Arrow Announces and Details September 2024 4K UHD and Blu-ray Titles

Arrow Video's September 2024 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray lineup includes

• The Chronicles of Riddick (4K & Blu-ray)
• The Threat on Blu-ray
• Torso on 4K UHD Blu-ray with an Arrow store exclusive slipcover version
• Friday the 13th (2009) on 4K UHD Blu-ray
• (UK only) Love, Death & Apocalypse: Three Films by Álex de la Iglesia in 4K UHD & Blu-ray.

Did you hope to save some cash in September? Well, the bad news is you might want to check the couch cushions because Arrow is making sure we need to scrounge up all the spare change we can find! 

I tried posting all the details, but it was too much for Lemmy. Find all the details here.

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut was animated digitally in a process that’s meant to replicate the look of traditional “done by hand” animation with physical pieces of colored construction paper (which is how the original South Park pilot was created). Upon completion, the film was scanned to 35 mm internegative stock framed at the 1.85:1 aspect ratio for its original theatrical release. For this new Ultra HD, it appears that original negative has itself been scanned in 4K to create a new Digital Intermediate, with new grading for high dynamic range in Dolby Vision. Essentially all of the detail—such as there is—that’s in that original negative is represented here on screen, including all of the line work and faux paper texturing. But there’s also a very light wash of photochemical grain that’s natural and organic looking at all times. Colors are well saturated and all of the subtle variations in hues and shading that were present in the original digital animation are visible. Beyond that, there’s not really much else to say. HDR expands the color and contrast space a little, but given the nature of this animation the improvements are very subtle. The film certainly looks great, and arguably better than it ever has before, but no one is going to mistake this for a reference quality 4K image—it’s just not that kind of film.

Likewise, the film’s English audio, which is included here in the same 5.1 Dolby TrueHD mix found on the original 2009 Blu-ray release (reviewed here at The Bits) sounds very good indeed. The soundstage is pleasingly wide, but largely front focused, with the surround channels engaged lightly for a bit of atmospherics, some occasional directional cues, and musical ambience. Clarity and fidelity are good as well, and the music sounds great from start to finish. Note that the 4K disc includes English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD and French 5.1 Dolby Digital, with optional subtitles in English for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and French. The Blu-ray disc in the package also includes the English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD mix but that’s all, with subs available in English (this is Sing-a-Long text) and English for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing only.

Paramount’s new Ultra HD package is a 2-disc set that includes the film in 4K as well as 1080p HD on Blu-ray. (Note that this is a newly-authored disc, with new menus and encoding, not the same BD released in 2009.) There are no extras on the 4K disc itself, but the Blu-ray adds the following special features…

• Audio Commentary with Matt Stone and Trey Parker
• What Would Brian Boitano Do? Music Video (SD – 2:44)
• Teaser Trailer (HD – :55)
• Theatrical Trailer #1 (HD – 1:32)
• Theatrical Trailer #2 (SD – 1:51)

These features are identical to those found on the 2009 Blu-ray, including the full-length audio commentary which was recorded specifically for that disc. It’s a very funny track. Trey and Matt joke, laugh, and tell great stories, then start inviting in other staffers and just about anyone who happened to be in the building at the time... whether they worked on the film or not. (“Wow, I can’t believe it’s been ten years since I didn’t work on this film!”) You get the idea. The commentary is a hoot. Also included are a trio of trailers in HD, and the original 1999 DVD’s music video. You also get a Digital Copy code on a paper insert, though it only redeems at Fandango at Home (ex Vudu).

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To be fair, I’m not sure how much that experience really needed (or benefits from) a 4K Ultra HD upgrade, but what the hell—it’s like $23 on sale. If you really love this film, there are worse ways to spend your cash. And it makes a nice double-feature with Parker and Stone’s Team America: World Police which is also now available in 4K Ultra HD from Paramount (see our review here). Enjoy!

Releasing just two years after Jurassic Park, Twister enlisted George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic for its boundary-pushing visual effects, but there was also a heavy – and most welcome – reliance on practical and tangible set pieces. Had it released any earlier, then the visuals may not have convinced to the fullest extent, but had it released much later then use of CGI would have been a great deal more widespread. With that, the movie cemented its position in history by becoming the first-ever DVD release, signifying a change of technological advancements for viewers.

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Although it wouldn’t launch commercially in the United States until March 1997 with a day-one unveiling of 32 titles including Tim Burton’s Batman, Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas, George Miller’s Mad Max sequel The Road Warrior, classic buddy caper Lethal Weapon, and Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, DVDs had hit the shelves in Japan in November 1996.

