The home theatre forums are buzzing today with the news that Paramount and its sister company, Dreamworks are going to be HD-DVD exclusive. Prior to this announcement, Paramount was format neutral, which meant they were releasing movies on both Blu Ray and HD.
So why is this big news? First of all, Paramount and Dreamworks have some big movies under their belt, here’s a partial list:
- Transformers – Probably the biggest blow to Sony
- Shrek franchise
- Saving Private Ryan
- Collateral
- Braveheart
- Titanic
- Gladiator
- Godfather Trilogy
- Indiana Jones Trilogy
Transformers alone will sell players, the other titles are just bonus. I know I’ve been waiting for Saving Private Ryan and Collateral on a high definition format. Currently, Blu Ray is winning in software sales, 60%, compared to HD’s 40%.
But with this announcement, will HD sales make a push and regain the lead? HD will probably not regain the lead but with this news it will close the margin. HD needs another studio to go exclusive to win the HD war. If they can pay and convince WB to be HD exclusive, they might get the edge. WB claims they are “neutral”, yet several big movies like The Matrix Trilogy and Batman Begins are only on HD. So if they get another studio, it would more than likely be WB.
There is one certain outcome to this news: This will prolong the HD/Blu Ray war.
Link to the news.
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John Spartan
Aug 22, 2007 -
And now Michael Bay is not doing Transformers sequel because of this, lol.
John Spartan
Aug 22, 2007 -
I also heard the only Speilberg movies are an exception to this
John Spartan
Aug 22, 2007 -
Oh man, Michael Bay finally calmed down and talked to the Paramount peeps and is now wanting to do Transformers 2 because of how good 300 looked on HD, lol.
Cricket
Aug 23, 2007 -
That’s what makes Michael Bay, he’ll speak his mind in the heat of the moment and then retract later. At least he admits he messed up. HAHA.