Responding to the extraordinary growth of Blu-ray set-top hardware, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group has expanded its “DVD2Blu” upgrade program. Starting today, consumers can select from 90 of Warner Home Video’s most popular titles to upgrade that include the action-packed “Under Siege” and “Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut” as well as classics from the 1980s including “Risky Business” and “The Lost Boys.”

Launched in 2009, DVD2Blu.com is a site that allows consumers to upgrade the movies they already own on DVD to Blu-ray Disc™, the absolute best in 1080p high definition picture and sound. The process to upgrade is simple. Consumers select the titles they want to upgrade on DVD2Blu.com, mail in their standard DVDs with pre-paid postage and a short time later receive copies of the same film on Blu-ray Disc. Titles such as “V for Vendetta,” “Deliverance” and “Ocean’s Eleven” can be upgraded for as little as $4.95 plus shipping and handling charges. For a complete list of titles visit DVD2Blu.com.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group is proud to be an environmentally friendly company and will recycle all DVDs mailed for upgrade. The discs will be processed and used for future plastic packaging.

BE THE FIRST TO BE THE LAST,
AS STAR TOURS PREPARES TO LAUNCH ITS…
LAST TOUR TO ENDOR

On August 14, Fan-Favorite Disney Theme Park Attraction
Gets the Ultimate, Out-of-this-World Send-Off

Exclusive Festivities Coincide with the Biggest Party
This Side of the Galaxy – Star Wars Celebration V

After more than two decades of interstellar travel, Disney Parks’ Star Tours attraction is powering down to make way for its reimagining in 2011 – but Last Tour to Endor offers fans the opportunity to attend an out of-this-world, first-of-its-kind decommissioning party before Star Tours launches its final flights. Taking place on August 14 from 8:00pm – 1:00am at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Last Tour to Endor is a special event on the Saturday night of Star Wars Celebration V – THE official Lucasfilm fan convention and the biggest Star Wars™ party in the galaxy!
Fans and families attending Last Tour to Endor at the Walt Disney World Resort can enjoy a one-of-a-kind entertainment experience – including specially-themed intergalactic party zones, Star Wars shows, a Death Star Disco and much more. The evening will culminate with Symphony in the Stars – a Star Wars fireworks spectacular as only Disney Parks can create. Though the party begins at 8:00pm, Last Tour ticket-holders will also be allowed early entrance to Disney’s Hollywood Studios at 4:00pm – where they can be sure to secure a seat one of the StarSpeeder 3000’s final voyages!
Disney Parks will also have a prominent presence on the Celebration V show floor at the Orange County Convention Center – including Jedi Training Academy for younglings and Padawans and a Disney merchandise booth featuring a host of exclusive items as well as Star Wars items only previously available at Disney park stores. CV attendees will also enjoy special room rates at Walt Disney World Resort Hotels, specially-priced tickets with pre-arrival purchase savings for Walt Disney World parks and an exclusive, reserved room block at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – which will include complimentary round-trip transfers to and from the convention center.

To purchase tickets – and to take advantage of Last Tour to Endor special offers – visit www.starwarscelebration.com/Disney. For more information on Star Wars Celebration V visit www.starwarscelebration.com for the latest updates.

Featuring celebrities, costumes, live entertainment, screenings, autographs, collectibles, panels and much, much more, Star Wars Celebration V allows fans, friends and families to share their love of the Saga. There have been four Star Wars Celebrations in America to date, as well as a Star Wars Celebration Europe (2007) and Star Wars Celebration Japan (2008). Taking place in Orlando, FL from August 12-15, Star Wars Celebration V will commemorate the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back and the ongoing, weekly adventures of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. For more information about Celebration V and to purchase tickets, visit www.starwarscelebration.com.

Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, Lucasfilm Ltd. is launching a year-long campaign to raise much-needed funds for a brave alliance of worthy charities. Leveraging Empire’s enormous popularity with fans, the goal is to channel the Force in support of a series of charitable events and activities – and to give back to the community that has helped Star Wars remain so popular for more than three decades. Among the charities to benefit from the year-long Empire Gives Back campaign are St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Education Outreach at Chicago’s Field Museum and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

“Star Wars has received such an amazing show of love and support throughout the years, from fans all over the world,” said Mich Chau, President and Chief Operating Officer, Lucasfilm Ltd. “This anniversary gives us a wonderful opportunity to give back to our fans, and to work with some truly worthy organizations in a combined effort to support those in need.”

