Assuming they usually make one 4K disc for all of Europe, I presume that means no one this side of the pond is getting one?

Severin takes its sweet time, but in the end its a very sweet package!

Top 50 Selling Discs of 2023 (DVD+Blu-ray)

1. The Super Mario Bros. Movie
2. John Wick: Chapter 4
3. Avatar: The Way of Water
4. Fast X
5. Barbie
6. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
7. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
8. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
9. Black Adam
10. Oppenheimer
11. Top Gun: Maverick
12. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
13. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
14. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
15. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
16. Yellowstone: Season 5, Part 1
17. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One
18. The Flash
19. The Equalizer 3
20. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
21. Everything Everywhere All at Once
22. 1923: A Yellowstone Origin Story (Season One)
23. Shazam! Fury of the Gods
24. Pokémon Detective Pikachu
25. The Grinch
26. M3GAN
27. A Man Called Otto
28. John Wick
29. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero
30. Cocaine Bear
31. PAW Patrol: The Movie
32. Archive
33. Violent Night
34. PAW Patrol: Sea Patrol
35. Top Gun
36. PAW Patrol: Big Truck Pups
37. Jesus Revolution
38. Creed III
39. The Expendables 4
40. PAW Patrol: Aqua Pups
41. 1883: A Yellowstone Origin Story
42. Rango/Charlotte's Web/Barnyard
43. Plane
44. Ted & Ted 2: Thunder Buddies Collection
45. Meg 2: The Trench
46. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
47. Open Season 4-Movie Collection
48. The Hangover Trilogy
49. The Mark Wahlberg 5-Film Collection (Pain & Gain/The Gambler/The Shooter /The Fighter/The Italian Job)
50. Bluey: Seasons 1 & 2

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

Top 20 Selling Blu-ray Discs of 2023

1. The Super Mario Bros. Movie
2. John Wick: Chapter 4
3. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
4. Avatar: The Way of Water
5. Oppenheimer
6. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
7. Fast X
8. Barbie
9. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
10. Black Adam
11. Top Gun: Maverick
12. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
13. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One
14. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
15. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero
16. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
17. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
18. The Flash
19. Everything Everywhere All at Once
20. The Equalizer 3

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

Top 20 Selling 4K Ultra HD Blu-rays of 2023

1. John Wick: Chapter 4
2. The Super Mario Bros. Movie
3. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
4. Oppenheimer
5. Avatar: The Way of Water
6. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
7. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
8. Fast X
9. Top Gun: Maverick
10. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
11. Black Adam
12. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One
13. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
14. The Flash
15. Barbie
16. Dune: Part One
17. Heat
18. Everything Everywhere All at Once
19. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
20. Avatar

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

https://www.mediaplaynews.com/research/2023-top-selling-titles-on-disc/

If media companies want us to embrace an all-digital future, don't we consumers deserve protection?

by Ryan Lambie | January 18, 2024

As a Ubisoft boss says consumers need to "feel comfortable with not owning your game," here's a counter-argument: if we buy a digital product, it should be ours to keep.

Even the biggest luddite in existence would concede that there are advantages to downloading entertainment, whether it's a book, movie or videogame. There's convenience for one thing -- no trekking down to the dwindling pool of shops that still sell physical books, movies or videogames, and no anxiously waiting for a delivery driver to turn up (and possibly leave your precious new book/game/film in your recycling bin, which once happened to me).

And, unless you have a house the size of the Library of Alexandria, it's all but certain you'll eventually run out of shelf space at some point. With digital media, the only limit is the amount of storage at your disposal. Then there's the ecological aspect to think about -- the world is undoubtedly better off with fewer pieces of plastic and paper inlays produced and shipped to and fro every day of the year.

At the same time, there are a number of disadvantages to reducing media to a bunch of zeroes and ones. For one thing, it's extremely difficult, at least legally, to lend them to friends -- unless you hand over your phone or PS5, that piece of media is pretty much stuck where it was downloaded. Nor can you, say, trade a game in to offset the cost of a new one -- something many people did and still do in order to temper the cost of an extraordinarily expensive hobby.

The other big disadvantage -- and it's one you'll have noticed we bring up a lot on Film Stories, and for good reason -- is that a piece of digital media is never truly yours.

There have been instances where Amazon has withdrawn books from people's Kindles. Digital stores like TalkTalk have shut down, and the purchases people have made then vanish with those closures -- no refunds offered. Sony was even talking about removing Discovery TV shows from its users' consoles following the lapse of a licencing agreement with the channel; the announcement was only later reversed following an online outcry.

It's something Christopher Nolan -- who is almost as good a salesman as he is a filmmaker -- half-jokingly brought up on the promo trail for Oppenheimer: buy a physical copy of my movie so "no evil streaming service can come and steal it from you", he said.

Media companies have every reason to love the all-digital future that lies on the horizon, meanwhile, not least because of all the reasons already outlined. They're free to set prices without fear of them being undercut by the second-hand market; if they want to make a change to a piece of entertainment, or withdraw it entirely, they're free to do that, and there's nothing legally the end user can do to stop it.

There's almost a shred of glee detectable in a recent interview with Philippe Tremblay, the director of subscriptions at videogame publishing giant Ubisoft. He spoke to GamesIndustry.biz as his company unveiled a newly regenerated subscription service, Ubisoft+ Premium (one of numerous rebrands we've seen from the firm over the years), and said, in essence, that consumers need to be "comfortable" with no longer owning games, just as those who've downloaded games and films already are -- at least in his estimation.

"One of the things we saw is that gamers are used to, a little bit like DVD, having and owning their games," Tremblay said. "That's the consumer shift that needs to happen. They got comfortable not owning their CD collection or DVD collection.

Thinkpieces about digital media are really hard to illustrate. As a result, here's a picture of a rabbit.

"That's a transformation that's been a bit slower to happen [in games]. As gamers grow comfortable in that aspect... you don't lose your progress. If you resume your game at another time, your progress file is still there. That's not been deleted. You don't lose what you've built in the game or your engagement with the game. So it's about feeling comfortable with not owning your game."

There's a counter-argument to this, however: if we're to truly embrace the all-digital future that media companies expect us to be as 'comfortable' about as they are, then we as consumers deserve rights and protections. If we buy a piece of media with our hard-earned money, then it should be ours -- no questions asked. There should be legal protections in place which safeguard consumers from, say, having media suddenly deleted from their drives by media companies -- or at the very least, the expectation that the consumer would be compensated for its withdrawal.

Let's face it, the technology to assign a digital item a unique number already exists, with the blockchain -- a kind of append-only ledger -- being used to underpin everything from novelty currencies to collectible monkey JPGs to in-game items like hats and trousers. Why couldn't a similar technology be applied to, say, a movie, allowing the user to transfer it between devices, and perhaps even 'lend' it to a friend like a physical disc? If your console dies or becomes obsolete, or one digital platform suddenly closes, why shouldn't you be able to redeem a code and 'move' the piece of media you've purchased over to a new venue?

In an ideal world, governments in the UK and elsewhere would be working with media and tech companies to ensure that any all-digital future is fair to consumers. After all, there are laws to protect companies from the theft of their property through piracy or copyright infringement. Shouldn't there be something for the little people at home? Something that ensures that they get to keep the things they've spent and appreciate, rather than pay to merely borrow them?

Sadly, governments are probably too overawed and cowed by tech companies to even consider something so radical. Without intervention, the world's biggest and richest firms will almost certainly carry on as they are -- which is all the more reason, we'd argue, to support physical media for as long as it still continues to exist.

Tales from the Crypt (1989 - 1996): Where is the Blu-ray?

Paul Bookstaber

The classic horror anthology series Tales from the Crypt is available on DVD, but where is the Blu-ray remaster?

The JoBlo Original covering Tales from the Crypt's physical media releases was Written by Paul Bookstaber, Edited by Lance Vlcek, and Narrated by Kier Gomes.

