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Thursday, September
5, 1985
Red Sonja released in Germany.
Saturday, September 5, 1998
Some rumors about Arnold-Cameron related films on DVD were posted on the Internet. Fox
has pulled The Abyss from their initial DVD line up, and replaced it with Speed. Abyss
would be the director's cut with extras. Director James Cameron has apparently decided
that when Titanic, The Abyss, and True Lies are released to DVD, he wants them to contain
BOTH the matted letterboxed version and the full frame version, and have room for extras
as well. As you may know, Cameron shot all these films in Super 35, meaning that both
versions released to video contain additional picture area (matted letterboxed adds image
area on the sides of the frame, while the full frame adds image area on the top and
bottom). The only way to release both versions on a single DVD, would be to release them
as DVD-18 discs... dual-sided, dual-layered. This has not yet been done on an official
release (although QC techs are working very hard as we speak to perfect the process so
that it works on all players). Sources were told that Fox is pushing hard for this
technology (lots of their films could benefit from this, including X-Files: Fight the
Future, which was also shot Super 35). Artisan is waiting to do their T2: Special Edition
DVD on DVD-18 (possiby at Cameron's behest). And there's no denying that Cameron has
pushed the envelope of the DVD format previously - as you know, his Terminator 2:
Judgement Day (released by Artisan - then Live) was the first DVD to employ RSDL
dual-layer technology, using the 'on-the-fly' layer switching technique. The disc also
featured ground-breaking, full-motion menu screens as well. So what does all this mean for
Titanic, True Lies and The Abyss. Technicians are working hard to perfect DVD-18, and make
it workable on all existing players without a hitch. All three titles may not arrive on
DVD until at least February or March of next year. |
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