Paramount, DreamWorks adopts HD DVD Format

Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation on Monday said they would distribute their high-definition movies exclusively in HD DVD, giving the Toshiba-based format a big boost against Sony-backed Blu-ray.

The allegiance includes all moves distributed by Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies, MTV Films, and DreamWorks Animation, which distributes its films exclusively through Paramount Home Entertainment. Paramount Pictures is a unit of entertainment conglomerate Viacom.

Paramount plans to launch its first HD DVD under the exclusive program Aug. 28 with the release of the comedy Blades of Glory, which will be followed by Transformers and Shrek The Third. The three films represent more than $1.5 billion in box office ticket sales worldwide. The announcement did not include Steve Spielberg films, which will not be exclusive to either format. One of Hollywood's most commercially successful directors, Spielberg's films include Jaws, E.T. , Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, and Schindler's List.

While the announcement gives a boost to HD DVD, the format still lags behind Blu-ray. According to the sources, movie discs in the latter format outsold HD DVD films 2-to-1 in the United States in the first half of the year and sales of Blu-ray discs from Jan. 1 to July 1 totaled 1.6 million units, compared with 795,000 HD DVD discs.