Even though I’m on the HD DVD side of things and have pretty much seen the writing on the wall, I have to take some solace in the fact that HD DVD isn’t dead yet. In fact, even though they only have a few months left with the format, recent pull-out from the HD camp, Warner Brothers, still has some decent plans for the format, according to The Hollywood Reporter, who recently took a look at what is planned for the format, despite losing Warner Brothers and the self-imposed silence from the remaining partners during CES last week.
Warner Brothers will be sticking with the format until May, which gives them a few months to make bank on planning that had already existed. Among the planned titles are a special edition of Twister (streets May 27th on HD).
Paramount, who contrary to reports has not officially backed out of the HD DVD camp yet, is expected to make a major announcement of titles this week – an announcement that had been slated for CES but was withdrawn after Warner’s big announcement of going Blu-ray. Upcoming titles include March 4th releases Into the Wild and Things We Lost in the Fire, and currently unscheduled releases The Kite Runner and The Jack Ryan Collection. DreamWorks Animation (the one element of former DreamWorks to still operate independently of Paramount) will be releasing Bee Movie (March 11).
Universal, the other mainstay of HD DVD, remains “very encouraged” by the recent Toshiba price drop on players and will also have an announcement soon of more titles coming to the format, including American Gangster.
HD DVD is not dead yet and, although I expect the format to fade out this year, it’s nice seeing support continue to go into it until the very end.