Back in 1989 a horror anthology series hit HBO network and took the horror world by storm. Maybe you heard of it? Doesn't ring a bell? Its intro is made of nightmare fuel as the camera treks through its main gate, which ascends to a broken-down, deteriorated mansion as lightning cackles through the night sky. We enter this amusement park of horrors, cobwebs draped alongside the walls, creeks and strange noises echoing about, eerie atmosphere soaking up the screen, and we enter a false trap door. Now when I was younger, I think I was close to shitting my pants because here or there as we descend down these stairs into this abyss, and we go through a room here and there. And then right then and there, the Crypt Keeper popping out of that damn coffin, with that devilish laugh. That cackle sent chills and shivers right down my spine cueing that main title card dripping that green ooze which looked like it was right out of a Ghostbusters movie. Because of that damn Crypt Keeper, I spent many sleepless nights, unwilling to shut my eyes cause of that face, which gets us to the topic for today folks: Why in the hell is there not a Blu-ray remaster of this amazing series and when will we expect one? It's not as easy as you think and here's why.

The rights of Tales from the Crypt is an incredibly murky one, which dates back to the early 90's when the show reached its peak. Tales from the Crypt was originally created in the 1950's under EC Comics or notably Entertaining Comics. EC Comics was created and founded in 1944 by Max Gaines. EC Comics dived into multiple genres such as romance, crimes, war, westerns, and its bread and butter: the horror genre. When Max Gaines passed away during a boating accident, his son William Gaines took over and decided to expand into politics, racial equality, and other hot topics of the times that were incorporated as underlying themes within EC's stories. They eventually became ostracized from the public due to the nature aimed at its readers: particularly children. However, EC was known for their main horror IPs: Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, and The Vault of Fear.

Tales from the Crypt was later picked up by HBO and since HBO Network didn't have to abide by regular cable roles they were able to have carte blanche with how graphic they wanted their show to be, and boy they delivered on that carnage candy. Gratuitous in its nature, Tales from the Crypt showcased many Hollywood stars from the likes of Jada Pinkett Smith, Joe Pesci, Brad Pitt, Bill Paxton, Billy Zane and many more in each of their episodes and subsequent films. And this is what made Tales from the Crypt so great, you always got something fresh, unique, and terrifying on every episode. I will never forget my favorite episode, which the Christmas tale of terror that involved a murdering wife, and an escaped mental patient dressed as Santa Claus titled And All Through the House. Hell, who could forget Billy Zane as The Collector in the Tales from the Crypt film, Demon Knight? It was pure lunacy in all the best ways and probably still to this day, Billy Zane's best film. The gore was also top notch, it was pure shenanigans and a treat for horror fans.

Funny enough, HBO let multiple networks use their episodes as reruns, however they were edited and cut down drastically to fit within the protocols of basic cable. These reruns spanned from network to network, Fox to CBS, then to SYFY and Chiller. But considering HBO was the original show creators they were not able to stream the uncut versions of their original episodes on their streaming platform HBO Max. Tales from the Crypt was executive produced by a couple of big names back in the day. Robert Zemeckis, Joel Silver, Richard Donner, Walter Hill, David Giler and Gilbert Adler who all created the look of the tv series crypt keeper. In EC's Tales from the Crypt, their cryptkeer was an actual human being, a far cry from that monstrous ghoul we're so used to seeing in our nightmares. When William Gaines, the son of Max Gaines passed away the rights reverted from HBO back to the family estate which is most likely under a lawyer's bargaining chip due to the popularity of networks trying to get it back out in the media. Again, it's a real murky situation for those networks looking to revive a once great IP to us horror hounds who want to see the Crypt Keeper's triumphant return.

The trickiest thing however is the Crypt Keeper, which is voiced by John Kassir who stated that the IP of the Crypt Keeper is under the rights of those that created the series crypt keeper's look, which means this conundrum just keeps getting worse and worse. This potentially solved my question at the beginning as to why can't we get that bluray or 4k remaster of the anthology series. John Kassir said at a panel interview from Terror Con, "This happens in our business all the time with popular franchises from the past that people want to revive. It's a hard thing to get done. It hasn't happened in many years. Some people who were involved at the top don't believe that it will ever happen, but who knows? Nobody would be happier than me," Kassir added. "Because I'm both a fan and an actor

not that I ever got paid that much from Tales from the Crypt. It was an expensive show to produce. I don't even know if they could afford to make that show nowadays. It took five puppeteers to make the Crypt Keeper work. They always complained about what they had to pay them, and I was like, 'Dude, it's the character! What do you want?'"

It's a shame to know that there is a spider's web of legalities involved because as it stands, the only way to retrieve Tales from the Crypt in its entirely is to buy the very old, very dated, DVD boxset online. There is no other remaster besides the DVD boxset, and there are no plans to have a remaster until these legalities are solved. DVDs aren't bad it's just in truth, they're obsolete and why not get more bang for your buck then to have the crypt keeper's original, uncut episodes in a better quality down the road? And are there even anymore DVD players you can buy at retail value? Who would even want to play a DVD these days when everyone wants to watch the best definition possible? That's like going from an 8k Sony flat screen to one of those Zenith Box TVs of the early 90s, it makes no damn sense! We're always looking for the next best thing, so give the people what they want. If it were only that simple.

There have been networks in the recent years looking to get Tales from the Crypt back in the fold, but every time there is news that comes across as positive and looking up, an article a few weeks later tears it down saying an agreement has stalled, or no progress has been reached. Even Sixth Sense director M. Night Shyamalan has been pushing to get Tales back into the fold with TNT, creating a brand-new anthology going over the old Tales EC comics run, but those talks died on the spot with the rights holders' complexities and probably their demands not being met. TNT has been looking to get this series back up for more than a year's time. If we can only hope, however this seems to be another Friday the 13th calamity. It was way easier for the Twilight Zone revival that's for damn sure.

For what remains to be seen is this, we all eventually want Crypt Keeper back, and the dead never stay dead, especially in horror. Money talks in the entertainment world, and networks need to keep things fresh and innovative. I can confidently say that we will see the Keeper back in his glory with some new, fantastic tales down the road, but also most importantly getting an updated Blu-ray or 4k remaster for us collectors to have and to hold, forever and ever. It's either that or go back to old habits die hard and buying yourself a new DVD player and binging the old and dusty boxset with that amazing DVD quality (sarcasm). Sounds like a plan. In the meantime stalk those interwebs and just wait for that new piece of news to arrive, because fans have money and they will throw it at the franchise once it's back in the domain.

What We Lose When Streaming Companies Choose What We Watch | The New Yorker

Photograph by Erich Karnberger / Getty

To have or not to have, that is the question. The problem with having is obvious when looking around at the many shelves for books and CDs and the filing cabinet for DVDs that line the walls and fill floor space at home. It's especially an issue for city people whose apartment space is at a premium and who lack basements or attics or (imagine!) a spare room to hold their hoard. Ditching physical media in favor of streaming is a liberation of sorts---an unburdening that goes beyond clutter and, in a sense, lightens life itself. It's a moveable feast for those who live precariously and for others who travel often. In Michael Mann's thriller "Heat," Robert De Niro delivers this line: "A guy told me one time, 'Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in thirty seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner.' " So much for the personal library. At least he'll have his Criterion Channel subscription.

I was out of town for a couple of weeks recently, and I had my subscriptions, too. The permanent smorgasbord of streaming services, whether of movies or music, is a diabolical temptation. Curiosity is easy to satisfy---at least within the wide limits of what's available. Moreover, a month's subscription to the Criterion Channel costs less than the purchase of any one Criterion Collection disk, while offering access to hundreds of classics. Even a small basketful of various subscriptions would likely add up to less than one might easily spend on a batch of CDs or DVDs or Blu-rays (not to mention the devices to play them on). Not only is streaming a good deal; given the huge losses recorded by many major streaming services, it may be too good a deal, as suggested by the surprising news this week---even as Netflix is ending its original DVD-by-mail service---that Bob Iger, the C.E.O. of Disney, is contemplating restoring physical media to the company's offerings.

