Paramount and Universal to publish films on Blu-ray

Not a whole lot to go on right now, but German site HDTV Praxis has it that both Paramount and Universal will now make the obvious choice and publish their films on Blu-ray. Notably, this follows hints seen in certain Circuit City databases as well as word that we've received noting that both studios would indeed make things easy on everyone and simply support the one format still standing. Interestingly, DreamWorks isn't mentioned in the linked article per se, but we've all ideas it'll be following suit shortly.

[Thanks, Khattab]

Update: Universal's president Craig Kornblau had this to say: "While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray." Thanks, Kiwi616!

[Chebwa @ Feb 19th 2008 11:23AM]

In other news, grass grew.

[prateeko @ Feb 19th 2008 12:17PM]

Yes, but had the grass grown earlier for these guys it probably would have come with bags full of money directly from Sir Stringer himself.

[hellojohn @ Feb 19th 2008 4:13PM]

Well it isnt every day you see blue grass is it?

[JP23 @ Feb 19th 2008 4:20PM]

Yes it is. My yard is planted with Blue Grass.

[Kiteless @ Feb 19th 2008 11:23AM]

The term "Epic Fail" does not even come close to describing this. Lova ya Toshiba, but glad yer movin' on.

- K

[Fernando @ Feb 19th 2008 11:29AM]

The sky is blue?

[Kevin T. @ Feb 19th 2008 12:01PM]

No, the sky is Blu :)

[Simon B @ Feb 19th 2008 11:31AM]

Anyone who bought the complete Star Trek TOS remastered dual DVD/HD-DVD boxed sets feel ripped off now?

[bjrcboy @ Feb 19th 2008 11:33AM]

Why would they be ripped off? If they bought it they most likely have a HD-DVD player. Oh and by the way, it will still work even though toshiba killed the format...

[LiqwidZero @ Feb 19th 2008 11:36AM]

Actually, I don't feel ripped off.

I recently bought it for $97 on the Amazon sale, and it looks AMAZING! And I get a free phaser remote. Xb

[Kalen @ Feb 19th 2008 11:52AM]

My parents have it, but no HDDVD player...

Knowing my dad though, he'll probably go out and buy TOS S1 on blu-ray when it comes out.

[WebDev511 @ Feb 19th 2008 11:58AM]

No, I don't feel ripped off at all, but of course you actually have to sit down and watch them to understand why.

So long as previously announced releases are not canceled, I will be content.

[hidari @ Feb 19th 2008 12:06PM]

Its funny.. as a Trekker I held off on buying the TOS box set for fear that HDDVD didnt win. Also same w/ BSG Season 1. But I totally held out until the HDwars is finally over. time to buy

[Jerry @ Feb 19th 2008 2:37PM]

Actually what Simon B. means by ripped off is that in the next 5 to 10 years from now when the HD-DVD player you own dies and you can't find one to play the HD movies you purchased and spent lots of $$ on you may want to kick yourself for even going either format until a winner had been decided. Forget about trying to fix the HD-DVD players because if you are lucky enough to find the parts it's going to cost you more then the player origanlly did and the odds aren't good to even have that luck of fixing them.

[cirian1975 @ Feb 20th 2008 12:33AM]

Yes.


In January I almost bought a Toshiba Laptop mainly becuase it had a HD-DVD drive.

I thought the BluRay Vs HD-DVD war had a few years to run.

The MacBook was the same price though, so it won, but nearly bought the Toshiba cause of that drive.

[macona @ Feb 19th 2008 11:31AM]

Well duh...

[Kiwi616 @ Feb 19th 2008 11:32AM]

GREAT, now Old School can come out for BD along with Transformers!

You're my boy BLUE!

[Kiteless @ Feb 19th 2008 1:20PM]

I will be waiting for a Blu-Ray Jurassic Park boxed set. Yeah I know the moves are not that good, but what can I say?

- Kiteless

[looseinthedeuce @ Feb 19th 2008 11:33AM]

Paramount has been anything BUT paramount in the format war.

