Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
Integral Poster
End of an era. Who’d have thought Redbox would be last man standing in terms of physical media rentals?
Chat! culturecrossfire.slack.com
The slow death and possible rebirth of home video
- Thread starter Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
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Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
Integral Poster
Yeah and there's still a lot of stuff that's just on DVD and isn't streaming.
Gary
If You're Into It, I'm Out of It
This is one of the reasons I love collecting Blu Ray-there are several films that are available in physical form but not streaming. Besides, if something isn't on Blu yet, it usually will somewhere down the line.
Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
Integral Poster
It'd just be nice to see one of these streaming services be loyal to the people who have been loyal to them. THat's too much to ask for though, I suppose.
Valeyard
Retarded sexuality and bad poetry.
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I've been fighting the urge to rebuild my blu ray collection because that's a lot of investment. The stuff I want to watch made before like 2003 is never streaming anywhere reputable. Netflix at least had moments of "hey, we have Salon Kitty. Got you fam."
Twist is too that I would totally consider a few originals on blu ray if they put them out.
Twist is too that I would totally consider a few originals on blu ray if they put them out.
Spaceman Spiff
Integral Poster
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Get a membership to your local library & get movies through them. If they are affiliated w/ other libraries in the area they'll most likely be able to pull in from those libraries in case your's doesn't have what you're looking for.
Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
Integral Poster
Yeah. I almost mentioned public libraries with Redbox as the other place where you can still rent movies but I didn’t want to get shoved into a locker.
And if Republicans keep controlling state legislatures then public libraries will probably go the way of Blockbuster and Hollywood Video if you live in a red state!
And if Republicans keep controlling state legislatures then public libraries will probably go the way of Blockbuster and Hollywood Video if you live in a red state!
I've been buying a lot of Blu-rays and DVDs at thrift stores recently. The local ones usually have them at about $1 or 2. I usually just rip them and flip them on eBay. I'm not making a ton of money, but I've found some pretty decent stuff and other people who are leery of streaming services are interested in buying them, too.
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I've been picking up Blu Rays and DVDs of older stuff (mostly cartoon series e.g. Kim Possible or Animaniacs) that likely won't ever see a proper Blu-Ray release let alone a 4K release.
RedJed
Rasslin' Rambler
There was something special about the early days of Netflix rentals. It was like a treasure trove of variety that you could never hardly ever get at a local video rental shop. I remember finding a huge amount of obscure horror, really random wrestling comps (old USWA, Memphis, Global, and even some japanese stuff), and TV series (which particularly, those series DVDs were rather expensive back then) back in my college days. I think this period of my life really tuned me into then collecting physical media so much more from that point on.
And I also was one who would rent something from Netflix only to rip it for my own personal physical copy. Those were the days!
And I also was one who would rent something from Netflix only to rip it for my own personal physical copy. Those were the days!
Epic for the Summer
Epic Reine
I first got Netflix back in '09 and I rented 1 (maybe 2) movies at a time. It was a pretty cool system but as they kept raising their prices for discs and expanded their streaming library, I had no choice but to cancel and stream everything. Physical media is absolutely necessary and I get that people still wants to own certain movies but for someone who wants less physical items in his possession nowadays, I'm fine with sacrificing discs.
Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
Integral Poster
Netflix Will Mark End of DVD Biz by Sending Up to 10 Randomly Selected Discs to Customers
Netflix is offering hardcore fans of its DVD-by-mail service one last disc-bingeing session before it folds the iconic red envelopes for good. In April, the company announced the shutdown of its dw…
variety.com
Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
Integral Poster
BREAKING/EXCLUSIVE on The Bits: Best Buy is exiting the physical media business for good in 2024 [UPDATED]
BREAKING/EXCLUSIVE on The Digital Bits: Best Buy is exiting the physical media business for good in 2024
Gary
If You're Into It, I'm Out of It
Ironic I learned about this after watching something on streaming. Also, I don't even remember the last time I heard about Best Buy. They used to have a pretty great selection of movies and CD's (back when I bought CDs.)And the hits keep on coming for physical media loyalists.BREAKING/EXCLUSIVE on The Bits: Best Buy is exiting the physical media business for good in 2024 [UPDATED]
BREAKING/EXCLUSIVE on The Digital Bits: Best Buy is exiting the physical media business for good in 2024thedigitalbits.com
Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
Integral Poster
Will there be some nerdy guy making fun of the DVDs I rent?
Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
Integral Poster
Mike Flanagan says Netflix "refused" to release his shows on Blu-ray, DVD
Mike Flanagan's comments about Netflix refusing to release his shows on Blu-ray and DVD have recirculated on social media. Read what he said.
consequence.net
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Finally got my Wednesday Season 1 Blu-Ray shipped/arrived but I had to wait a month+ via Amazon. Not that I don't think a Netflix wouldn't ever release such a show to physical media but all it'd take would be a Tim Burton scandal or The Boys upper leadership doing something that Amazon would yank the show off streaming for and then as a consumer you'd be SOL.
Given the discussion around physical media, I can see streamers either limiting physical releases (to keep people subscribed to them) or outright refusing to release physical media for certain shows and movies.
Given the discussion around physical media, I can see streamers either limiting physical releases (to keep people subscribed to them) or outright refusing to release physical media for certain shows and movies.
Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
Integral Poster
Netflix, Hulu, et al spent a not insignificant amount of time trying to get people to switch over from physical media. I don't see they would be incentivized to say "Hey. Remember when we said because of you don't need your DVD/Blu Ray player anymore? Well..."
