Posted by yoman on 01/06/08 18:06

I originally thought there could be no way that 1.8 billion could
exchange hands, but considering the video business is an 11-13 billion
dollar a year industry and that warner makes about half of that in
some years, they could easily be considered the biggest and most
influential studio of the bunch.

Also, if you consider that sony not only got New Line as well as
Warner Bros, and there are even rumors going around that Fox was some
part of this as well. Fox was already blu-ray exclusive, and it may
just be a rumor, but if it isn't, then splitting 1.8 billion between
three major studios isn't unheard of at all.

As many people know, Sony, as large as a corporation as it is, they
don't have a lot of money. They definitely could not afford to pay 100
million to any studio, with out going into debt. The money has to be
coming from blu-ray investors, many which may include studios and the
bda, but also outside European investors that probably don't want
their names being known.

Sony is known for doing this with movie ventures as well. This is
because they want to limit devastation, if a movie may fail in
theaters, and make a little bit of profit if the movie does well.
They've done it with Silent Hill, the complete resident evil series,
and many others.

Studios like Disney, Starz, and Paramount may have an influence on the
market, but they are generally niche markets. I've heard many people
say that they like blu-ray because of disney. It is true that disney
is blu-ray exclusive, and they have a huge library, but not even 1/3rd
of those movies have even made it on standard definition dvd, and only
one classic movie has been announced for blu-ray, leaving many
hundreds of movies nowhere to be seen.

Starz/Anchor Bay is also a niche market, in that it is mainly for cult
horror movies like halloween, day of the dead, dawn of the dead, and
evil dead. While it has a little influence for people who like those
movies, it shouldn't be enough to sway any one either way.

The big players who are left are really just Universal and Warner, and
to some extent, Fox. 40% HD, 60% blu-ray. Nothing scientific, but 40%
of a possible future 11-13 billion dollars a year sounds like one heck
of a pile of money to me.

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