It's official: Paramount/Dreamworks going HDDVD exclusive!

The article said it was to keep Paramount releasing on HD-DVD and not going BD exclusive. One wonders if Paramount was about to drop HD-DVD and go exclusive BD, but 50mil up front to keep them releasing. They were not sure what the Dreamworks deal was. Wonder how long before all the dual format studios demand up front $$s from HD-DVD to keep releasing... How long can HD-DVD make these payments?
 
Man, that's one heck of a question. As far as "over the next several years" - I don't think they'll be releasing in HD DVD that long, much less exclusively.

Good find.
 
The article said it was to keep Paramount releasing on HD-DVD and not going BD exclusive. One wonders if Paramount was about to drop HD-DVD and go exclusive BD, but 50mil up front to keep them releasing. They were not sure what the Dreamworks deal was. Wonder how long before all the dual format studios demand up front $$s from HD-DVD to keep releasing... How long can HD-DVD make these payments?

The author was clearly not a supporter of HD DVD (Prior to these revelations, we believe HD-DVD was essentially dying a slow death"), but the big news is:

"While Paramount has some on-going commitments to release new release titles in Blu-ray, it is unclear how long that commitment lasts and how comprehensive the agreement is.
Based on conversations with multiple sources, we believe that Paramount is set to make the vast majority of its catalog available exclusively in the HD-DVD format."

The "overwhelming studio support" for Blu-ray just got a little less overwhelming.

After Sony's recent attempt to bribe and strong arm Universal into going neutral, I guess M$/Toshiba decided two can play that game. ;)

Pure speculation on my part, but something is going on with Lionsgate, too. My prediction: They will at least go neutral in the next month or two.
 
Bad News for Blur -ray. I guess you won't see "the Godfather" playing on any of those Target exclusive BD endcaps. :haha
 
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Bad News for Blur -ray. I guess you won't see "the Godfather" playing on any of those Target exclusive endcaps. :haha

:clap:clap That was a good one.

Nor rent the Godfather at that less than 1/4 of all BB's the Blu-ray bribed to go BD only. But then you can still rent Godfather HD DVD at BB Online (altho Netflix is a far better choice).

But, more bad news for BD only owners - besides no Godfather, no Indiana Jones, no Saving Private Ryan, no Titanic, no War of the Worlds, no . . . . well, you get the idea.

List of important Paramount catalogue titles:

The Ten Commandments
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Once Upon a Time In the West
Rosemary's Baby
Love Story
The Godfather, Parts 1 and 2
Charlotte's Web
The Great Gatsby
Grease
Star Trek Films
Friday the 13th
Indiana Jones Films
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Pet Semetary
Ghost
Patriot Games
Forrest Gump
Braveheart
Clueless
Event Horizon
Titanic
Saving Private Ryan

The Truman Show
South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut
Vanilla Sky
School of Rock
Team America: World Police
Mean Girls
Spongebob Squarepants Movie
Collateral
Elizabethtown
War of the Worlds
 
This sounds more official:

"Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation SKG announced Monday that
they will offer next-generation DVDs in the HD DVD format rather than Blu-ray,
a move that further complicates the race between the competing technologies."

Paramount to offer movies in HD DVD - Yahoo! News

Diogen.

It's official!


"Part of our vision is to aggressively extend our movies beyond the theater, and deliver the quality and features that appeal to our audience," said Brad Grey, chairman and chief executive of Paramount Pictures. "I believe HD DVD is not only the affordable high quality choice for consumers, but also the smart choice for Paramount."


:clap:clap:clap
 
It could be that the agreement to subsidies the BD disks production by Sony run out and Sony didn't want to foot the bill any further.

Now, how long will it take for the BD supporters to claim this being proof of Microsoft monopolistic behavior in action... :)

Diogen.
 
Paramount and DreamWorks Animation Each Declare Exclusive Support for HD DVD=

"We decided to release "Shrek the Third" and other DreamWorks Animation
titles exclusively on HD DVD because we believe it is the best format to
bring high quality home entertainment to a key segment of our audience --
families," stated DreamWorks Animation CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg. "We believe
the combination of this year's low-priced HD DVD players and the commitment
to release a significant number of hit titles in the fall makes HD DVD the
best way to view movies at home."

Paramount Home Entertainment will launch its exclusive HD DVD program with the release of
the blockbuster comedy hit "Blades of Glory" on August 28th and follow with
two of the biggest grossing movies of the year "Transformers" and "Shrek
the Third". These three titles alone represent more than $1.5 billion in
box office ticket sales worldwide.

Paramount Home Entertainment will issue new releases day and date as
well as catalog titles exclusively on HD DVD. Today's announcement does not
include films directed by Steven Spielberg as his films are not exclusive
to either format.

Diogen.
 
"I ain't heard no fat lady!!!!!!!!!!" Oh wait, that was Will Smith in Independence Day, a FOX movie......

But you get the point.......

Nothing would please me more than to see the Sony bullies get black eyes here.... Gimme me my Combo Discs, no region coding, and better interactivity.

HD DVD is dead! Long Live HD DVD!
 
HD DVD can't win, but they can throw around cash to make everybody lose.

Hope the HD VOD on DirecTV impresses, the studios' only interest in HD optical media seems to be a matter of which side of the aisle they can extort the most money from at the moment.
 
HD DVD can't win, but they can throw around cash to make everybody lose.

I certainly agree that the long term goal of the money behind this is to kill optical media and move to online delivery. But the infrastructure simply won't support online delivery for HD for many years to come, for the majority of people.

But, fair is fair. This is a big deal, and HD DVD fans deserve to cheer and rejoice in the news. It certainly is a whole new ball game. Will we end the year still at 2 to 1? I doubt this will be enough to put HD DVD in the lead in title sales, but it sure might slow or even stop the growth in Blu-ray's market share growth.

The rest of the year has sure become more interesting.
 
Paramount Home Entertainment will launch its exclusive HD DVD program with the release of the blockbuster comedy hit "Blades of Glory" on August 28th and follow with two of the biggest grossing movies of the year "Transformers" and "Shrek the Third". [B said:
These three titles alone represent more than $1.5 billion in[/B]
box office ticket sales worldwide.

I have to wonder since Blades of Glory was initially both HD and BD will it still be dual format or have they scrapped the BD version all together?
 

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