There hasn’t been much development on the HD DVD front since Blu-ray made its decisive victory in the high definition war last week. Of course, by “development” I mean retreat. I keep waiting for titles to go on sale to start clearing off shelf space, but it isn’t happening. Players have dropped significantly, with the X-Box 360 add on now selling for $50 and the low end Toshiba player priced around $100, but the movies have stayed the same.
The prices may not be changing, but the strategy around those left has. According to Nikki Finke, Paramount is canceling three of its planned HD DVD titles: Bee Movie, Sweeney Todd, and There Will Be Blood, which was just announced. Instead of releasing them in a now-dead format, Paramount is planning a delayed Blu-ray release for the three movies instead.
I’m definitely disappointed by the loss of Sweeney Todd, which was one of the last pictures I was planning on picking up on HD DVD. The other two I’m not as attached to (frankly Bee Movie could be cancelled altogether and the world would be happier), but it’s a shame those of us on the HD DVD side are losing some of the last opportunities we had for new releases. Still, I can’t hold anything against studios for dropping plans to support a format that’s clearly done.
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There hasn’t been much development on the HD DVD front since Blu-ray made its decisive victory in the high definition war last week. Of course, by “development” I mean retreat. I keep waiting for titles to go on sale to start clearing off shelf space, but it isn’t happening. Players have dropped significantly, with the X-Box 360 add on now selling for $50 and the low end Toshiba player priced around $100, but the movies have stayed the same.
