Warner announces seven HD DVD & Blu-ray releases for Oct. 10

As expected, Warner Home Video has announced Batman Begins and The Polar Express will be coming to HD DVD October 10th. Also coming to HD DVD that day are Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride (previously announced for Blu-ray), and both Charlie & the Chocolate Factory (2006 starring Johnny Depp) and the original Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder. Batman Begins and Charlie & the Chocolate Factory both feature IME sequences, taking viewers into the creative processes of the directors of each movie while the movie continues to play in the background. In addition Warner will release both Syriana and 16 Blocks on Blu-ray the same day, both previously released on HD DVD, giving them over 50 movies total released on both formats. Other than the two IME-enhanced titles all will have the same extras as their DVD counterparts, the HD DVDs carry an MSRP of $28.99 and the Blu-ray discs $34.99. So far Warner's dual-release strategy seems to be working out well as they've got some of the best titles on each format, best features, and have been able to take their VC-1 encoded movies from HD DVD to Blu-ray and vice versa without trouble.