Universal - No new HD DVD announcements for CES

[Ramenator]

Something must have happened at Universal in the last day or so...???

??? Nothing happened at Universal. There was no retraction of what Craig Kornblau said. They did not have a new press conferance of their own (besides being part of the HD-DVD forum's on Sunday.) The story that this thread is dedicated to was misleading. They prefer to release specific release dates later in the year instead of at CES. That's all! That's way different than not being present as CES (they were there on Sunday) and while they have not issued any release dates, they do have promotional material for upcoming releases. Again, no new announcements after Sunday! That's all.

[Blurry]

??? Nothing happened at Universal. There was no retraction of what Craig Kornblau said. They did not have a new press conferance of their own (besides being part of the HD-DVD forum's on Sunday.) The story that this thread is dedicated to was misleading. They prefer to release specific release dates later in the year instead of at CES. That's all! That's way different than not being present as CES (they were there on Sunday) and while they have not issued any release dates, they do have promotional material for upcoming releases. Again, no new announcements since Sunday! That's all.

What you are saying is obvious, but the BD camp wants to milk as much innuendo s they can.

[Brad1963]

I think you are all reading too much into this all. When did BD become the winner? Because Fox, Lionsgate and Disney announced a bunch of mostly crappy titles? Universal has indicated about as much as Warner and Paramount and nobody is saying "boo" about them. Chill out everybody or go spend $1,000 to get a BD player so you can watch "Van Wilder", "The Covenant" and "Dude, Where's My Car?". I'll be home watching "Inside Man" and "The Bourne Identity" on my HD DVD player.

[Ramenator]

The story this thread is dedicated to is lame and starting this thread was lame. No specific release dates. Boo hoo. The real exciting stuff announced by Universal is in interactivity. Where is the story and thread on that? Corel's InterVideo is at both the HD-DVD and blu-ray booths. I don't know what is at the blu-ray booth, but the HD-DVD booth (Central 7914 if anyone is there and want to check it out) is using Universals material to showcase this new feature.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070107/20070107005033.html?.v=1

Representatives from the HD DVD Promotional Group will be on stage to demonstrate the new HD DVD features running on an Intel® Core(TM) 2 Duo based PC with content authored by Deluxe and provided by Universal. This specially authored title includes additional information on navigation and the location of the Deluxe server with the bonus content.

[noobydoo]

The story this thread is dedicated to is lame and starting this thread was lame. No specific release dates. Boo hoo. The real exciting stuff announced by Universal is in interactivity. Where is the story and thread on that? Corel's InterVideo is at both the HD-DVD and blu-ray booths. I don't know what is at the blu-ray booth, but the HD-DVD booth (Central 7914 if anyone is there and want to check it out) is using Universals material to showcase this new feature.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070107/20070107005033.html?.v=1

I would like to see a thread on that.

[zzap64]

I think you are all reading too much into this all. When did BD become the winner? Because Fox, Lionsgate and Disney announced a bunch of mostly crappy titles? Universal has indicated about as much as Warner and Paramount and nobody is saying "boo" about them. Chill out everybody or go spend $1,000 to get a BD player so you can watch "Van Wilder", "The Covenant" and "Dude, Where's My Car?". I'll be home watching "Inside Man" and "The Bourne Identity" on my HD DVD player.

"mostly crappy titles?"

Of the top grossing movies of 2006, the top 4, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Cars, X-Man: The Last Stand, The Da Vinci Code are from Blu-ray exclusive studios. Number 5, Superman Returns is available on both. Number 6 Ice Age: The Meltdown is Blu-ray exclusive.

Casino Royale is still playing around the world and therefore still grossing. It too is Blu-ray exclusive.

Blu-ray "mostly crappy titles?"

[zombieflanders]

The story that this thread is dedicated to was misleading. They prefer to release specific release dates later in the year instead of at CES.

The story isn't misleading, but Universal didn't seem to have a problem regarding the lack of firm release dates during CES 2006. Realistically, though, I think this is most likely non-news. In terms of studio quotes, Universal's Kornblau has been as much of a cheerleader as Buena Vista's Chapek or Fox's Dunn. He's talked smack about Blu-ray, and Universal has previous ties with MSFT.

However, to be the devil's advocate I so often am, all is not well in Universal's paradise. They've had a pretty tough couple of years theatrically, and the home video business hasn't done a whole lot better. There's been word about shakeups (the previous CEO jumped ship last year to Dreamworks), and in the face of ginormous franchises like "Harry Potter", "Spider-man", "Mission Impossible", and "X-Men", and even "Star Wars", they're coming up with "American Pie" and "Fast and the Furious". "King Kong" was a blockbuster hit, no doubt about it, but it's the only real big moneymaker to come out of the last two years, as nothing else has broken the $120M mark, and only two other films hit $100M. On the HD side of things, the big winners seem to be the format-neutral studios, especially Warner, and that's gotta be sending some sort of message. Of course, the same applies to the Blu-ray camp, but they remain unconvinced. Whether it's a long-term goal, copy protection, or just plain stubborness, I can't say. We haven't seen the same chatter that we saw just before Warner and Paramount jumped on Blu-ray, but the whispering around the edges is there.

