Universal Ends HD DVD Support With ‘Atonement’

Ironic as the title may be, all things considered, Universal Studios plans to issue its final release in all-but-dead HD DVD format with this month’s release of “Atonement,” one of the best-reviewed films of 2007.

The disc will be released March 18, which until recently would have made it one of the final HD DVD titles to be sent to retailers. But the studio now confirms that March 18 will be its final issue date for titles because a planned release of “Charlie Wilson’s War” later this spring will be scrapped, according to High-Def Digest. (“Fletch” will be released on HD DVD on March 11.)

One of the last HD DVD holdouts, Universal quickly indicated it would comply with the overwhelming majority of Hollywood studios and jump solely to Blu-ray Disc very soon after Toshiba’s announcement last month that it would abandon its HD DVD efforts.