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Pop culture obsessives writing for the pop culture obsessed.
[25] [26]Latest [27]News [28]TV [29]Film [30]Music [31]Games [32]AV Undercover
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DVD is dead. Long live DVD.
Tech’s takeover of show business has turned everything into streaming. The only
recourse is to focus on the physical.
By [39]Matt Schimkowitz | December 26, 2024 | 10:00am
Photo: Apple
[40]Film [41]Features [42]Blu-ray
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[49]
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DVD is dead. Long live DVD.
“This is a business where the buyer gets nothing for his money but a memory,”
MGM founder Louis B. Mayer (Arliss Howard) says in [50]Mank. “What he bought
still belongs to the man who sold it. That’s the real magic of the movies, and
don’t let anybody tell you different.”
Appropriately, Mank exists as a memory on Netflix. So too does David Fincher’s
follow-up, [51]The Killer, and thousands of other movies and TV shows exclusive
to the world’s largest streamer. Only a handful of Netflix originals find
domestic releases on home video, and Fincher’s work is not among them. It
belongs to the men who sold it to you, Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters. 
[52] Most Popular
• [53] Paramount reportedly doesn't see MTV or Comedy Central as priorities
going forward
• [54] Martin Short spends his Five-Timers Club celebration rehearsing for
Saturday Night Live's 50th
• [55] The best TV performances of 2024
This is the landscape in which the sad state of home video continued
deteriorating in 2024. Best Buy [56]ceased carrying DVDs this year. Target [57]
followed suit. Redbox rented its final Liam Neeson movie [58]and shuttered its
kiosks in July. Finally, LG[59] announced just last week that it would
discontinue all its UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray players, joining Samsung and Sony
in ditching the optical drive.
Over a decade into the streaming revolution, tech companies have retrained
viewers on where to find and expect entertainment. They also taught them not to
expect permanence. Everything is streaming now, and we don’t mean “everything
is on streaming.” If that were the case, people [60]could have watched the 2002
movie 28 Days Later digitally before…[61]last week. Instead, everything acts
like streaming: fleeting and unpredictable. Thanks to [62]last year’s shutdowns
, [63]fewer movies were released in 2024 than in 2023. Still, despite theaters
so desperate for movies that they’ll offer an auditorium to an animated Lord Of
The Rings prequel, [64]theatrical windows kept shrinking, too. That’s if the
film sees release at all. Following outcries over Warner Bros. Discovery’s
decision to trade [65]Batgirl and [66]Scoob! Holiday Haunt for a tax write-off,
some hoped Coyote Vs. Acme [67]might find a home at a different studio.
Sacrilegious as it might be for a Looney Tune to appear under a different
shield, that hope was about as effective as an umbrella against an anvil.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav [68]scrapped the finished movie without
even watching it. 
[69]Related Content
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Peaks, I Love Lucy, and more
It wasn’t just Warner Bros. In 2023, Disney began cutting back on its library
offerings, locking dozens of titles, including brand-new ones from legacy
properties, in the vault. Show creator Jon Kasdan might be “[72]kinda into”
Disney scrubbing his Willow series from Disney+, but star Warwick Davis
continues to be [73]less enthused. “It’s a travesty that ⁦⁦@DisneyPlus value
shareholders over subscribers in their creative decision-making,” Davis [74]
posted on December 11. “I only ever saw each episode once!”
Streaming shows aren’t the only thing disappearing. Theatrical windows have
finally adopted the Steven Soderbergh dream model. Speaking to [75]The Atlantic
in 2018 to support his Netflix movie [76]High Flying Bird, Soderbergh laid out
a distribution model that resembles our current one, arguing that “the minute”
he knew Logan Lucky or Unsane were flopping, “the studio should let me drop the
movie on a platform the next week. There should be a mechanism for when
something dies at the box office like that.” Five years later, Soderbergh’s
wish was Zaslav’s command. Two of the year’s most expensive underperformers,
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and Joker: Folie À Deux, found their theatrical windows
slammed shut. Less than two weeks after the films failed to meet opening
weekend expectations, both were in half as many theaters and all but gone by
the end of the month. Forget about allowing movies to find their audiences
(which both Furiosa and Joker have now begun to do); even sleepers-by-design
can’t catch a break. Juror #2, the latest (and perhaps last) from Clint
Eastwood, a director who has made over a billion dollars for WB, got a [77]
shrugged-off release for awards contention and an unceremonious dumping on
Max. 
