Universal - No new HD DVD titles announced at CES 2007

[dobyblue]

This is a HUGE surprise.

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh..._Universal/429

In a rather surprising move, primary HD DVD backer Universal Studios Home Entertainment confirmed today that they will be making no major title announcements at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, despite the formidable presence of all major studios supporting rival format Blu-ray.

Universal, the sole major Hollywood studio to be supporting HD DVD exclusively, was expected to bringing out its big guns for 2007 at CES -- or at least make enough new announcements to dazzle the early adopters who have been passionately backing the format thus far.

But when we contacted Universal to find out if anything further is to come from the studio out of CES, they confirmed they will not be unveiling any new street dates or detailed title info at all for the duration of the show. The studio stressed that they continue to support HD DVD and are planning to announce new titles "throughout 2007."

We must say, it seems like a strange promotional strategy to arrive at CES with nothing to brag about, especially given the highly visible nature of the show in the mainstream media, and that Blu-ray's showing has been quite muscular.

To be fair, a promotional flyer has been issued to the press and is available on the show floor, listing several notable HD DVD titles expected from Universal over the coming year, though most have already been hinted at in prior Universal announcements. Among the hits due in in 2007 are: 'The 40 Year-Old Virgin,' 'American Pie,' Bruce Almighty,' the 2003 remake of 'Dawn of the Dead,' 'Pride & Prejudice,' the original 'The Bourne Identity' and 'Inside Man.'

We'll keep you posted in the coming weeks and months as Universal officially announces street dates for these titles and more. We've also added all of the titles listed above to the "Release Dates Pending" section of our HD DVD Release Schedule.

[goodstuff]

Wow, wonder what's going on over there?

[MFS3Kiryu]

All the movies quoted in the article suck. HD-DVD can have them. I'll be upset with stuff like Jaws and Mulholland Drive are announced.

[maRzMesT]

We're going to DisneyLand!!! Oops wrong quote.... I guess Blu-ray didnt need to come out and fight in this round.. I wonder what defense the HDdvd zealots are going to have after that announcement

[Deane Johnson]

I suspect it has something to do with the story that was out last week that Universal had a secret deal with HD-DVD to release only on HD-DVD and that the agreement expired December 31, 2006.

The story also eluded to the possibility that the CEO of Universal might be sacked in early 2007 due to lack of theatrical hits and this exclusive support of HD-DVD.

I don't know how factual any of this is, it's just the story I saw.

If true, it could explain Universal's lack of activity at CES. Whatever the reason, it's pretty bizarre.

[goodstuff]

Yeah, I've seen a few die-hard HD-DVD AVSers flipping to BD now (Fettastic, TomsHT, etc.). The ship is sinking and people are jumping.

You know it's at the bottome when vurbano will start posting good stuff in the BD forums

[Josh]

Huge mistake on HD DVD's part. They just took it royally in CES. They gained a lot of strength by a strong showing at CES last year, but that won't be maintained after this disaster.

[Maximus]

Check this one out, a few people, murch, are actually trying to spin this as positive.

[Deane Johnson]

Someone posted a great color cartoon figure of a fat lady opera singer with the balloon showing her singing "it's over".

I don't know how to post a photo on this forum, but it's worth borrowing if someone wants to grab it.

I'm sure it won't be there long before the mods yank it.

[goodstuff]

You mean this one?

[Chris Beveridge]

Remember years ago that Universal had a lot of problems with parts of their catalog being sold off for distribution to other companies. Early in DVD they had a number of titles go various places like Image as well. They spent a good couple of years regaining the rights to various titles since they couldn't do home video releases themselves.

That's always made me wonder why they did any kind of real exclusive with HD DVD since you figured they'd learned back then not to do it. Combined with the poor theatrical as mentioned, I really suspect there's a serious evaluation of strategy if that 12/31 thing is indeed accurate.

[zzap64]

This is absolutely incredible news. Maybe we will actually see a winner in the format war this year!!!

If Universal Pictures announce support for Blu-ray also then HD DVD is in very serious trouble.

[Jeff®]

LOL - that picture he has with the article:

[goodstuff]

Originally Posted by zzap64

This is absolutely incredible news. Maybe we will actually see a winner in the format war this year!!!

If Universal Pictures announce support for Blu-ray also then HD DVD is in very serious trouble.

If that happens the war is officially over. What would you want HD-DVD for? Weinstein?

[Longshot]

AVS is pure comedy right now.

Our good friend hmurch is quoting philosophy.

The biggest zealots (rdjam, plazman, tsd2005, vurbano) are nowhere to be found.

The funniest thing I've heard yet is the poster who claims the reason Universal was a no show was that "CES a consumer electronics show, not a place for movie studios":

I think JTK needs to enlargen his sig line

[zzap64]

Originally Posted by Jeff®

LOL - that picture he has with the article:

A picture is worth a thousand words

[Iceman_II]

I started tracking this board what, a couple of days ago, and in this short time I ALREADY have decided that most HD fanboys are ******s... I actually read the linked thread above, thats 10 wasted minutes of my life that I will NEVER get back again... what a bunch of delusional jerks!

[ProvenFlipper]

Wow... this is weird news. I don't know what to think. Maybe they are retooling things, or hopefully they are going to think about releasing on BD as well. That would be awesome. I'm just going to have even less money than I have now.

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

This is a HUGE surprise.

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh..._Universal/429

Not to me I've been hinting it subliminaly around here for a while, maybe most "directly" here and in some private convos.

As it stands now, there are 300+ titles announced or released for Blu in the US alone and less than 190 for HD DVD, that's more than a 5:3 ratio.

Time to dig up my old sig. The full of it.
__________________
"Yes, we are exclusive to HD-DVD and we choose to be with them because of their copy protection that they could provide and the fact that they are a more durable format. HD-DVD is doing very well and getting great press, but if Blu-ray comes along and takes the lead and proves they are a better fit then we'll have NO problem supporting them." - Universal rep.

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Longshot

AVS is pure comedy right now.

Our good friend hmurch is quoting philosophy.

The biggest zealots (rdjam, plazman, tsd2005, vurbano) are nowhere to be found.

The funniest thing I've heard yet is the poster who claims the reason Universal was a no show was that "CES a consumer electronics show, not a place for movie studios":

I think JTK needs to enlargen his sig line

Hell, at this rate, it's on to pictures instead of text and words.

That's where Jeff, Deci and a few others are stepping in.