There were only four launch day titles available on the other side of the world, and Twister was one of them. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Eraser, Harrison Ford’s The Fugitive, and John Badham’s Point of No Return – the remake of Luc Besson’s La Femme Nikita – were the other three, giving de Bont’s tornado-tastic spectacular its fascinating place in the history books.

Is Physical Media Getting Too Expensive?

Tyler Nichols

The high price of physical media is starting to make the entry point into collecting even more difficult for those wanting to leave streaming.

Physical media has had a rough go of it in 2024. Best Buy completely exiled their supply of DVD's and Blu-Ray's to the point that you can't even buy them online. Target has followed suit with a severely diminished section. Thankfully, Walmart has picked up the slack and even purchased Best Buy's supply, meaning any of those sweet Steelbooks that Best Buy offered can now be purchased at Walmart. But anyone that's been in Wally World knows that they take their security very seriously, sometimes at the detriment of collectors. So now one of the last places to buy physical media often has shelves full of dented and bent boxes. Amazon isn't much better if you're wanting to go that route. And that's not even addressing the pricing issue.

I need to make it very clear that I absolutely love boutique labels like Scream Factory, Arrow Video, Vestron Video, and more. They provide wonderful releases that I never in a million years thought we'd actually receive. Hell, I've got a copy of The Guyver showing up on 4K in just a few short weeks. I never would have imagined that would happen. And it makes sense to pay a premium for a film that I never thought would actually be released on the platform. But not every film fits these parameters.

The cost of streaming is often a subject of debate because these streaming sites like to increase their prices multiple times a year at this point. And with their crackdown on password sharing, it's making streaming less appealing than ever. Yet making the switch to Physical is damn near impossible for some people. Let's just look at 4K Ultra HD Blu Ray players which run, at their cheapest, a whopping $200. Thankfully, modern gaming consoles feature 4K players, but even those run at least $400. Still, there are a lot of gamers out there, so let's just posit for a moment that a player as an entry point isn't the end all, be all. But what about the price of an individual movie?

I remember fondly back when movies were released with a base price of $19.99. The first week of sales would often give a few dollars off, so you could usually walk off with a brand-new movie for around $15. Nowadays, I can't walk off with a brand new Blu-Ray for under $25 the week of release. Make it 4K and push that number up to $30. And happen to miss the opening week price? Well, add another $5 or $10 to the total. Then those sweet Scream Factory releases? $35 at minimum. Sure, there are some exceptions to the rule, and it is a bit more understandable that independent companies such as them would put out more expensive discs. But, on average, we're paying nearly $10 more than we were just ten years ago on discs.

Even bargain bins have gotten to be so much more niche. The Walmart bargain bin is relegated to mostly simple 480p DVDs versus the days of countless $5 Blu-rays. How else are people supposed to easily access Captain Ron and The Addams Family? As collecting physical media becomes more and more niche and geared towards collectors, companies start to get greedy all in the name of the almighty dollar. Since the general public is no longer buying, they're instead releasing for collectors. So now a small market is expected to prop up an entire industry. We're getting the same re-releases we would have gotten years ago, yet now at a premium. Just look at the recently announced Drive 4K Steelbook whose price tag is a whopping $35.

So what can be done about this? Really, we just need to be speaking with our wallets. We can't allow Physical Media collecting to become what so many others have: a collector's nightmare. Just look at the sweet Crow Steelbook that released a month ago which almost immediately went out of stock when it went up for pre-order and flooded eBay at absurd prices. They released far fewer copies than they should have and, rather than printing more, decided to increase their value through resellers. (To note, The Crow's disc is being put out by Paramount Pictures. Drive's by Sony Pictures. Neither has a ton of extras, like you'd find on a label like Arrow Video or Scream Factory. So what's going on here?) Any shoe collector will tell you how terrible this practice is and we don't need it in physical media. So make sure to identify companies that are doing it, and avoid them in the future. Teach them a lesson and vote with your wallet.

EDIT: Updated with official press release information:

This ultimate collector's set for any FRIENDS fan includes over 110 hours of content – including all 236 original broadcast episodes released for the first time in 4K Blu-ray, plus over 20 hours of extra features INCLUDING ALL-NEW BONUS CONTENT. Pre-order your copy now.

From Warner Bros. Television, FRIENDS follows the lives and loves of a close-knit group of friends living in New York City: siblings Ross (David Schwimmer) and Monica Geller (Courteney Cox), along with friends Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry), Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow), Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc) and Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston).

