Paramount Cancels Majority of HD DVD Slate

Thu Feb 28, 2008 at 07:02 PM ET

Ending weeks of speculation, Paramount says 'Into the Wild' and 'Things We Lost in the Fire' will be its last two HD DVD releases.

Although the studio has yet to issue a formal statement, when asked to confirm retail reports that it had canceled the majority of its upcoming HD DVD slate, a Paramount rep told us that following the next week's HD DVD releases of 'Into the Wild' and 'Things We Lost in the Fire,' the studio will no longer issue any further titles on the format.

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According to a just-published article in The Hollywood Reporter, the studio is expected to release its first new Blu-ray titles this summer.

Paramount (and its subsidiary DreamWorks) had nearly a half-dozen HD DVD titles scheduled for release through early Spring. Here is a complete list of the studio's previously-announced titles that have now been cancelled:

March 25: 'The Jack Ryan Collection,' 'The Kite Runner'
April 1: 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'
April 15: 'There Will Be Blood '

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/DreamWorks/Paramount/Industry_Trends/Paramount_Cancels_Majority_of_HD_DVD_Slate/1522

I just pre-ordered The Jack Ryan Collection today, Nooooo!! :p

I'm currently watching one of their first of a few Blu ray titles (Sleepy Hollow) and I hope they use MPEG-4 (AVC) or at least VC-1 for their transfers because this MPEG-2 of Sleepy Hollow is crappy.

EDIT: And if The Transformers comes to Blu ray I hope that it has a DTHD or LPCM soundtrack.

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[Post edited by tony1569 on Feb 28, 2008]

From my understanding some of the early bluray releases used MPEG 2 but they have been using MPEG 4 and VC-1 for a while now so if they do re-release it, it'll probably look much better.

Sleepy Hollow is an underrated movie in my opinion.

I am very disappointed at Paramount about this because I pre-ordered Sweeney Todd and I am sure a lot of people have done the same. The least they can do is continue selling HD DVDs till end of May or something.

Anyone know how to get in touch with Paramount directly about this? There's no contact information on their website.

Falcon, I don't mean t o hi-jack your thread but if you get word of Starship Troopers (SONY pictures) release date, let me know. I know it's out across the pond but I don't know if it's region coded or not. Thanks

EDIT: Nevermind I found it and there is no region code.

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[Post edited by tony1569 on Feb 28, 2008]

Yeah, it is a shame they don't issue these last films, as they are what would have become the collectible little treasures of the HD DVD format, especially "Sweeny Todd"!

I do understand their dilemma though, as I and I'm sure several other people went out and plopped down only $10 for what should have been a big hit with "Beowulf" - what a bargain that was!

HD DVD was such an outstanding format.

Oh paramount has never done this before have they? They did it once but I guess it doesn't count since it was BD. Now hd-fans know how it feels.

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Sleepy Hollow is an underrated movie in my opinion.

The HD DVD of Sleepy Hollow was put the sd to shame in both pq and audio. It was indeed greatly underrated.

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Now hd-fans know how it feels.

Who really cares at this point? I thought we were over that type of rhetoric. So two choices remain: buy a BD player or buy the sd. We all know that. Big deal.

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[Post edited by StevePro on Feb 28, 2008]

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From my understanding some of the early bluray releases used MPEG 2 but they have been using MPEG 4 and VC-1 for a while now so if they do re-release it, it'll probably look much better.

Sleepy Hollow is an underrated movie in my opinion.

The BD release of Black Hawk Down is a great example of an MPEG2 encode done well. That title is reference quality for both picture and sound.

Starship Troopers ?????/... haa

honestly most ovverated movie by me. i used to love it so much when it first came out. saw it again a few yrs back.. and was like ehhh?

maybe blu release will bring back the passion

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Oh paramount has never done this before have they? They did it once but I guess it doesn't count since it was BD. Now hd-fans know how it feels.

I knew this was coming, I've been saying it that there was the big chance of Paramount canceling Bee Movie and others since I saw there was no upcoming HD-DVD titles in their official website. But not even the Jack Ryan collection? That's messed up. But I guess it should not be a surprise at all since they pulled the same crap to BD when they went HD-DVD exclusive.

I hope somebody at Paramount leaks out at least the Jack Ryan Collection. he he.

That's too bad. I was looking forward to There Will Be Blood on HD DVD. I'm not surprised too surprised this happened, I've been half expecting it since HD DVD's were pronounced dead. I don't understand why they wouldn't release a limited number of the movies though. This close to their releases dates, I would imagine that the discs are already in production.

