Attention “High School Musical” fans…your Zac Efron parties are about to getting a little more exciting. That’s because Disney is set to launch something called the Disney BD Live Network, coming soon to a Blu-ray player near you.

The free service (included on every Disney Blu-ray disc starting with “Sleeping Beauty” on October 17) will connect BD Live-enabled movies to the Internet, allowing a variety of interactive features to be downloaded to the disc. Among the most impressive? The ability for folks to sync their players together and (provided everyone owns the movie) watch the film in real-time together with on-screen chatting capabilities. This means the next time a “High School Musical” flick hits Blu-ray, teens can hold a virtual party with friends anywhere in the country, chatting together and pausing to gush over Zac’s mezmorizing wink. Or even more OMG-worthy, that Disney can hold a live viewing for fans with Zac and the cast, with everyone’s machines sync’d together across America as they provide commentary and respond to questions.

Disney has yet to confirm whether “High School Musical” and “High School Musical 2” will be issued with BD Live capabilities, but the third installment certainly will. And while we’re still a ways from that — it’s still shooting and will be hitting theaters first — at least you can start planning those party invites now to give Efron and the main cast their last hurrah.

Does the prospect of virtual “HSM” parties excite you? Would you actually use this service to watch along with your friends in other cities? Chime in below!

[Source : MTV Movies Blog]

Earlier this week we brought you an exclusive five-minute sneak peek at “Batman: Gotham Knight,” the upcoming “Dark Knight” tie-in anthology that features six animated chapters, each completely distinct and created by different teams of storytellers. Now we’ve got another exclusive for your viewing pleasure, this one a featurette from the DVD (dropping July 8), where comic book creators discuss how the villains of Gotham City have influenced the Dark Knight.

[Source : MTV Movies Blog]

We’ve got some good news and bad news for you devoted “Spaced” fans out there. Die-hard fans of all things Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg know that there was indeed life before “Hot Fuzz” and “Shaun of the Dead” and it was called “Spaced.”

Only 14 episodes long, the unconventional sitcom launched the careers of both and spawned a devoted following that’s been hoping, praying, nay begging, for a DVD release here in the United States. Well, mark your calendars. The date is July 23, 2008, and that info came to us exclusively from none other than Wright himself.

As for the U.S. version of “Spaced,” well Wright and Pegg are less than thrilled at the prospect of that. Since news broke in Variety last week that Fox is picking up the pilot for the show (which Pegg, Wright, and Jessica Stevenson have nothing to do with), the creators of the original haven’t been shy about expressing how they feel.

Wright wrote on his MySpace blog that none of the three want to be involved in the U.S. version, saying “That show was very personal to us. It’s about Simon and Jessica, not just some format or high concept. It pains me to see it reduced to this…’Single-cam half-hour revolves around a young man and woman who pose as a couple in order to rent a cheap apartment.’

Pegg meanwhile released a statement on his official site that read in part, “My main problem with the notion of a ‘Spaced’ remake is the sheer lack of respect that Granada/Wonderland/Warner Bros. have displayed in respectively selling out and appropriating our ideas without even letting us know…It is this flagrant snub and effective vote of no confidence in the very people that created the show, that has caused such affront at our end. If they don’t care about the integrity of the original, why call it ‘Spaced?’”

[Source : MTV Movies Blog]

Yesterday we brought you an interview with Crispin Glover, the actor who portrayed Grendel in Robert Zemeckis’ “Beowulf,” and today we continue that theme with an exclusive featurette from the new DVD. In the video below, hear how the film’s effects wizards managed to create some of the coolest-looking dragons this side of “Reign of Fire.”

[Source : MTV Movies Blog]

I spent the weekend poring over the new edition of Robert Zemeckis’ “Beowulf” on DVD and let me tell you, it’s well worth your time. Quibble if you must with the film (I’m still a strong believer in it) but I’ll be shocked if you aren’t fascinated by the main documentary included. Sure we all know Zemeckis used his crazy motion capture technology to make Ray Winstone into a kick-ass hero but until you see Ray and Hopkins and company play dress up like this, you’re denying yourself.

Crispin Glover for one was thrilled with the technology he told me. “I did not know until I saw [the film] whether nuances in my performance would come through.” Of course there is a downside he continued, “It’s a strange thing now that people have seen it. It’s a little bit frustrating in that people don’t realize they’re watching my performance. It’s a strange kind of experience. You’re surrounded by 240 cameras and you’re with the other cameras. People think you’re in a dark room just doing a voice. I would describe it more as a very nuanced makeup job than as animation.”

Glover, who continues to tour with his own pet experimental films across the country (check out CrispinGlover.com for details) also told me that there was no ill will between him and Robert Zemeckis. “Robert Zemeckis never said anything about “Back to the Future” at all, Glover said when I asked him about their reunion after years of litigation involving the re-casting of Glover’s role in the sequels.

“There’s a negative slant that’s put on me,” Glover said when asked about the much talked-about famous lawsuit. “We did not come to an agreement for me to be in the sequels. What was done was proven to be illegal. I didn’t do anything wrong in this situation and what was done was illegal. I feel like that ends all arguments,” said the actor.

Does it in fact end all arguments? What did you think Glover’s Grendel? Are you happy he and Zemeckis buried the hatchet?

[Source : MTV Movies Blog]