The studio is poised to release wide range of new products and titles from its vast film and television library.
Lions Gate Home
Entertainment (LGHE), a division of Lions Gate Entertainment
(NYSE: LGF; Toronto), announced today that it will release content on the new
high definition Blu-ray Disc format. As part of its cooperation with the
Blu-ray Disc Association, LGHE will begin releasing new films, TV programming
and other titles from the company's vast library in that format when Blu-ray
hardware launches in North America. The announcement was made by Steve Beeks,
President, Lions Gate Entertainment.
Through the announcement, LGHE joins Sony Pictures Home Entertainment,
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Buena Vista Home Entertainment as
studios who have announced their support for the Blu-ray format. With one of
the largest home video libraries in the industry, LGHE's catalog of titles
includes some of the biggest in every genre including such titles from the
theatrical catalog as Saw, Blair Witch Project, Open Water, Punisher, T2,
Rambo, Total Recall, Stargate and Dirty Dancing, TV to DVD titles including
Saturday Night Live and Will & Grace and children's/family titles such as
Barbie and Clifford. More details about specific titles for Blu-ray will be
announced by LGHE in the coming months.
Lions Gate's video group has always aggressively supported emerging
technologies. The studio was the first after Sony to support the UMD format,
the first to release product on DVD-9, DVD-18, DVD+CD, the first to utilize
Microsoft Windows Media 9 and one of the frontrunners in acquiring VOD rights
throughout its catalog. Blu-ray has demonstrated the necessary qualities to
help propel the home entertainment industry to the next level of performance.
LGHE's decision to support and publish on Blu-ray is the result of many
factors including the recently announced copy protection measures and progress
made by DVD replicators toward proving the format can be manufactured in a
mass production environment for an acceptable cost. Additionally, the studio
was enticed by the expected impact on high definition packaged media from the
upcoming launch of the PlayStation(R)3 computer entertainment system and the
prospect of having its catalog of titles available for the system.
"Lions Gate has always maintained the goal of offering the consumer the
best quality product," said Beeks. "Through Blu-ray, consumers will
experience our library of movies with sound and picture quality beyond
anything they could have ever imagined. Additionally, Blu-ray's storage
capacity along with the level of copyright protection the format offers, the
demonstrated manufacturability and acceptable cost proposition, made it the
perfect choice for Lions Gate at this time."
Blu-ray Disc is a next generation optical disc format developed for
high-definition video and other data intensive uses. A single-layer Blu-ray
Disc will hold up to 25 gigabytes of data and a dual-layer Blu-ray Disc will
hold up to 50 gigabytes of data. This greater storage capacity enables the
Blu-ray Disc to store more than five times the amount of content than is
possible with current DVDs, and is particularly well-suited for high
definition feature films with extensive bonus and interactive material.
Blu-ray also features the most advanced copy protection, backward
compatibility with the current DVD format (meaning Blu-ray players will play
existing DVDs), connectivity and advanced interactivity.
ABOUT LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT
Lions Gate is the premier independent producer and distributor of motion
pictures, television programming, home entertainment, family entertainment and
video-on-demand content. Its prestigious and prolific library is a valuable
source of stable and recurring revenue, and it serves as a foundation for the
growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lions Gate brand name is
synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the
world.