[Kizorblade @ Feb 19th 2008 11:33AM]

This isn't the final nail in HD-DVD's coffin. It's dead already, they're just pissing on the grave

[Jakob @ Feb 19th 2008 11:35AM]

Where have you been?

[Fernando @ Feb 19th 2008 11:35AM]

ROFL.

[looseinthedeuce @ Feb 19th 2008 11:36AM]

Nobody it was the last nail. And they're not pissing on the grave, they're building Blu-ray Enterprises on it.

[el-indiano @ Feb 19th 2008 11:40AM]

paramount distributes dreamworks movies so dw will have to go blu-ray

[m3nphls @ Feb 19th 2008 11:43AM]

Yay!!! finally will get to see transformers =P

[RikF @ Feb 19th 2008 12:18PM]

I wouldn't get too excited. Really.

[iansilv @ Feb 19th 2008 11:44AM]

I think it would be funny, if Universal or paramount released a press release stating that they were going to push on, with the usual bs of "We have no plans to switch" or something today.

[mattclarkie @ Feb 19th 2008 11:47AM]

Now I just have to wait for my Sony 1080p to arrive, and then I can watch Transformers in HD.

Blu-ray FTW.

[John @ Feb 19th 2008 11:52AM]

Seriously, I wish they'd all hurry up. I can't wait to watch Transformers on Blu-ray.

[KayRazy Ken Kutaragi @ Feb 19th 2008 11:48AM]

Well duh George, thank you George, which way do we go now George? I love you George. George is my friend...I'm gonna hug him and sqeeze him, and pat him, and pet him and...

Paramount and Universal want their movies in HD, so where o where can they go? Blu baby blu....yeah baby groovy, simply smashing Basil.

Hey Ken Graffeo, how are you doing bud? How do you keep your job after this gigantamoose frakup of yours?

[Ted @ Feb 19th 2008 11:52AM]

"Funk all those arsholes that bought HD DVD, stupid fools. JAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAAAAAAA I piss on all those morons that have HD DVD."


I support Blu but I have to say, you are a sad individual. It could have turned out either way, if Fox and Warner had gotten together and gone hddvd exclusive.

[Alex Kinch @ Feb 19th 2008 11:53AM]

Re: Kutaragi, is he the ex ministry of disinformation (comical ali) from the second Gulf War? Just needs the word 'infadels' in there and we'll be rocking..

Meanwhile in other news, every electrical retailer is highly likely to stop selling HD DVD players in the next year.

I can write the future me..

[tcc3 @ Feb 19th 2008 11:54AM]

Yeah I say you're the moron too, for buying either format before this foolishness was settled.

I'm glad I didn't risk playing prognosticator. Now I can buy new movies safe in the knowledge that the format wont suddenly be orphaned.

[Snooze @ Feb 19th 2008 11:57AM]

Fine, then we'll get Cloverfield. I was a little bummed when I saw the Paramount logi at the beginning of the movie. No more.

[Dick @ Feb 19th 2008 12:01PM]

From Ted. HD DVD and Blu-ray releases on February 5th, 2008
Engadget HD

Feb 4th 2008 3:26PM "Truth Teller, I'm an HD-DVD supporter (but own both formats) but even I can't help but turn against you... you remind me so much of h4ld0l who used to troll for Blu-Ray. You're so aggresively defending the format that you're probably turning more people off HDDVD than you are turning on to it."

So do you pee on yourself now? Maybe you are funked now?

[WhyNot @ Feb 19th 2008 12:04PM]

I'm really curious to see if the price of the actual BluRay DVDs increase given that they cost more to make than HD-DVD and they lowered the price to be competative atleast in that aspect.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, I have both formats (Toshiba HD-DVD player and PS3), but started with HD-DVD for various personal reasons and because they sound better. Keeping all the settings for my surround system the same, I watched 300 on both HD-DVD and BluRay...the HD-DVD sounds noticably better while both look the same. I highly doubt I'm going to buy any more HD-DVDs, but not sure if I'll repurchase my small collection over again.

Ahhh well, atleast the end is almost near (Toshiba still needs to get rid of their current inventory so the players will be around for a little while longer).