Activities include:

Los Angeles red carpet screening to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Featuring an exclusive Q&A with Harrison Ford, this one-night-only digital screening of The Empire Strikes Back is presented by Junk Food Clothing
To be held at Hollywood’s Arclight Cinema at 7:00pm on Wednesday, May 19

Chicago screenings to benefit Education Outreach Programs at The Field Museum
Four digital screenings to be held at The Field Museum’s Ernst & Young Theater
Friday, May 7 at 3:00pm
Saturday, May 8 at 3:00pm, 7:00pm and 10:30pm
Ticket Info: fieldmuseum.org or 312-665-7400

The 501st Legion’s TK Project to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation
More than 50 contributing artists – including Star Wars actors, underground artists, celebrities and fans – will design and customize classic Star Wars stormtrooper helmets
Entries to be auctioned through Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando, Fla., from Aug. 12-15
For more information, visit www.starwarscelebration.com

The Empire Skates Back to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation
Similar to the TK Project, more than 30 contributing artists will customize and design skateboard decks to reflect themes of The Empire Strikes Back
Entries to be auctioned through Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando, Fla., from Aug. 12-15
For more information, visit www.starwarscelebration.com

Additional programs will be announced throughout the year on StarWars.com

To give you a better look at their Virtual program, the Tribeca Film Festival is giving you the chance to “test drive” it all this week!

For one week only, beginning Monday April 12 through Friday, April 16, the Tribeca Film Festival Virtual will give consumers across the US the opportunity to experience their brand new HD TFFV Premium player. Content will be accessible without the need of a login or password for this limited time only. After April 16, a TFFV Pass holder username and password will be required to access exclusive content including the TFF 2010 features and short films beginning April 23rd with Edward Burns’ Nice Guy Johnny. Check out TFFV Premium today! Test drive before you buy!

Access the new HD player here and watch trailers, interviews and more: http://www.tribecafilm.com/virtual/premium/

The 63rd Festival de Cannes runs May 12–23, and opens with Ridley Scott's "Robin Hood." Tim Burton is the President of the Feature Film Jury.

Here is the rest of the lineup:

IN COMPETITION:
“Tournee,” directed by Mathieu Almaric
“Des Hommes des Dieux,” directed by Xavier Beauvois
“Biutiful,” directed by Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu
“Hors-la-loi,” directed by Rachid Bouchareb
“Un Homme Qui Crie,” directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
“Housemaid,” directed by Im Sangsoo
“Copie Conforme,” directed by Abbas Kiarostami
“Outrage,” directed by Takeshi Kitano
“Poetry,” directed by Lee Chang-dong
“Another Year,” directed by Mike Leigh
“Fair Game,” directed by Doug Liman
“You, My Joy,” directed by Sergei Lovnitsa
“La Nostra Vita,” directed by Daniele Luchetti
“Utomlyonnye Solntsem 2,” directed by Nikita Mikhalkov
“La Princesse de Monptpensier,” directed by Bertrand Tavernier
“Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives,” directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

OUT OF COMPETITION
“You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger,” directed by Woody Allen
“Tamara Drewe,” directed by Stephen Frears
“Wall Street - Money Never Sleeps,” directed by Oliver Stone

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
“Kaboom,” directed by Gregg Araki
“L’Autre Monde” (Blackhole), directed by Gilles Marchand

UN CERTAIN REGARD
“Blue Valentine,” directed by Derek Cianfrance
“O Estranho Caso de Angelica,” directed by Manouel de Oliveira
“Les Amours Imaginaires (Heartbeats)," directed by Xavier Dolan
“Los Labios,” directed by Ivan Fund and Santiago Loza
“Simon Werner a Disparu…” directed by Fabrice Gobert
“Film Socialisme,” directed by Jean-Luc Godard
“Unter Dir Die Stadt (The City Below)," directed by Christoph Hochhausler
“Rebecca H. (Return to the Dogs),” directed by Lodge Kerrigan
“Pal Adreinn (Adrienn Pal)," directed by Agnes Kocsis
“Udaan,” directed by Vikramaditya Motwane
“Marti Dupa Craciun (Tuesday, After Christmas)," directed by Radu Muntean
“Chatroom,” directed by Hideo Nakata
“Aurora,” directed by Cristi Puiu
“Ha Ha Ha,” directed by Hong Sangsoo
“Life Above All,” directed by Oliver Schmitz
“Octubre,” directed by Daniel Vega
“R U There,” directed by David Verbeek
“Rizhao Chongqing (Chongqing Blues)," directed by Xiaoshuai Wang

SPECIAL SCREENINGS
"Inside Job," directed by Charles Ferguson
"Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow," directed by Sophie Fiennes
"Nostalgia for the Light," directed by Patricio Guzman
"Draquila - L'Italia Che Trema," directed by Sabina Guzzanti
"Chantrapas," directed by Otar Iosseliani
"Abel," directed by Diego Luna

Please see the Official Site for more information

Fans honor CW leading lady & Smallville star, Allison Mack, with tribute commercial to air in Los Angeles.

