Why *NO* 2021 big Oscar winners on UHDBD???

[RBBrittain]

How come NONE of this year's "top six" Oscar winners are going to UHDBD? Nomadland is BD-only this week; Judas and the Black Messiah & Minari have also been announced for BD only. Only The Father has the excuse of not even being announced yet. Yet all four of them are available as UHD streams on Vudu (presumably elsewhere), though only Nomadland is available for purchase there (the others are PVOD, $19.99 rental only).

[Snicket]

The UHD market is just very small.

We may see a Nomadland UHD later and Minari may get one form the A24 shop.

[trekky76]

Oscar winners nowadays are mostly niched movies. Most people watch that stuff on streaming. Not to mention alot of them are streaming exclusives anyway. I'm just happy movies like Tenet are still made and released on physical 4K.

[vwnut13]

Why?

Because nobody has heard of any of these movies.

[Hellboy]

Probably because the niche films the Oscars deems worthy of viewership aren’t in line with what the masses will pay to see and/or own.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by RBBrittain

How come NONE of this year's "top six" Oscar winners are going to UHDBD? Nomadland is BD-only this week; Judas and the Black Messiah & Minari have also been announced for BD only. Only The Father has the excuse of not even being announced yet. Yet all four of them are available as UHD streams on Vudu (presumably elsewhere), though only Nomadland is available for purchase there (the others are PVOD, $19.99 rental only).

Because it was a year where the movie theaters were mostly closed.

NoManLand was released February 19, 2021 (states) and made a pitiful $5,451,738 worldwide.

Judas and the Black Messiah didn’t screen publicly at all in 2020 and made its debut in February 2021 in theaters and on HBO Max. $6,126,770 Worldwide.

The Father was release last April to whatever was barely opened made $3,880,890 Worldwide.

All three examples compared to 2019 wold be consider obscure and not worth anything more then BD/DVD.

[kevin87]

Honestly, if it hadn't gotten a lot of buzz from the Oscars nom, Minari probably would've been DVD only in the US. But yes, the stories that get you nominations aren't typically the stylistic movies that the 4K consumer wants to shell out $30 for.

[JG7]

Because theaters are/were close. Without them, they can't build a proper audience for a 4k release.

[slimdude]

Since hardly nobody had even seen nor heard of those movies, I'm surprised they had The Academy Awards.

[wildphantom]

Originally Posted by trekky76

Oscar winners nowadays are mostly niched movies. Most people watch that stuff on streaming. Not to mention alot of them are streaming exclusives anyway. I'm just happy movies like Tenet are still made and released on physical 4K.

I'm not sure that's true. I've seen all of the nominees, and would have watched every one at the cinema if I could have. Millions of people go to see them in theaters, and ultimately wouldn't watch them on streaming if they didn't have the buzz of successful theatrical campaigns.

When you say Oscar winners nowadays are mostly niched movies, are you really saying that the masses only go to see blockbusters? That would be accurate, but I shudder at the thought that anything else other than a blockbuster could be considered 'niche'. Maybe proper cinema, but not niche.

As an avid collector of 4K discs, if all we are going to get on the format in terms of new films are just blockbusters then film lovers might as well give up now. Each and every one of these nominees should be getting a release on UHD in my opinion. It's actually pathetic. We're lauding the future in terms of 4K television screens and high dynamic range, yet are not going to release the best new films to showcase it?

I take what you're saying, but we need to be a bit more positive than just accepting this is how it's going to be. We should be demanding these movies on UHD. Nomadland would absolutely decimate most titles coming this year in terms of HDR. The colours in Promising Young Woman would pop like there's no tomorrow. The luscious black and white cinematography in Mank that's astounding enough on Netflix...imagine what it would look like on disc!

[wildphantom]

Originally Posted by slimdude

Since hardly nobody had even seen nor heard of those movies, I'm surprised they had The Academy Awards.

Again, how? Ignorance is bliss. These movies have been the most talked about films of the last twelve months. If people haven't heard of them then they're just not interested in films.

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by slimdude

Since hardly nobody had even seen nor heard of those movies, I'm surprised they had The Academy Awards.

The Academy Awards are for the movies seen by the most viewers? Since when?

I've watched all eight movies nominated for Best Picture (I'm happy that Nomadland won, it's an amazing movie), so speak for yourself, Mr. Nobody.

[slimdude]

Originally Posted by wildphantom

Again, how? Ignorance is bliss. These movies have been the most talked about films of the last twelve months. If people haven't heard of them then they're just not interested in films.

Movies I wouldn't pay a penny to see.

[slimdude]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

The Academy Awards are for the movies seen by the most viewers? Since when?

I've watched all eight movies nominated for Best Picture (I'm happy that Nomadland won, it's an amazing movie), so talk for yourself, Mr. Nobody.

Obviously you were the only one, who didn't have anything else to do. You were just bored!

[RBBrittain]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

Because it was a year where the movie theaters were mostly closed.

NoManLand was released February 19, 2021 (states) and made a pitiful $5,451,738 worldwide.

Judas and the Black Messiah didn’t screen publicly at all in 2020 and made its debut in February 2021 in theaters and on HBO Max. $6,126,770 Worldwide.

The Father was release last April to whatever was barely opened made $3,880,890 Worldwide.

All three examples compared to 2019 wold be consider obscure and not worth anything more then BD/DVD.

So? All that means is home media (physical or streaming) is the ONLY way they'll make their money back. And releasing them only on BD & not UHDBD is in my opinion a slap in the face to the most avid part of the home media community.

One of the reasons I have an Oscar as my avatar is that my top collecting priority has always been Best Picture winners, whether the best (a recent Rotten Tomatoes ranking actually ranked Parasite ahead of Casablanca as the best -- or at least best-reviewed -- Best Picture winner ever) or the worst (The Greatest Show on Earth, just hit BD in the last month, was the second worst ever; one of only three Best Pictures flagged as "rotten" by RT).

