The 4K library is on the rise and a whole bunch of ”vanilla” blurays has been moved to less prominent shelving - that other shelf is getting really full too. Not sure my wife would be thrilled with more shelves. 🤷🏼‍♂️😔

Blind buys, except Schlock.

EXCLUSIVE: Disney & Sony Ink Deal for Sony to Take Over Disney's Physical Media Production, Disney Movie Club to Shut Down as a Result

by Bill Hunt

There are some significant developments happening within the home video industry of late, developments that I've been spending a lot of time investigating and really digging into these past few weeks here at The Digital Bits.

And I can now confidently report that one of them is this:

Disney and Sony have just inked a major deal for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to take over all of Disney's physical media production going forward.

This means that Sony will handle and oversee the actual authoring and compression of discs, that they'll work with the replicators and packaging vendors, and that they'll oversee the titles as they go out to the distributors and on to retailers.

I first received word of this deal about two weeks ago, apparently within twenty-four hours of the ink drying, and I've now confirmed it with multiple independent sources within the industry---people that I trust and have known and worked with for many years.

This deal makes sense for Disney for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that Sony is far more efficient and cost effective at producing their discs, whereas Disney's physical media operation has been subject to no small amount of internal/organizational turmoil recently.

First, they were trimmed down in late 2019 and early 2020, after Disney's infamous and year-long 4K Ultra HD catalog title blow-out, then they were subject to many of the cost-cutting pressures and personnel losses that all the majors suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It hasn't helped that the studio's physical media operation---which is now almost an afterthought in the shadow of its Disney+ business and activities---has been organizationally tied to Disney's digital and streaming operation ever since.

Based on reporting from multiple sources, what this has meant in recent months is that virtually every decision about which catalog titles to release on disc, and which features to include on them, not to mention every technical decision that naturally arises during the course of the production of those titles, requires scores of people to be involved at Disney. And the people who are actually working on the discs don't have decision-making power about anything---they have to kick decisions upstairs to their bosses, who have to kick it upstairs to their bosses, and so on. Multiple levels of management are involved, which means that decisions that should take two people five minutes instead take thirty people a week or more.

It would be pretty tough for anyone to make money on physical media doing it like that.

What's more, with Disney's constant cost-cutting measures, and the fact that the studio has wildly overspent on its streaming operation, everyone involved is naturally afraid for their jobs. So few people at Disney are willing to stick their necks out to make a decision, for fear of getting fired. Unfortunately, that includes the very people who know how to do physical media best.

Ironically, Disney turning over their physical media operation to Sony means that a lot of these people now probably are likely to lose their jobs, which is regrettable. (We hope at least that the studio is wise enough to keep the people who actually know what they're doing, as opposed to the middle-managers who aren't adding value to the process.)

But the hope for physical media consumers going forward is that---if Disney does get more efficient and profitable at releasing discs via this arrangement---they might actually start releasing more of them.

As cinephiles are well aware, Disney is currently sitting on a vault that's chock full of great live action film titles from the classic Disney, 20th Century (Fox), Hollywood Pictures, and Touchstone libraries. In fact, there are at least twenty classic Fox catalog titles that we've confirmed have recent 4K remasters, that Disney is doing absolutely nothing with---they aren't going to streaming or digital, they aren't appearing on Disney+, and they certainly aren't being released on Blu-ray or physical 4K Ultra HD.

This at a time when many other major studios are not only digging deep into their film libraries for Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD releases, they're also licensing many very deep catalog titles to boutique labels like Shout! Factory, Arrow, Kino Lorber Studio Classics, Indicator, Powerhouse, and more---an arrangement that is generating good profits for those other studios, even as production costs increase and vendor and retailer options shrink.

One way that indie studios in particular are working to adjust to this new climate is by creating their own online stores and thereby selling discs to their fans and consumers directly.

Unfortunately, as part of the Disney and Sony arrangement, we've learned that Disney plans to shutter their Disney Movie Club, which for several years now has been doing exactly that.

This is sadly also confirmed: We've now learned from Bits readers that DMC is beginning to inform their customers of this fact. Here's an example of the message DMC is currently sending out via email:

We think this is actually a terrible idea. It would be much better for Disney to let Sony take over DMC, and to ramp it up in order to more effectively communicate with the diehard cinephiles who are now the core of the physical media business.

Speaking directly to your best consumers, making them feel heard, and giving them what they want in terms of titles, A/V quality, and features is exactly how you build a thriving physical media business in 2024.

In any case, we've contacted Disney and asked for an official comment and clarification about this new physical media production deal, in particular what it means for Disney catalog physical releases going forward, and we'll share that with all of you here if and when the studio responds.

Rest assured, we'll continue investigating and reporting on this news in the days and weeks ahead.

Stay tuned...

I think they're just trying to get more people to subscribe to Disney Plus. Physical media just can't win lately, can it?

UPDATE: The reason Disney Movie Club is shutting down is because Disney struck a deal with Sony for them to take over their physical media production.

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.

...

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?

...

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).

