Universal has announced a worldwide rollout for the Blu-ray version of Gladiator, Ridley Scott’s Best Picture Oscar winner, starting with the UK on September 7th. Fans of Maximus Decimus Meridius will get two Blu-ray discs in the package, with over 11 hours of bonus goodies, including the theatrical and extended versions of the film, audio commentaries, deleted scenes and the ‘Strength and Honor: Creating the World of Gladiator’ documentary, about the origins and impact of the film.
While many of the features seem to be holdovers from DVD editions of the movie, there’ll also be the ‘Vision of Elysium: Topic Portal’, an intriguing new U-Control feature, which allows viewers to tag things of interest while watching the film, thereby creating a list of things to learn about in the supplements on the other disc. It’s a great idea as long as it works properly.
Universal is hoping to use the feature packed release to help popularise Blu-ray even further, although a lot will depend on the quality of the transfer. A Universal Pictures International spokeman said, “Gladiator is an important title in Universal’s Blu-ray strategy as it will resonate with a large cross section of mainstream consumers, giving us an ideal opportunity to showcase the incredible capabilities of the Blu-ray format as we move into our busiest trading period of the year.”
The movie is also being released on Blu-ray by Paramount in the US on September 1st, although it’s not certain if this version will include the U-Control feature.