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The wide selection of Blu-ray discs currently available includes family titles such as Happy Feet (Warner Home Video) to all time classic films like Brief Encounter (ITV Global Entertainment) to indie titles like Kidulthood (Revolver Entertainment), to classic chick flicks including 27 Dresses (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) to thrilling action titles like Mission Impossible (Paramount Home Entertainment), to music releases like Queen: Rock Montreal/Live Aid (Eagle Rock Entertainment) where it really feels like Freddie is rocking your living room! Films were first released on the Blu-ray format in October 2006 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. They included the Exorcism of Emily Rose, Hostel, S.W.A.T. and Tears Of The Sun, reflecting the tastes of early adopters of new technology. Last year’s best selling Blu-ray title was Warner’s The Dark Knight, which became the best-selling Blu-ray title in history, selling more copies on Blu-ray in its first full week in the shops than any other movie ever released on the format. It now has sold over 350,000 copies and remains top of the Blu-ray charts. DVD, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, took almost two years for the 1000th title release to be released which, according to Muze Europe, was Sly And Robbie – Superthruster (Palm Pictures). Hannah Conduct, Marketing Manager for the British Video Association said, "This highly significant milestone not only reflects the confidence of our members in the technology but is also an indication of the public’s interest in purchasing top quality home entertainment. We expect to see sales going from strength to strength in 2009, on the back of strong releases such as Quantum of Solace, Slumdog Millionnaire and other recent box office successes." Blu-ray discs are currently up on a 52 week rolling basis by 325% and sales are forecast to rise from 3.7 million in 2008 to over 13 million this year, according to analysts Screen Digest. Hardware sales of stand-alone Blu-ray disc players reached almost 300,000 by the end of last year and are expected to hit one million in 2009 whilst PS3 has sold almost 2 million and experts suggest this figure may rise by an additional 800,000 in 2009. Blu-ray Partners UK members include:
*Current Industry backers:
Studios/Distributors: Disney, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal, Warner Bros
Hardware manufacturers: LG, Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Sony UK official Blu-ray website : http://www.blurayrevolution.co.uk/
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