Indy IV, Universal Soldier, and possibly Stardust on Blu-ray

Ok, I know some of you are really looking forward to this. Paramount Home Entertainment confirmed the Blu-ray release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on October 14th. The 2-disc set will feature 1080p video in AVC format with a THX-certified 5.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack. Supplements on the Disc 1 include interactive picture-in-picture "Indiana Jones Timelines," two featurettes ("The Return of a Legend," "Pre-Production"). Disc 2 contains additional featurettes ("Production Diary," "Warrior Makeup," "The Crystal Skulls," "Iconic Props," "The Effects of Indy," "Adventures in Post Production," "Closing: Team Indy"), pre-visualization sequences, and still galleries. Here's the cover art (a bit "meh" if you ask me).

Also noteworthy is Paramount's announcement that there are currently no plans for the Blu-ray releases of the previous Indiana Jones films. Yeah, I know, bummer. I gave Indy IV a miss in the theaters, but I'll probably get the Blu-ray. I just hope Paramount will get around to remastering the first trilogy of Indy films for high-def release soon.

I had earlier mentioned the possibility of Universal Soldier coming to Blu-ray soon based on a promo insert in the review copy Rambo received by High Def Digest. Well, Lionsgate has announced to retailers that the Jean-Claude Van Damme sci-fi actioner will make its Blu-ray bow on November 4. As this is an early announcement, no tech specs are available. I'll post an update as soon as the news is out.

Finally, speaking of promo inserts, the guys over at The Digital Bits recently received their copy of the Transformers: Two-Disc Special Edition Blu-ray, and guess what? It contained promo inserts for Old School: Unrated, Stardust, and Zodiac: 2-Disc Director's Cut on Blu-ray. All these releases are touted as "coming soon," so will we be seeing these titles by the end of the year? Well, now there's more reason to hope. I'm especially keen on Stardust; it was such a delightful surprise, compared to the surprisingly bloodless The Golden Compass. But I really hope (against hope) that they will find some way to give the HD quality of Stardust a boost; based on reviews of the HD DVD release of the film, it really needs a boo in the ass where picture quality is concerned.

Alright, that's all for now. I'll be back with my long-overdue review of The Dark Knight.

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