Format War Extended - Universal Announces 100 new Exclusives

[Chad Varnadore]

This announcement isn't at all surprising. It's virtually expected. But doesn't change anything for HD DVD. It just means that true movie fans may have to buy Universal's titles twice, if they really want them in high def asap. Now if Spielberg gave them the go ahead for JP or something, that would be surprising. I just hope that when they do announce for BD, they put more of an effort into it than they have for HD DVD. I think they're releasing combo discs more for authoring convenience of not having to port the extras to the HD DVD than because it's what consumers want. I know I love paying more for a flipper with assuredly DVD quality extras and no suprises, that in most cases the feature film, which is primarily what I want, has been confined to 15GB, lower than average VC1 bitrates, and 640kbps audio instead of their once norm of 1.5mbs. I think Universal's effort behind disc authoring is most telling in their use of the same generic menu on all their releases.

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

Time for Sony to drop it's list of INTENDED titles. And for Disney to announce a few more Pixars and couple of classic animations.

I disagree. Sony and the other BD studios don't need to do anything right now except the deliver on the titles they promised over the next 3-6 months.

Universal promising 100 titles and listing about 20 of them is akin to Sony saying they are going to get 100 titles out this year as well (butonly announcing the 1st Quarter). This puts just Sony pictures on par with Universal (though for the record I seriously doubt either studio will actually release 100 titles).

When one looks at this, you can also see that Blu-Ray is going to have the majority of this year's theatrical releases on BD (including Spiderman 3, Pirates 3, Rataouille, Die Hard 4.0, etc, and those will be exclusive).

The BDA holds all the cards. They can fill the pipeline with as many releases as they see fit due to the large content advantage, and the CE partners can price players agressively if need be. They control their destiny, and I'm sure the news will continue to trickle out at a measured pace to keep the buzz high for BD.

[Jack Torrance]

[QUOTE=Chad Varnadore;46864]Now if Spielberg gave them the go ahead for JP or something, that would be surprising. [QUOTE]

Nice post, Chad. But I'm not sure if Spielberg will be doing any favors for Universal anytime soon. The whole Dreamworks debacle, with Dreamworks re-upping with Paramount, left a very bad taste in Spielberg and co's mouth, mainly because Universal was too cheap to pony up to keep them (and after all he did for Universal over the decades!).

[ProvenFlipper]

I didn't see anywhere that they weren't going to support BD either... Personally I would only buy like 3 titles off of that list, but that's neither here nor there. I'm not worried about Universal at all, like everyone else has said, why would they wait until now to announce titles? Because they know the only ones paying attention now is us. CES would have been the place to do it, not now. Think about how much exposure that would have gotten at CES compared to now. I stil believe that Universal will be releasing films on BD or at least have made some announcements by Christmas '07.

[Chad Varnadore]

[QUOTE=Jack Torrance;46869][QUOTE=Chad Varnadore;46864]Now if Spielberg gave them the go ahead for JP or something, that would be surprising.

Nice post, Chad. But I'm not sure if Spielberg will be doing any favors for Universal anytime soon. The whole Dreamworks debacle, with Dreamworks re-upping with Paramount, left a very bad taste in Spielberg and co's mouth, mainly because Universal was too cheap to pony up to keep them (and after all he did for Universal over the decades!).

I don't expect Spielberg or Lucas to let any of their films come out in high def until the war is virtually settled.

[Chris Beveridge]

I missed it the first time around but the fact that 90% of these will be combo's will not help. Just in reading some of the reaction at AVS it's certainly not a "our day has come!" kind of announcement for many. Especially with so many "format neutral" people now apparently.

[Chad Varnadore]

Originally Posted by ProvenFlipper

I didn't see anywhere that they weren't going to support BD either... Personally I would only buy like 3 titles off of that list, but that's neither here nor there. I'm not worried about Universal at all, like everyone else has said, why would they wait until now to announce titles? Because they know the only ones paying attention now is us. CES would have been the place to do it, not now. Think about how much exposure that would have gotten at CES compared to now. I stil believe that Universal will be releasing films on BD or at least have made some announcements by Christmas '07.

