Movie Studios Re-Evaluating HD Format Situation

Posted by NickS | Published in News Archives | [-no comments-]

While Toshiba continues to promote the price advantage and other merits of HD DVD players, the two major exclusive movie studio forces behind the format are unusually mum on the high-definition format war. According to entertainment publication Daily Variety, Universal’s deal with HD DVD to back the format exclusively has ended. As the only major movie studio to back HD DVD since the format’s inception, Universal’s long history with HD DVD could be one of the major forces keeping it from releasing its movies in blue boxes.

Paramount, which signed last summer along with DreamWorks Animation as an HD DVD exclusive studio, is believed to be re-examining its position with high-definition movies and may publish on Blu-ray Disc again soon, despite statements regarding its current strategy. If reports are to believed, Paramount has an escape clause in its contract with HD DVD should Warner Bros. choose to exclusively support a single format.

Neither movie studio has made any comments hinting at a potential switch in high-definition allegiance, though conversely, studio representatives have refrained from making any overly confident claims about their respective company’s future with HD DVD.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. has already started to reveal its plans to bring Blu-ray Disc into the forefront by staggering the releases between the two high-definition formats.

The Invasion (Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig) was originally slated for a January 29 release on both formats, but now the HD DVD version has been pushed back three weeks to February 19. The Blu-ray Disc version retains the original January 29 date.

A similar delay will also hit The Assassination of Jesse James (Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck), which will release on HD DVD on March 19, while the Blu-ray Disc will street on February 26.