Hollywood Holdout Finally Goes Blu-ray's Way

The decision comes two days after Toshiba, the main proponent of the HD DVD format, said it will stop producing HD DVD gear by the end of March. Toshiba's decision brought the much heralded high-def format war to an end as it ceded victory to Blu-ray, the rival standard from Sony.

"We are pleased that the industry is moving to a single high-definition format, as we believe it is in the best interest of the consumer," the studio said Thursday in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. "As we look to (begin) releasing our titles on Blu-ray, we will monitor consumer adoption and determine our release plans accordingly."

Paramount was one of two major studios that had committed to release high-def movies exclusively in the HD DVD format espoused by Toshiba. Paramount had been releasing DVDs in both formats until August, 2007, when it and DreamWorks Animation reportedly shared in $150 million in financial incentives for committing to HD DVD. Paramount and DreamWorks are both owned by Viacom.

Universal Pictures, the other major studio committed exclusively to HD DVD, unveiled plans to jump on the Blu-ray bandwagon earlier this week, within hours of Toshiba's announcement.

The four remaining major studios -- Warner Bros. Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox and Walt Disney -- had all already backed Blu-ray. Warner Bros. had been releasing movies in both formats but revealed in January that it planned to drop HD DVD this year. That move caused several major retailers, including Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Netflix last week to side with Blu-ray.

The momentum shift signified by those defections led Toshiba to drop its HD DVD business.