Universal Studios Add New Titles to October HD DVD Release Slate

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has indicated that on 24th October, 12 Monkeys, Out of Sight, Spartacus and The Thing will join Slither and The Interpreter to be released on HD DVD. These four titles herald the introduction of a possibly new HD DVD special feature to be included on Universal Studios' HD DVDs called "My Scenes". Which I suppose is similar to scene-bookmarking feature provided on all Warner HD DVD releases but is yet to appear on Universal Studios' HD DVDs. Bonus materials on these HD DVD titles should be similar to their Region 1 DVD counterparts.

Details of Slither and The Interpreter HD DVDs are available by clicking on the 'Oct 24 HD DVDs' link on the right panel of this blogsite.

Main Feature Presentation Specs and bonus materials for those 4 newly-added titles are as follows:

12 Monkeys (HD DVD)

• 1080p High Definition Widescreen (1.85:1)
• Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 (English & French) & Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (English)
• English [SDH], French & Spanish subtitles
• Bonus materials (Presented in 480i/p Standard Definition with Dolby Digital sound):
  - Feature Commentary with Director Terry Gilliam & Producer Charles Roven
  - The Hamster Factor and Other Tales of 12 Monkeys (The Making of 12 Monkeys)
  - Theatrical Trailer
  - 12 Monkeys Archives

Out of Sight (HD DVD)

• 1080p High Definition Widescreen (1.85:1)
• Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 (English, French & Spanish) & Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (English)
• English [SDH], French & Spanish subtitles
• Bonus materials (Presented in 480i/p Standard Definition with Dolby Digital sound):
  - Feature Commentary with Director Steven Soderbergh and Screenwriter Scott Frank
  - Deleted Scenes
  - Inside Out of Sight
  - My Scenes

Spartacus (HD DVD)
Duration: 3h 17 mins - Possibly the movie with the longest duration to date being planned for a HD DVD release.

• 1080p High Definition Widescreen (2.20:1)
• Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 (English, French & Spanish)
• English [SDH], French & Spanish subtitles
• Bonus materials (Presented in 480i/p Standard Definition with Dolby Digital sound):
  - My Scenes

The Thing (HD DVD)
[Aspect ratio for this title is amended, thanks readers who e-mailed me! This is a problem with copy and pasting from previous paragraphs.]

• 1080p High Definition Widescreen (2.35:1)
• Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 (English), Dolby Digital-Plus 2.0 (French) & Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (English)
• English [SDH], French & Spanish subtitles
• Bonus materials (Presented in 480i/p Standard Definition with Dolby Digital sound):
  - Feature Commentary with Director John Carpenter and Kurt Russell
  - John Carpenter's The Thing: Terror Takes Shape
  - Production Background Archives
  - Cast Production Photographs
  - Location Design
  - Production Archives
  - Outtakes
  - Post Production
  - Theatrical Trailer
  - My Scenes