[Update] Sony may prompt next video format war (not really, oops)

Looking for the next video format war? It might be in the last place you want it: movie theaters. Sony announced Thursday that has teamed up with Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount Pictures to promote the new Sony-developed digital projection setup. This came only a day after five major studios including Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount Pictures as well as Walt Disney Motion Pictures, Universal Studios and Lionsgate Films were announced to be part of a deal with Digital Cinema Implementation Partners (“DCIP”) to expand digital screens. The DCIP deal would try to upgrade 20,000 screens across the U.S. and Canada, while the Sony deal has plans to use put its system into 9,000 screen across North America, Europe and Asia.

According the to most recent MPAA numbers from 2007, just under 5,000 screens across the U.S. use digital systems, with 6,455 screens worldwide. Both deals want to increase that number, but it might get a bit tough if there are multiple proprietary formats. The last thing we need is another format war. More after the break.