Cloverfield Blu-Ray DVD

2/29/08

Cloverfield Blu-Ray DVD

2/29/2008 |

Posted by Dave and Thomas

I've been handling a number of e-mails from people about the upcoming DVD release of Cloverfield. Many are worried about the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray version of Cloverfield after insiders outed Paramount Home Entertainment as rushing a sub-par version of the Cloverfield Blu-Ray to the shelves after Toshiba killed the HD-DVD format.

The next-generation of DVD's were in a format war between HD-DVD (by Toshiba) and Blu-Ray (by Sony). Studios began lining up with Blu-Ray which led to all of the major studios backing Blu-Ray except NBC Universal and Paramount.

Toshiba finally pulled the plug on HD-DVD a week or so back after facing the realization that manufacturers, studios, and distributors were not going to support their format. The big names like Warner Bros. went with Blu-Ray as well as Wal-Mart and Netflix which turned the tide toward Sony.

OK. That's the basic backstory. Now all the projects at Paramount that were being developed for HD-DVD will have to switch horses in midstream. The March 4 releases Into the Wild and Things We Lost in the Fire will be Paramount Home Entertainment’s last titles in the HD DVD format, the studio confirmed.

The rest of the movies slated for March and April have had the HD-DVD version pulled and for now only will have the standard DVD released until the studio can get a Blu-Ray version available. As Paramount Home Entertainment scrambles to get caught up with the transition it is starting to look like one of the first victims will be Cloverfield.

A bunch of interactive and viral goodies were slated to appear on the Cloverfield HD-DVD. When the format was killed Paramount was allegedly still committed to the Cloverfield DVD release date (rumored to be April 15th in the U.S., June 8th in U.K. ) with a Blu-Ray version that may not contain most of the HD-DVD features. The programmers need more time to get the Blu-Ray version ready and they fear Paramount Home Entertainment will not give it to them. Here is one of the original e-mails talking about the subject.

"A lot of people worked hard for over a month creating some amazing extra features for the HD release of "Cloverfield." At first it looked like not many consumers would see these features, as the release was planned for HD-DVD like Paramount's other recent titles. But now that Toshiba's HD-DVD format is dead, Paramount is scrambling to release "Cloverfield" on Blu-ray - on the original HD-DVD street date. As a result, the current belief is that there's not enough time to program all the extra features (including lots of new story stuff, along the lines of the viral campaign's backstory) in time for the Blu-ray release, and all this great work will be scrapped. That would suck! So I'm hoping that if you and others help spread the word, maybe the fans could make enough noise to convince Paramount Home Entertainment's marketing division to postpone the Blu-ray release by a few weeks so the disc can include all the extra materials. Demand it!"

Thank you!

-"Anonymous"

So Cloverfield fans should mull this thought over. Would you like to wait a few more weeks for a complete DVD that might satisfy your tastes? I know that Blu-Ray and HD-DVD formats are still a minority in DVD sales as most people still have the standard DVD setup but it is a growing technology and a prime candidate for fans to get more than just the movie.

Fans of the movie should be willing to wait as noted with the David Fincher Zodiac DVD release. The studio originally released just the movie with no extras in July of last year and then some 6 months later gave us the Fincher Directors cut loaded with tons of extras. Hopefully for Cloverfield the programmers would not need 6 more months!

Labels: blu-ray, cloverfield, cloverfield debate, cloverfield dvd

8 comments:

Anonymous said...: I sure as crap would wait even a MONTH for the extras!! :D; March 2, 2008 at 3:40 PM
Anonymous said...: do you have an idea what aladygma is? everywhere in internet they are telling that cloverfield2 codename should be aladygma, is that true?; March 3, 2008 at 5:49 AM
Dave and Thomas said...: Not much news has surfaced yet on aladygma. I had a post a week back about an article /Film did on the potential of aladygma being the Cloverfield sequel here:

http://1-18-08.blogspot.com/2008/02/whats-aladygma.html; March 3, 2008 at 4:03 PM
Anonymous said...: I could care less about the extras in any movie...I just want to watch Cloverfield in 1080p. They should not rush anything however.; April 11, 2008 at 7:20 PM
Anonymous said...: Realistically it's kind of pointless to have a hi-def version of a movie that was created in order to emulate the quality and choppiness of a mini dv camera but I will definitely wait as long as i have to to for the special features. judging by the quality of the special features on other blu ray discs it'll be worth the wait; April 23, 2008 at 12:52 AM
Leif said...: "kind of pointless to have a hi-def version of a movie that was created in order to emulate the quality and choppiness of a mini dv camera"

