Dreamworks Animation isn't ready to quit HD DVD yet
by Richard Lawler 
posted Feb 27th 2008 at 7:16AM
While even the most steadfast red fans have accepted things are over for HD DVD, it appears Dreamworks Animation isn't able to let the format war go. Even though Paramount seems to have found a way out from under its exclusivity deal, Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg told Reuters he still needs to hear from Toshiba 
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
eidorian @ Feb 27th 2008 7:27AM
they're being stupid right...
Dorz @ Feb 27th 2008 7:36AM
Quoted from techradar.com...
"Although the decision to persevere with HD DVD in the short term may appear ludicrous, it actually makes some financial sense. Both Blu-ray and HD DVD markets are still so small, the DreamWorks share of the $150 million (£70 million) promised by Toshiba in return for support is likely to be far more than it could take in sales of high-def movies anyway."
Flashpoint @ Feb 27th 2008 7:53AM
So all the nails are in the coffin...
...but they refuse to lower it?
Cheapo @ Feb 27th 2008 8:24AM
What Dorz quoted makes total sense!
The market is so small, they make more money sitting on their hands with their Toshiba money.
Marvin Quach @ Feb 27th 2008 9:47AM
doodz, I don't know how it went exactly, but I learned about this in my Micro/Macro economics class...
Although you lose money in the long run, it still makes sense financially to continue on in the short run. Trust me, I was thinking "WTF" when I learned it before, but apparently you're still making money, so kudos to Dreamworks for announcing it.
h0mi @ Feb 27th 2008 11:10AM
They won't lose money in the long run. These dreamworks titles are pretty attractive, and by waiting, they could sell more blu-ray discs with a new catalog release closer to Xmas time or sometime next year than they could if they released it in, say May. The market will be much bigger if they wait.
E71 @ Feb 27th 2008 7:57PM
Hope there's enough room for two coffins in that hole.
Dinesh @ Feb 27th 2008 7:31AM
Interesting.. gotta admire them for not giving up just yet.
Jettic @ Feb 27th 2008 4:09PM
Dreamworks: Ummm where do we nail-in our nail? We can't seem to find any space..
Blu ray: Don't worry we'll find you a space, DIE HD DVD! Buahahahahaha!!!
citykids @ Feb 27th 2008 7:46AM
Where's my "Shrek 1" HD DVD?!
kilikili @ Feb 27th 2008 7:53AM
What do you expect? There's a slew of HD DVD's players being liquidated right now at firesale prices landing in homes much faster than the blu counterpart in my opinion.
technophobe @ Feb 27th 2008 8:16AM
It will be interesting to see if these goes anywhere, the technologically uninformed can now pick up a cheap hddvd and buy their favourite Dreamworks films. Could this possibly be the catalyst for the resurection of hddvd?
caleb @ Feb 27th 2008 8:34AM
No.
caleb @ Feb 27th 2008 8:34AM
No.
customjmn @ Feb 27th 2008 11:35AM
Wow, a double post that unintentionally makes it's point stronger rather than just looking stupid.
BigBloke @ Feb 27th 2008 7:56AM
I believe it makes good sense as well.
There is potential for Dreamworks & Toshiba now to do what they want without the baggage of other 'investors'.
Without the others getting there 'cut'(as they have officially stated their support for Bluray, thus negating any financial renumeration), they could well pull off a swifty over Bluray by Toshiba producing HD DVD drives for say 50 bucks, combine that with the enormous market that Dreamworks has, and presto, in-roads to the fledgling HD market.
It will be interesting to see which way the wind will blow.
Mark @ Feb 27th 2008 8:28AM
Your scenario bears no relation to reality. Toshiba has already killed off HD DVD. It's dead and its not coming back. And even if it were alive, Toshiba would be losing money hand over fist to sell players at $50, probably to the tune of hundreds of dollars per player.
darkprime @ Feb 27th 2008 8:35AM
Sure, that could work, but without any retailers carrying the product, it's pointless.
HD Guy @ Feb 27th 2008 8:38AM
Since Toshiba won't be making players any more, I assume that Dreamworks Animation is going to make the players themselves. That would be cool: an entire format dedicated to a single studio's output. given that Dreamworks Animation has only ever released 16 movies, and of those, only one, Shrek The Third, has ever actually been released on HD-DVD (with Bee Movie announced but not yet released), it will be interesting to see whether an entire format can survive with only two movies that use it. Actually, I think that that would be pretty cool, and I'll go even further: they didn't take the format war far enough -- every studio should have their own unique high definition disk format. Nah, that's still not good enough -- I won't buy any high definition disks until there's a separate incompatible format for each movie. That's the ticket!
The 3rd Hot Dog @ Feb 27th 2008 11:42AM
It's "remuneration". As in, re-moneyed.