There's an element of duty in a critic's personal library, the preservation of what may prove useful for work, but it's not the prime motive for compiling one (as I've been doing since childhood). Collecting is an act of love; even though it risks fetish-like attachments to the objects in question, its essence is found not in the objects themselves but in the pleasure that they provide, by delivering movies, music, literature---by providing the experience of art. Yet the experience of art is, above all, an experience, a part of life, and, just as the arts are more than mere nutrients, the medium is more than a delivery system: it has an aesthetic and a psychology of its own. The prime factor of home video is control, and it's the struggle for control, between corporate entities and individual viewers, that's at play in the shift from physical media to streaming.

First, even the most bountiful streaming services give with one hand while taking with the other. For example, the Criterion Channel, the gold standard for cinephilic offerings, both announces a new batch of films arriving on the first day of the following month and thoughtfully warns subscribers of what's leaving on the last day of the current one. (Among the August 31st farewells is a large batch of Buster Keaton's features and shorts, Martin Scorsese's "Mean Streets," Stanley Kwan's intricate docu-fictional bio-pic "Center Stage," and a group of films featuring Marilyn Monroe, including "Monkey Business" and "All About Eve.") This is not a knock on any particular service, but it is a reason to be wary of exclusive reliance on all streaming services. There is an implicit permanence to owning a disk. (Even obsolete media, such as VHS tapes or 78-r.p.m. records, can still be played.) With streaming, availability is out of one's control and movie-watching becomes an activity conducted under the aegis of a big brother, however well-meaning.

And that invisible hand isn't always so benign, as indicated by ominous messages that sometimes pop up at the start of films to proclaim---as, for instance, has been seen on Disney+---that "this film has been modified from its original version. It has been edited for content." What vanished? Sex? Drugs? Cigarettes? Hateful dialogue? "Pervasive language"? Only by watching side by side with a DVD can one find out. The oddly intrusive feeling of each viewing being mediated---by a business standing between oneself and the viewing, the listening, the reading---bears a chill of surveillance. That's not the case when one holds in one's lap a book that one owns, pops a disk into a player, or lays a needle on a record. Along with the specific aesthetic of movies one views, there's an economic aesthetic at work, too, in each type of transaction: having a movie in hand that's paid for once, or paying forever and owning nothing but memories and promises.

A collection of physical media is a bulwark against fear---the fear that rights holders may take works out of circulation, whether because of a mere contractual lapse or a calculated market-making and desire-stoking scarcity. For decades, starting long before the age of home video, Howard Hawks's "Scarface" and Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" were unavailable in the United States for theatrical screenings. In their absence, the cinephilic world didn't stop spinning, but it was smaller, narrowing the realm of knowledge and the spectrum of pleasure alike. The sense of crisis that always marks the interface of art and power has grown all the sharper in recent years, with the sudden disappearance of Web sites and distributors (such as Filmstruck and New Yorker Films) and the mighty archive of work that they harbor, and the mergers and takeovers of sites, publications, movie and record companies, and book publishers by owners with commercial or ideological agendas that conflict with the preservation and availability of archives. The shutdown or lockdown of a single site may eliminate all access to the only extant source for a major movie. Thus, physical media take on an essentially political role as the basis for samizdat, for the preservation in private of what's neglected or suppressed or destroyed in the public realm, be it through mercantile vandalism, doctrinaire censorship, or technological apocalypse.

The modern history of movies started in the nineteen-thirties, when Henri Langlois and Georges Franju founded the Cinémathèque Française and Iris Barry established MOMA's Film Library. Most movie companies at the time treated their film prints as literal throwaways to be recycled for their chemical ingredients---on the assumption that these movies, once released and exhausting their first runs, had no further value. The future of the cinema, its advance into the forefront of modern art, resulted from the preservation and appreciation of its past. In an era when cheap physical media such as DVDs circulate widely, preservation is no longer the exclusive province of institutions housing bulky and expensive film prints. The archive of the future is decentralized, crowdsourced. Far from being nostalgic and conservative, the maintenance of a stock of physical media at home is a progressive act of defiance.

If the era of streaming media is ending, the sound of its conqueror is the familiar battle cry of the spinning disc. Physical media is back.

...

So, what specifically is happening in the 2020s that are seeing the sudden rise of Blu-rays and 4K disc sales and the downslide of streaming? And if it’s time to get physical with our media, what’s the smartest way of doing that?

...

The best advice I can offer is this: think of movie and TV watching as a team sport. The best way to buy what’s right for you is by seeing what other people like. And the best way to enjoy what you buy in the long term is by having a space to talk with other people.

What we’re saying is: get a Letterboxd account and join a movie Discord.

Or stay right here, film fans!

Building a DVD library: the ongoing journey of a film collector

A J Black

10--12 minutes

Forget streaming -- collecting physical media's where it's at. Join AJ Black as he aims to build the ultimate DVD library on a budget...

Remember the days before streaming? The days where if you wanted to watch a film or a TV show, you would first need to buy it on VHS (multiple tapes if it was a series) or later DVD? These might have been considered 'the dark days' until a fairly recent streaming cynicism kicked in. 

Now the tide is turning.

Like many of you I'm sure, I would pile my home floor to ceiling with box-sets and DVD movies, so many of them I simply didn't have time to watch. I vividly remember a Boston Legal box-set that stared at me, unopened, whenever I ventured into the spare room.

When circumstances meant I moved into a house share with friends around a decade ago, just as streaming was kicking off, much of this collection ended up being sold en masse, at a vastly reduced amount than I spent building it up.

Truthfully, I didn't see this as a 'collection' back then. Living as a single man, I would ravenously digest at least two films a night, sometimes three, and I still failed to get through the piles of discs, given I would repeatedly add to it. DVD was giving way to Blu-ray and the cost was at points prohibitive, but it was the only means of watching new or older films and television.

It was just what we did. But unlike many people, unlike no doubt many of you, I wasn't 'curating' back then.

And once all of these discs and boxes gave way to the pragmatism of first a house share and later living with my wife to be, I greedily embraced the promise of streaming. I flirted with digitising what I did have left but backed away due to storage spaces and more expense. Streaming was cheap. It was quick. It had everything, right?

Netflix grew to Amazon Prime and Sky Cinema and then Disney+ and beyond. The choice was endless. The ease unlike never before. This was cinephile heaven, surely? Who needed physical media?

How naive I was.

We've all seen the change in recent years. Digital purchases being deleted when films or TV shows disappear. Streaming services eliminating material which disappears into oblivion, guarded by corporations or IP protections from viewers eyes. Tax write offs of new products. The list goes on. As the streaming gold rush for entertainment services is over in these times of economic want, so too is audience's trust in what streaming can provide, certainly for cinephiles and TV lovers (is there a TV adjective akin to cinephile?). The dream is over.

That dream was for streaming to unlock everything. Access to our fingertips to the entire breadth of cinema across a century. All there for us to engage with, enjoy and learn from.

Instead an enormous amount has been ignored, corporations have siloed entire franchises or filmmakers to different platforms who increase their prices of access monthly now, it seems. Streaming is increasingly about to become economically untenable for the masses in terms of accessing everything. What everyone truly wants -- one service that gives us everything -- was always a pipe dream in our capitalist environment.

It was around 18 months ago when I finally resolved to start collecting physical media. I was inspired in no small part by following numerous Twitter and social media accounts who were collecting and banging the drum for keeping hold of discs and preserving physical collections in the shadow of streaming. I came to agree -- it is the only true way of owning anything, and ultimately possibly accessing anything you want, when you want to watch it.

