Australia 4K

[obitom]

Hi All

I've recently moved to Australia and I'm quickly learning how many 4K releases available in the US and UK are missing from lists here (AU).

For example; Moon, La La Land, Alita just to name a few I'm after.
Yet, all Predator movies and other random choices seem to have been released.

I know in the grand scheme of things this is a minor issue, but I was wondering if anyone had any further info on this?
Was Australia just late to the UHD party and the distributers are now playing catch-up?

I'm just curious and thought I'd reach out to everyone here before starting the money burning exercise that is importing from the US and UK.
I must admit it reminds me of when both DVD and Blu-Rays were first released in the UK - very little was available so I had to import or be patient I guess.

Cheers

Tom

[Cevolution]

Alita: Battle Angel is available on 4K Blu-ray in Australia.

[GenPion]

I thought the thread was for an announcement of Australia arriving on 4K in Australia.

[Cevolution]

Originally Posted by GenPion

I thought the thread was for an announcement of Australia arriving on 4K in Australia.

I thought the same.

[StrayButler91]

Originally Posted by obitom

Hi All

I've recently moved to Australia and I'm quickly learning how many 4K releases available in the US and UK are missing from lists here (AU).

For example; Moon, La La Land, Alita just to name a few I'm after.
Yet, all Predator movies and other random choices seem to have been released.

I know in the grand scheme of things this is a minor issue, but I was wondering if anyone had any further info on this?
Was Australia just late to the UHD party and the distributers are now playing catch-up?

I'm just curious and thought I'd reach out to everyone here before starting the money burning exercise that is importing from the US and UK.
I must admit it reminds me of when both DVD and Blu-Rays were first released in the UK - very little was available so I had to import or be patient I guess.

Cheers

Tom

Australia is the piracy capital of the world, it's a small market for home media. So with that in mind, the reasons why we sometimes miss out are two-pronged:

1) The distributor needs to pay for the 4K disc to be classified. Even if the movie itself is already classified, they need to pay again. This isn't the case everywhere else in the world.
2) Not all distributors are the same worldwide. In the case of La La Land, EOne distributed in Australia, but it's Lionsgate overseas. If EOne wanted to source 4K discs from Lionsgate, that's money to pay for said discs, etc. Ditto with stuff like... Rambo 4 (Lionsgate in the US, Sony internationally), 3:10 to Yuma, The Expendables 1&2.

So bottom line, the discs might exist, but bringing them to Oz costs, and a distributor won't pony up for said costs unless they're certain it's worthwhile.

[kuzronk]

Alita had the Best Buy steelbook here along with the 3D/4K/Blu-ray combo (now 4K disc only), JB-HI-FI also has 2 for $40 a lot lately (Sanity as well somewhat despite being more flawed) which makes some of new releases far cheaper than overseas.

We have some releases lacking in the US such as Escape from New York,Prince of Darkness,They Live,The Fog and Shutter Island (I know they aren't Aus only like stuff like Splash and Quiz Show on normal Blu-ray but)

[nick4Knight]

Originally Posted by StrayButler91

Australia is the piracy capital of the world, it's a small market for home media.

[Reasons...]

So bottom line, the discs might exist, but bringing them to Oz costs, and a distributor won't pony up for said costs unless they're certain it's worthwhile.

Money permitting in those cases I'll fork over to import or source a used copy from Ebay etc. Failing that option I'll go halves with a friend and snag a remux untill I can prioritize my own copy (did this for Daybreakers after viewing disc DV). Failing that? Well... Such as it is -- They want my money they need to supply it here and farming it into the 2 for 40's before too long is really my yardstick, price wise.

Too poor for any higher principles than that.

[obitom]

Thanks all and apologies about the 'Australia' title - I hadn't thought people might think I was accidentally announcing a new release!!

Thanks for the responses, it is interesting to know and I think I will slowly start importing some films I'm after based on this as I could end up waiting forever!

As for Alita, strangely I found it in JB yesterday so not sure why I thought the 4K wasn't available in Australia.

Anyway, thanks again everyone. Enjoy your films!

Cheers

Tom