The battle for the future of the format had a major strike over the weekend as the proponents of the HD-DVD format announced nearly one hundred titles for release in 2005, and big titles at that. The first wave of HD will look something like this.

Paramount:

The Manchurian Candidate, Spongebob Squarepants, Elizabethtown, Coach Carter, The Italian Job, School of Rock, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Forrest Gump, Braveheart, Ghost, Grease, Mission Impossible 2, Black Rain, Save the Last Dance, Sleepy Hollow, U2: Rattle and Hum, Vanilla Sky, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Star Trek: First Contact and We Were Soldiers.

Universal:

The Bourne Supremacy, The Chronicles of Riddick, Van Helsing, Apollo 13, U-571, 12 Monkeys, Dune, The Thing, End of Days, Backdraft, Waterworld, The Bone Collector, Spy Game, Pitch Black, Conan the Barbarian and Dante’s Peak.

Warner Bros:

Above the Law, Alexander, Angels in America , Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery , Batman Begins, Blade , Catwoman, Contact, Constantine, Charley and the Chocolate Factory, Dark City , The Dukes of Hazzard, Eraser, Executive Decision, Final Destination , Friday , From the Earth to the Moon , The Fugitive, Gothika, Hard to Kill, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, House of Wax (2005), The Last Samurai, The Mask , The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Maverick, Million Dollar Baby, The Music Man, Mystic River, Next of Kin, North by Northwest, Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve, Passenger 57, The Perfect Storm, The Phantom of the Opera (2004), The Player , The Polar Express, Red Planet, Rush Hour , Se7en , Soldier, The Sopranos , Spawn , Swordfish, Troy, Under Siege, U.S. Marshals and Wild Wild West.

Whew. Certainly a big slate. Blu-Ray is expected to announce soon as well.