Paramount, DreamWorks Dropping HD DVD Mar 4

Paramount Pictures and subsidiary DreamWorks Animation have wiggled out of their HD DVD commitments: their last HD DVD releases will land March 4.

Earlier this week, DreamWorks Animation was saying it didn’t know when it would stop releasing films in HD DVD format, with DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg noting the companies had signed “lucrative” contracts with Toshiba and saying the ball was in their court.

Apparently Toshiba knows how to play ball: today Video Business is reporting that Paramount’s HD DVD releases (Into the Wild and Things We Lost in the Fire) will be the company’s last, going out the door on March 4. HD DVD titles previously scheduled for later release—including Bee Movie and Sweeney Todd, previously scheduled for March 11 and April 1, have had their HD DVD releases cancelled.

Neither studio has announced when it will be releasing its first Blu-ray titles.

Toshiba paid Paramount and its DreamWorks subsidiary a reported $150 million in incentives back in August of 2007 to exclusively support HD DVD.