Excited about this one, but there's currently no news on any extras yet.

Coming this May: Three Revolutionary Films by Ousmane Sembène, three powerful 1970s works by the trailblazing Senegalese auteur; Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet’s masterful examination of the line between truth and fiction; and Girlfight, Karyn Kusama’s singular tale of a young woman’s path to self-realization. Plus: a Blu-ray upgrade of A Story of Floating Weeds / Floating Weeds: Two Films by Yasujiro Ozu, a silent classic from one of cinema’s greatest directors alongside his color remake, and Peeping Tom, Michael Powell’s still-shocking masterpiece of British cinema, now on 4K UHD.

Today we have made public the difficult decision to cancel the 4KUHD for Meet John Doe (1941). While this isn't something we even remotely anticipated, the extremely poor pre-sales for the release leaves us no alternative.

The Blu-ray and DVD releases of Doe are still on, but with a revised street date of April 30th. These releases will still be derived from our 4K restoration of the beloved Capra film, but 4KUHD produced discs are upwards of 3 to 4 times as expensive to produce as standard Blu-ray making our chances of recouping that extra cost from sales very slim.

All orders placed at ClassicFlix.com for the 4KUHD of Doe have been canceled. All those awaiting shipment of the Doe 4KUHD on an order with other titles purchased have had the Doe 4KUHD removed from the order and the remainder of the order shipped.

If you'd still like to pre-order the Blu-ray of Doe you may do so by clicking any link on this page or by clicking the image below.

Thank you for your understanding.

I’ve been to the second hand store again!

Back in the day, I probably would've loved this, but it's all tat isn't it? 😁

This is very sad news.

More proof why physical is better. 😁

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.

...

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. Trolls Band Together
2. Oppenheimer
3. Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part One
4. Five Nights at Freddy's
5. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
6. The Expendables 4
7. Barbie
8. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One
9. Titanic
10. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
11. Avatar: The Way of Water
12. John Wick: Chapter 4
13. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
14. Thor: Love and Thunder
15. The Equalizer 3
16. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
17. The Exorcist: Beleiver
18. The Holdovers
19. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
20. Saw X

Top 20 Selling 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Discs

1. Oppenheimer
2. Titanic
3. Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part One
4. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
5. Thor: Love and Thunder
6. The Expendables 4
7. Trolls Band Together
8. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One
9. Barbie
10. Avatar: The Way of Water
11. Dune: Part One
12. John Wick: Chapter 4
13. Face/Off
14. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
15. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
16. Avatar
17. Reservoir Dogs
18. Schindler's List
19. The Thing
20. The Equalizer 3

Source: MediaPlayNews.com

Cutthroat Island 4K Blu-ray

Lionsgate Home Entertainment will release on 4K Blu-ray Renny Harlin's Cutthroat Island (1995), starring Geena Davis, Matthew Modine, Frank Langella, Maury Chaykin, and Patrick Malahide. The release will be available for purchase exclusively at Walmart on April 2.

Description: Geena Davis and Matthew Modine deliver a tidal wave of nonstop action and adventure in this swashbuckling saga of ruthless pirates, buried treasure, and bloodthirsty betrayal.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• The Adventure of a Lifetime: Making Cutthroat Island
• Charting the Course: Creating Cutthroat Island
• Across the Bow: Editing Cutthroat Island
• Summon Your Courage: Scoring Cutthroat Island
• Ecce Pirate: A Short Film by Matthew Modine
• Audio Commentary from Director Renny Harlin
• Making of
• Behind the Scenes
• Storyboards
• Interviews
• Original Trailer
• Optional English SDH, French, and German subtitles

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Some new stuff, some old today. Doomed to die is Lenzi cannibal caper better known as Eaten Alive!

while DVDs are no longer the massive revenue generator for studios that they were throughout the first decade of the 2000s, it has never been a better time to be a physical media enthusiast. Thanks to independent labels like Criterion, Kino Lorber, Shout! Factory, Arrow, Imprint, Indicator, and many others, every month sees the release of well over a dozen exceptional titles, often lovingly restored and with indispensable scholarly extras.

That we’re living in such a flourishing golden age in terms of quality, even as the economics seem increasingly discouraging, is thanks to an intrepid community of cinephiles. Their passion has led to boutique DVD and Blu-ray labels that release titles — both well-known and obscure — that might fall through the cracks if left to the vagaries of corporate overlords. The excellent coming-of-age film “Little Darlings,” for example, was released by Paramount in 1980 but never given a proper home video presentation until independent label Vinegar Syndrome’s new sub-label Cinématographe put out an exquisite 4K Blu-ray. While Paramount never saw the value in releasing the film in its correct aspect ratio or fidelity to its intended color and sound mix, Cinématographe producer Justin LaLiberty felt that licensing the title and creating a new transfer from the original negative was in keeping with Vinegar Syndrome’s mission to fill in the gaps of film history.

...

Hertzberg also notes that while the customer base for boutique Blu-ray labels is dedicated and passionate, it is also finite — a major challenge given the high costs involved with keeping a label running.