Ghoti @ Feb 27th 2008 9:29AM
No, not a chance in hell.
Mark @ Feb 27th 2008 8:24AM
This makes no sense unless they're holding out (or onto) some Toshiba or Microsoft money that they think they'll lose if they relent.
I can't think of any other reason to stick with a dead (not dying, dead) format which most retailers won't even stock any more. Where is the profit in that?
HD Guy @ Feb 27th 2008 12:54PM
Sure it does: rumor has it that Dreamworks Animation got half of the $50 Million paid to Dreamworks proper. So far, the only Dreamwors Animation movie out on HD-DVD is Shrek The Third, with only one more, Bee Movie, in the pipeline. Guaranteed $25 Million is much more than they'll make from those two movies on Blu-Ray, and that will tide them over until the agreement expires. Moreover, they have to pay creative people on disc sales, while the $25 Million goes directly into Katzenberg's pocket.
lauri.smith @ Feb 27th 2008 8:27AM
Anyone else thinks engadget is maybe a bit overly anti-HD DVD? Sure it's a dead format but still the way of writing here seems unnecessarily negative.
darkprime @ Feb 27th 2008 8:38AM
Prior to the Warner announcement in January, lots of people felt Engadget was quite HD-DVD biased, but since then, it does seem to have changed to a definite blu-bias. But then again, why not? Blu won, Red lost. The best all HD fans (red, purple, and blu) need to hope for now is for ALL of our favorite films to be released in blu.
Uroboros @ Feb 27th 2008 8:46AM
It's one thing to kick a man when he's down, it's quite another to hump the dead corpse like a dog humping a leg. OK Engadget, Blu-Ray won. We know. Now step away from the body already
rcappo @ Feb 27th 2008 8:49AM
I already have all my favorite movies on HD-DVD. I don't have to wait.
SirWalksAlot @ Feb 27th 2008 8:55AM
Well.. its not like they're talking about a PERSON that died. I find the coverage entertaining and justified. After all, the majority of industry support was behind Blu-ray from the get-go, thus the companies behind HD-DVD had no motivation other than greed. I say screw them.
Flashpoint @ Feb 27th 2008 8:27AM
You gotta love the armchair executives who are on engadget.
Over a year ago, people here were giving every reason why HDDVD would beat Blu Ray and now that HDDVD players are being liquidated, they think its good financial sense to stay in the game?
Are you guys the former employees of Enron or something?
Zeus.:God @ Feb 27th 2008 10:04AM
You really are pretty stupid aren't you.
What happened in the past doesn't matter anymore. HD-DVD, though it is the superior format for the consumer, is dead (mostly).
It makes more sense for Dreamworks to appeal to those who have HD-DVD players, and they can make some serious money off of that, due to the small marketshare HD media has, considering that they will be covering both Blu-Ray, and the millions of people who still have HD-DVD.
Sandra @ Feb 27th 2008 9:55AM
Oh well, I guess Dreamworks won't be getting any of my money then till they get with the picture, it's a shame since they make some good movies, but i'm not going to shell out money for a DVD now and then more for a Blu-ray disk when they decide to stop trying to dig the coffin out of the ground.
Tony C @ Feb 27th 2008 9:29AM
Somebody tell that @$$clown Katzenberg and his buddies Spielberg and Geffen that the hi-def format war is over. Get over it that Disney was right in picking Blu-ray before they did and get cranking on converting that library to Blu ASAP.
Ghoti @ Feb 27th 2008 9:34AM
Spielberg is already Blu... In the Paramount deal, it was stated that films directed by Spielberg would not be HD DVD exclusive, and could be distributed on either or both formats.
But, either way, Dreamworks needs to announce their plans at least for the transition. I want my Shrek movies!
Tony C @ Feb 27th 2008 10:16AM
The founders of DreamWorks SKG are Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffen -- that's where the SKG comes from.
phanbouy @ Feb 27th 2008 12:50PM
"There _was_ nothing wrong with that name, until that no-talent ass clown became famous and started winning Grammies!"
R1cebrner @ Feb 27th 2008 9:40AM
Seems kinda smart if they renig on their contract they have they could get sued.
Nate @ Feb 27th 2008 9:49AM
Dreamworks didn't have the clout to help HD-DVD win the war. Do what every one else does when we make a bad decision: Walk away and cut your loses.
CaptCaveman @ Feb 27th 2008 10:03AM
Oh come on Dreamworks, it's over. Take the discs that you've already printed, but can't ship out to retail, and give them to your employees disguised as movie themed cup coasters.
As for me... I'll keep my 360 add-on player simply because it's not worth selling at this point. The only other thing I will be buying for it will be the BSG season one set. But only if I can find it at fire sale prices.
Hax Or @ Feb 27th 2008 10:05AM
The coffin has been unearthed.
