20th Century (Fox) Seemingly Abandoning HDR10+ In Favor Of Dolby Vision

April 21, 2020

Ramus Larsen

Another blow dealt to HDR10+

20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios), a founding member of the HDR10+ alliance, is seemingly abandoning the HDR10+ format in favor of Dolby Vision after Disney acquired the film studio.

In 2017, 20th Century Fox, Samsung and Panasonic formed the HDR10+ alliance as a front against Dolby's competing HDR format, Dolby Vision, which all other major Hollywood studios backed. The two formats are seen as 'premium HDR', a step up from the baseline, universally supported HDR10 format. In 2018, Panasonic changed its stance by introducing the first UHD Blu-ray player with support for both HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, followed by the first TVs with HDR10+ and Dolby Vision in 2019. In 2019, 20th Century Fox released its first movie in Dolby Vision (besides HDR10+), Alita Battle Angel, but many saw it as an outlier due to producer James Cameron's wishes. Now that Disney has taken full control of the iconic studio and rebranded it from 20th Century Fox to 20th Century Studios, it has seemingly also set in motion a transition away from HDR10+ to Dolby Vision. Here are the most recent developments:

• Ad Astra - a 20th Century Fox title - was released in late-2019 in 4K Dolby Vision and Atmos.
• Spies In Disguise - a 20th Century Fox Animation title - was released mid-March 2020 in 4K Dolby Vision and Atmos.
• Ford v Ferrari - a 20th Century Fox title - was released in February 2020 in 4K Dolby Vision and Atmos.
• Underwater - the last movie to be released under 20th Century Fox - was released this week in 4K Dolby Vision.
• The Call Of The Wild - the first movie to be released under 20th Century Studios - was released early due to the coronavirus in 4K Dolby Vision and Atmos.
• Downhill - the first movie to be released under Searchlight Pictures (formerly Fox Searchlight Pictures) - was released early due to the coronavirus in 4K Dolby Vision.
• Wendy - another Searchlight Pictures title - was released earlier this week in 4K Dolby Vision and Atmos.

All examples above are based on the digital release. Only a few of these titles have been released on UHD Blu-ray, and in all cases in HDR10 – not HDR10+.

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