FRIENDS was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman and aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television. Throughout its run, the show was nominated for 62 Primetime Emmy Awards®, winning six awards including Best Comedy Series in 2002.

FRIENDS maintains its influence among viewers. Since its launch, the series has been watched over 71 billion times in the United States alone, across all linear & SVOD platforms. On an international level, viewers spent a total of more than 1.4 billion hours with FRIENDS in 2023 across linear and SVOD internationally.

As FRIENDS marks its 30th anniversary this year, the beloved TV series continues to hold an enduring place in popular culture and hearts worldwide. With its witty humor, relatable characters, and memorable catchphrases, FRIENDS transcends generations with its universal appeal, making it a classic that continues to bring joy and laughter to fans around the world.

Technical specs:

• Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HDMA, German 2.0 S DD, French 2.0 S DD, Japanese 2.0 S DD, Castilian-Spanish 2.0 S DD
• Subtitles: English SDH, German SDH, French, Japanese, Castilian Spanish, Latin Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Danish, Dutch, Complex Chinese
• Running time: 236 (30 min) episodes. Over 20 hours of special features including all-new bonus content.

Pre-order: Amazon · GRUV

From theatrical to streaming and physical media, chairman Richard  Lorber is one of the industry’s foremost champions of art-house cinema – just ask Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino.

Kino Lorber releases a lot of films on DVD. Why are you still betting on physical media?

The physical media business is still an important part of our business, even if it’s in a transitional phase right now. When we entered, it was a $7 billion to $10 billion business; now it’s struggling to be a $1 billion business, but it’s still a $1 billion business. And we see opportunity there, particularly in a world where there’s a rapid deterioration of the availability of titles online. When Netflix had a rental-by-mail business, I did some of their first deals, back in the early [2000s]. Back then, there were about 100,000 titles available from Netflix for rental by mail. As of the latest report, there are probably 3,000 titles film titles available to stream on Netflix and probably, in total, no more than 7,000 or 8,000 to stream across all of the services.

For collectors who love cinema, and I’m not just talking about the extreme cinephiles, I’m talking about film lovers who recognize the fact that physical media is a way for them to have the films that they love in the best possible versions — we release in 4K UHD — and have them forever. Those little plastic discs will probably outlive all of us. So we’ve cultivated those customers and they sustain our business, even as we recognize the deterioration of that business on a macro level. It’s a curated approach, a targeted approach, but there are many, many really good titles out there, even with the strictest curation standards. Films that really deserve to be made available again.

I’ve heard you say that DVD is the new vinyl, that physical media is set for a revival. Where do you see evidence of that?

You’re using DVD generically, of course, but what we’re really talking about is the newest standard, which is 4K UHD. You won’t see anything in as good a quality as you can see on a 4K UHD copy now. And it allows for including a range of material beyond what you could put on a DVD or even a Blu-ray. It is going to become the collectible of record. People who really care about preserving their own cultural collections are going to be embracing 4K. We heard that at the Oscars. I had a great chat with Christopher Nolan, who has been a big champion of physical media. He loves our stuff and maybe we’ll do some things with him from his library, but he’s embraced the physical media business. [Quentin] Tarantino was certainly one of them who raves about the importance of preserving cinema culture in physical media. Whether the comparison with vinyl is exactly on target or not, it’s close enough.

I first saw The Abyss on Sunday, 24th January 1993 on Channel 4 in the UK. They mistakenly broadcast the film uncut for which the governing body, OFCOM, slapped their wrists.

Not long after, the Special Edition had a UK release on VHS, which I would snap up instantly. Although, I would be amazed at the terrible editing used to hide the rat in the infamous scene where they force it to breathe oxygenated liquid.

In 2000, I would import the two disc DVD from the US which was fantastic, but the only setback was the picture was non-anamorphic. This didn't worry me too much at the time because I was watching on a 14-inch portable.

Finally, after waiting over two decades, I finally have the film in HD and 4K! It's been so long, it's skipped a generation. 😁 Plus, I had to import the film from the Netherlands as it isn't getting a release here in the UK!

