One of the on-going points of discussion in the format war is the advantage Blu-ray has because of sales generated by the Blu-ray studio exclusive day-and-date blockbusters (Spiderman, POTC, Ratatoille, Die Hard 4, etc.).

There is no doubt that blockbusters will tremendously help Blu-ray sales and be reflected in the market shares. Universal catalog releases (as well as catalog releases from other studios) just aren't as strong.

However, as was shown with Casino Royale is that the sales generated by even big titles are only a temporary bump and eventually have to die down so that most weeks on the year, the market shares are reflecting the strength of the overall base of releases of each format, and not just a specific blockbuster.

HOWEVER, the effect on the corporate bottom line is another matter. The amount of revenue lost on a blockbuster because it is not available on both formats is very big relative to all other sales. So even though it's great for the BDA to have exclusive rights to these blockbusters, I am not convinced the studios themselves (i.e. Disney, Fox, etc.) are feeling the same warm, toasty feeling about leaving so much money on the table.

ok, i agree with you for the most part... your point of this thread is?

good thing I read this thread...otherwise I'd have no idea how the industry worked.

I kinda disagree, Casino Royale has consistently been in the top 10 best selling Blu-Ray's since March.

Why people buy one of the more mediocre bond movies is beyond me... it must be why Ghost Rider on Blu-Ray is outselling The Patriot.

There are movies that net record profits on a weekend, and there are movies that are timeless.

There are best-sellers on the current New York Times list, and there are classics. Some of these classics are public domain and earn no royalties for their long-dead authors.

I prefer the timeless and the classic.

which is why Fox and Sony aren't releasing catalog blockbusters. they're waiting for a bigger base.

I kinda disagree, Casino Royale has consistently been in the top 10 best selling Blu-Ray's since March.

Why people buy one of the more mediocre bond movies is beyond me... it must be why Ghost Rider on Blu-Ray is outselling The Patriot.
i agree with you michael.i still think looking at the bd rack vs the hd dvd rack,hddvd still has better titles with less studios then bd.

which is why Fox and Sony aren't releasing catalog blockbusters. they're waiting for a bigger base.


If they wait long enough, the bigger base will be HD DVD.....

I kinda disagree, Casino Royale has consistently been in the top 10 best selling Blu-Ray's since March.

Why people buy one of the more mediocre bond movies is beyond me... it must be why Ghost Rider on Blu-Ray is outselling The Patriot.

It's the video gamers.

And Universal's ace-in-the-hole is HD television. "Heroes" and "Battlestar Galactica" are both Universal titles. Go look at "Heroes rankings on Amazon when we are still weeks out from release.

There are movies that net record profits on a weekend, and there are movies that are timeless.

There are best-sellers on the current New York Times list, and there are classics. Some of these classics are public domain and earn no royalties for their long-dead authors.

I prefer the timeless and the classic.
Timeless and classic are the preferred ones for me, too. Most of todays blockbusters will be gone and forgotten in a few months. What counts are the precious catalog titles. They will sell in the long run, and I think movie enthusiasts are willing to pay higher prices for classic titles whereas todays blockbusters sell for 9.99 or less on DVD. This is the incentive for studios, to get the chance with HD-DVD to sell their back catalog again, if the release is of high enough quality.

One of the on-going points of discussion in the format war is the advantage Blu-ray has because of sales generated by the Blu-ray studio exclusive day-and-date blockbusters (Spiderman, POTC, Ratatoille, Die Hard 4, etc.).

There is no doubt that blockbusters will tremendously help Blu-ray sales and be reflected in the market shares. Universal catalog releases (as well as catalog releases from other studios) just aren't as strong.

However, as was shown with Casino Royale is that the sales generated by even big titles are only a temporary bump and eventually have to die down so that most weeks on the year, the market shares are reflecting the strength of the overall base of releases of each format, and not just a specific blockbuster.

HOWEVER, the effect on the corporate bottom line is another matter. The amount of revenue lost on a blockbuster because it is not available on both formats is very big relative to all other sales. So even though it's great for the BDA to have exclusive rights to these blockbusters, I am not convinced the studios themselves (i.e. Disney, Fox, etc.) are feeling the same warm, toasty feeling about leaving so much money on the table.


All the exclusive movie studio's want one format to win. They are not worried about losing money by not being format neutral and releasing in both. Blockbuster's have made a difference in this format war already and the PS3 demographic which are average age of 25-35 have money and are buying all the Disney and Sony blockbusters making huge gains and further extending Blu-Ray's lead over HD-DVD. Disney is hurting HD-DVD the most by being exclusive to Blu-Ray since they have surpassed anything HD-DVD has offered in the audio and video quality dept.. Considering HD-DVD had the early start in this whole format war, you would think that they would have improved quality to match at the very least their competitors, however with universals latest offerings, they have taken a step back in quality when even compared to their own earlier releases..Universal is going to have a very tough time fighting against Blu-Ray's exclusive studio blockbusters coming out this Christmas. I don't see a single Universal title that can compete with the Spider man trilogy, any Pixar film, and the latest Pirates film along with Die Hard quadrilogy and the first two exclusive Alien films. There are just so many titles HD-DVD will be lacking that I don't see how any group of Universal titles will be able to compete or surpass Blu-Ray's onslaught this Christmas...

Every dog has its day. Bd is goig to make hay the end of this year, but in the spring and thru next year, Universal has a good shot at regaining some market share for HD DVD as some of their big fall releases come out on video (American Gangsters) and the summer looks pretty ripe with some potentially big HD DVD exclusives- including a Hulk re-tooled to be be more dumb summer audience friendly and a sequel to Hellboy among others.

Bd needs a clear, quick decisive win- they won't get it, and the longer this drags out, the more pairity I start to see further on down.

