International Disney Exiting Physical Media in Australia (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

Tell it to Disney

Thank you for your positive contribution to this thread.

 

[Bryan^H]

The Ubisoft account debacle shows what the real future of 'owning" digital" copies means, no matter how high the quality becomes.

The video game market is pretty grim for physical collectors with 94% of games purchased digitally (2022).
Considering the video game industry is more profitable than movies, and music combined, it is no wonder big movie studios are taking note.

People will vote with their wallets.

 

[willyTass]

No bid deal . Technicolor Sydney no longer presses discs and for over a year , all domestic blu ray releases and 4K releases in Australia were being pressed in Mexico. I got my Cinderella 4K from Amazon Japan which smokes the garbage quality of Mexican replicators any day

 

[JoshZ]

The video game market is pretty grim for physical collectors with 94% of games purchased digitally (2022).
Considering the video game industry is more profitable than movies, and music combined, it is no wonder big movie studios are taking note.

I think the markets are different. Most gamers consider video games disposable things in a constant cycle of being upgraded or replaced. For one thing, online play is a critical component of most games today, and that requires regular updates that can only be delivered digitally. A physical disc copy is just a hindrance to that.

When a new update or sequel comes out, the old version gets left behind. "Retro" gamers who continue to go back and play the old games are a very small niche in the market.

 

[AlexNH]

Yay Streaming... ​

Peacock Lost $651 Million from April to June​

Peacock Lost $651 Million from April to June

The streaming service finished the quarter with 24 million subscribers.

www.indiewire.com

 

[BobNewport]

24 million sets of eyes watching their movie, sports, and tv shows still isn't anything to sneeze at.

 

[Bryan^H]

Disney doing things like this is just strange to me. I'm not sure who this is being marketed to?
Physical, but not phyiscal. Like a magic trick.

WandaVision To Get Sleek Steelbook Release, But With One Strange Caveat

WandaVision fans looking forward to a physical release for the hit Disney Plus MCU series may want to pump the brakes on this one.

gamerant.com

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Disney doing things like this is just strange to me. I'm not sure who this is being marketed to?
Physical, but not phyiscal. Like a magic trick.

WandaVision To Get Sleek Steelbook Release, But With One Strange Caveat

WandaVision fans looking forward to a physical release for the hit Disney Plus MCU series may want to pump the brakes on this one.

gamerant.com

If Bill Hunt’s report at Digital Bits is accurate, a company in on small international territory that has rights to make steelbook cases for titles in their region did this on their own, and Disney apparently wasn’t even aware it existed until it was done.

 

[AlexNH]

24 million sets of eyes watching their movie, sports, and tv shows still isn't anything to sneeze at.

True, but loosing $651 million in two months is nothing to sneeze at either.

 

[Nathan_H]

The only reasonable path forward is to push for higher quality AV encodes available as digital, ala Uncompressed Atmos Music. The end of shiny plastic disks is happening faster than folks would like, but that doesn't mean it's slower than predicted.

I think this is our only hope. We know it can be done (kaleidescape, and that lossless video streaming thing Sony was pushing for a while) but until a company like Apple decides it is worth it as a differentiator, the pricing/access are going to be a problem. It's not a perfect solution because of the way rights change over time, but then disks aren't perfect either, with more and more failing (so called disk rot) each year.

 

[Nathan_H]

2000 print run preorder for an upcoming fancy Collector's Edition of The Exorcist exclusive to the UK that sold out in just a matter of hours

Add a couple zeros to that figure and it might be of interest to these mega corps?

 

[Bryan^H]

Add a couple zeros to that figure and it might be of interest to these mega corps?

Exactly. Three to twelve thousand units sold for a boutique label is a (big) win. To Disney, a disappointment.

 

[Bryan^H]

I think the markets are different. Most gamers consider video games disposable things in a constant cycle of being upgraded or replaced. For one thing, online play is a critical component of most games today, and that requires regular updates that can only be delivered digitally. A physical disc copy is just a hindrance to that.

When a new update or sequel comes out, the old version gets left behind. "Retro" gamers who continue to go back and play the old games are a very small niche in the market.

