Paramount Says 'There Will Be Blood' on HD DVD

[ben7ben3]

Originally Posted by TruBlu2

DUH, wtf....para***** stabbed us in the backs last summer. Of course they are going to be dicks and not say anything. para***** wants things to be the way they were prior to its abrupt defection, The BDA says NO and should. para***** are a-holes. You people need to realize that.

some ppl take this too seriously. it is a BUSINESS

[york weir]

I'm surprised we haven't seen an announcement from them yet about releasing titles on blu-ray but what is the danger for people that own HD DVD to buy titles until they are gone? Chances are the media and players will work well beyond the life of this generation anyway. I've still got VHS players that work from the early 90's...

[Blu-Beard]

This is just odd. Why would anyone still be buying HD-DVD's after what's happened? Do they(Paramount)actually think that by April there will still be people that haven't heard HD-DVD is kaput

[JTK]

I wonder what any of our insiders know or think about this?

[Sylin]

Originally Posted by BigB88

Paramount had NO TROUBLE withholding Blades of Glory from Blu-ray when they pulled the plug for their $150m bribe. I don't see the point in releasing something to a DEAD format? It makes no sense, isn't cost justified and what retailer will even except them? This is for mail-order/web house only and how many will be purchased? Or how many websites will even carry? There are only 730,000 HD-DVD players out there, chances are they will be able to sell to less then a quarter of this number (more then likely less then even a quarter!), which means their manufacturing costs will EXCEED their revenue - This is just plain stupid business, no other way to look at it.

Amen. Obviously you and I see things in the same light.

Just look at Warner: at least they had the decency to tell HD DVD fans that they'll still release all previously-announced HD DVD titles (most likely because the manufacturing order was already in-place). They will no doubt lose money on many of these releases, but they are honoring their word to the consumer to the extent that they are reasonably obligated to.

But Paramount's move was classless, and they felt no such consumer obligation. Some retailers had already received Blades of Glory shipments and they were told to send them back, not to mention the money they spent marketing them in their circulars. And think of all the pre-orders on sites like Amazon and DVDEmpire... those web sites were unable to collect on their customer's orders.

I think Paramount is a decent company that just has some management issues to deal with. Obviously they will support Blu as rumors are already flying about new SKU's in retail. But I just find it a little weird that Universal--the longest-running supporter of HD DVD--was quick to the plate with Blu announcements, whereas Paramount--who was neutral up until 6 months ago and is known to have Blu-ray movies ready to go--has been a bit quiet. I hope this is just a calm before a big storm of announcements.

EDIT: Bill Hunt is reporting that Paramount has pulled their announcement concerning the Indiana Jones re-issue. Could be a sign of something good.

[ranma]

Originally Posted by desmond

it is more complicated than that. studios have contracts with hd-dvd prg and as long as that entity exists they need to fulfill their obligations. as soon as toshiba shuts down the promotional group studios will be able to go blu. meanwhile this obviously cannot stop studios from mastering bd's just releasing.

This can't explain universal, who announced blu-ray the same day as toshiba. My bet is paramount is just wanting to keep their money safe. Until they make sure no more money from toshiba, they will have press release.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by hc666

All deals would be off now.

I wonder if there are claw backs that Paramount wants to avoid?

Gary

[vinht426]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

I wonder if there are claw backs that Paramount wants to avoid?

Gary

Yea totally, they are just trying to save face... its going to be a little while before the market forces them to go blu or else they are going to lose so much money from this stupid decision

[blindcat87]

The contracts would not likely be with the HD DVD PG but with individual member companies. It is very likely that all contractual obligations ended as soon as Toshiba called it quits. That does not mean that there are not issues left to resolve involving issues from the contract period and things like money deals that were cut short and cancelled.

If there are any questions about remaining monetary issues, Paramount will not make any changes until their lawyers tell them that doing so would not affect any of the issues that are being debated.

Chris

Originally Posted by ranma

This can't explain universal, who announced blu-ray the same day as toshiba. My bet is paramount is just wanting to keep their money safe. Until they make sure no more money from toshiba, they will have press release.