[Tony Rayo @ Feb 19th 2008 12:04PM]

Hey this means I'll finally be able to get two of my favourite UK movies playing in HD on my PS3 (Shaun of the Dead + Hot Fuzz, both feature many of the same cast including the two buddy main roles and I would highly recommend them to anyone). In fact, since HD-DVDs are going to go bundle-bin, I might pick up the HD-DVD/DVD combo of Hot Fuzz just for the DVD if they drag their feet too long in pressing them onto Blu-ray.

- Tony R.

[Phoenix @ Feb 19th 2008 12:20PM]

How is nintendo screwed? The Wii doesn't even play DVDs, never mind HD-DVDs.

Idiot

[bartoron @ Feb 19th 2008 12:23PM]

I think I'll just stick with ordering movies On Demand in high definition for now, and not have to bother with buying a Blu Ray player and a bunch of expensive disks. ;)

[bigbosch @ Feb 19th 2008 12:35PM]

im sick of the downloading morons. this is between HD DVD and blu-ray. physical media. you cant hold a download.

a download looks nothing like the quality of bluray. i never seen them offering 1080p downloads. i myself have seen rips of

hddvd and bluray 1080p x264. even those dont look as good as the disk.

[qtip @ Feb 19th 2008 12:54PM]

No kidding there. After looking at my 300 DVD collection, I realize this is ridiculous. I'm done buying physical discs (rentals only). My connection is pretty quick so downloads don't take forever -- this folks is the next gen format.

[Jeff @ Feb 19th 2008 12:58PM]

bigbosch:

He was talking about cable on demand. Most of your points are still valid, though. Cable maxes out at 1080i and it's rarely the best transfer. Their compression schemes are also hardly the most up to date either. The end result is that while on demand stuff can look good, Blu-Ray looks noticeably better.

Also, HD on-demand movies ain't free. On Cablevision where I am, they're $4 each and you only get 24 hours to watch them. That's not a very good deal when you could just buy the movie for $20 or rent it from Netflix for nothing more than your standard monthly fee and watch it however many times you want for however long you want.

Then there's selection, which is a joke on cable. There's a monthly rotation of about 30 different movies on my service. That'll increase over time, but not nearly at the rate of Blu-Ray releases. And those Blu-Ray releases will *always* be available. There are 70,000 DVD's right now - think you'll *ever* see all those on cable or satellite on-demand at the same time? No.

Blu-Ray is always gonna trump on-demand or downloads, at least until the next physical media comes along to replace it.

[rene siller @ Feb 19th 2008 12:54PM]

TRANSFORMERS :-) For my kid of course.

[newgalactic @ Feb 19th 2008 1:00PM]

For me, it's upscaling DVD until HD downloads actually look as good as the real thing. Unless the pricing changes on players and blank media, DVD will be around long after blueray.

[Ron Smith @ Feb 19th 2008 1:53PM]

I will only buy a Blu-ray player when they reach below $150, or when Battlestar season 3 is released for the format. New Caprica in HD? my mouth is already drooling.

[Nate the Prophet @ Feb 19th 2008 2:06PM]

I hope they try to release as many catalogue titles as possible sooner rather than later (at least those already on HD-DVD).

I need ASAP:
Serenity
Transformers
Star Trek TOS

[Derbeste @ Feb 19th 2008 2:23PM]

Guys....

He's doing a parody.

Katarugi is the CEO at Sony that masterminded the PS3.

[G.K. @ Feb 19th 2008 2:47PM]

Yay Blu-ray!

@ Paramount: I can has Transformers BR soon?

[Ryan @ Feb 19th 2008 3:01PM]

Well, at least this means I get to further support Joss by buying Serenity for a 4th time (DVD, Collector's Edition DVD, HD DVD, Blu-ray).

Now Fox, where the hell is the Firefly blu-ray?

[Thunderbuck @ Feb 19th 2008 3:02PM]

Maybe it's just me...

Happy as I am at the end of the stupid HD format war, I'm really wondering what the big deal is here. I mean, conventional DVDs look fantastic on my Panny plasma with an upscaling player.

I'll do Blu-Ray, someday, but this just isn't a "must have" for me, either way...