New Release: Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2 and others on Blu-ray

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment pushed the high-definition Blu-ray format with the release of 12 movies on Nov. 16, 2010, in the studio’s Blu-ray Essentials Collection. Included in the list are Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, available on Blu-ray for the first time individually. The first two films in Sony’s comic book franchise were released on Blu-ray in a trilogy pack in 2007.

As well as Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, Sony’s Blu-ray Essentials Collection includes Air Force One, Bad Boys, Black Hawk Down, Casino Royale, The Da Vinci Code: Two-Disc Edition, The Fifth Element: Remastered Edition, Ghost Rider: Extended Cut, Hancock, Snatch and Spider-Man 3: Two-Disc Edition. Each are already available on Blu-ray, but were delivered with new Blu-ray Essentials packaging and priced at reduced tags of between $19.95 and $24.95.

The R-rated Air Force One (1997) stars Harrison Ford (Star Wars) as a the U.S. President who must fight to save his family and staff when the plane they’re on is overtaken by terrorists, among them Gary Oldman (The Fifth Element).

Bad Boys (1995), also rated R, stars Will Smith (Hancock) and Martin Lawrence (Death at a Funeral) as Miami Police detectives who must protect Tea Leoni (Spanglish), a witness to a murder. The movie was directed by Transformers helmer Michael Bay.

Somalia military battle movie Black Hawk Down (2001), rated R, was directed by Ridley Scott (Robin Hood) and stars Josh Hartnett (Pearl Harbor), Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge) and Eric Bana (Munich).

James Bond revival Casino Royale (2006), rated PG-13, stars Daniel Craig (Road to Perdition) as the British Secret Service agent, who is on the trail of a poker-playing bad guy. The movie also stars Judi Dench (Nine) as M, the head of the Secret Service.

Based on the novel by Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code (2006), also rated PG-13, stars Tom Hanks (Toy Story 3) as a symbologist who’s recruited to help solve a bizarre murder mystery. Audrey Tautou (Amelie) also stars in the movie, which was directed by Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind).

In PG-13 Ghost Rider (2007), the movie adaptation of Marvel’s comic book series, Nicolas Cage (Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans) stars as the hero Johnny Blaze who sold his sold to the devil (Peter Fonda of Easy Rider) when he was a teenager. Now the devil has come to collect. Eva Mendes (Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans) and Wes Bentley (American Beauty) also star.

Hancock (2008), also a PG-13 superhero movie, stars Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness) as an unpopular superhero who gets help from a publicist (Jason Bateman of Juno) then meets a woman (Charlize Theron of Monster) who has similar super powers.

R-rated action comedy Snatch (2000), from British director Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), follows two boxing promoters (Transporter‘s Jason Statham and Public Enemies‘ Stephen Graham) who get roped into organizing a rigged match until everything goes wrong when a gypsy boxer (Brad Pitt of Se7en) decides to play by his own rules.

In Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007), all rated PG-13, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire of Brothers) fights the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe of Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant), Doc Ock (Alfred Molina of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time), the Venom (Topher Grace of Predators) and the Sandman (Thomas Haden Church of Sideways), all while trying to get the girl (Kirsten Dunst of Marie Antoinette). James Franco (127 Hours) also stars.