Dream all you want Transformer fans, but Dreamworks is not changing its policy on the availability of digital downloads for the box office smash as it hits stores this week. If you want to watch in on your HDTV it is the Blu-Ray Disc (BD) or nothing.
DreamWorks is the only major studio not releasing films through electronic sell-through. Both iTunes and Amazon are already selling pre-orders for upcoming Paramount releases Star Trek and G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra, both due for EST release the same day they debut on DVD and Blu-ray. DreamWorks Animation, whose films also are distributed by Paramount, also are available for electronic sell-through.
Transformers 2 delayed for download – 10/16/2009 – Video Business
If you believe the internet, digital rentals will be available in one month’s time on iTunes and Amazon.
While the movie may not be available for download to own, Paramount does have an the expected, for this day and age, web 2.0 presence:
and also added a cross promotion with ESPN, in what may be a sign of things to come between Dreamworks and Disney.
In a sign that may be conceived as keeping up with the Joneses, the increasingly popular augmented reality (AR) feature, written about here previously as used to promote FlashForward and Dollhouse, finds it way in to the Transformers universe. The Special Transforming Editions of the package unlock the feature when used in conjunction with a webcam and the The Optimus Experience website, named for one of the main robotic characters in the movie. The protagonist owns a webcam in the movie, a scene specifically included in the trailer for the BD release.
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Whether or not that luck of the plot or actual foreshadowing, Paramount did tweet a sneak peek of the feature in action, last week
Paramount sneak peek at the Optimus Experience
Now, if you had your mind made up to download an HD version of this movie, the AR feature probably won’t make up for the month long wait to rent it. However, most fans of the movie and more so the Transformers characters the movie is based on probably are collectors. They would have bought the movie anyway and now have an added bonus, independent of iTunes, BD-Live, or BD in general. Paramount, once again, is rewarding its loyal customers for viewing the movie the way they prefer: you buying the physical media and keeping it in your home theater. They aren’t ready to transform just yet.
Tags: Amazon, Augmented Reality, Blu-Ray, Digital Download, Disc, Disney, DreamWorks, Entertainment, ESPN, Facebook, HDTV, iTunes, Movie, MySpace, Optimus Experience, Paramount, Technology, Transformer, Transformers, Twitter, video, Webcam
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