In a major news announcement today, Universal Studios Home Entertainment revealed that the January 19, 2010 standalone releases of the three Bourne films will mark the debut of the industry’s first dual-sided, Blu-ray/DVD flipper discs.
The fact that Universal should be the first to market with this technology isn’t a huge surprise since they – along with Warner Bros. – were the strongest advocates for the HD DVD / DVD Combo Format, which went the way of the dodo when HD DVD conceded the high def format war to Blu-ray.
What is a surprise is the stealthy manner in which this was announced. (Fitting I suppose that Universal has chosen to kick things off with super sleuth Jason Bourne.) Unlike similar “industry changing” announcements in recent memory, I’ve heard no rumors or buzz which implied that Blu-ray/DVD hybrid discs would be making their debut so soon.
If Universal has developed a manufacturing process for pressing reliable dual-sided discs, one can only assume that this will quickly become the format of choice for the other Hollywood studios. Only time will tell.
And on that note, I leave you with Fenster from The Usual Suspects…
Fenster: “I said he’ll flip ya… Flip ya fer real.”
