New Line supporting UMD

Watching The Lord of the Rings on a PSP--it's the stuff geek dreams are made of. However, that fantasy may soon be a reality. This week, New Line Cinema, the studio that bankrolled the megapopular fantasy series, announced it is supporting the PSP proprietary format, the Universal Media Disc (UMD).

The first batch of New Line UMDs will be released on October 4--but will not include any of The Lord of the Rings films. It will feature the Will Ferrell holiday comedy Elf, the 2003 remake of the The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the Ashton Kutcher thriller The Butterfly Effect. Rounding out the first wave are the horror-legend showdown Freddy vs. Jason, the vampire-action classic Blade, and, curiously, the coming-of-age dramedy Secondhand Lions. All titles will carry a suggested retail price of $19.98 and many will have special features.

Meanwhile, TV-lovin' PSP owners got some good news this week as well. The pilot episode for the popular ABC series Lost will also be released on UMD this fall. The Lost: The Series Pilot Episode UMD will be priced at $19.99 when it arrives in stores on September 6, and will include documentaries on the making of the show and the art of its star Matthew Fox.

Buena Vista Home Video, which announced its support for UMD earlier this year, has also announced it will release UMD editions of several films alongside Lost, including Toy Story on Sept. 6, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Pulp Fiction on Sept. 13.