Still, after all is said and done, I'm assuming they're just not playing the hype game for some reason. Time will tell (obviously).

[jackinbox]

"mostly crappy titles?"

Of the top grossing movies of 2006, the top 4, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Cars, X-Man: The Last Stand, The Da Vinci Code are from Blu-ray exclusive studios. Number 5, Superman Returns is available on both. Number 6 Ice Age: The Meltdown is Blu-ray exclusive.

Casino Royale is still playing around the world and therefore still grossing. It too is Blu-ray exclusive.

Blu-ray "mostly crappy titles?"

Don't you like how he picked out the two least wanted titles from the BD list and picked 2 of the most-wanted titles from the Universal list to make his point. That's one of their tricks just like talking about the $200 add-on while in the same sentence talking about BD players "costing $1000".

Also, constantly referring to the price of the PS3 as "$600" even though a $500 model is available.

[Ramenator]

The story isn't misleading, but Universal didn't seem to have a problem regarding the lack of firm release dates during CES 2006. Realistically, though, I think this is most likely non-news. In terms of studio quotes, Universal's Kornblau has been as much of a cheerleader as Buena Vista's Chapek or Fox's Dunn. He's talked smack about Blu-ray, and Universal has previous ties with MSFT.

You're right about this not being news, especially considering the announcement they didn't report about (my previous post.)

It is misleading though. "Universal - No new HD-DVD announcements for CES" makes it sound they did not make any new announcements while at CES. The truth is they just aren't making any more than they already have. The article made it seem like Universal was barely there. They are there. They are featured in the HD-DVD booth. Whether this site has a 24 hour memory or not, they were part of HD-DVDs big announcements on Sunday. Misleading.

[O.E.]

I think you are all reading too much into this all. When did BD become the winner? Because Fox, Lionsgate and Disney announced a bunch of mostly crappy titles? Universal has indicated about as much as Warner and Paramount and nobody is saying "boo" about them. Chill out everybody or go spend $1,000 to get a BD player so you can watch "Van Wilder", "The Covenant" and "Dude, Where's My Car?". I'll be home watching "Inside Man" and "The Bourne Identity" on my HD DVD player.

Oh No...I have a HD DVD and I am getting a BR next month..

And while you are watching OLD movies in HD DVD. I be watching

GridIrong Gang
Saw 3
The Prestige
Rocky 6
Die Hard 4
Casino Royale
Spiderman3
Fantastic four 2
Pursuit of Happyness

Should I go on?

[MichaelHDDVD]

Oh No...I have a HD DVD and I am getting a BR next month..

And while you are watching OLD movies in HD DVD. I be watching

GridIrong Gang
Saw 3
The Prestige
Rocky 6
Die Hard 4
Casino Royale
Spiderman3
Fantastic four 2
Pursuit of Happyness

Should I go on?

Why is everyone so hyped about Casino Royale and The Fantastic Four? They were both very poor movies. Casino Royale was a major let down and don't get me started on Fantastic Four. The Saw series is one of the worst series in the world.

The Prestige was good, and Spiderman 3 isn't even in theaters yet. So yes please go on until you reach some good movies

[zombieflanders]

It is misleading though. "Universal - No new HD-DVD announcements for CES" makes it sound they did not make any new announcements while at CES. The truth is they just aren't making any more than they already have..

That's the rub, that they didn't really make any new announcements. The only things I saw that hadn't been on the list from last year were "The Good Sheperd" and "The Inside Man". Everything else from the release and the flyer was mentioned at CES2006.

[zombieflanders]

Why is everyone so hyped about Casino Royale and The Fantastic Four? They were both very poor movies. Casino Royale was a major let down and don't get me started on Fantastic Four. The Saw series is one of the worst series in the world.

The Prestige was good, and Spiderman 3 isn't even in theaters yet. So yes please go on until you reach some good movies

Oh, good, another "my value judgement equals sales" argument. Yay.

Last time I checked, "Casino Royale" was 9th in ticket sales, and generally regarded as one of, if not the best Bond movies (94% from critics, 79% at IMDb). I loved it. I won't argue as to the quality of "Fantastic Four", but it did huge in ticket sales and DVD.

[O.E.]

I am not bias.. Many of you are defending like crazy HDDVD. I have about 11 titles for HDDVD. I am still a huge supporter of HDDVD...

But when I see something clearly better, I do.

Is funny, cause even all the big HDDVD titles coming out will also be out on BR. I don't see anything HUGE from Universal coming out in theaters at all.

And come on, you want to support HDDVD just to get old titles in HD? Give me a break.

There's way too many huge movies coming out for BR from 20th century Fox, Sony and Disney. My wife wants all these titles and I refuse to buy any more standard DVD's. All the movies coming out that we want are in BR. That is fact!

[zzap64]

Why is everyone so hyped about Casino Royale and The Fantastic Four? They were both very poor movies. Casino Royale was a major let down and don't get me started on Fantastic Four.

I agree with you on the other movies but 'Casino Royale' being a major let down?

94% on rottentomatoes.com and it is doing very well in the cinemas. I'm afraid I'll have to strongly disagree with you on this one, I thought it was a fantastic movie and it will sell very well on both Blu-ray and DVD.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/casino_royale/