CES: No New HD DVD Announcements from Universal

In a rather surprising move, primary HD DVD backer Universal Studios Home Entertainment confirmed today that they will be making no major title announcements at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, despite the formidable presence of all major studios supporting rival format Blu-ray.

Universal, the sole major Hollywood studio to be supporting HD DVD exclusively, was expected to bringing out its big guns for 2007 at CES -- or at least make enough new announcements to dazzle the early adopters who have been passionately backing the format thus far.

But when we contacted Universal to find out if anything further is to come from the studio out of CES, they confirmed they will not be unveiling any new street dates or detailed title info at all for the duration of the show. The studio stressed that they continue to support HD DVD and are planning to announce new titles "throughout 2007."

We must say, it seems like a strange promotional strategy to arrive at CES with nothing to brag about, especially given the highly visible nature of the show in the mainstream media, and that Blu-ray's showing has been quite muscular.

To be fair, a promotional flyer has been issued to the press and is available on the show floor, listing several notable HD DVD titles expected from Universal over the coming year, though many were already bandied about by Universal at last year's CES. Among the hits due in in 2007 are: 'The 40 Year-Old Virgin,' 'American Pie,' Bruce Almighty,' the 2003 remake of 'Dawn of the Dead,' 'Pride & Prejudice,' the original 'The Bourne Identity' and 'Inside Man.'

We'll keep you posted in the coming weeks and months as Universal officially announces street dates for these titles and more. We've also added all of the titles listed above to the "Release Dates Pending" section of our HD DVD Release Schedule.