I had a few immediate rules. I wanted it to largely just be cinema, with the odd TV exception, mainly for cost and storage reasons. It needed to be affordable and therefore, again with the odd exception, everything would be bought second hand. For reasons of cost, they would largely be DVD -- a choice that has led to some sniffiness among picture quality purists. Call me a terrible cinephile but a film is a film at the end of the day. You can Blu-ray, 4K etc... all you like, it's the same thing. I don't need to buy Once Upon A Time in America for £25 in razor sharp format when I can get it for 50p stacked with extras and still looking pretty great. Sue me.

The biggest caveat of all would be this: the boxes and sleeves would go. Every film I own would be disc only, removed and placed inside a see through cover and slotted into a smaller box, alphabetised. I'm now up to around 10 boxes -- see pictured below -- with more soon needed. Here is a link to buy them if you're interested -- they've been very durable and impressive so far.

Some of you might balk at the idea of dispensing with the boxes, but outside of using a storage unit, the idea of collecting thousands of movies in this way would turn my home into a DVD warehouse, and I actually like being married! Compromises are always necessary in building collections and I make do with the films all neatly packed away, backed by a comprehensive spreadsheet on Google that collates everything -- film, director, year, format, alphabetised. One day I might add what extras the discs have but that's a big task.

I've included a link to view the spreadsheet here if you'd like to have a look. Everything yellow are the films I've yet to see.

The collecting is part of the fun. It's taken me to towns I'd never have gone before, sometimes collecting in bulk, sometimes to grab one or two gems that you can't find anywhere else.

It's also helped me discover a real love of the charity shop. My hometown of Devizes is festooned with them, many of which have very decent DVD sections. As you'll see in my latest haul, British Heart Foundation's three DVDs for £1 is such a great offer, I'm amazed they haven't realised it's too good yet! Charity shops have always been Aladdin's Cave's, but for DVD collectors, there has never been a better time.

This piece therefore will be regularly updated with details on my latest hauls and the films collected, and any highlights of the collecting adventures on the way. The spreadsheet will expand so keep an eye on that for the entire collection.

And, also, if you wanted to send me any DVDs of films you no longer need or are happy to dispense with, I can promise them a very good home. Please contact me via this link and we can discuss getting them sent my way!

My most recent haul was from the aforementioned British Heart Foundation, who I regularly pop into on the high street but who had clearly restocked their discount shelves for DVDs, as I was treated to a real bonanza of movies I hadn't picked up. I came away with 32 films for the princely sum of £11. That's roughly around 33p a movie. Amazing.

I grabbed Clint Eastwood's Blood Work from 2002, which I haven't seen. Tony Scott's True Romance from 1993, another (huge) blind spot of mine. Darren Aronofsky's Requiem For A Dream from 2000, with some great production notes in the sleeve -- what a film that is! Robert Wise's original 1961 adaptation of West Side Story (expanded edition), which I've only seen clips of and wonder if I'll enjoy as much as Steven Spielberg's recent version. A late-90s classic, 10 Things I Hate About You, a proper teenage film for me. Loved it ever since.

I also grabbed Kevin Smith's Dogma, also from 1999, and perhaps outside of Mallrats my favourite of his films. The original Kinji Fukasaku Battle Royale from 2001, which is a wonderfully messed up film. Marc Forster's Monsters Ball from 2001, which I've never seen in its entirety. Martin Campbell's gloriously ludicrous 2000 action film Vertical Limit, festooned with extras. Cameron Crowe's 2001 semi-autobiographical rock drama Almost Famous, which I've never seen. Ditto A Beautiful Mind from 2006 and Ron Howard, which feels like a movie everyone has watched, but I'm pretty sure I haven't.

I'd not really heard of City Of Ghosts by actor Matt Dillon from 2002, but it looks interesting, so I nabbed it. Taking Lives by D J. Caruso in 2004, with Angelina Jolie, looks intriguing. Same for Tarsem Singh's The Cell from 2000, with J-Lo, one I feel like I've watched but since forgotten. One I'll never forget is Jonathan Demme's seminal The Silence Of The Lambs from 1991, which I'm very glad to now own. Speaking of horror, great to pick up Christopher Smith's 2004 British chiller Creep, which I've always enjoyed. Two posh Brit films I added were 1999's An Ideal Husband and 2015's A Royal Night Out, neither of which I've seen.

I have seen Alan J Pakula's last film from 1997, The Devil's Own, with Harrison Ford, and that's a very good one. Less good but always fascinating is Blair Witch 2: Book Of Shadows, a flawed but intriguing sequel. I'm glad to have it. I also bought Transcendence, 2014's rather slow sci-fi film from Wally Pfister, which I look forward to revisiting despite it being savaged -- I wonder if it plays better a decade on. Others I grabbed include 2001's military drama Men Of Honor, Blow by Ted Demme from the same year and Waltz With Bashir, the original 2008 Israeli film which I've always heard good things about.

Finally, I now own Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 2 (but not Vol. 1 yet), Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In America from 1984 -- a lovely two disc edition and a film I can't wait to experience. Ronny Yu's 2000 Brit thriller The 51st State, with the strangeness of Samuel L Jackson sharing the screen with Ricky Tomlinson. Sean Penn's excellent 2008 drama Into The Wild, Guy Ritchie's underrated 2015 adaptation of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., John Martin McDonagh's superb 2014 drama Calvary and Marion Cotillard-starring French drama La Vie En Rose from 2014.

Phew. That's a big haul even for me, but some real gems landed this time around. It won't always be this amount but all this for just over a tenner cannot be sneezed at.

Current collection number after this haul: 1,320.

I would love to know what you've been collecting lately and what you think of the films listed here, and what you think about physical media, collecting, and so forth. Let's get a dialogue going in the comments!

You can find A J. on social media, including links to his Patreon and books, via Linktr.ee here.

If you want the full details, click here.

Short version, two dedicated people have been giving full access to the server. They are now running the show and the server has already been upgraded to the latest v19.2 Lemmy software.

Unfortunately, the current feddit server is running at capacity, but it will be migrated to a better home soon.

Home Video is staying on feddit.uk.

A fascinating article from 2010 that recounts a story from the 90s about James Cameron overseeing the first laserdisc transfer of Aliens.

If you think the new AI enhanced 4K looks bad, turns out he was allegedly doing that kind of thing back in the 90s as well.

Steven Soderbergh's Contagion Infects 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on February 27

Tom Landy

The 2011 thriller Contagion from director Steven Soderbergh and featuring an all-star cast including Marion Cottilard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Bryan Cranston, and more is getting a 4K UHD Blu-ray release on February 27.

An international traveler reaches into the snack bowl at an airport bar before passing her credit card to a waiter. A business meeting begins with a round of handshakes. A man coughs on a crowded bus... One contact. One instant. And a lethal virus is transmitted.

When Beth Emhoff (Paltrow) returns to Minneapolis from business in Hong Kong, what she thought was jet lag takes a virulent turn. Two days later, she's dead in the ER and the doctors tell her shocked and grieving husband (Damon) they have no idea why. Soon, others exhibit the same mysterious symptoms: hacking coughs and fever, followed by seizure, brain hemorrhage... and ultimately, death. The numbers quickly multiply as the contagion sweeps across all borders, fueled by the countless human interactions that make up the course of an average day. A global pandemic explodes.

As the death toll escalates and people struggle to protect themselves and their loved ones in a society breaking down, one activist blogger (Law) claims the public isn't getting the truth about what's really going on and sets off an epidemic of paranoia and fear as infectious as the virus itself.

The Contagion - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray + Digital release will feature a 4K restoration in HDR and will include the following:

Pre-orders for Contagion - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray are up and here is the full press release:

Burbank, Calif., January 9, 2024 -- Contagion, Steven Soderbergh's 2011 medical thriller about a global epidemic and the people determined to keep it at bay, will be available to purchase on February 27 for the first time on Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc from online and in-store at major retailers and available for purchase Digitally from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu and more.

