When will Apple give us a Blu-ray of last year's Oscar-winning CODA? (1 Viewer)

[battlebeast]

The UHD is region free (close to 100% of UHD releases are region free). The blu-ray is not.

Crud. Time to get an UHD player.

Has this been released elsewhere?

 

[haineshisway]

"Coda" is a mediocre little film better suited for the Lifetime channel. Another example of an Oscar bought by a PR campaign. I do subscribe to 10 streaming services for less than half the price of basic cable. Watch local channels with an antenna. No longer see the point in buying discs to watch once (if that) so I can have a collection.

It's fine to have your opinion. I don't happen to share it. It was the only film I really liked last year. And your assertion that they got the Oscar through a PR campaign is, sorry to say, ludicrous. When I was sent my DGA screener I'd never seen one word about the film. After viewing, I was convinced that it would win nothing because no one would watch it. Thankfully, it finally began to get some attention, thanks to the supporting actor performance and the rest of the performances. Once people from the Academy began watching it, only then did it begin to have some heat. I can guarantee you that Apple spent almost nothing on it compared to the HUGE amounts others were spending - it was the little film that could, which is why it won - the underdog.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I think those days are long gone as there isn't enough retailer and consumer infrastructure to support such releases for all titles. Retailers don't have enough storage space and neither do consumers at home for that matter.

Plenty of obscure movies still get released on disc.

Maybe it doesn't show up on the shelves of Target, but neither do most disc releases.

Seems like a Best Picture winner deserves a disc release if "Back to the Beach" can get one!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Plenty of obscure movies still get released on disc.

Maybe it doesn't show up on the shelves of Target, but neither do most disc releases.

Seems like a Best Picture winner deserves a disc release if "Back to the Beach" can get one!

Nor are they showing up on the shelves of consumers, at least, not in great quantities.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Nor are they showing up on the shelves of consumers, at least, not in great quantities.

Not sure I get the point. Yes, physical media doesn't sell as well as in the past.

But there's still clearly an audience... or they'd bail on physical media entirely.

Dozens of much less prominent movies than "CODA" get Blu-ray releases every month.

Genuinely don't understand the argument here.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Not sure I get the point. Yes, physical media doesn't sell as well as in the past.

But there's still clearly an audience... or they'd bail on physical media entirely.

Dozens of much less prominent movies than "CODA" get Blu-ray releases every month.

Genuinely don't understand the argument here.

Frankly, I don't know what you're arguing about either as to why you quoted one of my posts in the first place. Coda is owned by Apple, that's the reason why it's not released on disc here in the States. As to more obscure titles getting released on Blu-ray by Kino and other boutique retailers there is no argument except those titles aren't sold in quantities they should be, due to lack of retailers carrying such titles and lack of customers browsing retailer aisles for those titles. Anyhow, for me personally, I have more movies available for me to watch now than ever beforehand whether through streaming and/or physical media ownership. With that said, I know I'm not the norm when compared to the general consumer base.

 

[zoetmb]

I know it's not really related, but Apple never supported Blu-ray with their computer operating system.

That's true and it always annoyed me a bit, but isn't watching a Blu-ray on a 16" computer screen (at best) and with built-in computer speakers sort of missing the point of Blu-ray?

 

[David Norman]

Crud. Time to get an UHD player.

Has this been released elsewhere?

Not yet. Japan has a Region A BD (not 4K) release scheduled for September. Not yet know how the subtitles will be handled

 

[Malcolm R]

Given the direct-to-disc dreck that shows up in my Walmart on a weekly basis, it seems like they could make room for an Oscar winner if it were released.

A 4K player is almost a necessity in today's disc environment. Either the only disc release is in another country (and 4K discs are region free), or the new master by the studio is released only on the UHD disc and they usually toss in the same old blu-ray from the past with the older, inferior transfer. You would need to play the 4K disc to see the improvements.

4K discs will display just fine on a HDTV even if you haven't yet upgraded to UHDTV.

 

[darkrock17]

Since Apple themselves are the distributor of this film, some other studio would have to pay for home video rights to produce and release a DVD/Blu/UHD because I don't see Apple doing their own home video releases. Apple knows where the money is and it's in their products and various streaming apps, not in home video.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Frankly, I don't know what you're arguing about either as to why you quoted one of my posts in the first place. Coda is owned by Apple, that's the reason why it's not released on disc here in the States.

Yeah, I get that. Plenty of titles that remain streaming only.

Your original post seemed to imply that because physical media doesn't move units like it did in the past, they might as well not bother.

Maybe that's not what you intended, but it's how it came across to me.

And my point is that it's financially feasible for "Back to the Beach" to come out on BD, then I'm pretty sure a Best Picture winner would sell enough to make it worthwhile as well...

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yeah, I get that. Plenty of titles that remain streaming only.

Your original post seemed to imply that because physical media doesn't move units like it did in the past, they might as well not bother.

Maybe that's not what you intended, but it's how it came across to me.

And my point is that it's financially feasible for "Back to the Beach" to come out on BD, then I'm pretty sure a Best Picture winner would sell enough to make it worthwhile as well...

Yup, you misinterpreted my post because if I had my way, every single movie title and tv show would be released on physical media and/or available for streaming. That has always been my position! The intent of my post was to demonstrate the current status of physical media in today's economy. However, that doesn't mean I like that current status.

 

[zoetmb]

Not sure I get the point. Yes, physical media doesn't sell as well as in the past.

But there's still clearly an audience... or they'd bail on physical media entirely.

Dozens of much less prominent movies than "CODA" get Blu-ray releases every month.

