Movie studios tee up their final HD DVD titles

"Into the Wild," "Michael Clayton," "Atonement," and "I Am Legend"—that's pretty much all that's left in the way of upcoming HD DVD releases, plus a handful of lesser-known flicks.

A little more than a week after confirming that it's dumping HD DVD for Blu-ray, Paramount has announced that it's cancelled all its upcoming HD DVD releases, save two final movies: "Into the Wild" and "Things We Lost in the Fire," which are both slated for release next week.

Among Paramount's scuttled HD DVD movies: a boxed set of Jack Ryan movies, "The Kite Runner," "Sweeney Todd," and "There Will Be Blood," according to High-Def Digest.

Meanwhile, Paramount subsidiary DreamWorks (whose CEO recently announced that it's still bound to HD DVD exclusivity by Toshiba) has put the kibosh on its last upcoming HD DVD movie, "Bee Season." It's not clear when the studio will be free to start pressing Blu-ray movies.

The news is sure to make hapless HD DVD early adopters (myself included) feel even more high and dry than before. That said, the HD DVD well hasn't run completely dry—or at least, not yet.

Both Warner Brothers and Universal still have a few HD DVD titles remaining on High-Def Digest's release schedule, including some relatively high-profile movies. "Michael Clayton" and "Atonement" are on tap for March, while in April we'll see "I Am Legend," "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (which I'm dying—heh—to see), and "Bonnie & Clyde."

After that, the pickings get even slimmer: "One Missed Call," "Sublime," "Ocean's Eleven," and "Ocean's Twelve" are set for May, along with the oft-postponed "Twister."

Universal and Paramount, which (along with DreamWorks) were the final HD DVD-only studios, are expected to start churning out Blu-ray movies by late sprint/early summer.

Related:
Paramount Cancels Majority of HD DVD Slate [High-Def Digest]