Universal is still working on re-designing their new high-def logo. It took them forever to create that HD-DVD logo and that cool "whippy wind" sound effect at the beginning of their menus. Please be patient. Thank you!

It will definitely be sooner than that - Spiderwick Chronicles will be Paramount's first return to BD.

When will you be available on Blu-ray?

Sony and the BDA need to make damn sure Iron Man gets a day and date release on BluRay. If they dont I would categorize them with Toshiba Management as the biggest group of trained monkeys ever.

I dont think we will se INdy 4 on BD this year because of one simple reason: Spieldberg is a douche.

He released Close Encounters...Indy 4 seems possible.

Sadly and inexplicably, I haven't heard that any work is being done on myself. Iron Man will be day and date considering Spiderwick BD will be day and date in late June/early July.

...and for fun, you know this how?

well, I like my job...that being said, I've been in the DVD/HD business for years and have friends that work at GDMX, Deluxe, Trailer Park, Testronics, etc. all vendors and otherwise that author and QC BD's. But feel free to take what I say as rumor...

So they have no intentions of releasing Sweeny Todd, There Will Be Blood, Bee Movie or Cloverfield when work was already started (and I believe completed on some) on them?

Well, it's complicated but just because authoring is done on HD-DVD doesn't mean that they can just slap the project into Java and be done with it. I'm sure some of the menu aesthetics could be carried over but we're still talking 80% new costs particuarly since, from what I understand, Paramount has Sony take care of the BD authoring meaning new encodes and the full deal.

Of course, maybe Paramount is having their HD-DVD authoring house do work on these BDs and then transition to Sony for the brand new titles which is a possibility. I agree that it doesn't make sense, regardless of costs, why Paramount or Universal wouldn't get these in flux titles out asap. But no, I've heard nothing about those four titles and I'm ususally in a position to hear something.

Interesting. I believe we might be surprised if the announcements come next week or the week after from what I have heard. It would ring true with Spiderwick that's for sure...

Spiderwick Chronicles was released almost exactly 2 months ago in theaters. So I'm guessing we won't see anything in stores until June?

And There Will Be Blood better damn well get a BD release in the US this year.

Speaking of There Will Be Blood, wtf is up with the horrendous case for the dvd? I was at Target looking at the 1 and 2 disc and initially I thought it was some sort of preorder ticket or something.

No kidding. Especially lame that the press releases picture art for standard keep cases.

Agree. I didn't buy it this past week in regular format because I can't keep double dipping.

My Best Buy had numerous copies with slip cases and sics stolen. Kudos to Paramount on that diasaster.

I have to wonder if the packaging thing came from P.T. Anderson. Seems like a weird thing for Paramount to try out of the blue (no pun intended).

As long as the Euro BD of There Will Be Blood isn't region locked, I'll be happy. I'll gladly paid through the nose for that movie.

what i don't understand is why they simply cancelled titles like TWWB which had already been announced and were probably in production. why not fill out the remaining schedule until May or June while making preparations to switch over with other producers? it's well known that existing HD DVD facilities could use the same lines as they do for sd, but blu-ray is a whole different set of equipment. it really doesn't make sense imho.

Probably the same reason they didn't release the Blu-rays they had already made when they went HD DVD exclusive last summer.

i'm assuming that is a smart-ass answer...as it isn't the same thing at all. going exclusive to HD meant they had a vested interest in not releasing the blu-rays - i.e. being exclusive. dropping HD DVD was forced on them, and there was no contract, agreement, or any other factor preventing them from selling the hd dvds they already had made or were in the process of making. Given that they won't be able to produce any of those that were already slated for HD for a number of months, it doesn't make any sense to have held the HD versions back. we all know that the first week of release is key to the sales #s, and a blu ray of TWWB in September isn't going to sell for shit compared to what an HD DVD would have sold last week.

You're leaving out the fact that only 1 of those formats is supported by the entire industry. Your bolded statement is meaningless since only the BD user base can grow. I'm sure Paramount will enjoy continued BD sales of There Will Be Blood once more and more people adopt the format. I think they would rather be able to sell There Will Be Blood on BD for the next several years as opposed to selling the HD DVD for 2 months.

It does make sense that they canceled those titles. What store would carry the April releases? Most, if not all, Best Buy and Target stores have gotten rid of their inventories.

I don't think he was insinuating that HD DVD is anything but dead. I also don't think he is pointing the blame at any stores for discontinuing HD DVD.

I believe the point he's making is that traditionally a title doesn't sell for squat if its release is not day and date with the DVD version. The awareness is there during the first week or two, and then it dies off.

It could definitely be true that had it been released on HD DVD on day one and BD two months from now, it would take the BD version a long time to catch up to the HD DVD version. During the middle of the format war, I think the opposite would have been true as well (now not so much).

Just as an update to this, I actually watched There Will Be Blood last night on DVD, and at the end of the credits, there's a blurb about the production being carbon-neutral or some such thing. I think that goes a long way towards explaining why we got the packaging we did. Here's hoping any eventual HD release gets a regular case.

Considering there was no new releases after Atonement, yeah, why would stores carry those titles? BUT, if There Will Be Blood, Cloverfield and Sweeny Todd were still scheduled for release I doubt stores would have dumped HD DVD that fast. Now when these eventually come out on Blu-ray we can look forward to them being in the top #8 or #9 on release week (hopefully), right behind some horrible kids movie thats day and date with the DVD and then fading into darkness the next week.