Physical & Digital EST: The Future of Home Video Discussion Thread

[Ender14]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

Interesting, IIRC MGM, Lionsgate and Paramount had been redeeming at iTunes OR VUDU.

Yes, you are right. What's really weird is it has a code for Universal Rewards and Universal usually redeems through MA. Not sure what happened with this one.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Ender14

Yes, you are right. What's really weird is it has a code for Universal Rewards and Universal usually redeems through MA. Not sure what happened with this one.

It looks like the information for this Disc says 4K iTunes. Here is a Link to the Universal Code Redemption, but it seems it will only Redeem to iTunes.

https://www.universalredeem.com/

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Ender14

Yes, you are right. What's really weird is it has a code for Universal Rewards and Universal usually redeems through MA. Not sure what happened with this one.

Originally Posted by alchav21

It looks like the information for this Disc says 4K iTunes. Here is a Link to the Universal Code Redemption, but it seems it will only Redeem to iTunes.

If you look at the back cover of the disc it clearly shows redeems at ATV and Apple ecosystems. No other digital locker is mentioned.

Would not be surprised to see this become the norm for most all digital codes, as in have to select 1 specific digital locker.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Ender14

Yes, you are right. What's really weird is it has a code for Universal Rewards and Universal usually redeems through MA. Not sure what happened with this one.

Apple digital copies are the best quality though, yes?

[cheez avenger]

I made a purchase earlier today on GameFly for The Last Duel 4K disc (used)for $9.99 and was pleasantly surprised they have a nice collection of 4K disc rentals via their subscription plans. 1 disc for $15.95 per month at a time or 2 discs at a time for $22.95. They have games, dvds, blu-ray, 4ks, etc. I think I'm going to reactivate my subscription for the 2 at a time, because if they stock 4K discs then that alone will be worth the price per month.

New subscribers can get a 30-day free trial as long as you cancel the membership before the end of the trial.

https://www.gamefly.com/

[Ender14]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Apple digital copies are the best quality though, yes?

That is what I have heard but I rarely watch my digital copies so that's not important to me. They're mainly for family which is why I like to have them in one place. Plus, I'm pretty tech savvy but cannot figure out where to find the special features through Apple. The Apple app on my Shield Pro just starts playing the movie when you select it unlike Vudu or MA where it takes you to a submenu with features and movie info. I don't even see the movie through the Apple Music app on my phone which is apparently what you have to use for your movie library on mobile. It is all needlessly complicated and burdensome. Vudu and MA are the same everywhere.

[cheez avenger]

Don't know if any of you guys have seen this promotion on Amazon. I completed it and got the $10.

Amazon Prime members, fill out your Prime Stampcard before July 14, and get a $10 credit.

You must activate the Stampcard activate the Stampcard
first, and then complete the following 4 tasks:

1. Make a Prime-eligible purchase
2. Stream a show on Prime Video
3. Listen to a song with Prime Music
4. Borrow an eBook on Prime Reading

Once you complete the 4 tasks, the $10 credit will be issued within 24 hours, and expires 365 days after issuance.

Most of the tasks were redeemed right away. The prime show took about 48hrs to register and I received the discount coupon about an hour after the email saying I had gotten it.


I ordered the Planet of the Apes 4K disc trilogy ($24.99) and The Wolf of Wall Street 4K disc ($14.49). With the $10 off, free same day shipping upgrade, and sales tax my total was $32.50. That's $8.12 per title.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

Projections are all about the future - not the present.

Inflation is sky high. People are hurting for disposable cash. For $20 they can buy a single movie or they can have a couple of months on a streamer. It's a no-brainer decision.

Whats this people can’t have fun, entertain themselves when they no longer drive as much or go on expensive a vacations? Your worried about some buy less physical media, that’s rich.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Apple digital copies are the best quality though, yes?