FR... keep monitoring the markets outside of North America, as some titles might still appear later on HD-DVD over the coming months, and you can import, either from Amazon's European websites, or Ohio's xploitedcinema.com (very good source, and great service).

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

Thanks for the link Hendrix. I haven't actually bought my HD DVD player yet (I'm going to get my 360 add on later today) so I haven't really looked into importing any movies yet.

Are there any import BR titles that will play on NTSC players?

FR... YES are 'region-free' and will play on worldwide players. See my comment (2nd from top) on THIS THREAD.

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

I was so excited to finally see There Will Be Blood. I skipped the theatrical release (as usual with all films) and was poised and ready for the April release of the HD DVD.

I'm almost tempted to just get the DVD version but I feel dirty buying DVDs. Guess it's time to get a PS3... *sigh*

Man you guys give up easily...


What happened too unless there is a press release nothing is official?

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Starship Troopers ?????/... haa

honestly most ovverated movie by me.

This movie is one of my "Guilty Pleasures". I know the dialog by heart, I know every word, note, and nuance of the Mazzy Star and Zoe Poledouris songs and own all their music after buying the ST soundtrack. And I've got all that music ripped in FLAC lossless format for enjoyment through my PS3.

Yes, I know it's embarrassing. But I can't help it!

Gotta hand it to Paul Verhoven, he knew how to make enjoyable but cheesy sci-fi films.

Robocop is one of my favorite films.

Skyhawk and DJfunkmaster,

That's funny because it's like one of those situations that you don't dare say that it was a good movie because everybody would look at you strange, but the funny thing is that everybody is thinking it was a good movie but keeping their mouths shut until somebody came out of the closet, then everybody says YES that was a cheesy but good movie.

The Bee Movie was to be released March 11th. It is cancelled as well. It seems that they are only releasing cancelled movies on DVD, no Blu ray either.

Damn, now I fogot why I disliked BR so much......... Stupid Region coding!!! Damn you Sony!!! Oh well, I get 5 reversals on my drive. I think I might buy a second one for pal.

I've been wanting to see Starship Troopers but everyone keeps saying it's so bad so I never bothered. I'm gonna check it out and see.

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I'm almost tempted to just get the DVD version but I feel dirty buying DVDs. Guess it's time to get a PS3... *sigh*

Really good thought...

Starship Troopers should be spectacular in HD. I liked the movie even with its strange political message.

On the other hand, Starship Troopers 2 was AWFUL!!!

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I feel dirty buying DVDs. Guess it's time to get a PS3... *sigh*

I don't. No it isn't.

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[Post edited by StevePro on Feb 29, 2008]

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Gotta hand it to Paul Verhoven, he knew how to make enjoyable but cheesy sci-fi films.

Robocop is one of my favorite films.

Zoe Poledouris' late father, Basil, also wrote the soundtrack to Robocop. I'm going to guess that Paul and Basil were friends.

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I feel dirty buying DVDs. Guess it's time to get a PS3... *sigh*

I feel dirty by having thoughts of buying Blur-ray (no, is not a typo, he he) and is never a time to buy a PS3.

BTW, Paramount is not wasting time dropping HD-DVD. Just a few days ago the Paramount website still had the HD-DVD logo/info link in the "Home Entertainment section and it is gone now. And the HD-DVD links from their movies (Bee Movie, Beowulf, Heartbrake Kid, etc.) are either gone too or not functional.

Paramount's decision is not surprising at all. Don't really care anyway, they had nothing left I was interested in anyway. Warner on the other hand has a few that I hope they don't cancel like "I am Legend".

And for those of us that already have a Blu player, there are no Paramount Blu Ray releases in sight.

Not that it's killing me, as I won't get my P$3 back from the repair shop again for another week, so I can't watch anything Blu until then.



At least when they dropped Blu Ray and went HD DVD Exclusive they had new release titles to announce almost immediately.

Go figure that Paramount would be the first to go back to SD DVD Exclusive

Is there any word as to when they plan to start Blu releases, and will they simply resume their existing release schedule on Blu Ray or are they going to go back to the start with Transformers and Shreck 3, and eventually get back to Bee movie, There will be Blood, The Jack Ryan Collection, and Sweeney Todd, a year from now???

"...they had nothing left I was interested in anyway." --wolvinator

Like "The Godfather" or the "Indiana Jones" trilogies?

John

In addition to those John, also these Paramount films...

BRAVEHEART
DAYS OF THUNDER
THE SAINT
DEEP IMPACT
CHINATOWN
FLASHDANCE
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER
ROMEO AND JULIET
ROSEMARY'S BABY
TO CATCH A THIEF
TEAM AMERICA: World Police
AIRPLANE! series
THE ADDAMS FAMILY series
STAR TREK film series
STAR TREK TV series

and a couple of my personal favs...

