Ever since the early days of the format war, many have questioned Disney's dedicated to the format because over the years as Disney has released a few classics out of its vault onto DVD, Blu-ray fans were left looking through the window. About a year ago we finally got word that Disney was going to stop this trend and release Sleeping Beauty on Blu-ray -- complete with BD Live extras -- and now we got word that there are more classics to follow. In the next two years, Disney plans to release Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio and Beauty and the Beast on Blu. This is a great sign the Disney is finally pulling out all the stops and putting all its weight behind the new HD format, but only time will tell if these family favorites will be enough to help Blu-ray replace DVD and not be replaced by digital downloads -- anytime soon anyways.

To say that Wall-E was a hit for Disney would be grossly understating it, and that's evidenced by the robust Blu-ray release that's being primed for a November 18th release. Unsurprisingly, Disney and Buena Vista Home Entertainment will be releasing this one just before the holiday shopping season really gets going, and we have a hunch it'll probably do some record smashing of its own. The 3-disc BD package will include Digital Copy, Burn-E with Boards (PiP), Cine-Explor with director Andrew Stanton, Axoim Arcade: retro suite of video games with a twist and a few Blu-ray exclusive features including at least one that taps into BD-Live. So, are you going to hand over $40.99 (MSRP) to hear that sweetheart utter "EEEEEVVVAAAAAA!" once more?

The New York Times is reporting that Amazon is scrapping its Unbox service in favor of a new online TV and movie store called Amazon Video on Demand. Unlike iTunes and Unbox, Amazon's new digital store-front will stream any of 40,000 movies and television programs to customers. According to Bill Carr, Amazon's VP for digital media, "Our goal is to create an immersive experience where people can't help but get caught up in how exciting it is to simply watch a movie right from Amazon.com with a click of the button." In this regard, the first 2 minutes of every video will begin to play when customers visit the video's product page. Movies can be purchased and downloaded to your hard drive or stored in an Amazon video library allowing you to stream the content to other (any?) Internet connected devices. Films and TV shows from "almost all the major studios and television networks" will be available for sale or rental in the US at undisclosed prices -- only Disney and its ABC subsidiary are holding out for uh, obvious reasons (Steve Jobs is Disney's largest individual shareholder).

Amazon also plans to bring the service directly to the living room through a deal with Sony (and others) which will ultimately embed store access into future Bravia TVs. For now, Amazon's VoD store will be available through Sony's $300 Bravia Internet Video Link device. The store goes beta-hot today for a limited number of "invited" US Amazon.com customers before going a live later this summer.

Put fears of missing the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour debut on Disney Channel July 26 at 8 p.m. aside as Starz has announced it will also air the flick, an hour later in SD & HD. Disney hasn't mentioned if the concert will be in HD on its high definition network, so this may give fans (we know you're out there) a chance to check it out before the Blu-ray disc hits shelves in August. It looks like anaglyph (red/blue) technology is what's bringing the 3D, for the necessary goofy looking glasses, either pick them up in a Wal-mart while supplies last or make your own following instructions on the Starz website.

This isn't the first time we've heard of a Blu-ray release not exactly living up to the format it's being released on, but apparently purchasers of Gangs of New York are none too pleased with the BD transfer. It is noteworthy that this film had a pretty wretched DVD transfer, but it seems that those in charge of transferring it to Blu-ray didn't quite take the time to fix the issues that were already present. Sure, the BD version looks a touch better than the DVD edition, but we're still seeing loads of artifacts and noise... just at 1080p. Anyone else raging mad right about now, or is your copy not worth griping over?

[Thanks, Michael]

It's quite possible that you're not really taking a long, hard look at what's coming up in September, but for those acutely aware of what's taking place, you can easily see that said month will be a total drain on the wallet. Shortly after hearing that masterpieces such as The Godfather trilogy, Kill Bill 1 & 2 and Transformers (okay, so maybe the latter hasn't reached masterpiece status just yet) would be hitting in September, now we've got the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy arriving as well. On September 16th, fans of Mr. Depp and Mr. Sparrow alike will have the opportunity to acquire the six-disc set for $82.99, which will include a 1080p presentation of the features and the same supplements found on each of the individually released discs. Just to clarify, what you're seeing here is a repackaging of the titles already out there, so folks who have already snagged all three individually won't find anything new in this.

Disney already made crystal clear that it was planning on dishing out a few films of its own via the internet this summer, but a recently inked pact between it and ReelTime will give Disney fans one more outlet for viewing content. In the agreement, it's noted that ReelTime Rentals will "provide popular video on demand rentals as they become available from The Walt Disney Studios, including new and classic titles from Walt Disney Pictures, Disney-Pixar, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures and Miramax Films." And judging by that screen capture above, we'd say ReelTime isn't wasting any time putting its newfound partnership to good use.