Smallville fans have funded a professionally-filmed tribute commercial for the CW leading lady Allison Mack and her TV character, Chloe Sullivan, to air this Spring in Los Angeles before this season concludes. Starring on Smallville since 2001, Ms. Mack has gained a large and devoted fan base as one of the CW's most beloved stars.

For the completion of her 9th year on the series, Smallville fans decided to celebrate Allison Mack and her tv character, Chloe Sullivan, with a commercial project entitled Legendary. Scripted and funded entirely by fans, this first of its kind tribute ad was filmed in Los Angeles in late February. In the capable hands of the director, Jon Michael Kondrath, cast and crew created a tribute ad focusing on who Chloe Sullivan is and what she means to Smallville fans.

The ad highlights milestones in Chloe Sullivan's journey from her introduction as a high school student in Smallville to being hired at the Daily Planet as well as becoming Clark Kent's confidante.

The website Legendary has been set up for the project. Although the initial goals of the project have been met, the organizers invite other Smallville fans to help them expand the project with longer air time for the ad or airing it in a second TV market.

Ms. Mack has been the center of a flurry of fan activity recently. Earlier this year, Smallville fans participated in Operation: Truth & Justice, another initiative to honor Ms. Mack, in which fans donated $3000 to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation in her name and sent the CW star baskets of fan created gifts in appreciation of her performance.

What would happen in your perfect world?

THE LOVELY BONES star Rose McIver who plays “Lindsey Salmon” says, “My perfect world would be one where diversity is celebrated, change is embraced and resources are shared. And where everyone wears patchwork pants and cryptic crosswords are in the education curriculum."

In celebration of of THE LOVELY BONES on DVD, Blu-ray and VOD on April 20th, Paramount Home Entertainment is hosting the “In My Perfect World” sweepstakes where participants are asked to share what their perfect world would be like for a chance to win DVDs and more!

Entrants simply need to visit www.lovelybonessweeps.com between now and April 25th and submit a statement of what would be in their perfect world. One winner will be selected randomly each day to receive a copy of The Lovely Bones on DVD and one grand prize winner will be chosen at random following the entry period to receive a digital camera and photo printer.

There is a new Mother’s Day Promotion from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and MGM Home Entertainment. A wide variety of wonderful films will be available just in time to pick out that perfect gift for mom. There is definitely something for every mom’s taste; be it a romantic adventure such as Under the Same Moon, a sassy comedy like The Devil Wears Prada, a story of friends and family as in The Family Stone, or a classic hit like Some Like It Hot.
Coupons.com to ensures that these titles are available at a gift-giving price! Visiting Coupons.com offers $2.00 DVD coupon savings on the following titles:

The Devil Wears Prada
The Family Stone
The Graduate
In Her Shoes
Little Miss Sunshine
Raising Arizona
Some Like It Hot
Susan Sarandon Celebrity Pack
Under the Same Moon
A Walk in the Clouds

The TromaDance Film Festival Committee is honored to announce the official film selections for the 11th Anniversary TromaDance Film Festival. The 11th edition of the totally free and truly independent film festival will unspool in Asbury Park, New Jersey from April 16-17 with films selected from around the world. The wonderful, totally independent films selected for the festival are:

Beautiful As You Are (Dir. Doug Mallette, USA)

Burn the Whole Place Down (Dir. Adam Comiskey, UK)

The Devil (Dir. Andrea Lodovichetti, Italy)

Dirty Martini (Dir. Iban Del Campo, Spain)

Four Thieves and the Not-So Sweet Shop (Dir. Ryan Braund, UK)

The Golden Nazi Vampire of Absam: Part II – The Secret of Kottlitz Castle (Dir. Lasse Noltz, Germany)

Insanophenia (Dir. Steven Kostanski, Canada)

Lazer Ghosts 2: Return to Laser Cove (Dir. Steven Kostanski, Canada)

Milbe/Mite (Dir. Karl Tebbe, Germany)

Mina (Dir. José Zambrano Casselle, USA)

Nemesis (Dir. Stian Hafstad, Norway)

Parade (Dir. Pierre-Emmanuel Lyet, France)

Pesticide (Dir. Cameron Kerr, UK)

Pie of the Day (Dir. Victoria Cook, USA)

Sick Animation (Dir. Marc M., USA)

Sinkhole (Dir. Eric Scherbarth, USA)

Small Penis (Dir. Stian Hafstad, Norway)

SuperBattle: Episode 1 (Dir. Ethan Marak, USA)

This is Where We Live (Dir. Ben Falk, Josiah Newbolt, & Jordan Wood, UK)

The True Adventures of GHOSTTANK (Dir. John E. Goras, USA)

Whiplash (Dir. Clint Enns, Canada)

Zombies and Cigarette (Dir. Rafa Martinez & Inaki San Roman, Spain)

Judge Kent Dixon shares his thoughts on the Live Community Screening of SHERLOCK HOLMES that took place on April 1st...