Again, it’s not just Warner Bros. Discovery. Several filmmakers spoke out
against tech-run studios reversing course on theatrical releases this year. In
January, amid his spat with Amazon over Road House, Doug Liman [78]published an
op-ed accusing Amazon-owned MGM of having “no interest in supporting cinemas”
and using his movie “to sell plumbing fixtures.” He continued: 
Amazon will sell more toasters if it has more subscribers; it will have
more subscribers if it doesn’t have to compete with movie theaters […] But
a computer doesn’t know what it is like to share the experience of laughing
and cheering and crying with a packed audience in a dark theater – and if
Amazon has its way, future audiences won’t know either.
By the end of the year, Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts was in a
[79]similar situation. Watts made the George Clooney/Brad Pitt two-hander
Wolfs, assuming it would receive a theatrical release. Ironically, its
distributor Apple was a wolf in a fleece vest. “[Apple’s] last-minute shift
from a promised wide theatrical release to a streaming release was a total
surprise and made without any explanation or discussion,” Watts told [80]
Collider. “I wasn’t even told about it until less than a week before they
announced it to the world.” Watts later confirmed to [81]Deadline, “Apple
didn’t cancel the Wolfs sequel. I did, because I no longer trusted them as a
creative partner.” No wonder Apple’s big awards contender, Blitz, was mainly
left online.
The impermanence, both on streaming and in theaters, shows how much power
consumers have ceded to corporations and their shareholders. Just as people no
longer own music collections, opting to rent monthly from Spotify, they’ve done
the same with movies in a grander fashion. Recent studies [82]have shown that
Americans, on average, pay for 2.9 streaming services a month, costing them
about $46. Other studies show that 62% of Americans think there are too many
streaming options, each with its own unpredictable rotating library. 
The promise of streaming was always impossible. How long could these
once-maverick start-ups, which vacuumed streaming rights up before the industry
knew how valuable they were, continue to offer the world’s history of recorded
art for a simple fee? However long we expected our liberation from cords and
ads, we’re at the end of it. Two years after Netflix cracked down on passwords
and launched its ad tier, Prime and Apple TV+ have followed suit. One doesn’t
become a $3 trillion company by giving The Instigators away for free, and
Apple’s theatrical missteps Argyle and Fly Me To The Moon didn’t help. Now, the
world’s largest TV manufacturer, TCL, which revolutionized [83]serving ads sans
content, is looking to [84]replace entertainment with AI slop. It also doesn’t
help that, 15 years into the streaming revolution, most subscribers still opt
to watch licensed material produced by traditional networks and studios. “The
new shows can come and go,” [85]said former NBC Studios president Tom Nunan.
But it’s Suits and The Office that keep people subscribing.
Outside of piracy, the only thing consumers can do is invest in permanence. To
wit, the right time to start collecting physical media is immediately. While
optical drives became an even more endangered species, there were some moments
of hope. Retailers that announced the end of DVDs struggled to keep Oppenheimer
4Ks on the shelf. People love to meme Christopher Nolan’s analog advocacy, but
he’s right. There is a risk that an “[86]evil streaming service can come to
steal” movies from personal devices. Just ask Indiana Jones. Recently, [87]
Disney lost the rights to stream the first four Indiana Jones movies. However,
fans can always watch The Dial Of Destiny, the only Jones film on Disney+.
Nolan [88]explained how a company like Disney losing a jewel of the $4 billion
Lucasfilm empire they bought more than a decade ago is business as usual:
The danger I’m talking about with a filmmaker’s film just sort of
disappearing from streaming one day and then maybe not coming back or not
coming back for a long period of time, that’s not an intentional
conspiracy. That’s just a way that with the particular licensing
agreements, the way things are evolving.
