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Blu-ray has hit the jackpot with Disney’s latest announcement, according to ComingSoon.net. After throwing their weight behind the fledgling technology in the war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD, Disney has announced the opening of their animated classics vault with the release of a Platinum version of Sleeping Beauty, due in the autumn of 2008. This title marks a significant improvement in special features, making use of the vastly increased space on the disc and polishing up the classic to include 7.1 surround sound, and a fancy new interactive game, Maleficint’s Challenge. While the games in earlier dvd special editions have ranged in quality, the technology available to Blu-ray developers should allow for a decent game to be included in all future titles. It’s not like there’s not decent source material to work from! In addition to this, the release of Finding Nemo on Blu-ray will include a picture in picture option allowing viewers to go deeper into the creation of Nemo, without ever leaving the movie, which while I’m not sure of the point, sounds very cool. Who knows, it may be standard on all releases some day! So, it sure does look like Disney is pulling out all the stops to get these releases to highly shiny levels.

It’s a safe bet to make that every household will own at least one Disney animated classic, if not more, and that’s even before you factor in children and their demands, so with this announcement, Blu-ray snags a significant portion of the market. Is there even a reason to worry about HD-DVD anymore? This I don’t know, but I still think Blu-ray is ahead at the moment. In addition to all the potential earnings from the back catalogue of classics, Disney has also announced release dates for dozens of new theatrical titles, lending even more weight to Blu-ray’s pull over the marketplace.