A consultant to a top Hollywood studio has claimed that the Blu Ray, HD DVD format war could be determined in the next three or four months if backers of the Blu-ray Disc camp get behind the planned imminent releases of last year's top box-office titles.
Talking at the DisplaySearch Flat-Panel Display Conference in the USA,Vito Mandato, Paramount Home Entertainment executive consultant, pointed out what Sony and other Blu-ray backers have said since International CES, that the Blu-ray format is about to have the lion's share of the top box office earners from last year released on Blu-ray Disc. That could be enough to ignite a chain reaction of demand that will settle the format war for good, he said.
Blu-ray will enjoy the benefit of the imminent release of some of the top box office earning titles that comprised $1.4 billion of U.S. box office revenue last year, Mandato said.
"When you recognize the total box office for all of last year was $9.4 billion, people are going to want those," Mandato pointed out. "If the Blu-ray camp can use the power of these and some of the other new releases over the next three or four months, they could win it all. The reason being — people listen to the opinions of early adopters. If the early adopters say, ‘This is my only choice because I've got to have these movies,' that could sway opinion, generate momentum and Blu-ray could win."
