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‘Sonic The Hedgehog’ Blu-ray Giveaway!
I’m very excited to announce that I have Five (5) Blu-rays of Sonic The Hedgehog up for grabs. The discs, all of which are sealed, also come with the Digital Code and the DVD! Entry details are below!
Jeff Wadlow Talks ‘The Devil’s Mouth’ Collaboration With Kathryn Newton and Lana Condor
No streaming globally on Prime Video, The Devil’s Mouth centers on five friends who go on a thrill seeking adventure along Thailand’s. What starts off as a risky journey through a cave ends in a fight for survival thanks to a shark that’s out for blood. Director Jeff Wadlow talked to Deepest Dream about the challenges of shooting inside these caves and how having veterans like Kathryn Netwon and Lana Condor enhanced the production.
Read more: Jeff Wadlow Talks ‘The Devil’s Mouth’ Collaboration With Kathryn Newton and Lana Condor
Part of The Devil’s Mouth draw lies in its claustrophobic and maze like setting. A healthy portion of the narrative has the friends navigating within a darkened location with seemingly no end in sight.
“I think people sort of take for granted what we had to do with this movie,” said Jeff Wadlow, who previously directed Fantasy Island. There’s 13 caves that are scripted, and we only were able to have three sets. “Only two of them in water, and varying depths, so there was a lot of different shots I had to pick up on different sets to try to make it work. Fortunately, Alec Hammond, our production designer, is a mad scientist. The guy is an insane genius, and what he was able to pull off working closely with me really is an awesome feat. And a lot of credit also goes to the Thai crew, because Alec kinda had the vision. But then they made it a reality. It was a very challenging jigsaw puzzle of moving walls and changing sets and going from stage to stage and using certain parts of sets for different sets. But we figured it out.”
What also helped make The Devil’s Mouth a reality is the performances by lead actors Kathryn Newton and Lana Condor. “They are total pros, and I could not have made this movie without actors with that kind of experience,” said Wadlow. “Because the technical challenges were so massive. I mean, you can’t even put a mark down. How does an actor hit a mark when they’re in the water? There’s no way to put a mark down. So Lana and Kathryn, they’ve talked about this, how they started to figure out kind of the geometry of the set. And if the camera’s over there and the other actor’s there – lhow they need to find the line so they make sure that the lens can see them. It’s just a blessing.”
Speaking of blessings, Wadlow made his first feature with 2005’s Cry Wolf. Having a long and varied directing career has been part of Wadlow’s trademark, and he has taken a cue from late filmmaker Richard Donner (Superman). “ I love that he worked in different genres,” said Wadlow. “He worked in action, comedy, thriller. I mean, people forget he made The Omen. He made The Toy. He worked in all these different spaces. It wasn’t just action movies. And all of his films have verisimilitude.
Catch The Devil’s Mouth on Prime Video. Share your thoughts on the movie in the comments!
Friday Blu-Ray News: ‘Mortal Kombat II,’ ‘Pressure,’ ‘Soylent Green’ (PM Weekly)
Twenty-eight new titles landed on shelves this Tuesday. HD Report called it the biggest 4K release day of the month, and looking at the list, it’s hard to argue. Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, finally, after more than a decade of fans asking. Stranger Things: The Complete Series in a 25-disc deluxe box. Mortal Kombat II, The Devil Wears Prada 2, Pressure, all day-and-date with their theatrical runs. Then the deep cuts: Threads and The War Game, two of the bleakest nuclear-war docudramas ever made. They’re streeting on the same day, from the same catalog-restoration ecosystem that’s also quietly finishing Lionheart’s 4K after a restoration dispute stalled it back in March.
Read more: Friday Blu-Ray News: ‘Mortal Kombat II,’ ‘Pressure,’ ‘Soylent Green’ (PM Weekly)I keep writing about what’s disappearing in this space. Sony deleting purchased libraries. Streaming support getting switched off. It’s easy, some weeks, to make physical media sound like a rescue operation, a thing you do out of obligation to what’s being lost.
Then a week like this happens, and the math says otherwise. Twenty-eight titles, one Tuesday, spanning six decades of film, from a 1958 Elvis picture to a video game sequel that came out three weeks ago. Nobody’s manufacturing that volume out of nostalgia. Somebody’s paying for the restoration work, the pressing runs, the packaging design, the shelf space at retail, and somebody’s buying enough of it to make doing it again next month worth it. The format isn’t surviving on life support. Weeks like this one, it’s just working.
Welcome to PM Weekly. Let’s get into the week.