 Directed by Academy Award^®^ winner Steven Soderbergh*** (Traffic), Contagion* features an all-star ensemble cast including Academy Award winner Marion Cottilard (La Vie en Rose), Academy Award winner Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting), Academy Award nominee Laurence Fishburne (What's Love Got to Do with It), Academy Award nominee Jude Law (The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain), Academy Award winner Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love), Academy Award winner Kate Winslet (The Reader), Academy Award nominee and Emmy winner Bryan Cranston (Trumbo, TV's Breaking Bad), Tony Award winner Jennifer Ehle (Broadway's "The Real Thing," "The Coast of Utopia"), and Tony Award nominee Sanaa Lathan ("A Raisin in the Sun").

 Directed by Soderbergh, Contagion is written by Scott Z. Burns (*The Bourne Ultimatum, The Informant!). *The film is produced by Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher, and Gregory Jacobs.

 Contagion will be available on Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc for $33.99 ERP and includes an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc with the theatrical version of the feature film in 4K with HDR and a Digital download of the film. Fans can also own Contagion in 4K Ultra HD via purchase from select digital retailers beginning on February 27.  

The 4K restoration of Contagion was completed at Warner Bros. Discovery's Motion Picture Imaging (MPI) and was sourced from the original camera negative.  The remastering process was overseen by Steven Soderbergh.

Ultra HD showcases 4K resolution with High Dynamic Range (HDR) and a wider color spectrum, offering consumers brighter, deeper, more lifelike colors for a home entertainment viewing experience like never before.   

 About the Film
SYNOPSIS
An international traveler reaches into the snack bowl at an airport bar before passing her credit card to a waiter. A business meeting begins with a round of handshakes. A man coughs on a crowded bus... One contact. One instant. And a lethal virus is transmitted.

When Beth Emhoff (Paltrow) returns to Minneapolis from business in Hong Kong, what she thought was jet lag takes a virulent turn. Two days later, she's dead in the ER and the doctors tell her shocked and grieving husband (Damon) they have no idea why. Soon, others exhibit the same mysterious symptoms: hacking coughs and fever, followed by seizure, brain hemorrhage... and ultimately, death. The numbers quickly multiply as the contagion sweeps across all borders, fueled by the countless human interactions that make up the course of an average day. A global pandemic explodes.

As the death toll escalates and people struggle to protect themselves and their loved ones in a society breaking down, one activist blogger (Law) claims the public isn't getting the truth about what's really going on and sets off an epidemic of paranoia and fear as infectious as the virus itself.

 Contagion Ultra HD Blu-ray disc and Digital contains the following previously released special features:

• The Reality of Contagion -- Featurette
• The Contagion Detectives -- Featurette
• Contagion -- How a Virus Changes the World --Featurette

I got a bunch of dvds from a co-worker. The blu-rays on top are my latest arrivals. Vortex particularly is a welcome addition, I attended a screening where both Noe and Argento was present about two years ago and its a great memory. Oh yeah, the movie is really great too!

https://collider.com/the-marvels-digital-release-date/

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=33830

This movie has ended its theatrical run as the lowest-grossing MCU film. And it got a standing ovation at someone's theater.

Basically, in the UK, the rat submerged in the oxygenated liquid scene breaks the law in regard to cruelty to animals on screen.

Disney asked for guidance about this last year and the BBFC said the film would have to be resubmitted for cuts as the law still stands. The film has not been resubmitted, so I guess Disney just cancelled the UK release.

I'm waiting to see where I can import from the cheapest...

The Guyver 4K Blu-ray

Unearthed Films is preparing a Limited Edition 4K Blu-ray of Steve Wang's The Guyver(1991), starring Greg Joung Paik, Jimmie Walker, Peter Spellos, Michael Berryman, and Spice Williams-Crosby. The release is scheduled to arrive on the market on May 21.

When a researcher at the Chronos Corporation is mysteriously killed, his daughter (Vivian Wu), her boyfriend, Sean (Jack Armstrong), and a rogue CIA agent named Max Reed (Mark Hamill) all suspect foul play. Sean discovers a top-secret suit of Chronos armor called "the Guyver," which fuses to his body when he tries it on, turning him into a supremely powerful cyborg. Chronos' evil CEO, Fulton Balcus (David Gale), is enraged and sends a crew of mutant alien monsters to get the Guyver back.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

DISC ONE - 4K BLU-RAY

• NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE ORIGINAL R-RATED CUT FROM THE CAMERA NEGATIVE by Unearthed Films

• HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM

• NEW Commentary with co-directors Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang, moderated by Dom O'Brien, the author of Budget Biomorphs: The Making of The Guyver Films

• Audio/subtitles:

• DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

• DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0

• Optional English SDH Subtitles

DISC TWO - BLU-RAY

• NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE ORIGINAL R-RATED CUT FROM THE CAMERA NEGATIVE by Unearthed Films

• NEW Commentary with co-directors Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang, moderated by Dom O'Brien, the author of Budget Biomorphs: The Making of The Guyver Films

• NEW Interview with producer Brian Yuzna

• NEW Interview with co-director Screaming Mad George

• NEW Suit Tests with commentary by co-directors Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang

• NEW Outtakes with commentary by co-directors Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang

• NEW Gag Roll with commentary by co-directors Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang

• NEW Production & Artwork Gallery

• Alternate Title Sequence

• Trailers

• Audio/subtitles:

• DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

• DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0

• Optional English SDH Subtitles

DISC THREE -- CD SOUNDTRACK

• The Guyver Soundtrack composed by Matthew Morse placed on a separate CD disc

Sam Raimi's Darkman gets new Scream Factory release with deleted scenes and Josh Ruben fan commentary

Cody Hamman

Scream Factory's new 4K and Blu-ray release of Sam Raimi's Darkman includes deleted scenes and Josh Ruben fan commentary

Director Sam Raimi's film Darkman was first released in 1990, and in recent years Scream Factory has brought that movie and its direct-to-video sequels Darkman II: The Return of Durant and Darkman III: Die Darkman Die to Blu-ray. Last month, the company announced that they'll be giving Darkman a 4K release on February 20th -- and since then they've revealed that this release will include deleted scenes that weren't on their previous Blu-ray release of the film, plus a fan commentary by Scare Me and Werewolves Within director (and Darkman superfan) Josh Ruben!

Scream Factory is accepting pre-orders for multiple editions of this release. You can get the 4K / Blu-ray combo on its own, get it in a limited edition steelbook, get the steelbook with a prism sticker and poster, get the steelbook with a prism sticker, poster, a pin, and lobby cards, get the regular collector's edition with a prism sticker and poster, get the regular collector's edition with a pin, prism sticker, poster, and lobby cards, or get both the collector's edition and the limited edition steelbook with a pin, a prism sticker, two posters, and lobby cards.

Scripted by Sam Raimi with Chuck Pfarrer, Ivan Raimi, Daniel Goldin, and Joshua Goldin, Darkman has the following synopsis: When the laboratory of Dr. Peyton Westlake is blown up by gangsters, he is burned beyond recognition. Altered by an experimental medical procedure, he assumes alternate identities in his quest for revenge.

Liam Neeson stars as Dr. Peyton Westlake and is joined in the cast by Frances McDormand, Colin Friels, Larry Drake, Ted Raimi, Nicholas Worth, Dan Bell, and Danny Hicks. Of course, Bruce Campbell makes a cameo appearance.

