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Gladiator II doesn't do enough to set itself apart from the original. It justifies its existence but could have been better.
Posted in: 4K/Blu-Ray, Movies | Tagged: 4k blu-ray, blu-ray, disney, physical media, sony home entertainment
Disney Hands Sony Their Physical Media Production
Disney and Sony have entered into an agreement for the latter to take over there physical media releases, and it is a good thing.
Article Summary
- Disney entrusts Sony with physical media production, including disc making and packaging.
- Shift to Sony marks a positive move for Disney's vast library of physical media titles.
- Disney's Movie Club to close, reflecting a wider shift in their home entertainment strategy.
- Collaboration paves the way for new and out-of-print releases, benefiting collectors.
Disney and Sony have entered into an agreement for the latter to take over their physical media production. What does that mean? It means Sony will now handle the making of the discs, the packaging decisions, and the shipment of the titles to distributors and retailers. The Digital Bits has many more details about this and broke the story. Disney will also shudder its Movie Club, which has been running for decades. I find it interesting that some people were treating this as "another death blow" to physical media when it is the complete opposite.
Disney Vaults Could Open Big-Time
Per that article on TDB, Disney focused so much on Disney+ that it started becoming a headache for their home entertainment department to get anything done. This led to cost-cutting, canceled and fewer releases, and more that killed their physical media output. What this does, and what other studios have learned and embraced, is outsourcing all of it to someone else, letting them do all the production and leg work, and taking the money. Boutique labels like Shout Studios, Kino Lorber, Arrow Video, Vinegar Syndrome, and more have been doing this for years, and it has been a boon for physical media collectors. Films long out of print and major AAA releases get special editions and more that we otherwise never would have gotten.
Disney now has a library that not only includes all of their own titles, but 20th Century Fox catalog titles, 20th Century Studios productions, Touchstone, and more that have both new and old releases that Sony can pull from. The first film part of the deal is the upcoming horror film The First Omen, so we won't see the benefits of this deal for a bit, but by the end of the year, I bet we start seeing a ton of catalog releases we haven't seen on the market in some time. In this instance, at least, Disney should be praised for finally waking up and seeing what other studios have seen for years.
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