Disney has announced a quarter of big name titles shipping on Blu-ray in 2008 in a strange move we can only suspect was made to drum up sales of Blu-ray Disc players heading into the holiday shopping season.
‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’ will arrive next spring with full motion picture-in-picture. This title had been previously confirmed as in the works, but this is the first confirmation of a release window.
The summer will see a new special edition of ‘National Treasure’ with the distinction of being Disney’s first BD-Live Blu-ray Disc.
Disney’s first Platinum title release ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ will arrive in the fall. It will boast a virtual castle and multi-player activities — both utilizing BD-Live technology. Also releasing in the fall will be the third confirmed Pixar feature-length animated film on Blu-ray, ‘Finding Nemo,’ with picture-in-picture bonus features.
It should be noted that no current set-up Blu-ray Disc player can playback picture-in-picture functionality, though all players shipping after October 31 are mandated to include it. BD-Live accessibility is currently only prevalent on Playstation 3 and a small handful of other players.