TIME.COM NOTEBOOK/THE SCOOP APRIL 6, 1998
VOL. 151 NO. 13
Spielberg: DVD Means Definite Video Delay
December 18, 1997
BY JEFFERY
RESSNER / LOS ANGELES
(HOLLYWOOD) If
you've just bought a DVD player and can't wait to watch
favorite flicks like E.T. and Gremlins, better not disconnect
your dusty old VCR. Although there are nearly half a million
DVD machines in U.S. homes, Steven Spielberg is keeping his
entire film library--including pictures produced by his
company Amblin--off the format. Some DVD boosters think
Spielberg is resisting because he favors a sonics alternative
made by Digital Theater Systems, a company he partly owns,
which has not been embraced by major hardware manufacturers.
The director's spokesman says he's merely waiting for
millions more consumers to buy the players: "It's a
question of the marketplace maturing, and Steven feels very
strongly about it." One Amblin title, Twister, slipped
out "under the radar" through Warner Home Video,
but other films made for various studios are being held back.
"Why would we want to upset Spielberg?" asks an
exec from Universal, which owns rights to Jaws but won't
release it for fear of alienating the man responsible for
many of the studio's greatest hits. Spielberg isn't the only
holdout. Paramount and Fox have also steered clear of DVD,
while Disney has yet to commit any animated classics to the
format. It isn't the first time major content providers have
resisted new technology: Capitol-EMI refused to put out any
Beatles titles during the early years of the compact-disc
revolution.
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