THIS WEEK ON DISC
- Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, 4-disc edition, Lionsgate
- Stranger Things: The Complete Series, 25-disc Deluxe and Special Editions, Arrow
- Mortal Kombat II (2026), Warner Bros.
- The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026), 20th Century Studios
- Pressure (2026), Universal
- South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999), SteelBook
- Soylent Green (1973), Arrow Video
- Pillow Talk (1959), Universal
- King Creole (1958), Kino Lorber
- Lionheart (1990), Extended Cut, MVD Rewind (the restoration finally resolved)
- End of Watch (2012), Collector’s Edition, Shout!
- Overlord (2018), SteelBook, Paramount
- The Boys in the Band (1970), Cinematographe
- Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982), Cinematographe
- Deadly Blessing (1981), Kino Lorber
- Battle of the Worlds (1961), newly restored, Film Masters
- Tornado (2025), IFC
- A Bay of Blood (1971), 3 versions, Severin
- Threads (1984), Severin
- The War Game (1965), Severin
- In the Mouth of Madness (1994), Arrow Video
- Ms. 45 (1981), Arrow Video
- Explorers (1985), 3-disc, Vinegar Syndrome
- Human Lanterns (1982), Vinegar Syndrome
- Macabre (1980), Vinegar Syndrome
- Nightwatch (1997), Vinegar Syndrome
- The Mangler (1995), Vinegar Syndrome
- Happy Hell Night (1992), Terror Vision
INDUSTRY WATCH
Remember the merger freeze we covered two issues ago? It just got a lot bigger. On Friday, Paramount agreed to delay its Warner Bros. Discovery takeover entirely, not just the fourteen-day pause a judge ordered, but a full stop until an antitrust trial concludes, or June 1, 2027, whichever comes first. That blows up Paramount’s plan to close the deal by September. The Justice Department and European regulators have both already cleared it. A dozen state attorneys general and the Writers Guild are still suing to block it outright, and for now, they’re winning. Paramount also starts owing Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders a quarterly fee for every quarter past September 30 the deal stays open, so every month of delay now has a price tag attached. The vault everyone’s licensing against is going to stay in limbo for a lot longer than anyone at Paramount planned for.
MARKET SIGNAL
“DVDs, Blu-ray and VHS are cool again,” according to the people actually watching the shift happen. Gen Z is buying physical media not out of nostalgia but discovery. They didn’t grow up with a DVD shelf, so there’s no baggage attached to owning one now, just the novelty of special features, cover art, and a movie that doesn’t vanish when a licensing deal expires. It’s the flip side of everything Sony’s been doing this month: while one company teaches people not to trust what they buy, an entire generation with no memory of physical media’s “golden age” is discovering it fresh, and deciding they like it.
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STORE OF THE WEEK
Movie Madness (Portland, OR)
Founded in 1991, Movie Madness was saved from closing in 2018 by a Hollywood Theatre-led Kickstarter that raised over $300,000, and is now run by the nonprofit Film Forever Northwest. The collection tops 90,000 titles, with the actual archive closer to 102,000 physical copies once you count every format. Alongside the shelves sits a free film props museum, Norman Bates’ knife from Psycho, the severed ear from Blue Velvet, William Holden’s shotgun from The Wild Bunch, artifacts most people assume only exist in a studio vault somewhere. The store is currently mid-relocation to a larger space across from the Hollywood Theatre, expected to open in spring 2027.
(Next week: the Free Blockbuster network.)
THE STACK
What I pulled off the shelf this week.
Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon (1985), 30th Anniversary Edition Format: Blu-ray, 1 Disc Bonus Features: “Return of the Dragon” retrospective featurette, audio commentary by director Michael Schultz, original theatrical trailer
This one waited a long time to get its due. Sony sat on the Blu-ray until 2015, thirty years after release, and made up for the wait with new dynamic cover art from Mondo artist Gary Pullin and a proper retrospective instead of a bare-bones port. The Motown soundtrack alone, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Vanity’s “Rhythm of the Night,” is reason enough to own the disc over streaming it. Berry Gordy’s fingerprints are all over this thing, right down to the music, and it took three decades before physical media treated it like the cult object it always was.
SIGN-OFF
That’s Issue #4. Twenty-eight titles in one Tuesday, a billion-dollar merger pushed back another year, and a generation with no memory of the “golden age” deciding physical media is worth having anyway. If you know one person who still alphabetizes their shelf, forward this to them. That is the whole engine we have, and it is a good one.
See you Friday.