That's a good point. Lions Gate and Disney have both made a point to not only reiterate their support of BD, but to denounce the possibility of going dual format after rumors of such started circulating courtesy of certain Microsoft employees. Universal has yet to offer the same kind of assurance to HD DVD adopters.

[Dave Mack]

Well, I inadvertently contibuted to a thread being removed over there.

[JBlacklow]

Originally Posted by Chris Beveridge

I missed it the first time around but the fact that 90% of these will be combo's will not help. Just in reading some of the reaction at AVS it's certainly not a "our day has come!" kind of announcement for many. Especially with so many "format neutral" people now apparently.

I think 90% combos is perhaps the biggest shocker, along with no release dates. It basically wipes out the price parity they enjoy on the software side. I'm not going to act like the folks I see on other boards who pooh-pooh every BD title announced (Casino Royale sucked? Well, 90% of critics and at least 75% of moviegoers disagree). There's some really good stuff there, like my first obsession title, The Big Lebowski. However, like I posted at HTF, they're going up against some gigantic Blu-ray releases, as well as some awesome classics, and I just don't think what they listed can meet or beat that. The thing is, even with the big guns the BDA brought out at CES, they've got tons in reserve to knock out these titles and whatever else Uni has in store. For every American Pie or 40-Year Old Virgin, Blu-ray can throw out a Hellboy or Sin City. Wanna go British? LS&2SB could be bowled over by Trainspotting. And their "working with directors" excuse is a pathetic cover-up for "Spielberg's films are our biggest hope, but he won't let us release them."

Yes, they've managed to extend the format war, but why? They suffered big in 2006. They lost Dreamworks, went from 3rd to 5th in theatrical and video revenue, and had only one movie--King Kong--that broke the top 20 and $100M in tickets, and that they already released it on HD DVD! I wouldn't call this ball game just yet, but they're not even bringing in the truly heavy hitters.

[C6 Z06]

Universal is taking a double hit the way I see it. As BD sales grow and surpass HD-DVD as they have in Jan/07, Universals share in the market is decreasing daily. Not only that, but like myself, alot of movie buyers will also buy less of Universal titles on std DVD. I will not buy anymore Universal movies untill they go to BD no matter how long it takes. They have to be feeling the pain more everyday!

[simpspin]

Originally Posted by hyperdine

They may still buy a few titles here and there, but this is not enough to cause people to go back to being HD-DVD exclusive.

Too little...too late.

Agreed. My non-Universal "universal" support is buying their used DVDs at my local disc reseller for $5-$9. (I saw the three disc King Kong set used for 16 dollars.) Anyway, I'll just watch them on an upscaling DVD player until the real deals come out.

My advice: if you really want Univeral titles and don't own them already, go buy them used for dirt cheap. (Today, I saw the Bourne Supremecy for $3 in the used overstock bin along with War of the Worlds which was also a cheapo for $4.)

[Esox50]

Funny, the "Universal chat" thread over at Home Theater Forum has turned south with people complaining of the combos. I mean literally, after the first few posts, people are talking about buying more BDs. The reaction at AVS is a bit more mixed, but there's obviously more hardcore delusional HD DVDers over there. I think a lot of delusional people were expecting Jurassic Park or ET, etc. I truly think the reality is setting in.

The comedy of errors with HD DVD continues, while we sit back and enjoy awesome BD A/V quality and the flood of titles rolling in. I couldn't have imagined it would turn this quickly in a million years, but it has. If this keeps up, Universal will have some BDs on the shelves by Q4 for sure, if not earlier.

Like I said above, all the BD studios need to do is actually deliver the titles they promised at CES. The second half of the year will be bolstered with day & date releases with some catalog stuff sprinkled in.

[Nismobeach]

Originally Posted by Urian

If I am not wrong Universal is owned by NBC who were owned by Microsoft, this tells me a lot of things.

