HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, aka Harry Potter Book 7, may get more screen justice than ORDER OF THE PHOENIX: David Heyman, producer, is expected to announce that rather than trying to chop the last huge book down to movie size, two movies will be made of HALLOWS to accommodate the entire last installment in the J. K. Rowling book series.

Of course, this means more money for the studio, the cast and the author by making it into 2 films (something they all really need, eh?) but it also means we should get treated to the whole final story in all its glory, something Harry Potter movie 5, ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, missed its mark on, especially considering they took the longest book at that point and made it the shortest movie of all 5 to date. (Who’s brilliant idea was THAT? <slap> <slap>)

Meanwhile HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE is currently filming with a release date of Nov 2008. Maybe they’ll get a clue from all the recent press and make sure book 6 gets good treatment also. After all, they all make more money the more we go see it, and we’ll want to see it more than once if its done well, right? (Duh…)

Back to watching the first 5 HARRY POTTER DVDs while we wait.

Technorati Tags: Books, DVD, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, MOVIES

Well, it’s finally almost here! Coming out March 11th, STARGATE: THE ARK OF TRUTH is about to be released, direct to DVD.

Here’s what we’ll see according to the package:

Blasting off where the Sci-Fi Channel’s longest running show, STARGATE SG-1, left off, this thrilling feature thrusts the Stargate team: Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks), Vala (Claudia Black), Teal’c (Christopher Judge), Sam (Amanda Tapping) and Cam (Ben Browder) into their biggest challenge yet. In search of an Ancient artifact they hope can defeat the oppressive Ori, the team not only learns that the Ori are set to launch a final assault on Earth, but a double-crossing I.O. operative is aboard the Odyssey! Also starring Beau Bridges, this pulse-pounder is loaded with enough suspense, humor and action to fill a galaxy!

Check out the preview:

Sounds like STARGATE: THE ARK OF TRUTH will be giving enough backstory to entice new viewers while giving us more of the story that we missed when the series ended. Hopefully it will be balanced well. (THE PRETENDER 2001 movie tried to do that and I think it missed the mark in trying to ‘explain’ too much at the opening, making the story feel forced and too choppy.)

Here’s to the STARGATE: THE ARK OF TRUTH DVD selling well – if it does, then they should keep adding to the series through more movies! Something we fans need if we’re not to go through complete withdrawal… (Not a pretty sight. LOL)

Technorati Tags: DVD, MOVIES, Sci Fi, Stargate SG-1, TV

It appears that in the battle of the formats, Toshiba America has finally thrown in the towel, and announced that they will be discontinuing their HD DVD format players/recorders, giving the Blu-Ray format backed by Sony the match by default.

Quite a few people are upset given that they purchased player/recorders and XBox’s with HD DVD heavily last year and for Christmas in anticipation of many more titles to come, and now the big retailers such as Wal-Mart, Amazon, Best Buy, and movie studios like Universal and Paramount have said they will follow Toshiba’s lead, and drop providing new stuff in HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray. Owners of the pretty much now-defunct format are saying they would have gone PS3 instead if Toshiba could have admitted they lost the format wars way back when instead of making sure they were able to sell of existing inventory at full price for the holidays.

However, Toshiba has stated that no refunds will be in the offing. (Just as in the fight game, you don’t get your money back just because your boxer lost the match, eh?) Since the machines still work as intended and there are programs around, and Toshiba will provide ongoing support for existing hardware, purchasers will just have to be happy with what they got. (Sure, right, we know how well THAT works!)

I figured Blu-ray would probably win out in the long run since it holds 25GB in the single layer format and HD DVD holds only 15GB. Remember Beta and VHS tapes? Beta had higher quality recording, but because VHS could tape 6-8 hours instead of only 5, it eventually won out…

So what does this mean for movie and game-lovers? Well, for the moment, HD DVD titles are being blown out of inventories to make room for Blu-ray ones, so if you want to keep your HD DVD player fed, now’s the time to get the stuff you’ve been waiting on. (Amazon’s got HD-DVD stuff on sale for 50% or more off right now!) However, if you hadn’t purchased either type of player yet, you can now either get a really great bargain on an HD DVD player that will only have a limited amount of product for it or finally take the plunge and pick up a Blu-ray device. (That is, unless you want to wait and see what takes its place in the next 2-3 years. LOL)

Technorati Tags: Blu-Ray, DVD, GAMING, HD DVD, MOVIES, Technology