Rank the Studio Importance (with 'evidence'!)

[phloyd]

I thought it would be fun to set aside who is exlusive to whom and rank the studios in order of importance. Ignore Paramount and Warner since they are more or less equallty supporting both. So just mention studios that are exclusive or no shows currently

Also please cite why using titles or or criteria. As an aside I don't think any studio has released any key titles yet.

This is my read on it:

1) Disney - Format buster

I think it could come down to Disney's choices deciding this thing. If they go to both formats, we could have both formats for quite some time. I think Disney is key because of Pixar (Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Incredibles, Cars), the Pirates of the Carribean franchise and Disney classic animation - all of which are 'must have' for many people.

2) Universal - Key player

Universal has a strong catalogue of movies but I think many could live without these titles but only just They could be the first to release a 'must have' title with King Kong. Other highlights include Jurassic Park series, Back to the Future series, Speilberg movies like Jaws and ET, Ron Howard films and a huge back catalogue. And Mallrats!

3) Dreamworks - Strong player

While small, Dreamworks has a number of very important titles. These are the Shrek franchise and Steven Speilberg films.

4) Fox - Strong player

While the Star Wars franchise might make Fox rank closer to the top of the list, I think that this is so far off for HD that it loses its importance. However Fox does have other strong titles including Alien franchise and the XMen franchise.

5) MGM - Strong player

MGM is also a strong player mainly due to a great depth of movies but mainly due to the James Bond franchise.

6) Columbia Tristar / Sony pictures - player

I dunno - aside from the Spiderman franchise I am not sure what Sony has to offer that is key. I really like Luc Besson movies and Sony owns most of those but really I can't say that they are key for the masses, so Spiderman is all I can think of

7) New Line Cinema - player

I rank New Line last mostly since most people beleive that they support both sides and that the only thing most people care about from them is Lord of the Rings. New Line obviously have other titles like Rush Hour, Austin Powers, Harold and Kumar and the Final Destination movies, but really nothing that even comes close to the Rings movies.

8th equal) Paramount and Warner

Maybe great movies with both of these studios but I expect that going into 2007 we will not see any advantage to either format. Matrix's and Indys and Supermans and Batmans on both formats

Feel free to add new players and rank them in importance to you... though please keep the 'politics' out of it and give reasons for your beliefs.

There are no wrong answers - opinions only