Splice

I came across some interesting developments in the recent HD DVD announcements. The pieces of the puzzle are slowly starting to come together.

Firstly Crave was kind enough to point out that shortly after Paramount’s big announcement both Fox and MGM made a press release stating that they will be implementing “an aggressive global Blu-Ray Disc release strategy, including 29 new releases and ‘must-have’ catalog titles that runs through the end of the 2007 calendar year”.
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Last night an angry Michael Bay, the Director of Transformers, The Island, Bad Boys II, etc, lashed out at Paramount on his personal blog for dropping Blu-Ray support.

His post was entitled “Paramount pisses me off!” and read like this…

“I want people to see my movies in the best formats possible. For them to deny people who have Blu-ray sucks! They were progressive by having two formats. No Transformers 2 for me!

Pretty harsh words! He was quick to sober up realize his mistake and has now removed the post. His latest entry reads…

“Last night at dinner I was having dinner with three Blu-Ray owners, they were pissed about no Transformers Blu-Ray and I drank the kool aid hook line and sinker.” “So today I saw 300 on HD-DVD, it rocks! So I think I might be back on to do Transformers 2!”

This guy really changes his mind quickly! I hope he learned his lesson, don’t drink and blog!

Michael Bay’s full post on his personal blog.

It was really starting to look like Blu-Ray was beginning to win the HD format war. Today, Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation SKG surprised the film industry by dropping support for Blu-Ray and announced exclusive support for HD DVD. This is very reminiscent of the VHS vs. Betamax format war of the 1980s. Is this a lethal blow after a long battle or merely a minor setback for Blu-Ray?
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