In last week’s DVD DOWNLOAD I mentioned the newly announced release date for Final Destination 3 on DVD and in mentioning the special features I listed the “Choose-Their-Fate” Interactive feature and I didn’t think twice about it because the only definition there was was this:
Final Destination 3: Thrill Ride Edition puts viewers in the driver’s seat with the unique “choose-their-fate†interactive viewing option, allowing viewers to change the course of the film and the destiny of the characters!
To me that reads, “Another jerky “click here” interactive features that slows down the movie.” Now, that may be the case, but there is a lot more to it and if it isn’t as slow to react as most DVD interactive features are this may be really cool.
According to DVD Exclusive the feature is in fact a feature that allows viewers to be able to choose between dozens of different fates for characters via a combination of newly filmed alternate scenes. At a budget of $700,000 to $1 million, the extras are meant to continue the movie’s story line, in which characters are able to foresee they way they will die.
The DVD Exclusive article tends to allude to that they think this may be New Line’s statement to the industry saying that DVD is not a lost cause as we grow ever so close to the release of HD DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. Mike Mulvihill, New Line Home Entertainment senior VP of content development, though, had this to say, “We’re not trying to make a statement about one format over the other… but the statement we are making is that New Line takes the technology seriously whatever the format is.
Like I said, if this isn’t a slow to react special feature then I am all aboard, it could be really cool.
Final Destination 3: Thrill Ride Edition hits DVD shelves on July 25, click here for more on the release.
As for the HD DVDs I referenced earlier, Amazon.com is now listing an April 18 release date for the HD DVD version of Serenity and an April 25 release date for both Doom and Apollo 13, all are Universal Home Entertainment releases.