I believe that Universal must be very pissed with all the last events and that they have good relationship with MS because they were the owners few years ago, now Microsoft money is rolling.

Nah NBC Universal is owned by GE. HOWEVER we all know of Microsoft does have some influence at the company because of they do own an 18% stake in MSNBC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSNBC

Too bad NBC didn't learn their lesson when they tried to support the XFL over the NFL.

[Blu-Light]

I say BFD. This is a knee jerk reaction from a certain Ms employee as him and HD-DVD get's their asses handed to them blu-ray style. There is panic in their camp and this just proves it. Some mighty arm twisting has gone on as they see their groups of diehard users quickly move towards blu-ray.

[Nismobeach]

Originally Posted by Blu-Light

I say BFD. This is a knee jerk reaction from a certain Ms employee as him and HD-DVD get's their asses handed to them blu-ray style. There is panic in their camp and this just proves it. Some mighty arm twisting has gone on as they see their groups of diehard users quickly move towards blu-ray.

It's either panic or part of their (M)$trategy to keep HD-DVD on life support until widespread adoption of HD downloads occurs. Amir has admitted that he thinks downloads are the ultimate outcome of all of this.

[JBlacklow]

Originally Posted by Esox50

Funny, the "Universal chat" thread over at Home Theater Forum has turned south with people complaining of the combos. I mean literally, after the first few posts, people are talking about buying more BDs. The reaction at AVS is a bit more mixed, but there's obviously more hardcore delusional HD DVDers over there.

Remember the days when this news would have generated a 10+ page thread @ AVS of mindless celebration within the hour? Right now it's still just one page that's half-full of "meh, some of it's good".

Originally Posted by Nismobeach

It's either panic or part of their (M)$trategy to keep HD-DVD on life support until widespread adoption of HD downloads occurs. Amir has admitted that he thinks downloads are the ultimate outcome of all of this.

I've been saying this for a very long time now, as anyone who remembers my posts at HTF and AVS can attest to. MSFT hasn't been in it for HD DVD to win, they've been in it for both to lose, and humiliating Sony would be a huge bonus. Without them, HD DVD might not be dead, but it would be much worse off. Amir, Moore, and Gates have all said they're really aiming for downloads, but I'm sure they'd spin it when confronted with their quotes.

[BTBuck1]

Wasn't it HDDVD fanboys who were always mocking Blu-Ray saying...Wait...just wait, someday you'll have titles, BD50's,more players etc. Now the shoe is on the other foot...and they are the ones waiting, in the wind for more titles, more announcements, meanwhile the BD camp is living high on the hog! How ironic...

[Deciazulado]

ok some decinumbers about this:



Universal released 57 titles in 2006. That was 6.7 titles per month. We considered that really pumping it for them as that was even more than Warner.

Universal has promised 100 titles in 2007 and already has 4 of those for January. So that leaves 96 titles for the next 11 months. That is 8.7 titles per month, a 30% increase in capacity. The Bits said 40 to 50 titles in the first half of 2007. That would mean 36 to 46 new titles in 5 months: 7 to 9 titles a month. So starting in February they have to release at least 2 new titles per week, every week.


More decinumbers:

HD DVD has 156 titles released and including the 21 new Universals announced today has 54 coming.

(Adding the 76 remaining unnamed as of yet Universals brings the total to 130 coming.)

Blu-ray has 158 titles released and 154 coming

(Adding the 81 remaining unnamed as of yet Sonys brings the total to 235 coming.)

[4K display]

Universal's choice is their loss not mine. They can have their flippers and eat them too. There is nothing past, present or future in Universals vault that would make me even think about buying a HD DVD player. Sure I would love to see Uni titles on BD, they have some real gems, but as long as they continue this pathetic belief that they can compete with THREE MAJOR BD exclusive studios I don't give a flying leap what they do...YMMV

[Dave Mack]

Can someone dig up the actual quotes from Amir, Gates etc... re: the inevitability of HD downloads? We need to help these fools over at AVS wake up and smell the coffee to see that they are supporting the enemy if what they want is HD content on disc...