An Evening with the Downeys

Despite my initial misgivings around the plot similarities between Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes and Barry Levinson’s 1985 film Young Sherlock Holmes, I still enjoyed the new film with Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law as the residents of 221B Baker Street for a new generation.

I may not have been the first in line when the new film was released on Blu-ray, but I did pick it up within a few days after release. One of the BD-exclusive features that quickly caught my eye was a special screening of the film, hosted by Robert Downey, Jr. no less, for fans that have web-enabled players and register for the event in advance.

With the screening limit set at a mere 100,000, I was pretty sure that by the time I got home from work, registered for the event and got all my ducks in a row, this kid from the Canadian prairies would be far too late. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was still able to register and even submitted a few advance questions for Mr. Downey, Jr. to potentially be answered during the live event.

10:07 a.m.
Off to West Edmonton Mall’s World Waterpark to celebrate my son’s birthday with some sliding, wave pooling and a relaxing read of a good book. Sure, the screening is in my mind, but I have too many other things on the go right now to give it much thought.

Around 3 p.m.-ish
Sitting back relaxing in a lounge chair pool-side, or more accurately wave-pool side, reading the first novel in the Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt series, thinking we should probably get a move on so we’re not late for the family birthday supper.

6:00 p.m.
Settling down for supper in a local restaurant, starting to think I should head home for the live screening.

6:51 p.m.
Realize I have almost NO TIME to make it home to log into Warner’s BD-Live system before the screening starts.

7:05 p.m.
Rush home and fire up the HD projector and PS3, log in to Warner’s servers, and join the film already in progress. A slight disappointment right off the bat is the fact that this is a text-only event, so we will not be hearing Mr. Downey, Jr.’s voice as we watch the film. The disappointment wears off fairly quickly as I realize that both the fan questions and Robert’s responses will be coming fairly fast and furious throughout. This might turn out to be a fantastically good time! Rrrrriiiiiight up until…

7:16 p.m.
The event experiences its first glitch as a text message from the moderator notifies viewers that they are having some technical difficulties and need to pause the film. Fortunately, the message also indicates that I didn’t have to worry about anything on my end and that the show will resume shortly. To his credit, Robert seems as bummed by this as the rest of us and says he hopes we’ll be back underway soon. Pretty cool that the Warner system allows remote control of playback on my PS3. What can I say? I’m still impressed by this kind of technology!

7:22 p.m.
The film is still paused at this point, with no sign of the event resuming. Fingers still crossed though! Spoke too soon…the game’s afoot once again! Susan Downey, Robert’s wife and also the film’s producer, is joining Robert on the text commentary, sharing her thoughts and insights along the way as well.

7:49 p.m.
While some of the submitted fan questions are a bit off topic here and there, Robert is consistently gracious and well-spoken, even though he is forced to rely on text-only responses and comments, supposedly due to technical difficulties. Whether speaking about his fellow actors, production designer Sarah Greenwood, set decorator Katie Spencer or costume designer Jenny Beavan; he is never stingy in giving credit to his colleagues, both behind and in front of the camera, when it’s due.

8:22 p.m.
The Downey’s are a delight, giving their insights and graciously responding to fans questions, while also sharing more of themselves that I would have expected. The moderator pauses the film at this point and notes that we’ll resume after a short break…no doubt giving folks a chance to visit the loo and refresh their drinks and popcorn.

8:35 p.m.
We’re baaaaaack! I keep hoping they’ll get the audio figured out, but no luck so far. Shortly after we start up again, Robert drops an f-bomb, Susan scolds him, and he promises to watch his language.

9:09 p.m.
Perhaps the most maddening thing about the fan questions is that, for every question asking Robert about the films that have inspired him, or who he’d most like to work with, someone asks “what’s your favorite animal.” It would have been great if the moderators had screened the questions just a wee bit more.

9:22 p.m.
As the credits roll, Robert and Susan graciously thank the participants for spending time watching the film with them, reminding us that it’s because of the movie-going public that they get to have the great jobs they have, doing the work they love most.

The Downey’s sign off and the moderator continues to feed comments from fans. It’s clear that Robert and Susan have many admirers, all of whom are anxiously awaiting their next project. Whether it’s Stark, Holmes or something completely new; Robert and Susan are clearly just getting started.