The nails have been removed from the coffin.
Vampires?
Tony C @ Feb 27th 2008 10:10AM
Because it must be sooooo difficult and time consuming to re-master those FIVE whole movie releases for Blu...
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/105-1127720-5544431?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=hd-dvd+dreamworks&x=0&y=0
Transformers, Shrek the Third, Disturbia, Norbit, Blades of Glory
deadpool @ Feb 27th 2008 10:33AM
I think the coffin is a little too large for the grave. Keep digging.
why not the LS2/LS7? @ Feb 27th 2008 12:07PM
Okay, so they can't make BluRays yet. They'd be stupid to make HD-DVDs though.
There'd be no wait to sell them except possibly direct. No retailer will order them, no retailer is looking to put more HD-DVDs on the shelves. Also, with the format dead, there's no one to pay comarketing dollars, so the retailer would have to pay the full cost of putting ads out to sell the discs.
It's just not viable to make HD-DVDs now, I think even Katzenberg knows this. I wonder what kind of angle he's running here?
GoonieGooGoo @ Feb 27th 2008 7:25PM
Why would it be stupid to make HD-DVDs???
There are quite a # of HD-DVD player owners....and guess what.....they still would like to purchase movies if they are made available and they are good movies. Kinda makes sense to me if you have a market entirely to yourself.
sodaman @ Feb 27th 2008 9:08PM
You don't get it. Retailers aren't going to buy any more HD-DVD titles. Online stores will soon follow if they haven't already.
Dreamworks would have to sell there movies directly to the consumers to make money. Makes no sense to print more titles on HD-DVD. Unless they have a contract with worth mucho bucks with Toshiba to release 1 more movie on HD-DVD. They could release there last movie get paid from Toshiba and sell the movies online. Then go Blu!
chris q @ Mar 2nd 2008 1:08AM
I COULD HAVE SWORN THE SIGN SAID HOLLYWOOD NOT SONYWOOD.
It's hard to believe how many consumers got screwed on this deal. Hundreds of millions of dollars gone to waste. A class action law suit against Warner and Sony is absolutely warranted! Consumers support the recession proof movie industry year after year and this is the thanks consumers get. If Sony is arrogant and rich enough to offer $500 million to Warner than Sony and Warner should be rich enough to reimburse every Toshiba HD owner the full value of the unit or at least a full credit toward the incredibly overpriced Blu-Ray DVD. After all that number would only amount to $200 million. A small drop in the consumer credit bucket considering how long Blu-Ray will be around for. The media keeps referring to Sony learning their lesson from the VHS Betamax war in the 80's , well the Federal Government should learn their lesson and step in with regulations protecting the consumer when backroom deals are made that affect and/or account for hundreds of millions of dollars being made and hundreds of millions of dollars being lost. The only recourse that consumers have is to boycott all Sony electronic products except Blu-Ray of course because apparently democracy doesn't exsist where DVD players are concerned. Warner and all movie studios should be ashamed that one little dvd player controlled their entire industry. There isn't one executive in Hollywood that should feel like their something special because all they are are pathetic dependant puppets strung along by that nasty four letter word - Sony! Hollywood's brass are diluted in thinking they're the most creative people in the world, well perhaps they should have tapped into that creative talent they all boast they have by coming up with a solution that benefits everyone. Actors certainly are not exempt from this either. After all actors and writers love going on strike when it suits them. The problem is it's the arrogance of Hollywood and all its self-centered ego-maniacs that keep forgetting that they would be nothing without consumer acceptance. The bottom line is, Sony's and Hollywood's pockets are deep enough to reimburse every dollar to every Toshiba HD DVD owner that was a victim of this childish war. This is how Hollywood pays back the loyal consumer that's there front and centre every weekend, every opening, every sale reaching into their slim pockets and stuffing the fat pockets of the powerful and insecure. And now Sony is standing right behind Hollywood waiting for the hundreds of millions of dollars to pour in. This is a classic example of "biting the hand that feeds you!". They should both be ashamed. The only payback consumers can have and satisfaction consumers can hope for is that everytime a movie or televsion show bombs some executive somewhere gets kicked right in the behind thrusted right onto the unemployment line. We can only hope that Sony leads the way with bomb after bomb after bomb. Let's hope that Sony has been so focused on planning their strategy for the Blu-Ray deal that they actually forgot how to make movies and television shows. Let's also hope that the next person they promote from the mailroom to find the next big hit costs them a few hundred million dollars! If anyone at Sony or in Hollywood believes just a little bit in the saying "what goes around comes around" that might be just enough to put a smile on my face. Now I know why they call it Hollywood, clearly because anyone would do anything for a buck. I'm wondering if Sony will offer another $500 million dollars to change the sign at the top of the hill to Sonywood, Hollywood is just sleezy enough to consider it.