Could Warner Bros. Abandon HD DVD in 2008?

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by Lotus

This is not happening. Warner has titles planned for both formats and along with New Line has some HD DVD exclusive titles. That appears to be the gist of the exclusivity. Them releasing titles exclusively to one side but remaining "neutral."

Also if Warners announced at an HD DVD PRG event that they were going BD exclusive it would result in massive firings at Warner among huge hell to pay in Hollywood. That isn't even a possibility at all.

If there is a change it won't be a HD DVD side going BD. It will be a BD going neutral. Again I say it's about a 33% chance right now.

There is no BD-exclusive major studio going neutral.
Warner going Blu-ray exclusive is written on the wall and they are beyond looking at software and hardware anymore.
The only thing that could change where they are heading next year is a massive payoff from Microshiba far exceeding the one Paramount received.
Also, this is not an "HD DVD Propaganda Group event" - it is CES, however it is only logical that Warner would not announce exclusivity at the press conference being held by the HD DVD PG. It is also logical that Warner can change their plans to appear at either side's press conference at any time.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by GizmoDVD

So Warner would still release movies on both formats, but release more on the "chosen' one?
Newline would release other movies exclusively on HD DVD?

Warner have already release more on HD DVD, in 2008 they will release more on Blu-ray.
Batman Begins will have a May or June release date to tie in with The Dark Knight's theatrical release.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by Lotus

New Line will be the company making one set of movies an exclusive for HD DVD.

If they do this it will be a timed exclusive likely paid for by Microshiba to make up for the loss in titles sold due to missing day and date title sales from the lack of region coding.
However, should Time Warner drop HD DVD support, New Line, HBO and Warner Bros. will have to invoke the notwithstanding clauses that you know are in any contract signed with the HD DVD PG.

[PRO-630HD]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

Warner will be announcing titles.
They were a presenting member at IFA 2007 Berlin for Blu-ray but not for HD DVD. Did this mean anything at all? I don't think so.
They will be announcing titles for Blu-ray at CES seperately as well.

It was very telling. It meant they weren't going hddvd exclusive as many had thought before CEDIA. They continued to support the format through the 4th quarter. Again you are dreaming if you think they would show up at the hddvd press conference to announce bluray exclusivity.

[PRO-630HD]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

Please do your fellow HD DVD fans a favor and don't make it appear that the your conclusions are based on such badly mis-informed conclusions. I'm not claiming that WB is conclusively going with Blu-ray. But even a modest logic can deduce that their presence at this conference isn't a litmus test of the issue.

Whether Warner is signed up for an HD DVD PRG press event or not may or may not indicate anything either way. In fact, it could be the very place that they could make a BD-exclusivity announcement! Make no mistake... if WB is indeed choosing to go exlusive with either side anytime soon, both sides are aware of what's going on and deals are probably being worked behind the scenes to smooth feathers and soothe the damaged pride (and pocket-books) of whatever team ends up being the loser.

Refer to prior post. If they were dropping hddvd they wouldn't be going.

[PRO-630HD]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

I don't care what Burns or Dunn say, am I quoting them?
Memento hit #2 on the charts back in July of this year, it wasn't even a day and date title. Big deal, Amazon figures have never translated into momentous sales, something shills like rdjam who have been predicting a turn in tide on the Nielsen numbers to surface since the August 21st Paramount announcement, can't seem to learn; they never have turned.
The only person living in Never Never Land is the one that thinks a buy one get one free sale on Amazon represents a massive turning in tide for one format or another.
HD DVD is merely desperate to not give the BDA the bragging rights of having won every week's sales in software on the year. They couldn't do it with Transformers, Shrek 3 or the Bourne Ultimatum.
It is not looking good for HD DVD, not at all.
According to Richard Casey, President and Executive Producer from R&B Films, the difference in cost between the two formats in the overall production of a title, speaking from the experience of releasing both "Nature's Journey" and "Chronos" on both formats is that the difference to release on both was "negligible" and this from a run of 20,000 titles. Do you think with scales that somehow Blu-ray and HD DVD have some sort of massive difference in production that the more titles you order the bigger the gap becomes? That would be sheer ignorance if you do. Does that sound like with a 100,000 gap in units sold on "300" that Warner is making more profits on HD DVD? No, I didn't think so.
I don't base my thoughts on reporters, I base them on the insider information I read and from the contacts I have made in various different places, from replication facilities like Cinram and Panasonic, to major studios like Sony and Warner. Now someone like Lotus will imply I have now stated that I work for all four of these places and that there are cease and desist orders coming from all of them, but I'm sure you can spot the difference. People are generally a lot more at ease talking to a member of the general public over the phone than someone from the media without violating NDA's.

Rocket scientist BOGO doesn't explain why the hddvd of Potter at #1 for hddvd and the same title on bluray is #1824. Both are in stock. The only people that have been doing the BOGO is bluray during Transformers and Bourne. I am sure you already know the biggest seller of all time for a HDM title is a hddvd!! Seriously it is an idiot argument. Anyone with an IQ of 50 can figure that out.