The DVD Journal | DVD News, Reviews, Rumors, and Commentary
Sept 18 Commando: Unrated Cruising Deliverance: AE Death Proof Delta Farce Flashdance: SE Lucky You Night on Earth: Criterion Saturday Night Fever: 30AE Stranger Than Paradise: Criterion Troy: DC Wall Street: 20AE
Sept 25 Babel: SE Bug Cujo: 25AE Full of It Knocked Up Next Robinson Crusoe on Mars: Criterion Rooney & Garland Coll. Threepenny Opera: Criterion Twisted Terror Collection
Oct 9 28 Weeks Later Evan Almighty Guess Who's Coming to Dinner: 40AE Battleship Potemkin: SE Mala Noche: Criterion Hunchback of Notre Dame: UE Surf's Up Twilight Zone: The Movie
Oct 23 Battleship Potemkin: SE Breathless: Criterion Burt Lancaster Signature Coll Days of Heaven: Criterion Hostel Part II Meet the Robinsons Mr. Brooks O Lucky Man! Saw III: DC Under the Volcano: Criterion
Dimming the lights: On August 26, 1997, Digital Video Disc made its unofficial debut, with Warner Home Video placing 61 titles in nationwide release after a six-month trial period in test markets. Sony's flagship DVD player at the time, the DVD-s7000, cost $1,000; entry-level models reached the marketplace several months later with price-tags around half that, which still wasn't cheap. The nascent format faced several challenges — not all Hollywood studios were on board with the new digital media, while video-rental chains would not clear out a portion of their VHS shelf-space for the shiny new discs. However, thanks to a passionate group of early adopters, home-video divisions at Warner and Sony, the release of movies on DVD without the traditional "rental window" applied to VHS, and retailers stocking discs at affordable prices, consumers began crossing the digital divide. Since then, DVD has changed not just the way we watch movies, but how we think about them.