I don't have Apple, but I do have access to all the other Streaming Providers. My main three are Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Vudu. I have added Disney+, Hulu, Peacock. My Sony UHDTV is Hardwired straight from the Fiber Feed ISP Switch. I use Android Apps to access all the Streaming Providers, and my Picture and Sound Quality are Fantastic! Watched Marry Me last night on Amazon Prime, Beautiful Picture and Sound!

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Apple digital copies are the best quality though, yes?

It has been a while since I watched a movie via ATV4K. Have watched several shows from ATV+ and they were pretty good, IIRC video was in the 15 to 20 Mbps range as displayed on Developer HUD.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Ender14

The Apple app on my Shield Pro just starts playing the movie when you select it unlike Vudu or MA where it takes you to a submenu with features and movie info.

Never tried the Apple app on my Shield so just a guess, what happens if you press the cursor up or down once content is playing?

[JohnAV]

Box Office Dance-Off: ‘Elvis’ Opens to $30.5M to Tie With ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ for Top Spot - Hollywood Reporter 6/26

The race betweeen Baz Luhrmann's Elvis Presley biopic and the 'Top Gun' sequel won't be declared until Monday morning.

In rare box office dance-off, Baz Luhrmann’s biopic Elvis — starring Austin Butler as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll — and Top Gun: Maverick tied for the weekend crown with an estimated $30.5 million each. The race won’t be declared until Monday morning when final grosses are tallied.

Top Gun: Maverick is doing formidable business in its fifth weekend as it jumps the $1 billion mark globally. The movie fell a scant 32 percent domestically thanks to being rereleased in select Imax and other premium large-format screens.

Elvis, from Warner Bros., has older moviegoers to thank for opening ahead of expectations: 56 percent of the audience so far is over the age of 35, including a whopping 29 percent over 55. Luhrmann’s frenetic Elvis Presley biopic skewed female (57 percent) and, not surprisingly, played best in the South. Audiences bestowed it with an A- CinemaScore, and a 94 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes (the Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score is lower, or 79 percent).

“It is an extraordinary accomplishment to get to this level of business, and see older moviegoers return to theaters,” says Warners domestic distribution chief Jeff Goldstein, whose studio has been rocked by a leadership change in recent weeks as new boss Warner Bros. Discovery David Zaslav hired Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy to run the movie studio as motion picture chairman Toby Emmerich steps down.

Overseas, the biopic took in $20 million from its first 52 markets for a global start of $50.5 million. The U.K. and Australia led with $4.7 million each.

Elvis co-stars Tom Hanks as infamous music manager Colonel Tom Parker and Olivia DeJonge (The Visit) as Priscilla Presley.

Heading into the weekend, tracking suggested Elvis would open in the $25 million range domestically, considering that adult dramas are a challenged genre in the pandemic era. Also, the marquee is the most crowded it has been since COVID-19 struck among holdovers such as Top Gun 2, Jurassic World Dominion, Lightyear and new horror entry The Black Phone.

June 24-26 marked the first non-holiday weekend in five years when four titles earned $20 million or more, and the first time that happened in four years for any weekend. And overall revenue was down only 10 percent from 2019, when Toy Story 4 alone debuted to $118 million.

Top Gun 2, which earlier this week crossed the $900 million mark globally, achieved yet another milestone on Friday when it became only the second Hollywood release of the pandemic era to fly past $500 million domestically. (Last year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home earned $804.7 million in North America.) The Paramount and Skydance movie finished Sunday with a domestic total of $521.7 million. Internationally, it won the weekend with $44.5 million from 65 markets for a foreign tally of $484.7 million.

Universal and Amblin’s Jurassic World Dominion also continued to please in its third weekend as it approaches $750 million in worldwide ticket sales. The dino pic came in third domestically with $26.4 million to clear the $300 million mark in North America with a total through Sunday of $302.8 million.

Internationally, Jurassic World 3 grossed another $43 million from 72 markets for a foreign cume of $443.9 million and $746.7 million globally. That includes a hearty $114 million from China.

