Thanks to Christopher Nolan, reports of the death of physical media are greatly exaggerated. One week after the Nov. 21 release of the “Oppenheimer” Blu-ray, Best Buy and Amazon reported that they were completely sold out of 4K UHD copies of the exacting director’s latest film.
“It’s unheard of,” says Justin LaLiberty, director of operations for Vinegar Syndrome, a film restoration and distribution company. “In the past decade, I can’t think of another title that caused that type of fervor.”
“Oppenheimer” sales perhaps were buoyed by Nolan’s recent public comments championing the value of “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.” He joins filmmakers like Guillermo del Toro and Edgar Wright in a chorus of industry voices sounding an alarm to protect the format. But a battle is unfolding between a still-thriving collector’s market and an increasing number of companies genuflecting to the headwinds of streaming, where server space for a full panorama of titles is becoming more limited than the technology once promised.
“The streamers are denying us any access whatsoever to certain films,” says James Cameron, who recently remastered “The Abyss” and “True Lies” for streaming and 4K disc. “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.’”
During the COVID lockdowns in 2020, streamers seemed to have the advantage because people were sequestered at home. Yet companies like Sony and “Oppenheimer” distributor Universal, and their downstream partners Shout! Studios and Arrow Video, reported an explosive uptick in sales of physical discs. Dean Lawson of U.K.-based Arrow reports U.S. growth of 72% between 2020 and 2021. On the manufacturing side, Michael Bonner, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment president, assures that post-pandemic, the physical market remains very important to the company.
“There is a meaningful number of consumers who remain committed to physical discs and presents a real opportunity for us to maintain engagement in the category,” Bonner says.
No doubt, overall annual physical media consumption has declined. According to Statista Consumer Insights, since 2018 the number of people who watched DVD/Blu-rays over a 12-month period decreased from 49% to 30%.
John Rotella, Shout’s senior VP of sales, attributes some of the losses in physical business to companies like Best Buy, Target and Walmart changing their strategies. “They’ve removed front- of-store end caps. Target has this four-sided, lighted fixture, and they went to three sides dedicated to vinyl. You are fighting a decline in space,” Rotella says. Moreover, Best Buy recently confirmed to PvNew that physical discs would be removed online and in stores in 2024.
One strategy to combat the falling numbers has been the expansion of the 4K market. In fact, so far “Oppenheimer” 4K discs represent 40% of all of the film’s domestic physical disc sales — a new industry high. Following the lead of vinyl, a “dead” media that’s seeing a massive resurgence, companies like Arrow and Criterion are enticing fans with limited-edition, retailer-exclusive packaging and deluxe releases bursting with bonus materials.
With “Titanic” turning 25 this month and big anniversaries coming next year for “The Godfather Part II” (50) and “Pulp Fiction” (30), Bob Buchi, Paramount’s president of Worldwide Home Entertainment, remains sanguine about consumers’ desire to hold a copy of their favorite film in their hands.
“We believe there’s still a place for physical media,” Buchi says, “and there’s a lot of fans out there that appreciate it for all that it has to offer.”
For collectors like Silas Lesnick, the 8,000 titles in his library — with plenty more to acquire — nurture a dream that began in childhood. “The single most exciting thing in the universe was going to the video store,” Lesnick says. “So the idea that I can have a video store is just a fulfillment of that.”
