Have you ever gone to sleep one night and woken up to find that the entire world has changed? No? Me, neither, until last night. In case you haven't heard this yet, do yourself a favor and sit down. Are you seated? Okay, here it is. In a massive deal, reportedly worth $150 million dollars in monetary "incentives" plus free or heavily discounted encoding services provided by Microsoft, the HD DVD promotions group has signed Paramount Pictures/Dreamworks as an EXCLUSIVE studio for the HD DVD format. Now I know how Rip Van Winkle felt.
Surprised? Join the party. Given that recent dual-format releases (including those by Paramount/Dreamworks) have sold well over twice as many copies on the Blu-ray format as they have on HD DVD, the decision made very little sense until information about the payoff came to light. Interestingly, this news comes shortly after Paramount had started "favoring" the Blu-ray format with better video encodes than the HD DVD counterparts and announcements of lossless audio tracks on upcoming Blu-ray releases.
Given the current size of the high-definition optical disc market, and the struggling financial situation of Dreamworks Animation SKG, the deal certainly provides the studios with enough financial incentive to go format exclusive for the short-term, though no long term plans have been announced.
Interesting, the Paramount press release specifically mentions that films directed by Steven Spielberg are NOT part of the HD DVD exclusivity deal, meaning that Paramount titles such as the Indiana Jones films will still be released on the Blu-ray format, and leading many to wonder about how Spielberg feels about the arrangement.
The reported "deal" includes $50 million to Paramount, and $100 million dollars to Dreamworks Animation SKG, but NOT to the larger Dreamwords studio in general. The timing of the deal is interesting as the Dreamworks title "Dsturbia" was just released on Blu-ray last week, and no other Dreamworks titles' have yet been dated for release by Paramount.
The currently-scheduled titles that should be effected are:
- Blades of Glory -- due on 8/28
- Saturday Night Fever -- due on 9/18
- Next -- due on 9/25
- Top Gun -- due on 10/2
- The Jack Ryan Collection -- due on 10/23
- Face/Off -- due on 10/30
- The Transformers -- release date not set
- Shrek the Third -- release date not set
If this is any indication of the amount of money the HD DVD Promotions Group (cough** Microsoft **cough) is willing to spend to "buy" one studio, then we can start to understand why Universal has been so reluctant to give up their exclusive perks, the exact details of which have never been made public.
Though Paramount has never been one of the larger releasers of high-def content, and their upcoming release schedule includes very few titles, make no mistake about it, this is very sad news for Blu-ray fans everywhere.
UPDATE: 8/20/07 7:00pm
A movement of sorts is under way to let Paramount Studios know how we feel about their decision. By all means, get your voice heard.
Brenda Ciccone -- VP of Publicity -- Paramount Home Entertainment
Phone: (323) 956-5000
Phone: (323) 956-8091
Email: brenda_ciccone@paramount.com
5555 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90038-3197
Kelly Avery - Executive of Home Video Operations for Paramount -- KELLEY_AVERY@paramount.com
Independent Viacom Board of Directors -- nonmanagementdirectors@viacom.com or
write to: Viacom Inc., 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036-5794, Attention Non-Management Directors -- 52nd
Also: A website form: http://www.viacom.com/CONTACT/default.aspx
UPDATE: 8/21/07 1:30am
The New Yorks Times quotes two Viacom executives confirming the approximately $150 million "incentive," as well as stating that the exclusivity deal is for 18 months. While this certainly doesn't change Blu-ray's leadership position in the "format wars," it does make it far less likely that HD DVD will be "killed off" following this holiday season. This could be the deal that officially relegates both high definition formats to niche status indefinitely. If so, that will certainly be bad for all consumers, regardless of allegiance.
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