Here's the list of special features that will be found on the 4K UHD and its accompanying Blu-ray disc:

DISC 1 (4K UHD):

NEW 4K Restoration From The Original Camera Negative In Dolby Vision (HDR-10 Compatible) Approved By Director Sam Raimi And Director Of Photography Bill Pope
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, 2.0
NEW Audio Commentary With Filmmaker And Darkman Superfan Josh Ruben
Audio Commentary With Bill Pope

DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):

NEW 4K Transfer From The Original Camera Negative Approved By Sam Raimi And Bill Pope
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, 2.0
NEW Audio Commentary With Josh Ruben
Audio Commentary With Bill Pope
NEW Deleted Scenes
"Dissecting Darkman" -- An Interview With Actor Liam Neeson
Interview With Actor Frances McDormand
"The Name Is Durant" -- An Interview With Actor Larry Drake
"The Face Of Revenge" -- Interview With Makeup Designer Tony Gardner
"Henchman Tales" -- Interviews with Actors Danny Hicks and Dan Bell
"Dark Design" -- An Interview With Production Designer Randy Ser And Art Director Philip Dagort
Vintage "Making-Of" Featurette -- Featuring Interviews With Sam Raimi, Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, And More...
Vintage Interviews With Sam Raimi, Liam Neeson And Frances McDormand
Theatrical Trailer
TV Spots
Still Galleries -- Posters And Production Stills, Behind The Scenes, Make-Up Effects And Storyboards

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 and records -- as younger digital generations fear having their life histories erased.

C

Christopher Nolan has achieved some great feats of cinema in his career -- but last November he pulled off something impressive on the smaller screen, too. Deep into the streaming era, where physical media can sometimes feel like a distant memory, the Blu-ray home video release of Nolan's Oppenheimer -- one of 2023's biggest box office success stories -- sparked a buying frenzy.

More like this:
- The 20 best films of 2023
- Why Disney has had an awful centenary year
- The 18 best TV shows of 2023

The 4K Ultra HD version of Oppenheimer sold out in its first week at major retailers, including Amazon. Universal released a statement saying they were working to replenish stock as quickly as possible. Some limited edition copies were fetching more than $200 on eBay. It was a sign that, for some people at least, nothing beats that feeling of holding a copy of something you love in your hand or seeing it on your shelf.

Perhaps it's not that surprising. If anyone can inspire fervour over a release -- in any format -- it's Nolan, and the DVD and Blu-ray release includes three hours of bonus footage. Then there's the fact that, prior to its release, Nolan himself encouraged fans to embrace "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".

There is a danger these days that if things only exist in the streaming version, they do get taken down. They come and go -- Christopher Nolan

Nolan explained his stance further in an interview with the Washington Post, saying: "There is a danger these days that if things only exist in the streaming version, they do get taken down. They come and go -- as do broadcast versions of films, so my films will play on HBO or whatever, they'll come and go. But the home video version is the thing that can always be there, so people can always access it."

Other directors have chimed in to sing the praises of physical media. James Cameron told Variety: "The streamers are denying us any access whatsoever to certain films. And I think people are responding with their natural reaction, which is 'I'm going to buy it, and I'm going to watch it any time I want.'"

Guillermo del Toro posted on X that "If you own a great 4K HD, Blu-ray, DVD etc etc of a film or films you love... you are the custodian of those films for generations to come." His tweet prompted people to reply, sharing evidence of their vast DVD collections.

DVDs had their heyday in the early 2000s. 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. US retailer Best Buy is phasing out DVD sales in early 2024, while Netflix finally closed their DVD rental service in 2023.

Keeping it real

And yet, not only are there many people hanging onto their existing DVDs -- there's a committed number still buying them. "Home entertainment is resurgent globally, and the factors of influence can change each year, through new tech, pandemics, pipeline and slate," Louise Kean-Wood from the British Association for Screen Entertainment (BASE) tells BBC Culture. "But the future of physical is important to fandom, especially for 4K and Blu-ray -- collectors and film and TV fans love the ownership and event of physical." It's not just older generations clinging onto the past, either. According to the MPAA, it's those aged 25 to 39 who are the most likely to watch DVDs.

There will always be fans who want to own everything they can by a favourite artist or director, but another factor is an increasing fear over how much -- or rather, how little -- control we have over the content we stream. With so many streaming services at our fingertips, it's easy to assume that we can watch any film we want, any time we want, subscription depending. But there are many films that don't seem to exist online. In the UK, you won't find David Lynch's seminal debut Eraserhead available to stream. In the US, one New York Times writer recently told of her difficulty in trying to watch her favourite childhood movie, Britney Spears' Crossroads. Nineties pop fans wanting to indulge in a spot of nostalgia with Spice World will struggle to find it in the US.

Even films that are available could disappear at any moment, as streaming services reevaluate their content libraries or remove titles due to licensing agreements. And when you pay to purchase a digital version of a film or TV show, as opposed to renting it or watching it via a streaming subscription, you still don't "own" it -- you've just purchased a licence to watch it. And, of course, when everything is on the cloud, we are at the mercy of a stable internet connection.

It was a problem that the film collector Lucas Henkel kept encountering. "I realised that many of the movies I enjoy are not really available on streaming services, or they disappear frequently, so the only way to see them reliably is through physical media," he tells BBC Culture. So Henkel decided to set up his own boutique home entertainment distribution label, Celluloid Dreams.  "As a collector myself, it has a lot to do with the desire to own something tangible," says Henkel, explaining his own commitment to physical media. "More importantly, it guarantees access. I can pull out a 20-year old DVD and play it any day I want. No restrictions, no extra fees, no subscriptions... just insert the disc and press play. Seriously, what's not to like about that? And no streaming service can match the quality of a presentation coming from a physical medium."

Placing a premium

The company is starting with a focus on Italian thrillers -- know as gialli* -- *with the first title release Giuliano Carnimeo's 1972 film The Case of the Bloody Iris. The plan is to expand to other genres in the future. "The baseline for us is that it has to be a movie we personally enjoy and that we feel deserves a larger audience." Films will be reproduced as close to their original theatrical presentations as possible, and released in 4K UHD and Blu-ray formats. "We want to give these films the love they deserve," says Henkel.

Celluloid Dreams will join others -- most notably The Criterion Collection -- who focus on curating a collection of lost classics or cult favourites and releasing them in sumptuous special editions, often with bonus material. This reflects a wider trend in sales of physical media as they shift from mass market to premium collectors' items.

"While it's true that physical media continues to decline as consumers embrace digital formats, we do see high-profile theatrical new releases benefiting from premium physical formats," says Amy Jo Smith, president and CEO of DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group in the US. "4K UHD Blu-ray, which provides the highest quality home viewing in the market, experienced 20 percent growth for the full year 2022, driven by the year's biggest titles overall, including The Batman and Top Gun: Maverick."

HMV's head of film and TV, John Delaney, confirms that those buying physical discs are opting for a higher quality experience. "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," he says.

This shift to a more high-end experience has already happened with vinyl, which -- despite commanding steep prices -- has seen a huge resurgence in recent years -- so much so that in 2022 vinyl sales overtook CDs in the US for the first time since 1987. And in 2023, sales of vinyl in the UK reached their highest level since 1990. CDs -- once the shiny new kid on the home entertainment block -- have been slowly declining for many years. Yet there have even been glimmers that even they might be having a revival, driven partly by fans buying them from merch tables at concerts, as well as artists like Taylor Swift and BLACKPINK releasing multiple collectible editions of their albums on CD.

Your DVD collection, your book collection, what you hang on your wall, the clothes you wear, all of these things are signalling to people about your tastes, your attitudes -- Professor Nick Neave

The reality is though, that most CDs and DVDs already on our shelves are now fairly worthless -- even some charity shops won't accept them anymore. So why do many of us have such a desire to hold onto them? "Possessions are incredibly important for humans and this has been the case for recorded history," says Professor Nick Neave from the department of psychology at Northumbria University. "When people are digging up Bronze Age burial mounds, they're finding that people have been buried with small personal items. It's really clear that objects mean a great deal to people and they imbue them with a huge amount of emotional significance."

