HD DVD Promotion Group adds Universal's Jurassic Park, ET, Jaws to "Coming soon" list

[dobyblue]

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...sic,_E.T._/454

Generating lightning fast buzz among early adopters, the HD DVD Promotions Group has added a trio of exclusive Spielberg classics to the "Coming Soon" section of its 2007 HD DVD release list, suggesting that the first of the director's long-awaited classics may finally be hitting the format.

The group, which is the official promotional organization for format backers including Universal and Toshiba, routinely updates its HD DVD title list (which can be found in PDF form here) with officially announced titles, as well as those confirmed to the group as being in the planning stages by the major studios.

Though not all of the "Coming Soon" titles the group has been listing on its site for the past year have actually seen release, the list does provide a strong indicator of what fans might expect in the coming months.

So needless to say, with the appearance of the Steven Spielberg classics 'Jaws,' 'Jurassic Park' and 'E.T.,' hopes are now high among HD DVD fans that the director's first titles will hit high-def this year.

Of course, as DVD enthusiasts know all too well, Spielberg turned out to be one of the longest hold-outs of the standard-def format, refusing to release his major titles for many years despite much pleading from the fanbase. It is also worth noting that Universal itself, in a press release and statements made only late last week, promised 100 new HD DVD titles in the coming year, but ino Spielberg titles were included on the list pending "filmmaker involvement." So we'll take a wait-and-see attitude towards the news, if only for fear of being disappointed.

Should even one of these Spielberg gems see release this year, however, it would certainly prove to be a boost for the HD DVD format, as most of the director's titles are currently distributed by Universal Studios releases, the sole studio holdout from the Blu-ray camp.

I feel sorry for the HD DVD camp having to get such hopes up over the Toshiba .pdf list.