Want more fuel for the format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray? Today, Paramount and DreamWorks Animation announced they’re dropping support for Blu-ray and completely going with HD DVD. The only Paramount movies not affected by this move are movies directed by Steven Spielberg.
Brad Grey, Chairman and CEO of Paramount, said, "Part of our vision is to aggressively extend our movies beyond the theater, and deliver the quality and features that appeal to our audience. I believe HD DVD is not only the affordable high-quality choice for consumers, but also the smart choice for Paramount."
The first Paramount HD DVD movie will be next week’s Blades of Glory. Other hot movies like Shrek 3 and Transformers will be released in HD DVD as well.
In related news, Fox and MGM announced their support for Blu-ray. The upcoming releases of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Live Free or Die Hard will be released in Blu-ray.
Mike Dunn, President of 20th Century Fox, said, "Given that Blu-ray has consistently outsold HD DVD all year, and this is the case for any titles released by any studio in both formats, we believe that the time is right for us to accelerate our activities and help convert the nearly 60 million high definition households worldwide into Blu-ray households."
But wait there’s more! Disney has jumped on the Blu-ray bandwagon and will be releasing Sleeping Beauty, Finding Nemo, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and National Treasure in 2008 according to digitalbits.com. Disney said that the release of Sleeping Beauty is a major move by the studio in backing Blu-ray:
Bob Chapek, President of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment said, "The Platinum titles are the crown jewels of the Disney Studios and we do not take releasing them lightly on any format. The proven Blu-ray technology has allowed us to take our films to new heights, fully utilizing the larger capacity and interactive capabilities for an incredible all-new consumer experience."
I love these huge companies signing onto rivals. It makes for some great entertainment. These big format war supporterss will definitely affect what movies will be coming to Xbox 360 and PS3, so it’s better to get into the know.