The things we collect -- and display to others -- are an extension our personality, says Neave. "Your DVD collection, your book collection, what you hang on your wall, the clothes you wear, all of these things are signalling to people about your tastes, your attitudes, your membership of certain groups." That desire to show off what we're into (and hopefully impress others in the process) hasn't gone away -- hence the popularity of website Letterboxd, where users list and rate the movies they've seen, and the flurry of Spotify Wrapped Instagram posts every December.

Neave, who is also the director of a hoarding research group, says our emotional attachment to objects means it can be incredibly difficult to let go of our possessions. "For most people, we surround ourselves with a certain amount of possessions that give us a sense of security, a sense of self-esteem, and yes, to show off our personality to visitors."

Cloud anxiety

Younger generations, who have grown up accessing and storing everything online -- especially photos -- are more likely to be digital hoarders than physical ones, but with this comes an increasing level of anxiety. "It's fairly unlikely that even if we get burgled somebody's going to nick all of our records," says Neave. "But if somebody hacks you, then all of your digital files could be gone forever. There's a real terror among young people about having their entire life history erased." He thinks this unease over everything being online could be driving some of the recent trends for Gen Z embracing physical mediums like film cameras, paper diaries and even cassette tapes.

There's another kind of anxiety that comes from the digital world: too many options.  "In our work with digital hoarding we look at how digital overload can lead to anxiety in students," says Neave. "They feel absolutely overwhelmed with information and choice. Some people find that if you've got too many things to choose from, you essentially just give up."

Algorithms have been designed to serve us options, but can end up flattening our cultural experience, feeding us more of the same that we've already consumed. There are signs young people are turning away from paid music subscription services. A cost of living crisis is a likely explanation -- but some users also want a more meaningful, curated and intentional kind of listening experience, one where they're not constantly hitting skip. Making the effort to pick out a CD, record or cassette, put it in the stereo and press play involves some agency -- rather than just passively listening to suggested playlists. Then there's the ethical dilemma, with increasing awareness of how little musicians themselves make from streaming services.

Whether these ripples of dissatisfaction over streaming will translate into a more significant reprieve for physical media, or are just a blip on the way to total digital dominance, is uncertain. But if you're refusing to get rid of the stacks of CDs and DVDs in your home -- or if you put the Oppenheimer Blu-ray on your Christmas list -- then you can be assured that you're not alone.

"Personal possessions are so deep rooted in our being and give us such immense comfort that I don't think they'll ever be a stage when everything goes virtual," says Neave. "We'll always want something physical, tangible and permanent."

GOOOAAALLL!!! Taika Waititi's Next Goal Wins Scores a Blu-ray Release on February 27

Tom Landy

5--6 minutes

The soccer sports comedy based on a true story and starring Michael Fassbender, Oscar Kightly, Will Arnett, and Elisabeth Moss will arrive on Blu-ray on February 27. Digital will be available on January 16th.

Based on a true story, this heartfelt underdog comedy follows the American Samoa soccer team, infamous for their brutal 31-0 FIFA loss in 2001. With the World Cup qualifiers fast approaching, the team hires down-on-his-luck, maverick coach Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender), hoping he will turn the world's worst soccer team into winners.

Next Goal Wins - Blu-ray 

The Blu-ray + Digital release will feature lossless 5.1 audio and supplements include:

Featurette

• Creating The Pitch of Life -- Explore filmmaker Taika Waititi's loving homage to American Samoa, Polynesian culture, and the sports movie in this delightfully entertaining short-form documentary. See what it took to make a winning movie about the losingest soccer team in the world.

Deleted Scene

• Priest Blessing the Team

Pre-orders for Next Goal Wins are up and here is the full press release:

"HEARTFELT AND HILARIOUS"
-- Pete Hammond, Deadline

Searchlight Pictures' Delightful Feelgood Comedy Next Goal Wins
Arrives on Digital January 16 and Blu-ray™ and DVD February 27

BURBANK, CA (January 4, 2024) -- From Academy Award® winner Taika Waititi* (Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit, What We Do In The Shadows) comes Next Goal Wins, a heartwarming and hilarious tale inspired by the true-life story of soccer underdogs American Samoa and their stumbling attempts to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Described as "big-hearted and feel-good" (Wendy Ide, Screen Daily), "a perfect underdog movie" (Martin Tsai, The Wrap), and "one of the best comedies of the year" (Dayna Eileen, CGM Backlot), the film stars acclaimed actor Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class, The Killer) as Thomas Rongen, the maverick coach with the near-impossible task of trying to turn one of the world's worst soccer team into winners. The international ensemble cast also includes Oscar Kightley, Kaimana, David Fane, Rachel House, Beulah Koale, Uli Latukefu, Semu Filipo, Lehi Falepapalangi, with Will Arnett and Elisabeth Moss.

Be the first to watch at home when Next Goal Wins becomes available from all major digital retailers including Prime Video, Apple TV, and Vudu on January 16, and arrives on Blu-ray and DVD on February 27, with never-before-seen bonus content including Taika Waititi's homage to American Samoa, Polynesian culture, and sports movies.

*Best Adapted Screenplay 2020, Jojo Rabbit

Film Synopsis
Based on a true story, this heartfelt underdog comedy follows the American Samoa soccer team, infamous for their brutal 31-0 FIFA loss in 2001. With the World Cup qualifiers fast approaching, the team hires down-on-his- luck, maverick coach Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender), hoping he will turn the world's worst soccer team into winners.

Bonus Features**
Featurette

• Creating The Pitch of Life -- Explore filmmaker Taika Waititi's loving homage to American Samoa, Polynesian culture, and the sports movie in this delightfully entertaining short-form documentary. See what it took to make a winning movie about the losingest soccer team in the world.

Deleted Scene

• Priest Blessing the Team

**Bonus features vary by product and retailer

Cast
Michael Fassbender as Thomas Rongen
Oscar Kightley as Tavita
Kaimana as Jaiyah Saelua
David Fane as Ace
Rachel House as Ruth
Beulah Koale as Daru Taumua
Uli Latukefu as Nicky Salapu
Chris Alosio as Jonah Semu
Filipo as Rambo
Ioane Goodhue as Smiley
Lehi Falepapalangi as Pisa
Hio Pelesasa as Samson
With Will Arnett as Alex Magnussen
And Elisabeth Moss as Gail

Directed by
Taika Waititi

Written by
Taika Waititi, Iain Morris

Produced by
Jonathan Cavendish p.g.a.
Garrett Basch p.g.a.
Taika Waititi p.g.a.
Mike Brett
Steve Jamison

Music by
Michael Giacchino

Product Specifications
Street Date
Digital: January 16, 2024
Physical: February 27, 2024

 Product SKUs
Digital: 4K UHD, HD, SD
Physical: Blu-ray (Blu-ray + Digital Code) & DVD

Feature Run Time
Approx. 104 minutes

 Rating
U.S. Rated PG-13
**For some strong language and crude material

Aspect Ratio
Digital: 2.00:1
Physical: 2.00:1

 Disc Size
Blu-ray: 50GB
DVD: 8.5GB

U.S. Audio
Blu-ray: English 5.1 DTS-HDMA and 2.0 Dolby Digital Descriptive Audio, Spanish and French 5.1 Dolby Digital
DVD: English, Spanish and French 5.1 Dolby Digital, English 2.0 Dolby Digital Descriptive Audio
Digital: English Dolby (UHD only, some platforms), English 5.1 (Dolby Digital) & 2.0, Spanish 5.1 (Dolby Digital) & 2.0, French 5.1 (Dolby Digital) & 2.0, English Descriptive Audio 2.0

U.S. Subtitles
Blu-ray: English SDH, Spanish, French
DVD: English SDH, Spanish, French
Digital: English SDH, French, Spanish (some platforms)

Lionsgate Home Entertainment has officially announced that it will release on 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes .The two releases are scheduled to arrive on the market on February 13.