PM Weekly – Sean Reid Film & TV Production seanreid@worldonetv.com
Kendyl Berna On Discovery Shark Week, Researching Mako Sharks, And Beyond The Reef
Kendyl Berna’s career as a marine biologist and film producer is a perfect marriage thanks to her work on Discovery Shark Week. Tonight she gets in shark cage for Biggest Mako on Earth (premiering on Discovery at 10 pm et/pt). Berna talked to Deepest Dream about her passion for sharks and the ocean and she also elaborated why her non-profit Beyond The Reef is a big part of her life.
Read more: Kendyl Berna On Discovery Shark Week, Researching Mako Sharks, And Beyond The Reef
The City of Angels Provided Early Ocean Passions For Kendyl Berna
Kendyl Berna grew up in Southern California, and knowing the lay of the land helped give her a bit of familiarity diving into these Discovery Channel projects.
“This is my fourth year actually going out there and studying the Makos for Shark Week,” said Berna. “So I grew up right there. But growing up, I went diving a bit. My mom would take me diving. But I was a little bit less into it. It’s a little cold in California, truthfully. Then I moved to the British Virgin Islands and started an ocean conservation non-profit. And I was in the water five times a day diving for something – whether it was shark research, cetacean research, ghost fishing gear removal, and actually cutting nets out of coral coral research. Things like that. I became a real water baby. I feel very comfortable in there.”
Did You Say Chum Cloud?
Part of Shark Week’s fun, from Berna’s point of view, is getting to think like “10-year-olds doing a science experiment.” That approach is evidenced on the exploding chum that Berna had to deal with in Biggest Mako on Earth!
”Okay, so the exploding chum, you don’t get off of any of your equipment until, like, the following year,” said Berna. “Like, no matter how hard you try, think of being just in a chum cloud, right? There is just fish everywhere. When you get out of the water and you take your first breath outside, the fish water goes into your mouth. It’s pretty repulsive, especially because that fish has been sitting around for a very long time. You just reminded me of the chum cloud and how disturbing it is. But that said yeah, I think as a scientist, it’s fun to do different things and get to go outside of the usual lane that you’re in.”
Check out my full interview with Kendyl Berna as she also talks about Beyond The Reef and being a goat mom!
Catch Biggest Mako on Earth on Discovery (10 pm et/pt) and share your thoughts on Shark Week below!
Mackenzie Foy And Sean Bean Western ‘The Isolate Thief’ Hits Digital August 4
Directed by John Suits and headlined by Mackenzie Foy, The Isolate Thief hits Digital for rental and purchase starting August 4th from Radial Entertainment. It’s a first rate and tension filled Western that, in my opinion, is worth more than one viewing. For details on the movie, courtesy from Foy, check out our post below!
Read more: Mackenzie Foy And Sean Bean Western ‘The Isolate Thief’ Hits Digital August 4
‘The Isolate Thief’ Features Mackenzie Foy In A Gritty Western
Set during The Civil War, The Isolate Thief centers on a young woman (Mackenzie Foy) who oversees a remote Union Army outpost. Sean Bean is the leader of a group of outlaws who are looking for a stash of stolen gold. Whether she wants that treasure for herself is another story, as most of the tale has her trying to outwit these men and live to tell about it. Odeya Rush co-stars as a woman whose connection to these bandits are initially unclear.
Rounding out the ensemble are Joe Pantoliano, Jack Kesy, Martin Sensmeier, and Ty Simpkins. Kevin Lefler penned the screenplay. Currently the movie has a 73% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
A Lot of “Firsts” For Mackenize Foy With ‘The Isolate Thief’
”It was definitely unique, and I think the way that Kevin wrote it, it was just incredibly clever and interesting,” said Foy during our interview. “And you didn’t know what was gonna happen. You’re just glued to the page the whole time. It’s a Western, but it has a different feel. It’s very interesting.”
The Isolate Thief also challenged Mackenzie Foy on a physical level. ”There’s definitely a lot of stunts in this, especially for me,” said Foy. “It’s the most I’ve ever done. I really enjoy doing that kind of stuff. But yeah, it was very cold. We were in Arkansas. It was, like, 20 degrees, so I’m just outside laying on the ground covered in blood and it’s just so cold. But it was so much fun. Lots of firsts for me in (The Isolate Thief).”
High Marks From The CinemAddicts Podcast
Both Eric Holmes and I love The Isolate Thief. I gave the movie ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5 stars and Holmes went slightly higher with ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 / 5 stars. It’s a tightly wound Western that never lets up, and that ending is sure to garner a plethora of different interpretations! Check out our full review:
Catch The Isolate Thief on Digital starting August 4th. Share your thoughts on the Western in the comments!
**We receive a slight commission when you purchase through our Amazon SiteStripe and/or affiliate links. Thanks for your support!
