Originally Posted by ack_bak

So to those of you in this thread that think Warner will drop Blu-Ray sometime early next year what do you see Warner doing?

Again, DVD sales are dropping. Potentially by as much as $1-2 billion dollars this year and most likely be even more in the upcoming years.

Downloads? The thing is that I have not seen a single studio raving about downloads replacing optical media in the next year or two, and download sales appear to be even worse than Blu-Ray. Many people do not have the bandwidth and almost every major ISP has or is implementing bandwidth caps. Movie downloads are not brand new. They have been out as long or longer than Blu-Ray.

VOD? VOD is growing but not drastically. VOD/PPV has been around much longer than Blu-Ray. It certainly does not seem to be on track to replace DVD as the leading format.

So what else is there? And if you say it will be some brand new technology, you have to remember that any new technology will take a minimum of 3-5 years to catch on. I personally don't think the studios have time. Per the article disc sales (optical media) account for as much as 70% of the revenue generated by most movies. Without that revenue the studios would most likely be forced to cut way back on the number of theatrical releases and would have to slash their budgets. This is why Warner is so concerned. This is why Warner and the other studios want and need Blu-Ray to succeed. I am not sure why people here cannot seem to grasp this. Very few movies make a profit via the box office. Most do not become profitable until release on home video. IMHO Warner is stuck no matter how poor Blu-Ray and DVD perform this holiday season. There is nowhere else to go.