Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Sony said Monday that it plans to offer Disney/Pixar's animated hit Up for purchase on its PlayStation Network beginning today (Tuesday), the day the movie is released on DVD and Blu-ray. The movie is priced at $14.99 for standard definition and $19.99 for high-definition. (Newer PlayStation models are capable of playing Blu-ray discs.) Sony also said that it will offer some 80 Disney feature films for sale in coming days, two-thirds of them in both standard- and high-definition versions. In a separate announcement, Sony Electronics said that owners of its Bravia HDTV sets and Blu-ray Disc players will be able to watch its Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs beginning Dec. 8, a month before the DVD and Blu-ray releases hit store shelves. Sony is the first company to utilize its Internet-enabled TVs and other networked devices to stream feature films directly to consumers' televisions prior to availability on DVD or Blu-ray," said Hiro Kawano, Svp for Sony Electronics' home division business. However, the price for the advance rental will be steep -- $24.99 for a 24-hour period. However, it said, anyone buying a new Bravia TV set or a Sony Blu-ray player between now and January 4 will receive a 24-hour rental of the film for free. »

Read the full article on studiobriefing.net

I can't believe Sony is trying this, but if you want to rent Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 30 days early, you can...for $25. That's not entirely accurate. ZDNet says it will really only cost you $24.95, but substantially more if you don't already have a Sony Bravia HDTV set with networking capabilities. Yeah, that's the only way you can take advantage of this incredible offer.

So first, buy a $1000 TV, and second, cave in to your child's every whining want and spring more than twice as much for a rental than if you just waited a month. Good luck with that, Sony. This one's destined to be a windfall. »
- Colin Boyd

Read the full article on getthebigpicture.net

By the New York Times
In a nod to its vision of the future, Sony will make its animated hit “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” available to consumers directly through Internet-enabled televisions and Blu-ray players before the movie is released on DVD.
It is the latest experiment in Hollywood’s effort to find a way to compensate for the steep decline in profits from home entertainment.
Read more from the New York Times.
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- Dylan Stableford

Read the full article on thewrap.com