Cloverfield was shot on an HD camera so it'll look just fine.; April 26, 2008 at 8:50 PM
Dave and Thomas said...: True. It's not really the quality of the movie but the added features. The amount of data the Blu-ray/HD-DVD holds allows them to fill it with cool additions. This is what was going to be cut from the blu-ray which brings up your point. Why bother?; April 27, 2008 at 9:09 AM
Anonymous said...: The middle Cloverfield dvd cover image you have shown, where can I find/get one?; January 6, 2009 at 2:40 PM

What is Cloverfield?

Welcome to 1-18-08 Project Cloverfield Blog.

Cloverfield is the J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias) produced monster flick directed by Matt Reeves. Get caught up on all the Cloverfield news including the viral world of Tagruato, TIDOwave, and Slusho!? And now Aladygma?

However, I love viral campaigns. Cloverfield taught me the fun of being involved with the viral world of movies and TV. That's why I'd like to branch out this site to cover some of the major viral campaigns as they are developing. Feel free to drop me a line or tip on any you find interesting.

Welcome to Cloverfield

Very few facts emerged from the viral campaign that was Cloverfield. It all started after a short, teaser trailer for Cloverfield appeared with the Transformers movie in early July of 2007. Since then, speculation surrounded what the title of the movie would be (Monstrous, Overnight, etc...) and what the monster really is and why it is tearing up New York City.

A few pictures and covert videos from the film showed up online and there were only a few core facts we knew of including the poster, the teaser trailer, and a few websites at 1-18-08, Tagruato Corp, and Slusho .

In November, the official full-length Cloverfield trailer was released that helped open up the story as well as cement the "Cloverfield" name for the movie. A short glimpse of the Cloverfield Monster was seen but for most people they still had little or no clue as to what it was.

The movie centered around five young New Yorkers throwing their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera, the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal, horrifying event of their lives. Cloverfield opened the weekend of 1-18-08 and set box office records for a movie in January with a monster take of over $40M. Continue to check back here for updates on the mystery and viral campaigns of Cloverfield.

Get Started with the Cloverfield Viral Marketing

If you're new to the Cloverfield viral world than let's get started. First off, for the beginners let's look at what we're talking about.

What does viral marketing mean? Click here.

1-18-08.com Updates with pictures randomly. Each picture is layered onto of the previous update and all can be dragged and moved around the screen. Click and hold the mouse to 'grab' an image and move it around. While holding the image, shake it back and forth quickly and it will flip over. Some images have writing on the back.

Slusho This is the Japanese frozen drink made from a secret ingredient gathered from the bottom of the ocean. Slusho gives you a kick and makes you extremely happy. Prior to 1-18-08 Slusho was not sold in the US. However, recent FDA approval gave Slusho clearance to come to the states. Rob Hawkins, the lead character, was recently promoted to vice-president of Slusho and was on his way to Japan the night of the attack. Slusho is owned by the Tagruato Corp. of Japan. Slusho also first made an appearance on J.J. Abrams Alias during a scene where characters buy the drink at a store.

Tagruato This ficticious Japanese company is the parent company of Slusho as well as the Yoshida Medical Research, Bold Futura, and ParafFUN! Wax Distributors. Besides drilling the oceans for Slusho ingredients, Tagruato builds everything from space satellites to medical gear.

T.I.D.O wave An activist group set out to bring to light all the damage Tagruato has done to the envirnoment.

Jamie and Teddy A minor character from the movie, Jamie popped up on a 1-18-08.com picture and the MySpace profiles for the movies characters before getting famous for her "Jamie and Teddy" website. The site is comprised of video journals from Jamie. The site is password protected but can be accessed by the password "jllovesth"

1-18-08 Project Cloverfield - Warning! Spoilers