PAPER MOON
MARATHON MAN
THE PARALLAX VIEW
THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS (original)

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

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At least when they dropped Blu Ray and went HD DVD Exclusive they had new release titles to announce almost immediately.

Well they were immediate, considering Paramount were already putting out HD DVD releases at that time. Did you forget that they supported both formats before their exclusive switch to HD DVD?

for anyone awaiting Paramount's Blu Cloverfield release

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Taken from Tagruato Blogspot:

A lot of people worked hard for over a month creating some amazing extra features for the HD release of "Cloverfield." At first it looked like not many consumers would see these features, as the release was planned for HD-DVD like Paramount's other recent titles. But now that Toshiba's HD-DVD format is dead, Paramount is scrambling to release "Cloverfield" on Blu-ray - on the original HD-DVD street date. As a result, the current belief is that there's not enough time to program all the extra features (including lots of new story stuff, along the lines of the viral campaign's backstory) in time for the Blu-ray release, and all this great work will be scrapped."

Paramount bites

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Did you forget that they supported both formats before their exclusive switch to HD DVD?

Yea, but they also had their production lines tooled up and had stock on hand so they could meet HD DVD Exclusive demand.

Since most of these HD DVD titles are already manufactured and in the supply chain, why not sell them off for a profit now until they get their Blu catalog ready for release.

To completely drop all HDM until they get their Blu business back up and running doesn't make too much sense.

I want to see their new updated Blu release schedule made public soon, the suggested "summer" time frame is quite a way off.

The BDA should be helping them to publish a 'teaser' slate of releases within the next month or so to help build demand for selling BD players.

A Blu release of Transformers by mid April and a resumption of the sales of the Blu titles they had released before they went HD DVD exclusive, would likely light a fire under the P$3 sales figures.

Sony should be financing a swift Paramount move to Blu at this point.

To suggest that a wait until summer, or into the 2008 holiday season, will leave people buying the SD DVD versions of those movies, then they have to convince everyone to go back and buy the Blu Ray versions when they are released as well.

The 'double dip' approach is a flawed idea, maybe they should cancel ALL releases, including SD DVD, until you can get the same titles on Blu Ray.

If the BDA is so serious about Blu being the dominant format, maybe they can sell the SD DVD releases and include a coupon for a free Blu trade up when it becomes available???

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Yea, but they also had their production lines tooled up and had stock on hand so they could meet HD DVD Exclusive demand.

Umm... yeah, just what I said.

Anyway, we're not exactly sure what negotiations and contracts are necessary between both the BDA and Toshiba to put disks out, nor how quickly they can author them from scratch, marketed, and get them replicated and into the retail market. I would think at least 3 or 4 months even if they work overtime. That would place us into summer.

I don't see much conspiracy material here or much to spin to be honest. But I'm sure if you try hard enough you'll dream up something more.

I don't see any conspiracy. I think it's stupid since Bee Movie is more then likely already pressed. However Paramount already did this once when they dropped Blu-Ray so I wasn't putting much faith in them.

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[Post edited by Movielover316 on Feb 29, 2008]

Well this ruined my day.

Well, I am extremely disappointed with this announcement by Paramount

I truly would have loved to have had the opportunity to pickup the likes of:

Jack Ryan Series
Star Trek movies
Indiana Jones
Braveheart
Godfather Trilogy
There Will Be Blood
and even Cloverfield...

Thanks for nothing Paramount...
At least Warner is still proceeding with most of their commitments...

Movielover to be honest I was looking forward to Bee movie. Now I'll have to wait who knows how long for it on Blu. But I do have "Into the Wild" on preorder from Amazon, along with "Beowulf" in my order.

What I meant was that some fanboys here who dislike Blu-ray so much are now suggesting that Paramount has abandoned both formats for the foreseeable future. I donno about that one. But I do admit that some current day and date releases might take some time to put out on Blu-ray, given the complications of the changeover, and the fact that Blu replication lines are probably now crowded than ever.

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Star Trek movies
Indiana Jones
Braveheart

Gimmie these for the meantime, and it will keep me satisfied for at least a couple weeks.

I called Amazon as to the release of future Paramount titles, as I already have quite a few pre-ordered.

The Jack Ryan Collection and Sweeney Todd are still up in the air, but pre-orders of Bee Movie are supposedly packaged and postmarked for shipment already.

No telling what Amazon will do with their existing inventory, but the rep said whatever is already boxed and has the postage paid, will ship on 3/11 as originally announced.