This is one heck of a week for Blu-Ray. Loads of movies that were previously exclusive to HD DVD hit shelves this Tuesday. Instead of the usual “under 10” title count for releases, Amazon.com lists 56 different titles coming this week, and one of them is Amazon.com’s top seller, outpacing all of the DVD releases. HD DVD, on the other hand, has a grand total of one upcoming title, that being “Disco Pigs” on June 24. Ladies and gentlemen, the HD format wars are most decidedly over.

First, the DVD releases:

• Almost an Angel
• Alucard: Clearly a version of Dracula, but I can’t find any information on it anywhere.
• The Andromeda Strain Miniseries: This is the one that aired a few days ago.
• Boarding Gate
• Brotherhood – Season Two:
• CHiPs – The Complete Second Season
• City Slickers
• Control
• Dante’s Cove – Season 3
• The Dead Zone: The Final Season
• Dirty Harry
• Magnum Force
• The Enforcer
• Sudden Impact
• The Dead Pool
• Dirty Harry Ultimate Collection: All five Dirty Harry movies.
• Doctor Who: The Silurians (Episode 52)
• Doctor Who: The Sea Devils (Episode 62)
• Doctor Who: Warriors of the Deep (Episode 131)
• Doctor Who: Beneath The Surface: Includes episodes 52, 62 and 131
• Doctor Who Megaset 2: Details are sketchy. It’s a 27 disc set, featuring different episodes than the first megaset, but they haven’t revealed which ones those are.
• The Extra Girl / The Gusher: Classic slapstick cinema
• The Eye
• Flawless
• Full Metal Panic: Complete Collection
• Get Smart – The Complete Series: NOTE: this is not the original series, but the 1990s series in which Don Adams has been promoted to the Chief.
• Houdini
• I Love New York: Season Two
• The Incredible Hulk – Complete Third Season: These two seasons clearly released to coincide with “The Incredible Hulk” reaching theatres on June 13. The fifth and final season has been announced for this fall, timed to coincide with the film release on home video.
• The Incredible Hulk – Complete Fourth Season
• Ironside, Season 1 Volume 1
• Jekyll and Hyde Together Again
• Mannix – The First Season
• Mchale’s Navy: Season One, Vol. 1
• Meet The Spartans – Pit of Death Edition: Currently 95 on the IMDB “worst 100 movies of all time” list.
• Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: Anime Legends, Vol. 2
• The Onion Movie: The Onion made a movie and I missed it? Did this not reach theaters or something?
• The Optimists
• Rescue Me – The Complete Fourth Season
• Semi-Pro
• Silent Mobius: Complete Collection
• The Skull
• The Stan Laurel Collection 2: Kino Slapstick Symposium, with Laurel’s pre-Hardy days.
• Student Bodies
• Those Daring Young Men In Their Jaunty Jalopies
• Three’s A Crowd / The Chaser: Kino Slapstick Symposium
• Villa Rides
• Weeds – Season Three

Now, the Blu-Ray releases:

• Aeon Flux
• Babel
• Battle of Britain
• Bee Movie
• Blades of Glory
• A Bridge Too Far
• Coming To America
• Cloverfield: This Blu-Ray is Amazon.com’s #1 selling title this week, outselling the traditional DVD fare. Now that the format wars are over, people are investing in the Blu-Ray.
• Dirty Harry
• Dirty Harry Ultimate Collector’s Edition
• Disturbia
• The Eye
• Face/Off
• Four Brothers
• The Italian Job: This is the Mark Wahlberg remake.
• Lara Croft – Tomb Raider
• The Longest Day
• The Manchurian Candidate: The recent Denzel Washington version, not the Frank Sinatra original.
• Meet The Spartans – Unrated Pit-of-Death Edition: Currently #95 on the IMDB “worst 100 movies of all time” list.
• Mission Impossible
• Mission Impossible II
• Mission Impossible III
• Next
• Patton
• Payback
• The Poseidon Adventure: This recent remake is one of the cheapest Blu-ray discs I’ve seen.
• The Recruit
• Sahara
• The Sand Pebbles
• Semi-Pro
• Shooter
• Signs
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
• Sleepy Hollow
• There Will Be Blood
• Trading Spaces
• The Untouchables
• The Warriors
• We Were Soldiers
• Weeds – Season Three

Finally, the pick of the week. I’d go with the new Manchurian Candidate. It’s one of the remakes that actually makes sense, retaining the spirit of a dated original, while still updating the story in an interesting way. Very well done.