Hulk, King Kong & Waterworld coming to HD DVD November 14th

Universal is keeping the hits big budget flicks coming to HD DVD. They have announced we can expect Ang Lee's Hulk, Peter Jackson's King Kong and Kevin Costner's Waterworld on HD DVD November 14th. All will feature Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtracks, the extras from the DVD editions and...that's it. Hulk and Waterworld carry a $29.98 SRP while King Kong starts off at $39.98. Excuse us if we're a bit underwhelmed, we're sure they will look and sound great but c'mon Universal, we've got a new standard for blockbuster high-def rollouts. Throw us a bone here, TrueHD soundtrack, IME picture-in-picture extra, Hulk-hands pack-in, something. You can check out these and other dates on our Google HD DVD & Blu-ray release calendars.

HD DVD release schedule


Blu-ray release schedule

[Pipp Posted Sep 5th 2006 4:22PM]

$30 for Waterworld? Are they nuts? I don't know a single person who would even pay $5 for this movie.

And $40 for King King? Way to kill a format!

Once they get down to $9.99 they might catch on. Till then, no thanks!

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 5th 2006 4:46PM]

Plus, it's the theatrical version of "Kong", not the extended version. What, they couldn't fit an extra 15 minutes on the disc? I thought VC-1 made it all possible? Or what about seamless branching? I mean, one of the big deals about HD DVD was that it would be able to implement DVD features easily, but outside of fancy menus and IME, I haven't seen it. There goes another so-called HD DVD advantage, just so they can sell two versions. Expensive "Special Extended Edition" in 2007, anyone?

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 5th 2006 4:56PM]

I am getting a little sick of the HDDVD hating on HDBeat... what gives? All the underlying BluRay cheering is make me not want to hang here much... sheesh.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 5th 2006 5:29PM]

I'd buy Waterworld if they included the original director's cut-- but the director left before the movie was completed. I've seen many outtakes from the film which explain the story much better. Would love to see them on disc someday. The film is still flawed though, but I think an expanded edition would be better.

[hmurchison Posted Sep 5th 2006 7:02PM]

Jeremiah

Stick around man we need guys like you to combat the FUD and bias that some sites are prone to. In this case I agree "somewhat" with Richard. The audio could have been a tad better especially for King Kong. Waterworld and The Hulk are fine. I got a bit of a chuckle though regarding the "Fox sets the standard" comment. Most of those Fox titles have good audio but BDMV is the plain jane vanilla menu system and we don't know what the first BD-J interactive layers will look like.

I feel KK is going to be a future double dip for early purchasers.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 5th 2006 7:19PM]

Hey Jeremiah and hmurchison, this place has no blu ray bias. Matt Burns who also posts here is a proud HD DVD backer for example.

[hmurchison Posted Sep 5th 2006 8:02PM]

Jack

I agree that HD Beat doesn't have a bias but some of the writers are definitely leaning. No worries though...we'll get Ben D on our side sooner than he knows. ;)

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 5th 2006 10:46PM]

MSRP are not street prices. The street price for Kong is 29.98 USD(Direct from Universal and probably cheaper elsewhere) not $40USD.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 6th 2006 2:16AM]

zombieflanders said - "Plus, it's the theatrical version of KONG, not the extended version. What, they couldn't fit an extra 15 minutes on the disc?"

Well, I for one don't care for, or need yet another 15 minutes added to the already-too-long KING KONG!

As for eventually having two editions to "buy", that's why Blockbuster.com and Netflix.com exist - just rent it instead, until that special version you want to buy is released in HD.

So far, it's Blu-ray releasing "theatrical cuts" and NOT extended cuts (of standard DVDs). T2, BASIC INSTINCT 2, ULTRAVIOLET, others(?), all were released on Blu-ray in only the "theatrical cut" - unlike the basic DVD.

But HD DVD has released several "unrated" or "director's cuts," like DOOM, THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK, THE DUKES OF HAZZARD, others(?), and I assume the forthcoming SPARTACUS will be the restored, longer version.

[tkbryant Posted Sep 6th 2006 10:29AM]

Yeah the news on this site is always way late or inaccurate. It's bery misleading to quote MSRP's when all the other sites have reported them all for $29.99. Which means you can probably order them for $24 or less from most sites. Im in the agreement that we dont need 15 more minutes of Kong. Is was long enough and notice it's not called "The Directors Cut". It's an extended version for nothing more than selling more discs. If you have the regular version you have Peter Jacksons directors cut! Kong is a big exclusive for the HD camp that will probably never see the light of day on Blur-Ray.

[Pipp Posted Sep 6th 2006 4:46PM]

Doesn't matter if its $30 or $40, it's still too expensive to even bother. Blu-Ray or not, I wouldn't pay this on either platform for any of these crap titles.

King Kong being exclusive is silly. No one cares at these absurd prices. Like UMD, these will hit the can and will sell like mad when they are price reduced to $9.99 after the formats are both deemed dead in the water. The studios need to get their acts together and basically "replace" DVDs with them. Meaning - price.