The “Planet of the Apes” set will be available on Blu-ray November 4 for $160. A special “ape head” package is available for an extra $20.
How do you get consumers clamoring for Blu-ray? Apparently, they need more than the promise of an awesome picture. Studios are planning to pack more extras into high-def releases in an effort to entice more buyers.
Video Business says that Fox’s upcoming “Planet of the Apes 40-Year Evolution Blu-ray Collection” will have five new never-before-seen features. Coming in 2009, a 30th anniversary edition of the Peter Sellers’ swan song “Being There” (if you don’t count the posthumous “The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu”) will have 10 minutes of deleted scenes and alternate endings that Warner Bros. recently “found.” Even cooler, the advent of BD Live is allowing for funky extras like the “new and improved” Blu-ray version of “Casino Royale,” which will include a peer-to-peer trivia game.
To date, many Blu-ray releases were lacking exclusive extras. Hopefully the new trend will see standard-def versions getting standard extras, while Blu-ray goes for the gold—or at least the green.
Are extras enough to entice you, or is it all about the picture? Were there any specific extras on certain titles that you just had to have? Drop a comment below.

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