Introduction

For the last year, the HD-DVD Promotional Group and Blu-ray Disc Alliance have been fighting a fierce war. At stake is control of the next-generation home video format and billions of dollars.

A week ago, it looked as if Blu-ray was going to be the winner of the HD battle. The momentum of Blu-ray was increasing with Blu-ray movies such as 300 outselling the HD-DVD counterpart by almost 2:1. In fact, one week ago, Universal remained the only HD-DVD exclusive studio. If you were interested in movies from every other major studio, Blu-ray was the smart choice. It would only be a matter of time before Universal caved in and went dual-format and Blu-ray’s victory was imminent.

On August 20, 2007, Paramount and Dreamworks Pictures changed the course of the war. After being a format neutral studio in the last year, Paramount elected to switch to HD-DVD exclusively for an 18 month period. Those looking to get Transformers in high-definition or any movie from Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies, and MTV Films, and Dreamworks Animation would now need to go to the HD DVD camp; Steven Spielberg’s movies being the sole exception. The New York Times has since reported that Paramount’s and DreamWorks Animation’s decision was driven by $150 million of financial incentives.

While most of the commentary has focused on the possibility of a prolonged battle between the HD DVD and Blu-ray camps, Paramount’s decision to go HD DVD exclusive has the best chance of ending this battle once-and-for-all.

Think I’m crazy? I am crazy… crazy like a fox.

But it’s complicated…