Sony Pictures has put down a release date of May 23^rd for its first Blu-Ray discs.  

The first cluster of movies will be from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment with one

from MGM:

• 50 First Dates (SPHE)
• The Fifth Element (SPHE)
• Hitch (SPHE)
• House of Flying Daggers (SPHE)
• A Knight’s Tale (SPHE)
• The Last Waltz (MGM)
• Resident Evil Apocalypse (SPHE)
• XXX  (SPHE)

 Sometime around June 13^th they will be followed up with:

• Robocop (MGM)
• SWAT (SPHE)
• Stealth (SPHE)
• Species (MGM)
• Legends of the Fall (SPHE)
• Terminator (MGM)
• Kung Fu Hustle (SPHE)

 Terminator on Blu-Ray, YES!

Back in early Feb Sony gave us an idea of the retail prices to expect of Blu-Ray movies.  Prices will reflect about a 20% hike over the relative cost of DVD.  This is a bargain for a new technology.  You can believe that the low cost is due to the HD DVD competition.  Retail outlets will be billed $23.45 for new titles, including “Underworld:Evolution” and $17.95 for catalogued films like “Hitch” and “The Fifth Element”.

The Blu-Ray movie release strategically coincides with the Samsung’s first Blu-Ray disc player.  The BD-P100 comes out on May 23^rd at Circuit City, Best Buy and specialty shops.  The price of Samsung’s new BD player had been set at $1K back when it was first presented at CES. 

Samsung’s Blu-Ray player will be soon followed up with hardware from both Sony and Pioneer.