Lion's Gate: "Blu-ray format of the future"; movies releasing only on Blu-ray

Guess no defections then.

For this year?

So much for all the supposed studio defections...

Studios want to go where the money is!

LOL...Blu-ray has ALWAYS been the format of the "future"...the problem is everyday you wake up...tomorrow is still a day away...and I would just as soon have my HD DVD today!

Makes you wonder just how much money Sony is paying in kickbacks to make the studios go blue-ray only. It's gotta hurt the pocketbook sooner or later. Let's hope for sooner, then maybe we can drop this "exclusive" baloney, and the consumer can decide the format.

Sony's middle name is "Payola"

I have to agree. When you see such pig headedness from studios you realize that there are most likely legal and ethical lines being crossed. The statement from the studios who are exclusive are so transparent that it's an insult to the intelligence of many.

This War hasn't made me feel animosity for the hardware more than it has made me feel animosity for the studios. The same organizations that beg me to go to Theatres or consider my criminality a forgone conclusion. I love movies but I'm getting to the point where dealing with these entities is sapping my will to support them in any fashion.

Wow are you guys serious? Have you ever heard of Occam's Razor? Maybe there are no secret backroom meetings, maybe these studios just plain think blu ray is the better format?

Maybe the exclusive studios know they are in a position of strength, and want to force an end to the format war? What a concept, I know.

Yes I am serious.

I'm a grown adult who makes decisions on a daily basis that affect my life. I don't Universal, LGF, Sony, Fox/MGM telling me they want to end the war. That's beyond their sphere of control really. You are a content provider...do you want to provide content? If the answer is no them people are generally interested in the reasons why.

Statements like "we believe the Blu-ray is the format of the future" is silly marketing speak. No one knows what the future offers. I'm living in the present..here and now. Holding content ransom to potentially millions of consumer is just the most boorish of behavior. What is their excuse going to be when there are 2.5 million HD DVD players out in the world?

Maybe there isn't a conspiracy..but the mere fact that we have anti-trust laws leads me to believe that the odds are against this being simply "the way it is"

Yes, those are some good 'maybes'.

But I'll stick with mine. Give me a free blue-ray player (i.e $$$) and you'll convince me to get some blue-ray too (along with my HD-DVDs). But put disks out in both formats and I'll get HD-DVDs. Let the consumer decide. Producing both, the studios will still make money.

Luckily there won't be any excuses. They'll have millions of very compelling reasons to leave Blu-ray behind. And when that day comes, I can't wait to see AVS lit up with the naysayers..."No more Blu-ray? Say it isn't so!"...it's not like you weren't warned...

Well, Blu-ray caught up is sales, and this is what happens. No Lionsgate, no Disney. Blu-ray did what they had to do to lock up the exclusive studios. I can guarantee everyone it all had VERY little to do with anyone caring about the PQ and AQ. It's a lot of back room dealings and heavy-duty promotion, and Blu-ray wrote the book in that department.

Didnt Lionsgate also just announce they would be providing movie content on the xbox live video marketplace? It seems like only HD-DVD studios have been releasing there so far.
EL Linko

This is a little disappointing. There were several people on this forum who claimed Lionsgate was going neutral (over the last several months). I wonder if they were full of it (or their sources were) or if Sony stepped in and stopped this from happening. I'll be curious to hear their responses.

One thing to note, the only quote given from the LG president Steve Beeks was this:

"This will be the year when Blu-ray establishes itself as the format of the future,"

He doesn't say anywhere that they plan on remaining exclusive to the blue or that they won't release on HD DVD. I suppose it's possible that they may yet release on HD DVD this year, but I'm beginning to have my doubts. I'm thinking they will wait another year to see how sales pan out on the formats..

But they're not. As long as BD players are $500 and up, I won't be getting one. So Lionsgate simply loses out on my money in the end. Just like Fox, Disney, and MGM.

Is that why BD only beat HD DVD in daily sales for *1 day* in 2006?

Because it's their property, and can choose to do whatever they wish with it? By your logic MS is being guilty of the same behaviour because Halo isn't available to the 100+ million PS2 owners out there.

No one forced you to buy an hd dvd player. you knew that there was barely any studio support, so to complain about it after the fact is nothing but sour grapes.

This hasn't been articulated to us Jeff. CES is a prime opportunity to speak on how many "dedicated" Blu-ray players are out there and all we've heard is how many Playstation 3 sales have occured. The question is, after investigating the first part of my post, what exactly has the BDA done to secure the allegiance of these studios? I think you are very close to being correct. Sony/Matsushita and others know how to throw their weight around.

Except that Halo was developed by Bungie, a first party studio owned by Microsoft. Since the Xbox is a Microsoft produced console, it makes sense. If it was a third party game that was exclusive to one console, then your analogy would be more correct.

Seeing as how Lions Gate is effectively third party, their exclusivity could indicate some monetary compensation - referred to as "moneyhats" in the video game world.

Origin of the term "moneyhat": http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2000/10/23

I keep hearing this talk of 2.5 millions players. How exactly is this going to happen? Customer goes into best buy, they point him to the 250 Chinese HD-DVD player. Customer is happy until he goes to the movie aisle to find his favorite fox, disney or sony movies. Customer says screw this and puts it back on the shelf.

Then walks back to the Blue-ray player display and sees the $$$ required and says screw that, there are tons of HD-DVD movies to choose from, and the others will come to HD-DVD eventually

Your preference...they might buy an overpriced ps3 with mediocre games at best and get no upconversion for existing DVDs (since its built for games).

Or...

Currently a customer goes into BB and with last week's deal...walks out with Chronicles of Riddick, King Kong, an HD-A2 all for 450+Tax with RZ coupons and then gets 3 more HDDVDs for free through Toshiba rebates. The upconversion on their existing DVD set? Very nice if they do not already have an good upconverter!

Then...they use the money they saved to buy a Nintendo Wii like most Japanese gamers did this December.

I thnk it is obvious what people will do when they can get a $200 HDDVD player.

Yeah but AVS wouldn't be nearly as fun to read if it weren't for all the conspiracy theorists.

LMAO! Even after CES! Whatever helps you sleep at night.

Many of their titles are being published by Studio Canal in HD-DVD and are/will be available at xploitedcinema.com as imports.

They tend to have a better transfer quality too.

So what? The point still stands. MS chose to keep Halo exclusive to xbox because that's what was in its best interests. LG chooses to be exclusive to BD because that is in it's best interests. The reasons why are irrelevant.

It doesn't appear to me that you understand William of Ockham's Razor.

From the standpoint of multiplication of hypotheses, support of BD over HD DVD at this time, assuming ceteris paribus does not appear to be a logical choice unless there are unknown variables. Proposal of a variable-that Sony has used their financial leverage to "bully" a smaller company-does not unneccesarily multiply hypotheses. It may be untrue, though. Another variable could be that Lion's Gate honestly believes the BD has built-in advantages other than content that necessarily make it a better choice long-term.

Ahhh yes, isn't this what we refer to as capitalism?? A competitive economic system rather then a co-operative system such as socialism. This is we have people who wipe their ass with money, and others who can't even afford to wipe their ass. Its all part of the system, and if you have the money to push what you want on other people and they accept, then you have won. Ummm, windows, Bill Gates anyone??