‘Masters of the Universe’ Starring Nicholas Galitzine Hits 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD In October
Masters of the Universe, headlined by Nicholas Galitzine and Camila Mendes, hits 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and DVD on October 20th via Amazon MGM Studios and Alliance Home Entertainment. Physical media fans who want to collect a SteelBook version of the film can purchase it as an Amazon Exclusive. More info on the film and special features below!
Read more: ‘Masters of the Universe’ Starring Nicholas Galitzine Hits 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD In October
‘Masters of the Universe’ Features A World Saving Mission
After a 15 year separation, Prince Adam (Nicholas Gazaltine) heads back to Eternia thanks to the Sword of Power. His home has been under the rule of the fiendish Skeletor (Jared Leto), and now it’s up to Prince Adam to save his world and loved ones. Joining him on his quest are Teela (Camila Mendes) and Duncan/Man-At-Arms (Idris Elba). His hero’s journey will lead to him becoming He-Man, aka the most powerful man in the universe!
Masters of the Universe has amassed over $113 million worldwide at the box-office since its release. Its current Rotten Tomatoes rating stands at 67% (critics) and 86% (audience). Rounding out the ensemble are Alison Brie, James Purefoy, Morena Baccarin, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, and Kristen Wiig.
‘Masters of the Universe’ Special Features
Extras on the 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray releases include a behind-the-scenes promotioinal gallery and the featurette “Masters of Light: Skies of Eternia Drone Spectacle.”
Pre-orders of Masters of the Universe are now available on Amazon. The SteelBook version is available as an Amazon Exclusive, and it comes with the 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray discs of the movie and a collectible mini-comic book. Pre-order the SteelBook now on Amazon.
I’m looking forward to checking out Masters of the Universe, especially since I grew up watching the animated series. Director Travis Knight’s two previous films (Kubo and the Two Strings, Bumblebee) were both well received, All three films need to be watched by me, so I have a bit of catching up to do before Masters of the Universe’s physical media release.
Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios and Alliance Home Entertainment, Masters of the Universe hits 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on October 20th. Will you be purchasing the movie on physical media? Share your thoughts on the film in the comments!
**We receive a slight commission when you purchase through our Amazon SiteStripe and/or affiliate links. Thanks for your support!
‘She Rides Shotgun’ Starring Taron Egerton Hits 4K Ultra HD And Digital August 18
Great news on the physical media camp since the first rate Taron Egerton crime thriller She Rides Shotgun hits 4K, Blu-ray, and Digital on August 18 via Lionsgate. Running at 120 minutes, the movie is also bolstered by a standout performance from Ana Sophia Heger and a refreshingly out of the box role from character actor John Carroll Lynch. For more details on the film and special features details, check out our post!
Read more: ‘She Rides Shotgun’ Starring Taron Egerton Hits 4K Ultra HD And Digital August 18
‘She Rides Shotgun’ Centers On An Unbreakable Father And Daughter Bond
Directed by Nick Rowland (Calm With Horses), She Rides Shotgun centers on Nate (Taron Egerton), an ex-con whose life is in danger. By default, this also puts his 11-year-old daughter Polly (Ana Sophia Hager) in harm’s way. As Polly begrudgingly follows her dad in an unrelentingly brutal yet necessary mission, she gradually realizes her father might be her only chance for survival. Rounding out the ensemble are Rob Yang, Odessa A’zion, and the aforementioned John Carroll Lynch. The script was penned by John Harper, Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski.
The crime tale has several tense, action based moments (including an explosive third act). She Rides Shotgun’s strength, however, lies in the chemistry between Egerton and Hager. Both deliver excellent work as father and daughter, and by the finale you’ll be pulling for them to make it out alive. Though Odessa A’zion and John Carroll Lynch have limited screen time, they are both memorable in their respective cameos. In my CinemAddicts review, I described She Rides Shotgun as an “elevated action thriller.”
She Rides Shotgun currently has an 88% (critics) and 92% (audience) rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
CinemAddicts co-host Eric Holmes and I had two different reactions to She Rides Shotgun (I loved it and gave it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 out of five stars). Check out our full review:
Special Features For ‘She Rides Shotgun’
The good news for the physical media release is that it also comes with a Digital Copy. As for special features, just the trailer is available. An audio commentary from Rowland would have been welcomed, but this is an all-around awesome film, so that’s a minor complaint from where I sit.
Running at 120 minutes, She Rides Shotgun hits 4K, Blu-ray and Digital on August 18 via Lions Gate Entertainment. Will you be purchasing this movie on physical media? Share your thoughts and review in the comments!