But while the doom and gloom of the industry could weigh heavy, physical media
has rarely felt more joyous. Fourteen years after Guillermo del Toro made his
first Closet picks for an impromptu Facebook video, Criterion made its storage
room between two bathrooms the company mascot. GQ [89]noted that the Criterion
Closet videos had a similar effect as Hot Ones, the rare opportunity to see
“actors and other film professionals outside the usual promotional context,”
becoming the “least cynical part on the press tour.” The joy of the videos is
seeing Willem Dafoe talk about Onibaba or Maya Hawke recommending 3 Women,
leading with a reverence for art rather than content. In a world where studios
seemingly resent having to make, let alone release, motion pictures, producers
of physical media have made their brands on love and curiosity for the medium.
It’s a stark contrast from how artists like Dafoe see streaming consumption.
“People go home, and they shop around on these streaming platforms,” the actor
[90]told Vulture. “There’s some good things about the platforms. They create a
lot of movies. They create a lot of jobs. But there’s so many distractions that
you can’t enter the stuff. People watch five minutes of something and they say,
‘I’m not really into it’ and they go to another thing. ‘I’m not really into
it.’ Then another thing. ‘I’m not really into it.’ Then they go to bed. If you
don’t put in the effort, you’re not going to receive much. And the discourse
gets lowered, and everything gets a little more dumbed down and then that’s
when the ruffians come in, and they’re the ones with energy and stupidity and
then they can crush all the thoughtful people. That’s not good for culture, and
that’s not good for humanity. We see the results of that all the time.”
But those are the big guys. Independent DVD rental houses and repertory
theaters are also having a rebirth. And we’re not just talking about the [91]
successful re-releases of Interstellar and Coraline. As some theater chains in
North America [92]contemplated evolving into Dave & Busters, rep theaters [93]
saw a surge in popularity. Meanwhile, as everyone waxes nostalgic about going
to Blockbuster, indie video stores are giving cinephiles the real deal. Stores
like [94]Scarecrow Video in Seattle and [95]Vidiots in Los Angeles build
communities that unite film fans who want to see and appreciate movies. People
don’t travel from across the globe to stream Damsel, but they will [96]drive
350 miles to see Interstellar in IMAX. 
In 2024, the future of streaming has never looked shakier. The products,
practically and creatively, are getting worse, and the waning enthusiasm from
companies like Apple represents a chance to break this cycle. Investing in
physical media at least partially separates oneself from a system failing its
consumers and ensures that the thing you want to watch is always available. A
Blu-ray won’t suddenly sprout advertisements or disappear from your collection.
It’s one of the reasons that buying DVDs has felt so empowering this year.
Physical discs continue spinning as the mainstream model cuts its nose to spite
its face. In a media landscape where the only sure thing is that there are no
sure things, our best bet is still to put a disc in a drive.
[97]More from A.V. Club
• [98]DVD is dead. Long live DVD.
• [99]Shrinking ends season two with an earned sweetness
• [100]Justin Baldoni is being sued by his own former PR now
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References:
[1] https://www.avclub.com/death-of-dvd-death-of-streaming-physical-media#content
[2] https://www.pastemagazine.com/
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[53] https://www.avclub.com/paramount-reportedly-not-prioritizing-comedy-central-mtv
[54] https://www.avclub.com/saturday-night-live-recap-season-50-episode-10
[55] https://www.avclub.com/best-tv-performances-2024-ripley-baby-reindeer
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[58] https://www.avclub.com/chicken-soup-is-going-in-the-toilet-and-taking-redbox-1851586282
[59] https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1733902062
[60] https://thedirect.com/article/28-days-later-streaming
[61] https://www.fangoria.com/28-days-later-watch-at-home/
[62] https://www.avclub.com/strike-victories-one-year-later
