mode that allows for bonus making-of vignettes to be unlocked via seamless branching, a "War Zone" subtitle fact track, "Scoring 'War'" featurette, deleted scenes, a gag reel and the film's original theatrical trailer.
The Blu-ray Disc will boast 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 video, along with an uncompressed PCM 7.1 Surround track (at 48kHz/24-bit) and subtitles in both English and Spanish.
Although the studio has implemented the feature on such past Blu-ray Disc releases as The Descent and Crank, those titles had simply encoded a second fulllength version of the film with the picture-in-picture content burned-in. That will change with War's "Behind the Scenes FX Bonus" track, which will make full use of the secondary video decoding capabilities of Profile 1.1-compliant Blu-ray Disc hardware as it guides viewers through the intricacies of the film's special effects.
With War, Lionsgate is now the second Blu-ray Disc studio to announce a Profile 1.1-compatible Blu-ray title. (Late last month, Fox confirmed plans to issue Sunshine as its first Profile 1.1-compatible Blu-ray title on January 8.)
In addition to the PIP content on War, other Blu-ray Disc exclusives include the BD-Java-enhanced interactive game "Yakuza Fighter," a "Blu-Line Slider" interface that allows for enhanced scene access, a custom bookmarking function, and what Lionsgate is calling "dynamic resizing" menu navigation.
The Blu-ray Disc edition of War will also carry over all of the standard DVD's supplements, including two audio commentaries with director Philip Atwell and coscreenwriters Lee Anthony Smith & Gregory J. Bradley, a "War Chest" mode that allows for bonus making-of vignettes to be unlocked via seamless branching, a "War Zone" subtitle fact track, "Scoring 'War'" featurette, deleted scenes, a gag reel and the film's original theatrical trailer.
The Blu-ray Disc will boast 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 video, along with an uncompressed PCM 7.1 Surround track (at 48kHz/24-bit) and subtitles in both English and Spanish.