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut:

DISC ONE:

• 4K Ultra High Definition
• Dolby Vision
• Widescreen
• English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD
• French 5.1 Dolby Digital
• Subtitles: English SDH, French

DISC TWO:

• Blu-ray 1080p High Definition
• Widescreen
• English 5.1 TrueHD
• Subtitles: English, English SDH
• Special Features:
• Commentary by Matt Stone and Trey Parker
• "What Would Brian Boitano Do" Music Video
• Theatrical Trailers

Pre-order: Amazon • Walmart

Team America: World Police:

• 4K Ultra High Definition (Theatrical Cut Only)
• Dolby Vision
• Widescreen
• English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
• French 5.1 Dolby Digital

Pre-order: Amazon (US) • Amazon France • Walmart

I’ve been building a collection ever since I noticed some of my favorite titles would come and go from streaming services back in 2017 and many of these titles aren’t available at all on any streaming services at the moment, or only on one of the ad-only “free” services.

Nothing is in a particular order at the moment. At one point, they were all separated by category, so you might notice some groups, but I haven’t re-sorted since moving to a new shelf.

My tastes vary wildly from art house to total trash and everything in between and building a collection of favorites has helped me visualize the kind of movies and shows I enjoy.

It’s been an interesting time in the world of 4K Blu-ray. There has been recent news that several critically acclaimed, award nominated movies will not be getting a 4K Blu-ray release, or even any type of physical release in some cases. But, there are also instances where movies being decimated by critics and audiences alike are somehow getting the 4K Blu-ray treatment.

Take, for instance, All of Us Strangers and Madame Web.

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All of Us Strangers received universal critical acclaim for its powerful story and incredible acting, particularly from Scott. It has been nominated for a slew of awards, including several BAFTAs. Madame Web, on the other hand, is being savaged by critics and audience members alike. It currently has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 15% and 59% from critics and audiences respectively, with many citing the poor writing, bad effects and overall dull feel.

Yet, only one of these movies is getting a 4K Blu-ray release: Madame Web. All of Us Strangers, on the other hand, isn’t getting a physical release at all (as reported by World of Reel). I admittedly have not seen either of these movies, but from what I’ve read and what I’ve been told by people who’ve seen it, All of Us Strangers belongs on 4K Blu-ray and it’s a crime that it’s not.

I don’t want to speak for anyone, but from what I read in several comment sections and forums such as Reddit, home theater fans and cinephiles are not okay with the fact that this is the state of 4K Blu-ray and physical media releases at the moment. So just what is going on?

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This isn’t the first time this has happened in recent memory. It was announced that Best Picture Oscar-nominated movies Poor Things, starring Emma Stone, and The Holdovers, starring Paul Giamatti, will only be getting standard Blu-ray releases, not 4K. These movies are both generating a lot of buzz in the awards scene, with both Stone and Giamatti already having won best actor Golden Globes, and yet movie fans won’t get to enjoy them at home in their best possible quality.

Barbarian, starring Bill Skarsgård, is another movie that has been seemingly denied a physical release (as a press release mentioned a streaming date only). And Barbarian is a cult horror movie – a genre that particularly suits 4K Blu-ray and physical media – that has enjoyed great success. Understandably, fans in forums far and wide have cried out for a physical copy.

These are the kind of movies the best 4K Blu-ray players were made for. Home theater fans, in general, are movie-goers, and they will be wanting to add these movies to their collections, but can’t as it stands. What connects three of these four movies? You guessed it, they’re all owned by Disney. (The Holdovers is from Focus Features).

4K Blu-rays have been a hot topic in recent memory. In 2023, Disney announced it would no longer sell 4K Blu-rays in Australia and we here called it a crime for movie fans. Next, Best Buy announced it would no longer stock DVDs or Blu-rays after the holiday season (via Forbes), and from what we can tell, that includes 4K Blu-rays.

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Does this mean that 4K Blu-ray is really dying? The answer is no. In fact, I believe there’s an exciting future on the horizon, especially for cinephiles and movie fans.

Although mainstream 4K Blu-rays may be declining in popularity, there is a growing number of smaller and specialist companies, such as Arrow Films, The Criterion Collection, Shout Factory, 101 Films and more releasing 4K Blu-rays and quite often they are 4K restorations of niche, lesser-known or older movies. This breathes new life into these oft-forgotten titles and gives movie enthusiasts a chance to experience them again at a quality level not before possible.

Even A24, a distributor and slightly more ‘mainstream’ company than the ones mentioned above, is joining the restoration efforts with a 2023 4K remaster of Stop Making Sense, the Talking Heads’ 1984 concert movie.

Recently, I had an experience with a 4K restoration myself, one that brought me a lot of joy. I am a fan of The Warriors, Walter Hill’s gritty movie about a gang that must make its way across New York back to Coney Island through a swarm of other gangs with a bounty on their backs after being framed for a murder. I owned this movie on DVD and loved it. Years later, it was released on Blu-ray and I rejoiced as it meant a better quality picture.