Those costs are largely front-loaded, as studios require minimum guarantees in the form of initial fees, as well as a percentage of royalties once the discs are released. One of the added difficulties is that no two studios are alike, and even for the same studio different titles dictate different terms. “Each studio has its own way of doing things,” Vinegar Syndrome‘s Joe Rubin told IndieWire.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/7510172

If you jump to about 29:30 in this video, they briefly talk about Tron: Legacy and what Kosinski can reveal of the new sequel.

What's more exciting is that he mentions they just finished a 4K remaster of Tron: Legacy. Unfortunately, this is believed to be for Disney+ only, with no news of a physical release. Some rumours say it has been done for the new Apple VR headset. As you may recall, the film was also released in 3D.

Maybe this will change when the third film hits cinemas / home media.

THE late 1960s threw up some beautiful examples of the so-called wuxia school of Asian action movies, where everything is based in an age old literary tradition for swords, sorcery and chivalry - and The Swordsman Of All Swordsmen is one of the very finest.

Freshly released on Blu-ray in a brand new limited edition 2K restoration as part of the Eureka Classics range, director Joseph Kuo’s 1968 masterpiece is an elegantly appointed tale of old school honour and cold blooded revenge.

...

While The Swordsman Of All Swordsmen sometimes feels like a standard late-60s martial arts epic - and not an overly original one either, given the obvious debts on show to the work of the great King Hu in the genre - it’s still a beautiful slice of stately martial arts movie-making that deserves its considerable cult status.

As the first offering in Joseph Kuo’s Tsai Ying-jie trilogy and a fine, dignified example of the age-old wuxia tradition explored on the silver screen, this is a valuable piece of work. The fight scenes, all of which are well choreographed and stylishly shot, deliver the goods, and the blending of action and old-fashioned very moralistic drama - something absolutely central to wuxia - is done beautifully throughout.

...

As ever, Eureka have gone the extra mile for this Blu-ray release, offering up that impressive 2K restoration that ensures the film looks as good today as the day it was first printed and tagging on a wealth of extras including a fresh audio commentary track from Frank Djeng and John Charles and a vintage interview with Kuo himself.

There’s even a bonus disc featuring the only known print of The Mystery Of Chess Boxing to make this a truly essential purchase on every front.

Out 18th March.

Hi all,

Back in my DVD days, I always noticed that the original cardboard snapper cases from Warner Bros always contained these proof of purchase tabs on the inside spine.

To my eyes, it looks like something you would take out and keep. Then maybe at some point Warner Bros offered some items for sale and the price would obviously be a set amount of these tabs.

I only ask because I never heard of them being used for anything, including some kind of mail in purchase. That may be because I live in the UK and was importing US DVDs.

Did any of you guys know anything about these, or maybe even used them yourself?

Top 20 Selling Blu-ray Discs

1. Trolls Band Together
2. Oppenheimer
3. Five Nights at Freddy's
4. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
5. The Expendables 4
6. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
7. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
8. Journey to Bethlehem
9. Avatar: The Way of Water
10. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One
11. The Raid: Redemption
12. The Equalizer 3
13. Barbie
14. John Wick: Chapter 4
15. The Super Mario Bros. Movie
16. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
17. The Mandalorian: The Complete First Season
18. Saw X
19. The Mandalorian: The Complete Second Season
20. Thor: Love and Thunder

Top 20 Selling 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Discs

1. Oppenheimer
2. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
3. Trolls Band Together
4. The Raid: Redemption
5. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
6. Thor: Love and Thunder
7. The Fifth Element
8. The Expendables 4
9. Avatar: The Way of Water
10. Titanic
11. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One
12. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
13. The Equalizer 3
14. The Super Mario Bros. Movie
15. Army of Darkness
16. Lone Star
17. Blade Runner 2049
18. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
19. Lightyear
20. John Wick: Chapter 4

Source: MediaPlayNews.com

Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary

ETR Media will issue a standard Blu-ray edition of Jack Bennett's Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary (2019). The release is scheduled to arrive on the market on February 27.

Description: With beloved cult classic Galaxy Quest reaching its 20th Anniversary, this star-studded documentary unveils how the film turned fans into true heroes and predicted a future where geeks would rule the world! The cast and crew recall how a fire on set, the loss of a powerful director, and an unconvinced studio couldn't stop the film that would never give up and never surrender!

Special Features:

• Bonus interviews with:
• Robert Gordon
• Dean Parisot
• Tim Allen
• Sigourney Weaver
• Damon Lindelof
• Greg Berlanti
• B-roll bonus clips
• Original trailer

NOTE: This has obviously been on streaming sites for years now, but if you have any love for Galaxy Quest, this documentary is well worth your time. Highly recommended.

Trailer

Theres some QA problem with the original release so theres a disc exchange program ongoing, just like with Hell of the living dead from them. Got mine today!

Talk to me arrived today. A great little horror movie. The rest are from my favorite thrift store.

From American high school comedies to Oscar winners, plenty of 2023’s biggest and brightest films have skipped the DVD market in the UK.