[63] https://www.themarysue.com/a-lack-of-movies-in-2024-has-the-box-office-poised-to-lose-billions/
[64] https://www.indiewire.com/news/box-office/theatrical-windows-summer-2024-films-week-shorter-previous-year-1235056046/
[65] https://www.avclub.com/warner-bros-cancels-batgirl-movie-1849362179
[66] https://www.avclub.com/warner-bros-canceled-the-scoob-sequel-then-made-its-c-1849776696
[67] https://www.avclub.com/coyote-vs-acme-warner-bros-cancellation-team-response-1851012822
[68] https://www.avclub.com/coyote-vs-acme-probably-getting-scrapped-wbd-zaslav-1851243078
[69] https://www.avclub.com/search?t=Blu-ray
[70] https://www.avclub.com/amazon-prime-early-access-sale-blu-ray-deals-1849639582
[71] https://www.avclub.com/best-prime-day-deals-blu-ray-dvd-1849166802
[72] https://www.thewrap.com/willow-creator-jon-kasdan-disney-plus/
[73] https://www.avclub.com/warwick-davis-didn-t-take-too-kindly-to-disney-removin-1850932205
[74] https://x.com/WarwickADavis/status/1866839018224107540
[75] https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/02/steven-soderbergh-high-flying-bird-oscars-netflix-interview/582547/
[76] https://www.avclub.com/we-ll-never-see-steven-soderbergh-s-moneyball-but-his-1832442409
[77] https://www.avclub.com/clint-eastwood-juror-2-streaming
[78] https://www.avclub.com/doug-liman-is-boycotting-road-house-premiere-over-strea-1851194686
[79] https://www.avclub.com/wolfs-director-canceled-sequel-apple-betrayal
[80] https://collider.com/wolfs-2-sequel-cancelled-george-clooney-brad-pitt/
[81] https://deadline.com/2024/11/wolfs-sequel-demise-jon-watts-george-clooney-brad-pitt-no-longer-trusted-apple-1236186227/
[82] https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/internet/streaming-stats/
[83] https://housetoolkit.com/how-do-i-get-rid-of-the-banner-on-my-tcl-tv/
[84] https://www.404media.co/i-went-to-the-premiere-of-tcls-first-commercially-streaming-ai-movies/
[85] https://www.avclub.com/streaming-back-catalog-new-show-cancellations
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[90] https://www.vulture.com/article/willem-dafoe-in-conversation.html
[91] https://variety.com/2024/film/news/interstellar-rerelease-box-office-success-old-movies-in-theaters-1236245101/
[92] https://www.avclub.com/movie-theater-upgrades-pickleball-zipline-national-association-theater-owners
[93] https://www.theringer.com/2024/10/23/movies/repertory-revival-cinema-old-movie-screenings-vidiots-film-at-lincoln
[94] https://www.avclub.com/seattle-s-scarecrow-video-the-worlds-largest-publicly-1851552283
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[96] https://www.nbclosangeles.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/interstellar-imax-70mm-rerelease-popular-box-office/3582976/
[97] https://www.avclub.com/articles/article-type/features
[98] https://www.avclub.com/death-of-dvd-death-of-streaming-physical-media
[99] https://www.avclub.com/shrinking-season-2-finale-recap-the-last-thanksgiving
[100] https://www.avclub.com/justin-baldoni-sued-former-publicist-it-ends-with-us-blake-lively
[107] https://www.avclub.com/death-of-dvd-death-of-streaming-physical-media#
[108] https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/netflix/squid-game-season-2-review
[109] https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/netflix/squid-game-season-2-review
[110] https://www.jezebel.com/we-suspended-our-disbelief-to-watch-babygirl-then-spent-45-minutes-talking-about-it
[111] https://www.jezebel.com/we-suspended-our-disbelief-to-watch-babygirl-then-spent-45-minutes-talking-about-it
[112] https://www.splinter.com/syrias-displaced
[113] https://www.splinter.com/syrias-displaced
[114] https://www.avclub.com/articles/article-type/news
[115] https://www.avclub.com/justin-baldoni-sued-former-publicist-it-ends-with-us-blake-lively
[116] https://www.avclub.com/justin-baldoni-sued-former-publicist-it-ends-with-us-blake-lively
[117] https://www.avclub.com/rip-hudson-meek-baby-driver
[118] https://www.avclub.com/rip-hudson-meek-baby-driver
[119] https://www.avclub.com/doctor-who-season-2-teaser-disney-plus-ncuti-gatwa
[120] https://www.avclub.com/doctor-who-season-2-teaser-disney-plus-ncuti-gatwa
[121] https://www.avclub.com/articles/article-type/news
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