Posted in: 4K/Blu-Ray, Movies | Tagged: 4k blu-ray, Best Buy, blu-ray, dvd, physical media

Physical Media Is Not Dead For Film Fans, It Is Just Fine Actually

This week's announcement that Best Buy will no longer carry DVD and Blu-ray as of January is a blow, but physical media will be okay.

Physical media took another body blow this week, announcing that Best Buy will no longer carry DVD/Blu-ray in stores or online as of January. For the last few years, their in-store section has dwindled significantly; though they still catered to collectors with an obscene amount of exclusive Steelbook designs, they are always popular with those who still buy discs. With shrinking sections in other stores like Walmart and Target, many call this the death nail. But is it really?

Physical Media's Peak Is Over, But It's Not Dead

While nowhere near the highs of 2000-2010's, physical media sales of films still topped $1.5 billion in 2022. A far cry from the peak of 2005 when sales were around $16 billion. Disney has stopped selling physical media in many foreign countries, with the US expected to be next soon. And sure, more and more people are building their streaming profiles, using services like Vudu to create a digital collection. But, just like with music, a huge group of collectors keeps film on media alive. The aftermarket for discs is huge, with many towns seeing brisk sales at regional chains like The Exchange in the Midwest and numerous mom-and-pop shops. Just like with vinyl, many collectors keep films on disc as a backup to streaming now, just in case a company decides to one day take a title off a service or even make changes to an old title after the fact.

And that is to say, nothing of companies both owned by the studios or operating independently to make special releases and collector's editions like Kino Lorber, Shout! Factory, Vinegar Syndrome, and, of course, The Criterion Collection, to name a few. These companies provide mega-editions of cult classics and important films. In contrast, resurrecting films lost to obscurity and time, and collectors eat them up, often selling out titles and begging for more. They will also now have to pick up the slack in the Steelbook market. And disc still remains the best way to watch a film, with 4K sales up year to year since being introduced in 2016, and providing the best sound and picture quality.

While we will never see the heights reached at the peak of physical media, the collectors market is doing just fine and is showing no signs of slowing down. So, cool it with the gravedigging.

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