Absolutely different markets, but I think it all boils down to the biggest common factor: convenience. That is streaming/digital.
When the casual consumer (not us) watches a film, or series at home they aren't thinking about the ability to view it 20 years down the line. Ease of use, convenience.
Digital is the future, no matter how hard some fight it.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Absolutely different markets, but I think it all boils down to the biggest common factor: convenience. That is streaming/digital.
When the casual consumer (not us) watches a film, or series at home they aren't thinking about the ability to view it 20 years down the line. Ease of use, convenience.
Digital is the future, no matter how hard some fight it.

I think we also basically had a widespread experiment with average, everyday non-enthusiast consumers purchasing movies on disc back when buying on DVD was new and more convenient than renting for a lot of people, and I think the result that experiment yielded is that most people didn’t really rewatch their discs or want a collection of them. For most a people, a disc collection didn’t become a new hobby or new way of life - it was another fad like tomagatchis or Funko Pops or Beanie Babies that seemed really fun for a hot second and then faded away. Once most people were able to get a movie by simply pressing a button on their remote, that was game over for their physical media days. It’s amazing but not surprising how quickly the transition happened.

 

[Bryan^H]

I think we also basically had a widespread experiment with average, everyday non-enthusiast consumers purchasing movies on disc back when buying on DVD was new and more convenient than renting for a lot of people, and I think the result that experiment yielded is that most people didn’t really rewatch their discs or want a collection of them. For most a people, a disc collection didn’t become a new hobby or new way of life - it was another fad like tomagatchis or Funko Pops or Beanie Babies that seemed really fun for a hot second and then faded away. Once most people were able to get a movie by simply pressing a button on their remote, that was game over for their physical media days. It’s amazing but not surprising how quickly the transition happened.

How many of us here rewatch films from our extensive disc catalogues? It is great to have them, and nice if we ever feel the need to revisit a certain film. However, I hardly ever revisit 90% + of the titles I own.


Watching them after I first purchase, and onto a nice "spine display" on my shelves for years, and years. Many never to be revisited at all. I suspect many people here with large catalogues do the same.

 

[Robert13]

Can someone explain what the point of the deal was between Mill Creek and Disney since Mill Creek hasn't released or announced anything new on bluray in quite a long time?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Can someone explain what the point of the deal was between Mill Creek and Disney since Mill Creek hasn't released or announced anything new on bluray in quite a long time?

Disney has a package of films, mostly from subsidiaries that no longer operate, that for whatever reason they wish to keep in print. Mill Creek previously licensed that package for several years. When their license expired, Disney then licensed that same package to Kino. When Kino’s license ended, Kino either did not wish to renew or wasn’t given the option to. Disney then relicensed them to Mill Creek. Simple as that. That deal was never about bringing new, previously unreleased titles to disc or providing format upgrades; it was solely about keeping some low-demand, discount bin titles in print.

 

[Malcolm R]

Can someone explain what the point of the deal was between Mill Creek and Disney since Mill Creek hasn't released or announced anything new on bluray in quite a long time?

It's been explained several times in the Mill Creek/Disney thread. As Josh reiterated, again, the deal was never about any "new" titles, only keeping a certain slate of previously issued catalog titles in-print.

 

[BobO'Link]

How many of us here rewatch films from our extensive disc catalogues? It is great to have them, and nice if we ever feel the need to revisit a certain film. However, I hardly ever revisit 90% + of the titles I own.


Watching them after I first purchase, and onto a nice "spine display" on my shelves for years, and years. Many never to be revisited at all. I suspect many people here with large catalogues do the same.

I rewatch ~20% of the titles I own fairly regularly. The majority were purchased because it was just as inexpensive to own a copy as it was to rent a copy (TV series *or* movies) with the purchase often being less than a rental fee (especially with TV series). If I never watch any of those titles again it's a wash. If I *do* it's a win.

I feel for the Australian Disney lovers. From what I read it's stupidly expensive to import titles there.

 

[jayembee]

If Bill Hunt’s report at Digital Bits is accurate, a company in on small international territory that has rights to make steelbook cases for titles in their region did this on their own, and Disney apparently wasn’t even aware it existed until it was done.

That doesn't seem to make sense, unless the contract was incredibly vague on what rights the company was given. The SteelBook case, OK, I can see that, but one would think that the "character cards" included would have to be specifically licensed from Disney.