HD DVD fans are cheering while Blu-Ray fans are booing. The reason? Paramount and DreamWorks have decided that for the next 18-months, they’ll exclusively be releasing movies on the HD DVD format. Paramount has released at least 30 movies so far on both formats which makes sense, but they say that this change and exclusive commitment with HD DVD which includes Paramount pictures, DreamWorks, Nickelodeon, and more, was the result of “extensive evaluation of current market offerings.”
What this means is that the hugely successful movies like Transformers and Shrek 3 which are due for release in the coming months will only be available on HD DVD. Blu-Ray fans aren’t the only ones upset about this, Michael Bay is furious. He’s the director of Transformers, and on his site he says “I want people to see my movies in the best formats possible. For them to deny people who have Blu-Ray Sucks! They were progressive by having two formats. No Transformers 2 for me.”
Now we know that there really isn’t a clear winner, at least not yet. While Blu Ray has been out-selling HD DVD, the latter ends up being more affordable for the consumers. Not only that, HD DVD’s are cheaper to manufacture. While plain old DVD’s work for me, I know there are many of you who are just ready for this battle to end, so you know who the “winner” is. And then you can go about buying movies in one format… enough of the competition already!
So now I’m wondering whether Michael Bay’s threat to ditch Transformers 2 will be enough to sway Paramount back to offering both formats, or if they’ll end up sticking to their guns and potentially lose out on the millions that Transformers 2 could bring in. What are your thoughts on this?
Source (Thanks for the tips Max, Mohan, and Phillip)
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Tags: General, Blu Ray, HD DVD
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This is an interesting development. Just when you thought the format war was almost over(with Blu-Ray winning) it heats up again. Unless Michael Bay optioned the rights to make the films, his decision doesn’t make a difference. They could go on and do the movies without him. He is replaceable.
I think Michael Bay is awesome for sticking up for the consumer. I was reading comments on Digg and like 95% of the people are like “Oh I’m so happy Michael Bay isn’t directing Transformers 2, maybe now we’ll have a good movie.” Their dislike of Michael Bay isn’t what they should be focused on. He’s trying to get the movie released on more formats so more of his fans can watch it. It’s not about him being a good or bad director; it’s about him advocating what’s best in this childish ‘format war.’ And for that, my respect for Michael Bay skyrocketed.
Not from now on. Only for 18 months
“The two studios may have left themselves wiggle room, however. Paramount’s agreement to use only HD DVD is limited to only 18 months.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08.....NyAsum87vQ
The post in that Michael Bay forum has been removed. I don’t know whether it’s a glitch, or because Bay changed his mind.
The format was is far from over! This will prolong the whole battle, and we just have to wait longer for a clear victor.
I think that the format war is going to continue until there is an affordable choice in HD DVD or Blu-Ray players. Once those get down to under $100 more consumers will begin purchasing them, and the industry will need one stable format. Either that or players are going to be coming out that work for both formats…I wouldn’t mind that.
I agree with Max that Michael Bay deserves some credit for standing up to Paramount. I really can’t believe that such a big movie company signed an exclusive deal, so there definitely must have been some money changing hands to persuade them.
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