With HD-DVD barely 10 days old in the United States, two additional movie distributors have announced plans for a combined 25+ titles to be launched in the coming months.

StudioCanal plans to distribute HD-DVD titles such as The Deer Hunter, The Elephant Man, Terminator 2, The Graduate, The Pianist, Mulholland Drive, Traffic and one of my all time favorites The Brotherhood of the Wolf.

Magnolia Home Entertainment plans to release five HD-DVD titles in the coming months, namely: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Bubble, The War Within, Bikini Destinations and HDNet World Report Special: Shuttle Discovery?s Historic Mission.

It?s nice to see some lesser known and ?library? type titles slated for launch. I?m really looking forward to seeing how The Graduate and Brotherhood of the Wolf look on HD-DVD.

Sources: Home Media Retailing and MovieWeb

R.Hollis

Ok I?ll be the first to admit the headline is a little misleading but according to this xbit labs article, ABI Research believes Blu-ray players will only account for about 30% of the global high-def DVD player market by years end, leaving a whopping 70% market share for HD-DVD.

Ah but there?s a catch, the Play Station 3 (Blu-ray capable) ?could change the market dominance picture dramatically?. Another mitigating factor in the format war has always been studio support; however ABI makes some interesting points about that as well.

The research firm points out that: “the studios support is not carved in stone, but is based on the perceived size of the market for a particular technology. If studios see that HD-DVD has a higher market share, or continues to increase its penetration, they could support it instead of ? or as well as ? Blu-ray. They don?t really care what technology is used as long as it meets their copyright protection needs and enjoys support from the vendor community.?

One point in the article that I have to disagree with is according to ABI; with the format war on-going the prices of players and titles will remain at relatively high levels longer than if there was a single standard.

I feel that if either camp wanted a quick boost in sales and the corresponding market share, it wouldn?t be out of the question to enact some temporary loss-leader pricing, until things tipped in their favor.

R.Hollis

I?ve received several emails from readers stating that they?ve had trouble finding HD-DVD players. A few indicated many of their local retailers had sold out of both players and titles just a few days after launch on April 18th.

One particular reader apparently asked the magic question of ?when will you have more in stock?? and was kind enough to forward the answer onto me. It looks like April 28th will bring in the first re-stock of HD-DVD players and titles as well as a second round of titles namely: Doom and Apollo 13 on April 25th.

R.Hollis

So HD-DVD is about a week away from launch here in the United States and several vendors are reporting their entire pre-order allotments are already spoken for, what?s a HD-DVD fan to do in hopes of securing a unit? Well you could always try the big chains (BestBuy and alike) or if your really in a gambling mood you could try to win one!

Toshiba is running a contest and the grand prize is:

A Toshiba High Definition Entertainment System, including a 62? HD TV (62HM195) with stand and Toshiba?s HD-A1 HD-DVD player and a Sponsor selected collection of twelve (12) Universal Studios DVD?s

Not bad for answering a few trivia questions I?d say. You?re allowed to play once a day but so far I?m zero for three, oh well there?s always tomorrow right?

R.Hollis