So when you are configuring your next Dell Inspiron, Studio, or XPS system, there is going to be a $20 option to have Dell preload Iron Man on your machine. Yup. Great movie but a little strange business model. Word is that Dell is trying to get more and more studios signed on to expand the selection past this one movie. If Dell is to have their way, you should be able to purchase a slew of movies to fill up your brand new machine and there might even be an online movie store. No word on the DRM specifics besides that a owner will be able burn one copy, but something tells us you’re not going to be able to share this file at your LAN party.

This is a gadget blog not a movie blog!

Now that that’s out of the way, I’d like to share with my fellow comic book geeks the unboxing of the Blu-ray “Iron Man” Ultimate Edition. I have yet to pop it in and give it a whirl, but I figured an unboxing would suffice for now. Check out the gallery after the jump and the list of goodies you can expect from the 2-disc set.
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Happen to be a HD DVD earlier adopter? Sorry to hear that. Paramount and Dreamworks wants to help switch your library to the winning side and is offering up a $10 rebate. All the studios ask is that when you buy a Blu-ray title of a disk you currently own, mail in a promo certificate along with the proof of purchase from the original disc’s packaging. 

That’s not all good reader, this offer applies to standard DVDs too. The promo will began with Transformers on September 2nd and will run through December 31, 2009.

The one-time darling of the cellphone industry, Motorola will roll out a movie download service in Europe in the coming weeks, launching first today in the UK. The service will have movies for around $12 to $18 a pop, and will have to be sideloaded—you download the movie first on your computer then transfer it to your phone. No over-the-air magic, in other words.

So far, Paramount is the only major studio to have signed up for the service.

Should be useful to those of you who take trains to and from the office. Actually, are there many long-distance commuters in the UK? Like, distances that require trips longer than a subway (tube) ride?

Beckham endorses Motorola, so that pic is relevant. Just barely.

Paramount, the oldest movie studio here, is willing to sell you video clips of its Very Important movies for $1 a pop, minimum. “VooZoo,” which rhymes with “Hulu,” which rhymes with “piece of shit,” is an online service (right now, a Facebook app and on there.com) that tries to outdo YouTube by charging you for the privilege of keeping the clips.

Apparently, Paramount wants to leverage its awesome library so it can turn around and sell them to you for use on mobile devices. You know, because even though you bought Top Gun on VHS, then on DVD, you still have to pay again to watch clips of it on you cellphone. OK!

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There may be blood, but it won’t be on HD DVD.

Paramount clarified earlier reports concerning its upcoming HD DVD release schedule. The final two HD DVD releases will be Into the Wild (anyone see that? Opie seemed to like it.) and Things We Lost in the Fire. They are currently scheduled to be released next week. Paramount isn’t expected to release movies on Blu-ray until the summer, meaning we’ll be waiting an awful long time to see There Will Be Blood in 1080p. (Not that I don’t already have the DVD screener. But really, high-def or bust.)

Also, Bee Movie on HD DVD has been canceled.

Paramount Cancels Majority of HD DVD Slate (UPDATED) [High-Def Digest]

Satan! Satan!

It looks like XBL fans will have even more sexy content for playback tomorrow. Expect Paramount titles like Stardust, Disturbia and A Might Heart as Paramount officially signs with XBL.

Xbox 360 signs Paramount to Xbox Live Marketplace, for classics like Naked Gun [TechDigest]

WORD LIFE

Do you know what Habbo is? I sure as hell don’t, but it’s apparently very popular with the kids. These kids, so Paramount hopes, have plenty of money to throw around—recession be damned—which explains the deal it struck with the kiddie social networking site. In the deal, of which no financial terms have been disclosed, Paramount will create content for the site that kids are expected to bug their parents to buy for them. Picture things like “Mean Girls” clothes, Beowulf spears and other crap.

It’s for kids. Kids like junk.

Though the movie industry isn’t as doomed doomed doomed as its music industry cousin, deals like this are done to “diversify” their assets. That way, top execs can turn to their shareholders during the big annual meeting and say, “Clearly Paramount Pictures is embracing the new Web 2.0 era.” Then they all pat each other on the back and light up Cuban cigars with $100 bills. That’s what I would do, at any rate.

Paramount to court teens with Habbo [Variety, which uses entirely too much jargon]

Try as they might, HD DVD isn’t going down without a fight. Whether these titles were lined up before the WB announcement is anyone’s guess, but a few blockbusters are slated for this quarter. I didn’t see Beowulf (2/26) and I think the reviews were mixed, but it’s an exclusive as is American Gangster (2/19) and Bee Movie (3/11). I didn’t see the Seinfeld movie, but I did see Denzel and he’s a plays a pretty good badass.

