Universal has been much better at giving retailers ample lead time between announcements and releases than Warners, so 16 days from now seems unlikely.
Well, Batman Begins wouldn't really be a rumored title since it is a title that we officially know is coming. It had it's release date changed, and now it is a mystery as to what date it will actually come. But it won't be a surprise when it comes. So it could be BB.
King Kong, on the other hand, has never (as far as I know) been listed by Universal as an HD DVD that was "coming soon" (with the exception of its presence on the HD DVD demo disc). There's been lots of speculation about it being released soon, but nothing showing it in a list of planed titles from Universal around launch time with only release dates that are uncertain. Correct me if I'm wrong.
So, a big upcoming title in two weeks would seem to fit BB more than Kong. We know BB is coming and we know Warner Brothers has been terrible with the amount of time between official giving release dates and the actual release date. Though if the "angle" of this information is that the title itself is big AND also surprise, then it would fit Kong better.
I'd be happy with either, though I hope for both soon.
The titles I'm most anxious to get soon are:
Batman Begins The Matrix King Kong Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the colors in this should SHINE on HD DVD) The Corpse Bride (I'd bet this one will be out closer to October)
Hope to have all of those within this year (hopefully soon for some of them).
someone over on AVS (which is where i saw the KK rumour), claims that compression is underway on the feature for Batman, so- if that post is true- that title is probably still 3 or 4 weeks off at the earliest.
I would be surprised if Universal sits out those open dates where they have no titles announced. Could happen, but then there was absolutely no sign of Universal releasing anything until a few days before launch, iirc. Serenity was definitely not something I was banking on as a launch title.
Nope, I'm talking retailers who say, "I've got very good contacts in the industry that tell me Kong is being announced real, real soon... BTW I have still some available HD DVD players but hurry cos stocks are limited!!"
Regarding Kong, since there's three discs of possible extras (as I understand it), I wonder if they'll used the entire HD-DVD for the movie and include no extras?
Although I didn't like the movie at all, releasing it on HD-DVD will definitely help sell the format.
If it does in fact get released in a few weeks, Universal should promote it a bit. At the very least, if the KK DVD ads are still running at all - tack on a "coming to HD-DVD on xxxxx" line.