<P> In January 2005, TDK announced that they had now developed an ultra-hard yet very thin polymer coating ("Durabis") for Blu - ray discs; this was a significant technical advance because a far tougher protection was desired in the consumer market to protect bare discs against scratching and damage compared to DVD, while technically Blu - ray Disc required a much thinner layer for the denser and higher frequency blue laser . Cartridges, originally used for scratch protection, were no longer necessary and were scrapped . The BD - ROM specifications were finalized in early 2006 . </P> <P> AACS LA, a consortium founded in 2004, had been developing the DRM platform that could be used to securely distribute movies to consumers . However, the final AACS standard was delayed, and then delayed again when an important member of the Blu - ray Disc group voiced concerns . At the request of the initial hardware manufacturers, including Toshiba, Pioneer, and Samsung, an interim standard was published that did not include some features, such as managed copy . </P> <P> The first BD - ROM players (Samsung BD - P1000) were shipped in mid-June 2006, though HD DVD players beat them to market by a few months . The first Blu - ray Disc titles were released on June 20, 2006: 50 First Dates, The Fifth Element, Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, Underworld: Evolution, xXx (all Sony), Twister (Warner Bros .), and MGM's The Terminator . The earliest releases used MPEG - 2 video compression, the same method used on standard DVDs . The first releases using the newer VC - 1 and AVC formats were introduced in September 2006 . The first movies using 50 GB dual - layer discs were introduced in October 2006 . The first audio - only albums were released in May 2008 . </P> <P> The first mass - market Blu - ray Disc rewritable drive for the PC was the BWU - 100A, released by Sony on July 18, 2006 . It recorded both single and dual - layer BD - Rs as well as BD - REs and had a suggested retail price of US $699 . As of June 2008, more than 2,500 Blu - ray Disc titles were available in Australia and the United Kingdom, with 3,500 in the United States and Canada . In Japan, as of July 2010, more than 3,300 titles have been released . </P>

What was the first blu ray movie released