“Paramount’s current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format,” Brenda Ciccone, a spokeswoman for Paramount.

Paramount Denies Report It Will Drop Toshiba’s HD DVD (Update2) [Bloomberg]

HD DVD? What’s that?

Universal has ended its HD DVD exclusivity arrangement and Paramount’s HD DVD contract has an escape clause. Should Paramount exercise that clause, and there’s no reason not to at this point, Blu-ray would have thoroughly won this silly “format war.” Now we can get back to the important business of arguing over more important things, like which gaming system is the best or why the Zune (or iPod) sucks so much.

HD DVD’s fate more or less lies in Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-Mart and other retailers’ hands now. If the retailers see momentum in the Blu-ray direction, they may opt to limit the amount of shelf space they give to HD DVD. That would only accelerate Universal and Paramount’s production of Blu-ray titles.

To videophiles flush with money, the “winner” shouldn’t matter, so long as the studios author their discs properly (remember the abomination that was the first release of The Fifth Element on Blu-ray?). Pirates, on the other hand, are screwed if the BD+ copy protection doesn’t get cracked.

Who knew Warner wielded so much power?

Blu-ray could win high-def battle [Variety via Bits New York Times Blog]

Thanks, AP

Warner’s decision to exclusively back Blu-ray definitely hurts pirates and could, in the long run, hurt regular consumers, too.

By all indications, right now, Blu-ray has the momentum to “win” the format war, especially if the reports suggesting Paramount will switch to it turn out to be true. That would leave Universal as the only major studio exclusively in the HD DVD camp. You can bet that won’t last long.

Pirates should care about this because Blu-ray disc is harder to crack than HD DVD; BD+, the new copy protection that even gave dedicated Blu-ray players problems a few months ago, hasn’t been cracked yet. (Even if it were cracked, new discs would ship with another copy protection mechanism and the appropriate firmware to decode it on stand-alone players.) That means no more high-def rips of movies. That’s not good for pirates like me. Pay for a movie? Yeah, OK.

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HD DVD’s booth at CES was a sad, sad sight to see. You could tell by the demeanor of everyone working the booth. They knew. Blu-ray’s booth was less than 20 yards away and they were rocking out and people were milling around trying to watch demos, take pictures with Captain Jack Sparrow and the Spartans from 300. Don’t get me wrong, I’m in HD DVD’s camp, but how are they going to recover from Warner Bros. departure?

The Financial Times is reporting that Paramount has a purported clause in their contract that allows them to switch sides in the event Warner Bros. backs out of HD DVD. Why the two studios have anything to do with each other is beyond me, but that’s what ‘people familiar with the situation’ are claiming. Biggs says it’s not over because Samsung is still producing dual format players and apparently they have more say in the situation then one is to believe, but we’ll wait and see what Paramount does.

Paramount in HD DVD blow [FT]

Howard Stringer (Sony Corp. CEO) says that Blu-ray and HD DVD are in a stalemate. He has to say that, though.

I’ve stayed out of the debate since it started because, as a consumer, I don’t care who wins. I care about how much it’s going to cost me versus how much benefit I’ll get out of it. As it stands right now, I wouldn’t buy a Blu-ray player for $450 when it’s clear that the HD DVD camp is trying much harder to win my business. Both Blu-ray and HD DVD do high definition. Everything else comes down to price.

Paramount pictures jumped from the Blu-ray ship to the HD DVD ship (exclusively) in August. That’s kind of a big deal. The Blu-ray camp is going to have to start cutting hardware prices soon or else. You can’t sell someone on a DVD player that costs more than twice as much as a competing device that basically does the exact same thing as far as most of your average consumers are concerned.

Sony CEO sees ’stalemate’ in disc fight [AP/Yahoo! News]

In China, if you want to buy a legitimate DVD of a movie made by Paramount or Warner Brothers, it’ll soon cost you only $3 and will be available two weeks after the movie’s theatrical release.

That being said, $3 is “more than double the typical price for illicit street copies of the same movies,” according to Ars Technica. And pirates don’t have much incentive to abide by the two-week rule. Still, Ars points out (and I agree) that $3 is better than $0, which is what the studios are effectively making now. Plus, you’d think that the legal DVDs would be higher quality and maybe include some extras not found on the street corner versions.

Paramount and Warner Bros. market $3 DVDs in China [Ars Technica]

Did I say something about HD DVD being dead this Fall? Bloops. Paramount and Dreamworks have announced they’ve joined the HD DVD camp and that means you’ll see Shrek 3 along with any other film from Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films. Dude! Ali Larter in her whipped cream bikini in HD DVD! That’s awesome. Blu-ray can have Spider Man 3, it sucked anyways.

Paramount to offer movies in HD DVD [AP via Yahoo!]