Also releasing on the same day, Walmart will have an exclusive 4K Bluray + Blu-ray + Digital SteelBook, debuting with brand-new art prominently featuring the star-studded cast. The stand-alone SteelBook will be available for the suggested retail price of $29.96.

Fans of the franchise can collect the previously released The Hunger Games films in the 4K Blu-ray SteelBook 4-Film Collection which includes the original four films, featuring art of Katniss Everdeen and Coriolanus Snow, also available at Walmart.

In The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, three-time GRAMMY Award® winner and six-time nominee singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo joins the prestigious franchise, co-writing and performing the preeminent original song "Can't Catch Me Now."

64 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute, and decades before Coriolanus Snow became the tyrannical President of Panem, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes follows a young Coriolanus as he unites with Lucy Gray Baird in the 10th Hunger Games, and battles his instincts for both good and evil.

Based on the Suzanne Collins best-selling novel of the same name, with a screenplay by Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt, and directed by Francis Lawrence, the star-studded cast features Tom Blyth (Benediction), Golden Globe® winner Rachel Zegler (Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, West Side Story, 2022), Emmy® Award winner Peter Dinklage (Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, "Game of Thrones," 2019), Hunter Schafer ("Euphoria"), Josh Andrés Rivera (West Side Story), Jason Schwartzman (Asteroid City), and EGOT winner Viola Davis (Emmy® for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, "How to Get Away with Murder," 2015; GRAMMY® for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording, Finding Me, 2023; Oscar® for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Fences, 2017; Tony® for Best Actress (Leading Role – Play), Fences, 2010). The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is currently still in theaters, where it has earned over $325 million worldwide.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
• DOLBY ATMOS AUDIO TRACK
• Audio Commentary with Producer-Director Francis Lawrence and Producer Nina Jacobson
• "Predator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes" 8-Part Documentary
• Songbirds & Snakes (The Acting Ensemble)
• Pure as the Driven Snow (The Music of Lucy Gray Baird)
• A Palette of Tactics (On Location in Poland and Berlin)
• Humanity Undressed (Costume, Makeup & Hair)
• To the Victor Go the Spoils (Stunts & Weapons)
• Inner Sanctum (The Post-Production Process)
• Snow Lands on Top (Reflections)
• "The Hanging Tree" Song by Rachel Zegler
• A Letter to the Fans
• Theatrical Trailers (4K Only)
• Spanish, French, English SDH subtitles

Well, seeing as it's the first of the month, I obviously haven't bought anything yet, but here are some leftovers from last month.

Damn - Feddit.uk isn't accepting any picture uploads. Uh oh. Anyway.

Continuing my efforts to get all of James Cameron's films on Blu-ray, I bought Titanic (£3). Loads of bonus content on the two disc set, looking forward to getting through it all.

Having recently acquired a lovely book on the making of The Shape of Water, I recently picked that up as well to remind myself of the film before I delve behind the scenes. Another eBay cheapie.

Finally, a brand-new title, RoboDoc - The Creation of Robocop. This four part series running for five hours covers everything you need to know about the making of the iconic 80s sci-fi film. Highly recommended.

Happy New Year to everyone who posts or just frequents our little community here at Home Video.

It will be interesting to see how physical media develops in 2024.

Have a good one.

Are Blu-rays the new vinyl? Physical Media will be different - but better - in 2024

Chris Bumbray

While studios seem to have given up on physical media, niche indie labels are having huge success with loving restorations of cult titles.

Something interesting happened the other day. I reached out to Arrow Video to get a review copy of their upcoming Conan the Barbarian 4k release, The Conan Chronicles (which also features Conan the Destroyer). I was told their retail stock (on their end only, mind you) of the much-anticipated title had already sold out (don't worry -- more is on the way). To me, this is a very promising sign, with interesting companies like Arrow, Scream/Shout Factory, and Kino Lorber making really thoughtful, beautifully assembled 4K collector's editions of cult hits on physical media that, despite being more niche than they were twenty or so years ago, are actually selling really well.

Studios have all but abandoned physical media, at least as far as library titles go. Some studios, like Paramount, still re-release their classics through labels like Paramount Presents, but for many companies, these titles are an afterthought, even for their biggest movies. Even Paramount offloaded the recent 4K special edition of Witness, a stone-cold classic, to Arrow. The James Bond film series, one of the most popular of all time, is currently streaming in 4K, but the physical releases have never happened, despite the masters being ready to go. That's crazy, isn't it?

Yet, with physical media no longer a priority for studios, independent labels have moved in and started to put together loving restorations of their films. Such is the case of Oliver Stone's JFK, which remains one of Warner Bros's most popular catalogue titles, but one they seemingly had no interest in pressing on 4K Disc. Their loss is Shout Factory's gain, with them releasing both the director's cut and theatrical version in beautifully restored versions. 

But it's not just classics. One of Arrow's best-selling recent editions is Blackhat. This infamous Michael Mann flop grossed a princely $19 million (worldwide) but has found new life via this release, with many saying the director's cut contained as an extra is far better than the version we got in theatres. Even a movie like William Friedkin's Rampage, which never even got a legit theatrical release in the US, generates tremedous interest.

All this is an interesting look at the future of physical media (which we always keep track of here), as it seems increasingly like it may become a niche market for collectors -- but a very healthy one. Movie fans are collectors, and if you give them a product that's worth paying for, they'll happily do so. These new 4K editions will probably cost more than they would were studios to release them. The day of the $10-15 collector's edition is probably behind us. But, with editions that are treated like an event, with extras carefully crafted by fans, perhaps shelling out a little extra cash is a good way forward for the format. These indie labels are doing good work, and what's exciting about the whole thing is that fans are very happy to support their efforts. Now, if only we can get someone to put out Cocoon or Strange Days!

Mean Guns: Christopher Lambert and Ice-T action-thriller from Albert Pyun is getting a new Collector's Edition Blu-ray

EJ Tangonan

The MVP Rewind Collection has announced that Mean Guns, which is a previously rare title to find, will be getting a Collector's Edition release on Blu-ray.

December 29th 2023, 11:58am

Lately, we at JoBlo have been championing the collection of physical media in the face of certain movies that have been getting somewhat lost due to extremely limited availability. This is especially an issue for those who partake in a digital collection of movies, which has the potential of disappearing despite purchasing them. However, there are great distributors like Vinegar Syndrome and Arrow Video that have done a fantastic job remastering rare movies for Blu-ray releases. The MVP Rewind Collection has recently announced that the Albert Pyun action-thriller, Mean Guns, starring Christopher Lambert, Ice-T, Michael Halsey, Deborah Van Valkenburgh and Tina Cote is set for a Blu-ray release on April 9.

The plot description, courtesy of Blu-ray.com, reads,
"The world's most dangerous criminals are summoned to a new prison on the eve before its grand opening by Moon (Ice-T, New Jack City), the ruthless leader of the world's most powerful crime syndicate. Chaos ensues when weapons and ammunition are passed around and the group, including Lou (Christopher Lambert, Highlander), begin their fight to survive. The last three men standing by midnight have been promised $10,000,000 in cash by Moon, who watches from his surveillance camera as gunfire and bodies fly. Rivalries develop between friends and the lines of loyalty are crossed as each criminal attempts to outwit, outrun and outlive the other in the action packed game of elimination."

The special features and technical specs are set to include:

• High-definition transfer in the original 2.39:1 aspect ratio
• NEW Interview with Producer Gary Schmoeller (HD, 28:57)
• NEW Interview with Executive Producer Paul Rosenblum (HD, 23:41)
• NEW Interview with Composer Anthony Riparetti (HD, 18:31)
• Audio Commentary from Director Albert Pyun
• Archival Introduction by Director Albert Pyun (HD, 00:39)
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Audio: LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English, Spanish and French Subtitles
• Reversible artwork
• Collectible Mini-Poster