Paramount Announces Their Intentions
by Pravin on February 21st, 2008 in news.
Paramount made a surprise announcement about their plans to stick with HD DVD. Well, not quite, but they did say they’d start up the Blu factories again. The surprise was that they waited so long to follow in Universal’s lead and declare their intentions to put movies out on Blu-ray.
While Universal’s statement came out pretty much first thing in the morning after Toshiba’s announcement, the only news out of Paramount was about their upcoming HD DVD releases of There Will Be Blood on April 8, and Sweeney Todd on April 1.
Paramount’s statement is very brief, as was Universal’s, and essentially states that, having a single format is better in the end, and “we will monitor consumer adoption and determine our release plans accordingly.” Just as it was a no brainer that all of the Warner-related companies would follow suit with Warner, DreamWorks is part of the Paramount family, so it’s safe to assume that this announcement applies to them as well.
Blu peeps are probably wondering when they can expect to see the first Universal, Paramount and DreamWorks titles, while the HD DVD bunch wonders how many more titles they can expect from these studios.
Warner has stated that they’ll be sticking to their original plans of releasing movies on HD DVD through May (actually a few weeks into June). It’s possible that Universal and Paramount might do something similar.
Considering that the release slates from these companies didn’t really extend too far out past April and May, it doesn’t sound like a major shift in planning for any of the major studios to stop putting out new or catalog titles around June.
You can read all about it at the Hollywood Reporter:
- Paramount seals Blu-ray sweep – Hollywood Reporter
February 21st, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Still can’t believe things went down this way…
February 21st, 2008 at 12:59 pm
What about news of movies from Warner, Universal and Dreamworks?
February 21st, 2008 at 3:03 pm
I agree, a huge shame that HD-DVD lost. At least there’s still a big library of movies, and a few more on the way for us to enjoy. Hopefully Paramount and Universal will honor us with more releases before going blu. I really hope they can eventually bring the benefits of HD-DVD over to blu-ray, such as uControl and online interactivity. Things like these (as well as price of course) is why I went HD-DVD in the first place. Hopefully their monopoly will help to drive the prices down, I’m still looking into a combo player so I can play both formats.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Samsung combo player here. Can’t wait for more awesome HD-DVD movie deals!
It’s a shame HD-DVD lost; I despise Sony’s stance on DRM. But at least the emergence of a single dominant format should help us get the big titles like Lord of the Rings out in high definition.
February 21st, 2008 at 8:38 pm
I was waiting for the format stuff to clear out before getting a HI-Def player. It’s surprizing how quickly this happened. Well, not as quickly as the DVD vs. DIVX battle from 1999 (remember that one?) it was over in 8 months from start to finish. Mid 1998 to early 1999
Well, the main point to post here is this. It’s a serious question. When Sony lost the Beta vs Tape tape war in the 1980’s, Sony ended up making VHS machines. I suppose they took the if you can’t beat em’ join em’ approach. Now, do folks here predict Toshiba will manufacture Blue Ray players in the near future or a couple of years or so? or will Toshiba feel resentful towards Sony for a very long time and hold a grudge?
What do you honestly think folks?
February 21st, 2008 at 8:49 pm
I’m sure that Toshiba will entertain the thought of making a Blu-ray player, but I don’t think they’re in a hurry. Unlike Sony, Toshiba does not make one of every kind of consumer electronics product that there is, and they can afford to concentrate on other areas while they heal.
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:10 am
Pravin, this is my first post and I just wanted to thank this community for helping me understand how we as consumers mean nothing in the marketplace and to the companies we support. You have made me feel good about my purchase ever since the news hit with warner. Thanks for your site my friend! I appreciate it!
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:42 am
I agree with Raptor- now that the war’s over, the major releases will come.
Looking forward to Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones, etc.