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I think the $$ factor is simply too good to pass up on physical media, at least as it pertains to shows where you can get $25+ usually per season. Especially the bigger shows for Netflix, Amazon, etc.
Even a movie like Coraline, which made $126 Million worldwide was estimated to make $39 Million in DVD Sales and $12.5 Million in Blu-Ray sales back in 2009 per The-Numbers and that wasn't something on the level of say Avengers: Endgame or Avatar. That was more than its entire International Box Office ($50.75 Million).
We've seen that there's still demand for physical media - see Oppenheimer and its supply issues and even Wednesday S1 to a smaller extent supply wise.
Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
Integral Poster
Streaming was around in 2009 but it wasn’t quite the dominant option for home media. I don’t think that happened till the early 2010s.
This was also that weird era as physical media was in decline but streaming hadn’t really broken through, where DVR and On Demand seemed like it was going to be a thing.
This was also that weird era as physical media was in decline but streaming hadn’t really broken through, where DVR and On Demand seemed like it was going to be a thing.
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It's interesting that box office was rising into 2018/2019 even with Netflix around and starting to stream more. Per The-Numbers, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom cracked 1 Million Blu-Ray sales in just 4 weeks. Black Panther cracked 2 Million in 2 weeks. Even Solo: A Star Wars Story cracked 1 Million sales in 3 weeks. Even in 2021, Spider-Man: No Way Home cracked 1 Million sales in 4 weeks. In 2022, Top Gun: Maverick took 7 Weeks but a lot of the other movies are flagging behind depending on the title.
Per Amazon, Barbie Blu-Ray is sitting at $15 with 600+ purchased over the last month and 900+ DVD at $14.50. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is almost identical (600+ and 800+) with $15 and $14.30 pricing. Wonka is even more fascinating with 1K+ for both Blu-Ray at $20 and DVD at $17(!).
If you want to talk this year, Dune: Part 2 has 10K+ for Blu-Ray at $25 and 5K+ for the DVD at $20. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is at 3K+ and 1K+ while being more highly priced - $27 and $23. Godzilla x Kong is 3K+ and 2K+ at $25 and $20.
I think physical media is on a decline compared to the glory days of the late 90s when DVDs first entered the market and the late 2000s when Blu-Rays became the next target media. With that said, it also wouldn't surprise me to see a small boom if/when people start to see streamers dying out and/or not having titles available to stream anymore. It's a vocal minority on places like Youtube and TikTok but there are already segments making a push to revive physical media purchasing.
Oppenheimer and the resurgence of Blu-ray and DVDs: How to stop your films and music from disappearing
In an era where many films and albums are stored in the cloud, "streaming anxiety" is making people buy more DVDs, records – and even cassette tapes.
www.bbc.com
"The biggest-selling DVD of all time, Finding Nemo, was released in 2003 and shifted 38,800,000 copies. But sales have been on a steady decline since the mid-2000s. According to CNBC, US DVD sales declined by 86% between 2006 and 2019. Figures from the Motion Picture Association (MPAA) show that the international physical home entertainment market fell 16% from 2020 to 2021, while the digital market grew by 24% – and in 2021, physical media accounted for just 8% of the US entertainment market, or $2.8bn." [I think again, context is always key. DVDs were 7 years old in 2006 and Blu-Rays were just entering the scene. That's also a pretty big range of years while the 2020 to 2021 drop is hard to gauge due to COVID when people were literally stuck at home not buying shit and only able to watch stuff via streaming/online if they didn't own something already.]
"With Oppenheimer, over 60% of our sales came from the 4K & Blu-ray versions, with most customers wanting the more cinematic experience those formats provide at home," John Delaney says."
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Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
Integral Poster
DVDs Had Something Streaming Never Will. It’s Time to Bring It Back.
Even casual fans are lured by a high-quality product that doesn’t exist on streaming platforms.
Epic for the Summer
Epic Reine
I reccomend watching this video. Blu Ray was great in getting us pictures in amazing quality but a lot of other things were sacrificed.
Gary
If You're Into It, I'm Out of It
Not for nothing, but Criterion have released a few auteur directed Netflix films ("The Irishman, "Beasts of No Nation" and "Marriage Story" for example), Fox gave "Prey" a physical release and while the studio had no interest in releasing it on their own, they're letting Criterion release All of Us Strangers. Also, Amazon and MGM letting Kino Lorber release Bottoms.
Gary
If You're Into It, I'm Out of It
The only big streaming services that haven't cracked yet are Apple TV, Peacock and Tubi. I could see Apple giving Criterion physical rights to something like "The Tragedy of Macbeth" or "Killers of the Flower Moon" (Lily Gladstone just visited the Criterion closet, so you never know...), while I doubt Peacock or Tubi have much original content that people are dying for a physical release. The two big horror streaming services-Shudder and Screambox-have several titles on disc. Shudder has a good deal with IFC Films and RLJE for theatrical releases (on that level, they're kinda the new IFC Midnight) though they made a deal with OCN distribution (who are known for releasing Vinegar Syndrome among many others) to release streaming only titles ("Brooklyn 45" and "The Sadness" are the first two) and I think Screambox have a deal with Terror Vision.
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Good video. I do think a lot of movies being released with Blu-Ray/DVD combo packs gives a bit of "best of both worlds" scenario. The real question is the 4K/Blu-Ray combo packs where the 4K may not be a significant enough upgrade to sacrifice the special features (at best they are usually just included as is with the Blu-Ray release while the 4K is just the feature film and omit the DVD entirely).