Better start saving those pennies folks, because September is apt to drain your wallet dry. Not only do we have Transformers launching in Blu-ray format on September 2nd, but we now know that both volumes of Kill Bill will be arriving in Blu cases a week later. According to an insider with access to Disney's retailer website, both flicks will be available on September 9th, and Amazon already has place-holders up for the both of 'em. Can anyone say "must buy?"

[Via Audio/Video Revolution]

The Blu-ray fans at Hollywood in High Def took their videocams with them to a Disney Sleeping Beauty event and have come back with a nice preview video of the BD-Live features planned for the title. The Disney BD-Live Network demo highlights Movie Chat instant messaging, Movie Mail for sharing video content and online interactive gaming that can be used to collect Disney Reward points. It's pretty good-looking stuff, and definitely leaves us with a better impression than, say, Yakuza Fighter. The Movie Mail demo came off as a little creepy to us, but that has to do with the content rather than the tech. The big question is, how many profile 2.0 players (besides the PS3) will be on the market when the title ships on October 7? The marketing folks from Disney had something to say about that -- hit the video after the jump to check it out.

[Via HollywoodInHighDef]

As Disney gets its digital strategy together, one feature to look forward to is BD-Live on every Blu-ray release going forward. ABC, Touchstone and Miramax flicks are exempt from the requirement, but that doesn't mean you won't see BD-Live titles there eventually. Sleeping Beauty will get things started, but look for Disney to highlight networked features in its Blu-ray mall tour and try to sell families on why they should even bother with networked features. Tinker Bell is the next movie up to get the BD-Live treatment, plus future Pixar releases like WALL-E. Unfortunately for online Disney Channel fans Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds and the Jonas Brothers' Camp Rock will not have BD-Live capability, but we'll be waiting to see where Disney goes next with the technology.

Well, would you look at this. Not even a month after we heard that TiVo would be offering on-demand movie rentals from Disney comes word that internet junkies will be able to get their fix this summer, too. Announced today, Disney.com will soon be delivering films from the Wonderful World of Disney to the web, as it streams out full-length movies gratis for web viewers. The deal is this: after a title airs on ABC as part of the network's Saturday night summer lineup, it will then be made available for streaming for one week (and one week only, we presume). It will also be serving up the Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock, but this online presentation will also include "unique interactive content so fans can chat and play games while watching." For the full schedule of events, head on down to the read link below.

We've grown pretty accustomed to seeing Digital Copy on Fox Blu-ray titles, but word on the street is putting said feature on a Disney film this August. If whispers prove accurate, Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Collector's Edition will be Disney's first film released with Digital Copy, which the studio will of course rechristen Disneyfile. As of now, there's no word on what types of devices will be able to play back the copy, but we are told to expect quite a few extras / featurettes with the movie. You'll need to save up quite a few pennies to throw this one on your shelf -- the Blu-ray edition will retail for $39.99, while the two-disc DVD set rings up at $32.99.

[Via TheManRoom, image courtesy of KensForce]

TiVo's been offering up movie rentals for a solid tick now, but it finally landed an agreement to include flicks from Walt Disney Studios. Coming soon to Series2 and Series3 HD DVRs, users will be able to view a variety of SD rentals (with select films available in HD) for 24-hour blocks of time. The partnership encompasses TiVo, CinemaNow and ABC, but strangely enough, that's about all the details that any of those firms are dishing out right now.

[Via CNET]

We've seen outfits and networks dig deep to figure out how to make ads more attractive (or just watchable, really), but Disney's taking things to an entirely new plateau. The mega-corp is establishing a laboratory in Austin, Texas which will actually test the biometric reactions of up to 4,000 people in order to better understand what types of commercials are most effective. In the controlled setting, gurus will be tasked with measuring "heart rate and skin conductivity while tracking the gaze of participants who are exposed to new ad models over the internet, mobile devices and TV screens." As expected, the entire project is being undertaken in order to discover whether it can charge more for certain spots, but we're told not to expect the findings until early next year.

[Image courtesy of MSNBC]

BD-Live offerings to date have been pretty tame, but Disney's got a few tricks up its sleeve for the first release in its Platinum Edition series, Sleeping Beauty. Blu-ray owners with compatible hardware will be able to chat with friends during the movie using a laptop, BlackBerry or other PDA, make video messages and send them to others, play trivia games, and earn points used to trade in for ringtones, wallpaper or other items. From the moment the disc hits the tray, the iconic castle will feature a backdrop sync'd with weather conditions in the viewer's hometown. As noted in USA Today some owners of Blu-ray players sans-internet will miss out, but with a street date of October 7, there's still time to grab a PS3 or one of the compatible standalone boxes coming on the market. Customer desire for next gen networked features hasn't always been incredibly enthusiastic, but we suspect once the 'tween group gets into this (and High School Musical 3 hits Blu-ray) things could change.