People on both sides are going to announcing HD DVD demise in 6 months (again), but it just won't be the case- plenty of race still left to be run.

All the exclusive movie studio's want one format to win. They are not worried about losing money by not being format neutral and releasing in both. Blockbuster's have made a difference in this format war already and the PS3 demographic which are average age of 25-35 have money and are buying all the Disney and Sony blockbusters making huge gains and further extending Blu-Ray's lead over HD-DVD.

By the same token, studios know quite well that the only movies selling anything significant on Blu-Ray (if 20 - 50K units can possibly be considered significant) are these so-called recent blockbusters. Videoscan figures have shown that catalog titles from Paramount and Warner have sold better on HD-DVD than Blu-Ray, for the most part. Studios are not simply concerned with how many copies of Ghost Rider or Night At the Museum they can move on a new format -- they are also VERY concerned with how many copies of older titles will sell!

Disney is hurting HD-DVD the most by being exclusive to Blu-Ray since they have surpassed anything HD-DVD has offered in the audio and video quality dept.. Considering HD-DVD had the early start in this whole format war, you would think that they would have improved quality to match at the very least their competitors, however with universals latest offerings, they have taken a step back in quality when even compared to their own earlier releases.

This is just complete FUD on your part! HD-DVD has had equal quality to Blu-Ray titles all along! Titles like King Kong, The Hulk, The Matrix trilogy and many others are equal (if not better) than anything Blu-Ray has offered! HD-DVD was first to receive 5-star video ratings while BD took months to catch up to the quality. Disney has released some great looking BD's of late, but both formats are equal in PQ!

Universal is going to have a very tough time fighting against Blu-Ray's exclusive studio blockbusters coming out this Christmas. I don't see a single Universal title that can compete with the Spider man trilogy, any Pixar film, and the latest Pirates film along with Die Hard quadrilogy and the first two exclusive Alien films. There are just so many titles HD-DVD will be lacking that I don't see how any group of Universal titles will be able to compete or surpass Blu-Ray's onslaught this Christmas...

First, your list of films are all speculative at this point -- only Spiderman 3 has even been hinted at for a holiday release. Secondly, between Uni & Weinstein, HD-DVD will have exclusives like The Bourne Ultimatum, Knocked Up, Evan Almighty, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, The Grindhouse, 1408, American Gangster, The Kingdom, Rob Zombie's Halloween, The Last Legion -- not to mention other mega-hits from neutral studios like Harry Potter, Transformers, Oceans 13, Shrek 3, etc. Then, add the Uni catalog biggies expected like Scarface, Conan, Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, Legend, Psycho, and many, many more. It's just unbelievable how so many people think that Spiderman 3 and Pirates 3 trump anything else in the world! :rolleyes:

By the same token, studios know quite well that the only movies selling anything significant on Blu-Ray (if 20 - 50K units can possibly be considered significant) are these so-called recent blockbusters. Videoscan figures have shown that catalog titles from Paramount and Warner have sold better on HD-DVD than Blu-Ray, for the most part. Studios are not simply concerned with how many copies of Ghost Rider or Night At the Museum they can move on a new format -- they are also VERY concerned with how many copies of older titles will sell!



This is just complete FUD on your part! HD-DVD has had equal quality to Blu-Ray titles all along! Titles like King Kong, The Hulk, The Matrix trilogy and many others are equal (if not better) than anything Blu-Ray has offered! HD-DVD was first to receive 5-star video ratings while BD took months to catch up to the quality. Disney has released some great looking BD's of late, but both formats are equal in PQ!



First, your list of films are all speculative at this point -- only Spiderman 3 has even been hinted at for a holiday release. Secondly, between Uni & Weinstein, HD-DVD will have exclusives like The Bourne Ultimatum, Knocked Up, Evan Almighty, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, The Grindhouse, 1408, American Gangster, The Kingdom, Rob Zombie's Halloween, The Last Legion -- not to mention other mega-hits from neutral studios like Harry Potter, Transformers, Oceans 13, Shrek 3, etc. Then, add the Uni catalog biggies expected like Scarface, Conan, Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, Legend, Psycho, and many, many more. It's just unbelievable how so many people think that Spiderman 3 and Pirates 3 trump anything else in the world! :rolleyes:

Outstanding post Bob Black. I think the market size number (less than 1%) for HDM is the important factor to remember. There simply isn’t any incentive for a studio to go neutral at this point because their pride is worth more than the paltry 100,000 HDM disks they will sell (best case scenario) if they go neutral.

GE has bad blood with Sony going back to lawsuits over home video and the fact that Sony crushed GE in the Consumer Electronics market; how many people have purchased a GE TV lately? Universal is a GE Property and since that’s the case you can bet that NBC-Universal will be the last studio to publish on Blu-ray and that Sony will be the last Studio to publish on HD DVD.

The other studios have business interests to look after just like Sony and Universal, but they don’t have corporate pride on the line the way those companies do. They all have different motivations. I’m not familiar with all of them, but it seems that capacity for extra crap is one of the sticking points for Disney and copy protection is an issue for Fox. I don’t see copy protection coming to HD DVD in any big way anytime soon so Fox may take a while. It has been said that doing HD TL51 on Gen 1 HD DVD players is possible and if that is true one of Disney’s big hurdles could be clear for HD DVD.

I have never heard anything about the interests and/or motivations of Weinstein and Lion’s Gate.

Good DVDs sell over 10 million copies so Fox isn’t hurting that they didn’t sell 40,000 “Night at the Museum” HD DVDs and Weinstein is not crying because they passed on the chance to sell 40,000 “Lucky Number Slevin” BDs. The numbers don’t hurt them right now, or they don’t hurt them enough for the studios to ignore their own interests.