Genuinely don't understand the argument here.

The argument is that Apple doesn't care about releasing physical media because Apple's primary audience doesn't care about physical media AND because Apple wants subscriber revenue. A subscriber is worth $60 a year to them and unless they could have gotten someone to buy at least four BD's a year from them, they wouldn't see the same revenue.

And the industry IS bailing on physical media - except for the big hits, there are fewer releases all the time.

Rightly or wrongly, the studios are focusing (sic) on the streaming business. Disney+ alone takes in almost $11 billion a year worldwide and they don't have to share that with theaters or international distributors. Apple numbers are harder to come by: I've seen estimates ranging from 25 to 40 million. That's $1.5 to $2.4 billion a year.

I used to track U.S. BD/DVD sales weekly for clients, but no longer do so. But I can tell you that the BD/DVD business in the U.S. was an $11 billion business in 2009 and was a just a $2 billion business in 2021. BD peaked in 2013 at about $2.3 billion and was never as successful as it should have been. In 2021, it was $817 million and as of March 5th 2022, when I stopped tracking, it was on pace to be about $710m in 2022. When executives, especially those at publicly-traded companies, make product investment decisions, they look at growth businesses, not those in severe decline.

With Discovery now owning Warner Bros. and in financial stress, I bet we're going to see far fewer physical releases out of WB as well.

And except for the big hits like Marvel movies and the like, the manufacturers ARE bailing on physical media. There are fewer releases all the time and fewer places that sell them.

I won't bore you with a bunch of record industry numbers, but the same is true there: in 2021, 84.7% of U.S. industry revenue was from streaming.

The current generations of buyers have no desire to own physical media when streaming gives them access to almost "everything". There are big expensive boxed sets of classic rock and the like that sell pretty well in limited editions (usually no more than 5000) but they're mainly sold to baby boomers and maybe some hipsters. And the former are "on the way out". It's similar for BD: there's a core group of collectors who still buy, but it's no longer a mass market, if it ever was.

Ask the next 50 random people you meet who are under 40 if they own any physical media and if so, the last time, if ever, they bought a BD. And then you'll have your answer.

 

[zoetmb]

And my point is that it's financially feasible for "Back to the Beach" to come out on BD, then I'm pretty sure a Best Picture winner would sell enough to make it worthwhile as well...

A small company releasing titles may be satisfied with a $ million a year in revenue. But a large company would not be. As per my other post, Apple's strategy is to get as many subscribers as possible. If they start releasing in physical media, they get fewer subscribers. So it doesn't matter if CODA on BD might have made a few bucks for a company, what matters is pursuing a specific corporate strategic objective to maximize long-terms revenue and profits. And while AppleTV is still far smaller than say Disney+, it generates several $billion for Apple.

Apple is one of the most successful companies on the planet. They just posted their 9th consecutive record-breaking revenue quarter. In fiscal 2021, Apple generated $367 billion in revenue and $95 billion in profit. Apple Services, of which Apple TV is part, generated $68 billion in fiscal 2021 and will probably generate about $79 billion in fiscal 2022. I think they know what they're doing.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

A small company releasing titles may be satisfied with a $ million a year in revenue. But a large company would not be. As per my other post, Apple's strategy is to get as many subscribers as possible. If they start releasing in physical media, they get fewer subscribers. So it doesn't matter if CODA on BD might have made a few bucks for a company, what matters is pursuing a specific corporate strategic objective to maximize long-terms revenue and profits. And while AppleTV is still far smaller than say Disney+, it generates several $billion for Apple.

Apple is one of the most successful companies on the planet. They just posted their 9th consecutive record-breaking revenue quarter. In fiscal 2021, Apple generated $367 billion in revenue and $95 billion in profit. Apple Services, of which Apple TV is part, generated $68 billion in fiscal 2021 and will probably generate about $79 billion in fiscal 2022. I think they know what they're doing.

It seems to me that most properties have a window where they entice people to join but that window closes pretty rapidly.

Some stuff like "WandaVision" or "Mandalorian" probably entices enough new memberships to keep that window open for an extended period.

But "CODA"? Its peak period of enticement was probably the month or so after it won BP.

After that... maybe it brings in some people around Oscar time every year, but I can't imagine it's much of a draw.

No, whoever released "CODA" on BD wouldn't make a skillion dollars off of it, but I doubt it does much to help the bottom line right now.

I still think whatever $$$ it makes as a streaming exclusive are now minimal enough that they might as well put out a BD.

And I don't think streaming subscribers get bunched panties when a title isn't permanently exclusive.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Well, Apple themselves would not release it on BD, but maybe if Criterion (or Kino?) approaches them to license it for release (like was done for some NetFlix titles)?

Maybe it's still only remotely worthwhile to Apple if they can license a batch of titles all at once, not just Coda alone. They do have some other titles, but not a lot... and not sure if anything other than Coda would interest Criterion, but maybe Kino though...

Ultimately, Apple probably just doesn't care enough to make the pittance off licensing Coda, etc. They really only care about their big picture that involves much, much bigger fishes than something like this... Maybe if someone can somehow convenience them releasing discs could help bring/add meaningful prestige to AppleTV+ perhaps as the $ selling a few discs won't matter to them...

_Man_

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Thanks for reminding me I need to watch this as a subscriber!! Another reason to love HTF!

 

[MG Stearns]

I purchased a copy of the Italian release of CODA. It's quite a nice copy. I was able to find it at a Canadian brick and mortar store who apparently imported in a bunch of copies knowing they would all sell. Reasonable price, too.

View attachment 147667

Are the credits in Italian or is it actually “CODA” on screen?