However, I was dismayed to find that the Blu-ray version included a new cut of the movie, which introduced strange comic book panel transitions throughout that quite frankly ruined it. But, if I wanted the better picture this would have to do.

Cut to November 2023 and I read that Arrow Films was releasing a 4K remaster of The Warriors, and it wouldn't just be the Blu-ray version, but also the original 1979 theatrical cut used for the DVD that I loved! Needless to say, I ordered it from the US as soon as I could, and I’m pleased to report it was everything I hoped for.

I know I’m not alone in experiences like this. Other movie fans the world over have been in the same situation, where the efforts of these specialist companies allow them to rediscover a loved movie that may have otherwise been lost, or enable them to see it with a quality level never before possible.

Aside from giving new life and homes to vintage masterpieces, there is another reason why 4K Blu-ray is king and that is sheer quality. Looking at the numbers, 4K Blu-ray offers a higher bit-rate than 4K streaming. A 4K disc can transfer data at 128Mbps, whereas 4K streaming on services such as Netflix and Disney Plus tends to max out at 16-25Mbps. Simply put, this means that 4K Blu-ray can present a movie in a less compressed format, resulting in not only better picture but also better audio.

Audio was the main area where I noted a difference when I tested the same movies on both Blu-ray and streaming, even with my TV hooked up to the Sonos Beam (Gen 2), a budget example of the best soundbars. During my test, the sense of audio immersion from the 4K Blu-ray was levels above streaming, and that’s because 4K Blu-ray carries soundtracks in the lossless Dolby True HD format rather than the lossy Dolby Digital Plus one used for streaming.

This is important for all 4K releases, not just classic or rarer restorations. When we see a movie in the cinema that captures our imagination, we want to take that feeling home with us, and based on what I’ve seen and experienced, streaming doesn’t hit that same feeling the way a 4K Blu-ray disc can.

Top 20 Selling Blu-ray Discs

1. Oppenheimer
2. Five Nights at Freddy's
3. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
4. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
5. The Expendables 4
6. The Equalizer 3
7. The Mandalorian: The Complete First Season
8. Avatar: The Way of Water
9. The Mandalorian: The Complete Second Season
10. John Wick: Chapter 4
11. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One
12. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
13. Barbie
14. The Exorcist: Believer
15. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
16. The Creator
17. Saw X
18. Oldboy
19. Titanic
20. The Fifth Element

Source: NPD VideoScan First Alert (based on unit sales from reporting retailers)

Top 20 Selling 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Discs

1. Oppenheimer
2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
3. The Equalizer 3
4. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
5. Oldboy
6. The Fifth Element
7. Avatar: The Way of Water
8. Bram Stoker's Dracula
9. Varsity Blues
10. The Expendables 4
11. Gran Turismo
12. Thor: Love and Thunder
13. Titanic
14. The Mandalorian: The Complete First Season
15. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One
16. Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
17. John Wick: Chapter 4
18. Blood Simple
19. The Super Mario Bros. Movie
20. Avatar

Source: NPD VideoScan First Alert (based on unit sales from reporting retailers)

https://www.mediaplaynews.com/research/top-20-selling-blu-ray-and-4k-discs-for-week-ended-1-13-24/

The digital world, I’m realising, is a bit of a racket. Recently most of my iTunes library disappeared from my iPhone, and I just don’t know if I can be bothered to go through all the different hoops, portals, queueing systems and long forgotten passwords to get them back again. I’ve also had the repeated experience of trying to view a film I’ve downloaded on Amazon, only to get that little square in the middle of the screen telling me that the player’s having issues at the moment, and would I, could I try again later? Meanwhile, the CDs and DVDs reproach me from my shelves like an abandoned spouse. ‘We were once your rock,’ they remind me, ‘And you traded us for tech-tinsel, a piece of cyber-skirt. How are you feeling now?’

I feel what I’ve always felt – that DVDs and Blu-rays were the summit of the film-lovers’ experience, and that progress should have stopped forever after that. Perhaps downloads or streamable films can have the picture quality of a Blu-ray (someone will doubtless tell me they do), but works of art should produce an artefact, something you can hold in your hand and own.

