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Forums - General - Rumor. Disney to drop BR.

kitler53 on 17 January 2008
TheBigFatJ said:
makingmusic476 said:

This is highly unlikely. Why wait until the format war is finally beginning to end to do this?

And yes, the studios are making money on these formats, even if only a little. To quote an article from TigerWeekly concerning Warner's move to Blu:

Warner Bros., which will still produce HD-DVDs until the end of May, cited consumers’ preference as reason for the change. According to the Associated Press, Blu-rays made Warner Bros. $63 million more than HD-DVDs last year.


So off of Blu-Ray alone Warner made $63 mil. + the same amount they made off of HD DVD.


DVDs account for approximately 50% of the profits made by hollywood. $63 million in revenues is truly a tiny drop in the bucket.  That's much less money than I anticipated for a format that approached 1% of the home video market last year, and commands a significant premium in cost over its predecessor.


 you know, every says that but no one ever gives numbers.  well color me lazy but here is the first link i could find.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb335/is_200408/ai_n6408163

which says "Total video spending increased by 13.8 percent to reach $33.1 billion last year(2003)" and "to reach $105 billion by 2008 (projection)"

do a bit of math....Warner's 63 million dollars in blu ray revenues account for 0.2% of dvd revenues in 2003.  flawed analysis? oh for sure but this was only meant to give some perspective on what "a drop in the bucket" is supposed to mean.



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TheBigFatJ on 17 January 2008
Mummelmann said:
@OP: that would be moronic on a whole new level if you ask me. "No, no, the Dreamcast is not doing too shabby, let's support it!"

 

Consider that Disney's contract with Sony over BD is rumored to expire soon.  The other studios are taking huge bonuses to stick with BD or go to BD (Rumors put warner around $500 million, Fox was compensated, etc).  Disney probably just wants Sony to give them money to put the content out there.

We've already established that studios gain nothing by releasing their movies on BD right now.

 



Gnizmo on 17 January 2008
ChronotriggerJM said:
TheBigFatJ said:
carlos710 said:
why would they drop their BR support now that BR looks like the clear winner?

DVD outsold BR nearly 200:1 last year. DVD is the format winner.

The other thing to consider is that BD players also play DVDs. So you have 100% of your market if you sell DVDs only and it costs you nothing extra. Rather than selling BDs to about one percent of your market and DVDs to 99%, you sell DVDs to all of those people (since few people will buy a movie just because is BD).


 DVD isn't a format winner. It's a separate format on it's own. DVD isn't a high def experience. Hell most of the TV's in the world can't even display them properly. I don't see Disney backing out until they make their money back from whatever delopement cost's they initially put in. It's not like blu-ray is losing anyone money. Each player sold is profitable, and every disk sold is the same. 


 The only thing in this thread more ludicrous than the OP claim is yours. DVD and Blu-ray are absolutely competing against each other. If you have a movie on blu-ray, are you going to buy it on DVD because it is "a different experience?" If blu-ray takes off, then DVD will die. If DVD retains the 99% of the market it has with no signs of losing any ground to blu-ray, blu-ray will die. They are directly competing formats.



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akuma587 on 17 January 2008

Disney is more Blu than Sony. They even had a nationwide marketing campaign that went to malls and everything touting the advantages of Blu-Ray and they have continually reaffirmed their commitment to the format.

Many online hi-def reviews sites ranked them as one of the most prolific and high-quality of all the studios as well. Therefore, I doubt this rumor, since they seem very committed.



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leo-j on 17 January 2008
Coca-Cola said:
They are not making any money on BR yet.


Sure, I wonder why they are advertising disney dvd and disney blu-ray disc while they give hannah montana.



 

mM
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TheBigFatJ on 17 January 2008
akuma587 said:
Disney is more Blu than Sony. They even had a nationwide marketing campaign that went to malls and everything touting the advantages of Blu-Ray and they have continually reaffirmed their commitment to the format.

Many online hi-def reviews sites ranked them as one of the most prolific and high-quality of all the studios as well. Therefore, I doubt this rumor, since they seem very committed.

Sony most likely provides marketing money for marketing their BD movies. Sony is the company that stands to gain the most from BD sales. Disney and the other studios simply want to sell more home videos. They don't care what format.

Providing marketing money is a common practice.  It's a way for Sony to market BD through a third party, making it sound like the same message coming from another source.  Intel and Dell have similar deals: Intel provides marketing money Dell can use to market Intel's processors in Dell computers. 



DragonLord on 17 January 2008

Lol, not a chance! Disney is one of the largest supporters of blu-ray...hell, they even have their tour around the US in which they are showing off and promoting blu-ray.



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crumas2 on 17 January 2008
makingmusic476 said:

This is highly unlikely. Why wait until the format war is finally beginning to end to do this?

And yes, the studios are making money on these formats, even if only a little. To quote an article from TigerWeekly concerning Warner's move to Blu:

Warner Bros., which will still produce HD-DVDs until the end of May, cited consumers’ preference as reason for the change. According to the Associated Press, Blu-rays made Warner Bros. $63 million more than HD-DVDs last year.


So off of Blu-Ray alone Warner made $63 mil. + the same amount they made off of HD DVD.


Is that revenue or profit? 



makingmusic476 on 17 January 2008

Blu-Ray will eventually replace DVD. Why? Backwards compatibility. This is the one thing that Blu-Ray has in the fight against DVD that DVD did not have in the fight against VHS.

As expenses drop, eventually CEs will only manufacture Blu-Ray players. People will buy them, because they will essentially be DVD players that happen to comes with Blu-Ray. It may happen slowly, but it will happen steadily, as DVD players die and must be replaced. Once Blu-Ray's penetration eclipses 80% or so, the studios will stop releasing movies on DVD, much like what happened to VHS releases once DVD gained 80% marketshare.



crumas2 on 17 January 2008
akuma587 said:
Disney is more Blu than Sony. They even had a nationwide marketing campaign that went to malls and everything touting the advantages of Blu-Ray and they have continually reaffirmed their commitment to the format.

Many online hi-def reviews sites ranked them as one of the most prolific and high-quality of all the studios as well. Therefore, I doubt this rumor, since they seem very committed.

Disney is committed to making money.  I don't believe supporting Bluray represents some sort of religious experience for them.  If they try something and it makes money in a reasonable period of time, they'll keep supporting it.  If it doesn't, they'll drop it.