Paramount Pictures has mapped out its Blu-ray roadmap, marking its re-entry to the Blu-ray business a year after it signed exclusively to the now defunct HD DVD format.
The first three movies to hit Blu-ray will be “Face/Off,” “Next” and “Bee Movie” which will hit retailers on May 20th. “Bee Movie” was a highly anticipated HD DVD title but was scrapped after Toshiba dropped production and support for the format in early March.
Two other box office hits, “Cloverfield” and “There Will Be Blood” will hit Blu-ray on June 3rd. Both were recently released on standard definition DVD. “Cloverfield” will also hit the international market in August, added the studio.
Another important date to note is June 24th when Paramount will “issue its first day-and-date Blu-ray Disc release,” “The Spiderwick Chronicles.”
Paramount was originally a format neutral studio, along with Warner Home Video, but then moved HD DVD exclusive last August after allegedly receiving up to $150 million USD in compensation.
Result for: june 24
Apple has announced that they will be settling a pair of class-action lawsuits in Canada stemming from claims that the company misled customers “about the staying power” of the popular iPod MP3 players, especially the gradually dwindling battery life of first and second generation devices.
According to court documents, Apple is offering an online store credit of about $44.75 CAD for those living in Canada that purchased an iPod before June 24, 2004.
To be eligible for the credit, the battery life of your iPod “while continuously playing music — needs to have dropped to five hours or less for the first and second generation of the device and four hours or less for the third generation.”
The lead plaintiffs in the case, two iPod owners, claim that the company misrepresented its product by saying it was capable of 10 hours of continual music playback. It is a well known fact that after even the first recharge, iPod battery lives began declining.
A similar case was settled in the US in 2005 and Apple offered a similar settlement as well. $50 USD in store credit or $25 in cash if the battery life has dwindled to a certain threshold.