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So my Blu-ray collecting goes on, but it’s strictly finite. I don’t want any film I don’t actually love (this rules out the collected Tarkovsky or Bergman, things I’d like to think of myself as liking rather than actually wanting to watch). My ambitions in fact are modest: the middle period works of Woody Allen (they’re about £25 a piece and should be), the odd Hollywood classic (the more technicolour the better) and some of those gritty 1960s northern films (the kind Morrissey purloined for his album covers) starring Tom Courtenay and Rita Tushingham. Then, barring the odd hiccup, I’m done.

Archive link

Christopher Nolan took a playful swipe at streaming while introducing a Los Angeles screening of “Oppenheimer” that was devoted to spotlighting the film’s craft. Crew members reunited for the event Monday evening, billed as “The Story of Our Time: The Making of ‘Oppenheimer.'” The director said a lot of time and energy has gone into assembling the “Oppenheimer” Blu-ray so that it preserves the film’s soundscape, which is one reason moviegoers should buy a physical copy as opposed to waiting for the movie to stream.

“Obviously ‘Oppenheimer’ has been quite a ride for us and now it is time for me to release a home version of the film. I’ve been working very hard on it for months,” Nolan said. “I’m known for my love of theatrical and put my whole life into that, but, the truth is, the way the film goes out at home is equally important.”

“‘The Dark Knight’ was one of the first films where we formatted it specially for Blu-ray release because it was a new form at the time,” he continued. “And in the case of ‘Oppenheimer,’ we put a lot of care and attention into the Blu-ray version… and trying to translate the photography and the sound, putting that into the digital realm with a version you can buy and own at home and put on a shelf so no evil streaming service can come steal it from you.”

Release date: 22nd November 2023

Tech specs: Blu-ray.com

While the physical media business has been in freefall over the last decade, THR is reporting that DVDs and Blu-rays might be making a comeback similar to those experienced by CDs and Vinyl Records. According to the report, while Best Buy and Netflix have both exited the physical media sphere, Amazon and other online giants aren’t planning on giving up on the technology. Many see the resurgence of physical media for music as an early precursor of better times ahead for DVD/Blu-ray.

While unlikely to ever again reach its 2012 peak of $1.1 billion in revenue (in 2022, the figure was a mere $146 million), many see physical media as having a comeback as a more niche media. It helps that with constant content purges, serious fans will want backup copies of their movies because who knows what could get pulled next? There’s a slew of films made for HBO Max and Disney Plus that are essentially lost media now, as well as the mega-budget streaming series Willow. If these shows got physical releases, they would exist in some fashion, with the current unavailability driving fans to pirate sites.

One thing that the music business has done to promote Vinyl and CDs is releasing exclusive tracks that aren’t available to stream, making them collector’s items. We got terrific extras like exclusive commentary tracks in the old days of DVDs and Blu-rays. While fans have cooled on those a bit (and you can also get them digitally), one surefire way to get people to buy Blu-rays is to release alternate cuts of the movie that are ONLY available on disc. In the 2000s, unrated versions of raunchy comedies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Wedding Crashers sold like hotcakes. With so many watered-down movies coming out, why not shoot some spicy footage and ONLY bundle them with the physical copies rather than making them available on sites like iTunes? One thing to note is that when you buy a digital movie copy, you never really own it. I’ve had a few films vanish from my digital library over the years, which never happens with my DVDs or Blu-rays (unless I lend them to the wrong person). Perhaps it’s time we all start buying Blu-rays again, with smaller labels like The Criterion Collection, Arrow, and Shout Factory deserving our support more than ever.

Now the home delivery expert ParcelHero says what’s going on Down Under may be just the start. Is physical media in the UK on the verge of being phased out?

ParcelHero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks M.I.L.T., says: ‘Digital media such as streaming services look set to make DVDs and Blu-rays defunct. It’s easy to see why. In a bid to free up space, many of us have already got rid of our collections in favour of watching favourite films and shows on streaming services such as Netflix, Prime, Apple TV and Disney Plus.

‘It’s also preferable for many media companies, who will no longer need to pay the middleman for retail sales of Blu-rays and DVDs. Companies are desperate to drive up subscriptions to their streaming channels. Disney is even about to launch a budget channel with adverts here in the UK.

‘Of course, just because Disney has stopped physical media sales in Australia (which has displeased Aussies in rural areas where internet speeds are too slow for streaming), that doesn’t mean it will axe their sales in the UK or US. The supply chain costs involved in distributing physical media to Australia are notably higher.

‘However, we believe it is the start of the slippery slope. How long before other media companies tied-in with streaming channels decide to follow suit in Australia? That could start the ball rolling across the world. For media companies, streaming sales are so much cheaper to fulfil than physical media sales.