In 2021, EVERY winner of a major Oscar OUGHT to be released on UHDBD; though Netflix's practice of releasing its winners (like Roma & Marriage Story) only thru Criterion (no UHDBDs yet) is a little more palatable as Criterion's recent transfers are thought almost as good as UHDBD, none of this year's big winners are Netflix releases so we probably won't see them on Criterion anytime soon. (In the U.S., Nomadland is Searchlight Pictures / Disney; The Father is Sony Pictures Classics; Minari is A24, set to hit BD thru Lionsgate; Judas and the Black Messiah is WB.) Unlike Netflix & Criterion, all four of these films' home media distributors routinely distribute UHDBDs; so far they all have chosen NOT to do so.

I'm warning these four studios that as long as they refuse to release these films on UHDBD, I will NOT buy them on physical media PERIOD. Universal (on Neon's behalf) tried this stunt with Parasite last year by releasing it initially only on BD; I only bought the streaming version till it hit UHDBD later in the year, which I did buy. (I also bought the even later Criterion BD, mainly for the B&W version.) Though I did buy Marriage Story on Criterion BD (I still have no Netflix subscription though I'll get one once I decide my cord-cutting strategy), I still have no plans to buy Judy (last year's Best Actress winner) on BD as it's on UHD streaming but not UHDBD. I've also avoided the BD-only The Favourite (Best Actress two years ago) in favor of UHD streaming; at least If Beale Street Could Talk (Supporting Actress) wasn't released in 4K anywhere.

Though Joker & OUATIH both hit UHDBD, I didn't have a 4K TV or UHDBD player till after the Oscars last year; I initially bought them on UHD streaming as well (mainly as a backstop as it's hard to upgrade resolution on MA streaming sites once you buy -- only Vudu & sometimes Amazon even allow it unless the upgrade is by digital code, though iTunes' free UHD upgrades if purchased there are a good thing), and they've been too expensive & too low-priority for me (i.e., not a Best Picture like Parasite) to double-dip on UHD since, except on Black Friday when Joker's UHDBD sold out before I could get it at the best price. Perhaps I should buy them now just to send a message to WB & Sony that they better release Judas & The Father on UHDBD as well.

It's as if the studios have forgotten that UHDBD is the absolute best quality home media format of all, even better than UHD streaming which is far more compressed than UHDBD & thus commonly thought only the equivalent of BD on the physical media side. UHDBD may be a niche in today's home media market, but it's the top-tier nitch (other than Kaleidescape whose hardware is far too expensive for most people, thus essentially a nitch of a nitch); it should be catered to by the studios especially on their major Oscar winners. After I got my first UHDBD player, I went gung-ho on the Columbia Classics boxset because it signaled a major commitment to UHDBD by Sony, which seems to care more about its catalog than any other studio. I just wish the studios wouldn't pull back from UHDBD on their current Oscar-winning releases as they've been doing the last few years now.

(Edit: My "top-tier nitch" line reminded me of Pumbaa's dual Travis Bickle / Virgil Tibbs reference in reaction to being called a "pig" in both versions of The Lion King: "Are you talking to me? (3x) They call me MISTER Pig!" )

[AndyMT]

As an avid collector of 4K discs, if all we are going to get on the format in terms of new films are just blockbusters then film lovers might as well give up now. Each and every one of these nominees should be getting a release on UHD in my opinion. It's actually pathetic. We're lauding the future in terms of 4K television screens and high dynamic range, yet are not going to release the best new films to showcase it?

Couldn't agree more. This format is turning out to be such a huge disappointment to me.

I've been collecting films on physical media for 20+ years now and this is a very sweet/sour experience. This format can deliver on technical merits but certainly not on availability. I keep hoping things will improve and maybe the pandemic has muddied the waters over the past year but i fear this might be what this format is all about.

Maybe if the studios could make all new films available on MOD and make it work that way - I'd prefer that than this current situation. But as it stands, my interest is fading.

[wildphantom]

Originally Posted by RBBrittain

I'm warning these four studios that as long as they refuse to release these films on UHDBD, I will NOT buy them on physical media PERIOD.

This. I usually buy all the Best Picture nominees, and notably haven't got all of them these past couple of years due to not being able to get them in the best format. It is madness.

From last year I haven't bought Little Women, The Irishman or Marriage Story (all three I loved). Would have been day one UHD buys, but why am I going to get the bluray for $20 each when they're playing in 4K Dolby Vision on streaming?

I'd be willing to pay $60 to own the three, and instead I part with nothing as I'm just not accepting less than the best.

Looking at how it's shaking out for this year's nominees, it seems all eight won't be going on my shelf.

[lgans316]

I am casting a spell that will magically wake up an empty 100 GB disc, find the digital storage of the film, auto press the disc and deliver via drones lol.

Sadly we can't get everything that we want but all we can do is support the format.

I am glad that Tenet won Best visual effects. Pretty sure there will be lots of hype surrounding most of these unheard films in the coming months and I am sure some of them will be released on disc.

Most of these films available to buy or rent in iTunes.

[wildphantom]

Originally Posted by slimdude

Movies I wouldn't pay a penny to see.

yet this great assumption that nobody is interested, or has even heard of them, well it isn't really constructive is it?

I'm not trying to win an argument here as you know your original comment can't really be defended.

[Snicket]

Originally Posted by wildphantom

yet this great assumption that nobody is interested, or has even heard of them, well it isn't really constructive is it?

I'm not trying to win an argument here as you know your original comment can't really be defended.

I’m 95% convinced Slimdude only posts here because he has a public humiliation fetish.