Over the weekend I had the chance to take in an IMAX screening of Lee Isaac Chung’s Twisters (2024) and I have to say, I actually quite enjoyed it. Much like Top Gun: Maverick, the film threads the needle between honoring the original (reviewed here in 4K) and updating the material for the times, while also injecting a few fresh elements in too. The cast is excellent, and the script (by Mark L. Smith, from a story by Joseph Kosinski) doesn’t miss a trick. There’s a moment early in the film where one character is explaining to another how he plans to study a tornado with 3D radar, and he demonstrates by taking a glass of water and stirring it with a spoon—it’s very smart and effective. Bottom line: If you like the original film, you’ll enjoy this one too. Plus, the Atmos mix was off the hook. I’m really looking forward to the eventual 4K release (it’s already available for pre-order here on Amazon, street date TBA).
Meanwhile, here’s something exciting: The industry trades are reporting today that Peacock is going to start streaming the popular 1990s crime drama NBC series Homicide: Life on the Street in HD and 4K on 8/19! The series starred Andre Braugher, Richard Belzer, Yaphet Kotto, and many others. Apparently, a deal has been made to clear the music rights, which have up until now prevented the show’s release on Blu-ray. We don’t know yet if a physical media release is planned, but if the show has actually been remastered in 4K, at least a Blu-ray would seem likely eventually. The show is based on a book by David Simon, who was the first to reveal (here on X last week) that NBC had finally secured the music. Like many shows of the time, Homicide was shot on film (specifically Super 16), but post was often done on SD video. With luck, that original film has been scanned and this isn’t simply an upsample. We’ll know more soon. You can read more here at Variety.
Also today, the BBC ran a great story yesterday to the effect that Phil Halliday, managing director of the UK retailer HMV, says his chain’s physical media sales have actually increased recently, with 4K and Blu-ray doing particularly well of late. HMV’s video disc sales are apparently up 5% in the first half of the year. You can read more here.
This is actually something we’ve been hearing a lot lately, which is that there’s been a real resurgence of physical media sales in the last year or two. And while this is certainly a good thing for physical media, and particularly for Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD, there’s a frustrating side to it as well...
The Hollywood Studios Need to Replicate More Disc Product!
So many of these titles—especially on 4K Ultra HD, but also Blu-ray—are being replicated in batch runs of 1500, 2000, or 5000. And they’re selling out quickly in pre-orders, and often before street date! So when the street date actually rolls around, lots of people who pre-ordered the title are getting notices saying that it’s going to be another week or two before their copy arrives. I’ve also heard from many Bits readers who have pre-ordered discs, only to have their pre-order cancelled by their retailer of choice, simply because there isn’t enough supply to go around!
Examples? Paramount’s recent 4K Ultra HDs of Chinatown (1974) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) are currently out of stock everywhere. Many people who recently purchased Disney and Lucasfilm’s Andor: Season One in 4K also tried to pick up Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in 4K at the same time and couldn’t, as it was out of stock (though recently it’s appeared for sale again). But may other Disney 4Ks are out of stock now too, mostly recently Ratatouille and Inside Out. As many of you know, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer had massive stocking problems in its first few weeks of release. The recent James Cameron 4K titles (The Abyss, True Lies, Aliens) were impossible to find on street. So too were Dune: Part Two and Top Gun: Maverick in many places.
Title after title is having these problems. So naturally, Bits readers keep asking us what’s going on. And when we try to contact the studios in question to find out when and if more product is coming, the response we often get is crickets. Seriously, in the last month I’ve asked four different major studios about 4K disc supply issues—often multiple times—and I’ve only gotten a single reply.
This is a problem.
When disc fans want to buy a 4K title, and they have money in hand, they should be able to do so. I can certainly understand small replication runs of Limited Edition titles, but when major new release or catalog titles are impossible for consumers to find on street date, that’s a problem. Making matters worse is the fact that unscrupulous secondary-market sellers—knowing that a title is limited edition—buy every copy they can get their hands on and then sell them on eBay for three times the price.
The home entertainment industry needs to do something about this issue. And what they can do is to find a way to grow replication capacity again. It’s certainly not going to return to heyday levels, but the studios should certainly be able to replicate and ship enough product to meet demand, and right now they’re failing to do so.
All right, that’s just a brief soapbox rant that—hopefully—I won’t have to revisit. We’ll see.
In the meantime, here’s a look at the cover artwork for a few recently announced titles that are now (or soon will be) available for pre-order on Amazon.com...
Stay tuned...
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