When it comes to buying physical media, specifically Blu-rays and 4K discs, there are a huge number of people that look at it as completely alien. Why would you waste your money on a physical copy when you could just stream it or buy a digital version in 4K? Sure, there are plenty of reasons why people (like me) still buy physical media, especially 4K UHD discs, but there are maybe even more (like my wife) that think it’s the equivalent of buying a laserdisc or VHS. And apparently, Disney might just be in that latter camp.
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According to a report from The Digital Bits, it appears that Disney is rumored to be giving up releasing most of its back catalog of titles on 4K UHD. The exact news is that Disney might be only releasing 4K discs for new theatrical releases, as well as Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and Disney animated films. And while that does seem like there will be plenty of 4K discs arriving from the Mouse House in the future, you have to fully understand the immense library of titles the studio owns to grasp what could mean for people that still love physical media in high-quality formats.
The biggest example of this is with 20th Century Fox. Remember that Disney owns the former studio and its entire library of titles. And those films don’t fall under the aforementioned criteria for a 4K release. That means the films that aren’t already on 4K probably won’t get the love in the future, outside of planned “Home Alone” and “Hocus Pocus” releases. Also, the report claims that James Cameron still holds power thanks to “Avatar” and Disney could end up doing some Cameron films on 4K to help promote the new sequels in the future.
The report doesn’t claim to have reasons for this change in strategy. Is it a temporary issue that could be fixed when the COVID-19 pandemic ends? Or is this more of a larger way to promote the offerings on Disney+ and Hulu? Honestly, with the recent news about “Mulan” arriving on Disney+ exclusively in North America, it’s not hard to see how the studio is trying to push subscribers to the streaming platform. And the future is definitely with direct-to-consumer releases on streaming. The real question is what happens to those films that don’t land on the two streaming platforms?
So, while we don’t have confirmation from Disney that this is actually the plan moving forward, this is a major bummer for people that still enjoy watching films on 4K discs with all the special features and no need for a high-speed internet connection.