Like Elvis, Blumhouse and Universal’s The Black Phone also did better than expected in its domestic debut. The pic, fueled by moviegoers between ages 18 and 34, placed fourth domestically with an estimated $23.4 million opening.

Directed by Scott Derrickson, The Black Phone boasts an 87 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes and earned a B+ from audiences. The pic stars Mason Thames as a boy who receives supernatural help in his attempts to escape a serial killer played by Ethan Hawke. Overseas, it earned $12.4 million from 45 markets for a global start of $35.9 million.

One bummer is Disney and Pixar’s Lightyear, which fell 65 percent to $17.7 million in its second outing after opening to a subdued $51 million a week ago. That’s an unprecedented decline for a Pixar movie (that excludes Onward, which opened just as theaters began closing because of the pandemic and fell off 72 percent).

Lightyear‘s 10-day domestic total is $88.8 million. Overseas, the Toy Story spinoff grossed $19.3 million from 43 markets for a foreign tally of $63.6 million and $152.4 million globally.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

Whats this people can’t have fun, entertain themselves when they no longer drive as much or go on expensive a vacations? Your worried about some buy less physical media, that’s rich.

or how about people trimming their subscriptions? somehow for some people no matter what happens it is a prediction of the end of physical media.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

or how about people trimming their subscriptions? somehow for some people no matter what happens it is a prediction of the end of physical media.

We often hear about how people spend a large chunk of change on latest iPhone or like, buy $5 Coffees frequently, yet 2 people here that hail from the less expensive parts of the united states are bothered by inflation and updating their home theaters to anything good. Wow I just feel so honored to be among people that enjoy life comparably and buy media.

[PenguinInfinity]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

We often hear about how people spend a large chunk of change on latest iPhone or like, buy $5 Coffees frequently, yet 2 people here that hail from the less expensive parts of the united states are bothered by inflation and updating their home theaters to anything good. Wow I just feel so honored to be among people that enjoy life comparably and buy media.

Regardless of whether someone is buying Blu-ray discs or subscribing to streaming services, movies are way cheaper than most other things that people constantly spend their money on.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

We watched Doctor Strange last night via Disney+ and thought it much better than the first with Sam Raimi at the helm for this one. Wish Raimi could have made the last Spider-Man. Had a fairly good sound track but like other Marvel-Disney movies the use of Atmos was not as effective as it could have been. Will add this one to the collection.

I only just got around to watching this tonight on D+, Doctor Strange #2 was very well done comparably. Yes can't wait to see this on 4k BD media authored in native 4K resolution in a month.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

or how about people trimming their subscriptions? somehow for some people no matter what happens it is a prediction of the end of physical media.

It must frustrate them to know people can still buy high quality media.

[Vilya]

I am still here. That's about all I can manage to say right now.

I'm sorry that I did not respond to the PMs that were sent to me; I received no notifications that I had any or I somehow missed them.

I hope that you have all been well; I thought about you often.

[gotmule]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I am still here. That's about all I can manage to say right now.

I'm sorry that I did not respond to the PMs that were sent to me; I received no notifications that I had any or I somehow missed them.

I hope that you have all been well; I thought about you often.

Thanks for checking in with an update. Hope you start getting back on your feet soon.

[stonesfan129]

Anyone seen FB - Secrets of Dumbeldore yet? I was planning on renting the Blu-ray today, but neither of the Redbox kiosks in my town have them. All the ones in Madison have them, but it's like whoever stocks the kiosks in my area does a poor job or just straight up doesn't care. The last two big movies to come out were The Northman and The Contractor and neither kiosk had these either. I had to drive 20-30 mins into Madison to rent them. I think they may have them now, but it's like they're always 3-5 days behind release if they even get them. With the price of gas, explain how driving 20-30 mins into Madison to rent a Blu-ray makes sense anymore.