Interesting happening: Sony to take over Disney's DVD/BR distribution!

[thewayne]

Disney will manage its streaming side, Sony will do the physical side. Except for this one weird little line in the article: "According to Disney, the licensing model allows the studio to continue to offer films and TV shows through physical retailers...".

So sometimes Disney will still sell physical media? That doesn't make sense. If they're not continuing to churn out physical product, their cost per unit to do limited runs is going to by sky-high. Even media manufacturers who relabel product for them are going to charge them more for doing off-runs since they're not doing on-going runs for them. This is really weird.

Also mentioned is the continue softening of home media sales, which distresses me. I don't want to be forced into "buying" digital-only releases as we've seen how trustworthy these idiots are with making sure that you "own" these things for your lifetime. Give me a physical copy, or a way to download a file that I can make a copy from! Yeah, and monkeys might fly out of my butt!

The one thing that the article doesn't mention is Disney's vaults, so I imagine that those are going to continue to be clamped shut and things will go on disappearing, to reemerge every 10-15 years or slower to try to gin up consumer demand for infrequent releases.

https://variety.com/2024/film/news/disney-sony-pysical-media-dvd-blu-ray-disc-business-1235917294/

https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/24/02/21/0143244/disney-strikes-deal-for-sony-to-take-over-its-dvd-blu-ray-disc-business

https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/24/02/21/0143244/disney-strikes-deal-for-sony-to-take-over-its-dvd-blu-ray-disc-business

Comments

[disneydream06]

I got the Variety email about this the other day. Not really happy. :o
On top of this, Disney is closing down their movie club in a couple of months. :o :o :o
I also belong to the D23 club and they send out updated membership rules or whatever you wanna call it and in there was some potentially bad news. They reserve the right to change the magazine they put out, which leads me to believe they will stop printing and go just digital. If that's the case I will drop the membership, it was the magazine that really got me to upgrade to a paid membership. Yes, I would get the information through digital, but I am old/old fashioned and prefer a physical magazine.
UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not happy with Disney at the moment. :o
Hugs, Jon

[thewayne]

Yeah, digital magazines are kinda nebulous.  I get two monthlies in print: Milk Street magazine, a cooking magazine from the guy who created America's Test Kitchen, and a publication about my immune disorder.  I also get a quarterly ebook science fiction/fantasy magazine through an annual Kickstarter drive.  Disney is a little desperate because their streaming service hasn't been profitable.

[disneydream06]

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[silveradept]

Disney has a lot of studios and marks, like Miramax and Touchstone, and I would have expected this Sony deal to take over the physical production and marketing for those divisions, not Disney itself. I'm guessing that the things that are unmistakably Disney will still be handled in-house, but everything else will get farmed out to Sony.

[thewayne]

Excellent point, I hadn't considered the other studios that Disney owned.  Which I hate.  Much like seeing MGM's lion, then beneath it, 'An Amazon Company'.