Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation Go HD DVD Exclusive, Huge Bribes May Be Involved?

I almost felt sorry for the supporters of HD DVD last week, when an independent report informed us that Blu-ray was twice as popular as its rival. Back then, I questioned the marketing tactics adopted by the HD DVD support group, but it would seem that said tactics (with a little extra "incentives" on the side) have just helped Toshiba's format score a major victory, since Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation SKG have just announced that they will exclusively support the next-generation HD DVD format on a worldwide basis.

Thus, three of the most popular motion pictures released this year, namely "Blades of Glory", "Transformers" and "Shrek the Third" will only be available on HD DVD, which (at least in the case of the last 2 titles, because the first one is far from being a great movie) might represent quite a serious blow to Blu-ray. Moreover, since Paramount is one of the most important movie distributors in the US, its decision might actually tip the balance in favor of HD DVD, at least to some extent.

According to the companies' statements, the decision to distribute exclusively in the HD DVD format resulted from an extensive evaluation of current market offerings, which confirmed the clear benefits of HD DVD, particularly its market-ready technology (namely, cheaper players already flooding the market) and lower manufacturing costs. However, it would seem that the truth is a bit...different.

Thus, as Nikky Finke for Deadline Hollywood Daily informs us (after being tipped off by certain inside sources), the move also involved 150 million US dollars exchanging hands between the supporters of HD DVD and the two aforementioned companies (Paramount receiving 50, while the rest of 100 millions went to DreamWorks). The official answer from Paramount to a deeper inquiry by Gizmodo was that "whenever we conduct co-marketing, production deals or other agreements, we never discuss business terms." Which means that Finke's information might be quite accurate.

In other words, "incentives" (read bribes) are still widely used even at these levels, although the parties involved will probably never admit it. However, it's questionable whether these moves will ultimately win the format war, but this particular question still has an open answer.

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