Huge HD-DVD Studio News for Q4, Including Mission: Impossible III
Breaking…HD-DVD is getting stronger and better organized everyday. With this latest report, 4th quarter will be a HD-DVD blowout with lots of new titles. Including Mission: Impossible III, Blade, Seven and “150 HD DVD titles on store shelves by the end of the year.” This is in preparation for when the 400 pound gorilla called PS3 with Blu-ray support comes crashing into the scene. Content is king in this format war ™. We need a killer DVD to impress our friends. A studio needs to step up to the bat and create a high-def showcase DVD – I’d recommend Cars or Spider-Man 2 (hint hint Blu-ray).
Already, there are “tens of thousands” of HD DVD players in homes across America, said a panel of format supporters from Paramount Home Entertainment, New Line Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video, at the Entertainment Media Expo held Monday in Universal City, Calif.
“We’re still projecting Q4 to be a very vibrant business for hardware and software,” said Steve Nickerson, SVP of WHV. “There are as many consumer electronics HD DVD players in the market as there were standard-definition DVD players at the end of 1997.”
The wild cards, Nickerson said, are Xbox and HD DVD-enabled computers.
“We can build a business models around CE players alone,” he said.
Between HD DVD’s main backers, there will be as many as 150 HD DVD titles on store shelves by the end of the year. Warner, which has 21 titles already out, will release anywhere from 35 to 50 additional titles, according to Nickerson.
Universal, which is only supporting HD DVD, will have a 60-title slate by the fourth quarter, said Ken Graffeo, EVP of USHE.
Paramount, which is backing both HD DVD and its rival format, Blu-ray Disc, currently has seven HD DVD titles available, with three more streeting Aug. 8.
“We’ll probably double that by year’s end,” said Alex Carloss, EVP of worldwide marketing and entertainment for Paramount. That will include a HD DVD edition of Mission: Impossible III with a wealth of bonus features, Carloss said.
Source: Home Media Retailing