Maximus Decimus Meridius has finally gone Blu!

The Blu-ray release of Gladiator will include both theatrical (155 minutes) and extended (170 minutes) versions of the film. The Ridley Scott film will span across two Blu-ray discs and will contain lots of special features.

What remains to be known is how much (if not all) of the extras will be in high-definition. The audio track will be English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Pre-order yours at Amazon today! (They don’t have the release date yet but I’m sure they’ll update it within the next few days.) Release date is September 1st, 2009.

Extras include the following:

• Two audio commentaries
• Trivia track
• Strength And Honor: Creating The World of Gladiator documentary,
• Featurettes (“The Making of Gladiator”, “Gladiator Games: The Roman Bloodsport”, “Hans Zimmer: Scoring Gladiator”, “Image & Design”, “VFX Explorations: Germania & Rome”),
• Abandoned sequences and deleted scenes,
• Gladiator Journal
• and more!

Frankly, I like the original DVD art a whole lot better. Plus, Sapphire Series? What’s up with that? Same movies with that will come in different series?!

[via DVD Active]