**We receive a slight commission when you purchase through our Amazon SiteStripe and/or affiliate links. Thanks for your support!
‘Jinsei’ Film Review: Ryuya Suzuki’s Hand-Drawn Animation Is A “One Man Show”
Now available on Digital, Jinsei is a hand-drawn animated feature from writer/director Ryuya Suzuki. The tale centers on a person (voiced by Ace Cool) who is called a different name during each part of his life. During his existence, he becomes a leader, an outsider, a J-pop idol, and an oracle. Did this 93-minute tale appeal to CinemAddicts hosts Eric Holmes? Check out his review!
Read more: ‘Jinsei’ Film Review: Ryuya Suzuki’s Hand-Drawn Animation Is A “One Man Show”
Jinsei Is An Ambitious Work From Ryuya Suzuki
Ryuya Suzuki also scored and edited the film, which makes Jinsei an impressive feat. Eric Holmes, however, would have loved to have seen the movie under an entirely different state. “For all intents and purposes, it’s is a one-man show,” said Eric Holmes. “So on that aspect, it’s pretty impressive. I think this would have been much better served if I had taken mushrooms before I watched it.”
Critiques On The Animation And Story Execution
Just from watching the trailer and checking out the images, I’m absolutely intrigued by Jinsei and plan on watching the movie. Currently, the film has an 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Rounding out the Jinsei voice cast are Taketo Tanaka, Shohei Uno, Tsubaki Nekoze, Remi Tyon, Eri Kamataki, Ryotaro Nishino, Ayumi Nakajima, Katsuka Maiguma, Miho Ohashi, and Kanji Tsuda.
Expect a review from me down the road on CinemAddicts, and you can listen to Holmes’ review on our latest episode:
“The fact that it’s done by one guy is pretty cool,” added Holmes. “But the animation isn’t so mind-blowing. It’s pretty basic stuff. Most of the cool stuff is within context, but the way (Ryuya Suzuki) executed (the narrative) wasn’t that interesting.”
Jinsei’s Rating And Final Thoughts
“It’s just incredibly quiet, incredibly dry, and I was bored through most of it,” said Holmes. “Towards the end of the main character’s life – now we’re in the distant future. And that’s where it gets weird and where I started to like it a little bit. But I was still confused by it.”
Holmes gave Jinsei ⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of five stars, and his mild recommendation comes from Ryuya Suzuki’s ambitious approach. “With more thought behind it and maybe some more input from other people, Jinsei could have been something real special,” said Holmes. “They could have really harnessed the idea and ran with it a little more.”
Eric Holmes’ full review of Jinsei:
Since we cover so many movies per week on CinemAddicts, there are movies that I simply can’t get around to reviewing. Jinsei is definitely on my radar even with Holmes’ lukewarm reaction to the movie.
If you have seen Jinsei, please share your review and thoughts in the comments!
Jinsei is now available on Digital.
**We receive a slight commission when you purchase through our Amazon SiteStripe and/or affiliate links. Thanks for your support!
Paul de Gelder Talks Discovery’s Shark Week And Love For Bimini in the Bahamas
Discovery’s Shark Week begins tonight with the programs K-Pop Shark Heroes,Air Jaws: Red White and Breach, and Invasion of the Mega Sharks. Shark Week vet Paul de Gelder joins Dr. Neil Hammerschlag on a mission to track down the great white “Big Rose” on Invasion of the Mega Sharks, and that show premieres on Discovery at 11 pm et/pt. De Gelder, who also spearheads Bull Shark Dinner Bell (July 27) and Ultimate Shark Dive (July 30), talked to Deepest Dream about his gratifying work on Shark Week. Plus, he also discusses why Bimini is one of his favorite destinations!
Read more: Paul de Gelder Talks Discovery’s Shark Week And Love For Bimini in the Bahamas
Although new adventures is one of the elements of Discovery’s Shark Week, there is also the obvious value of education (and safety precautions). ”We’re not just doing it for cheap thrills,” said de Gelder. “And we’re not trying to make the sharks look bad. We are actually trying to create a show whereby we can keep people safe and teach them about the bull sharks and their environments. And how when humans enter the water, they can make the right choices so that they’re not gonna get hurt by a bull shark too.”
In the interview, de Gelder also talked about the challenges of public speaking and writing his autobiography Uncaged.
”I always found the challenge with writing a book was the making yourself actually sit down and start writing,” said de Gelder. “That was always hard, because I never knew where to begin. But once I sat down, the stories began to flow out. I always recommend to everyone I know, whether or not you’re gonna get a book published or not, sit down and write your story. I would love to read about the lives and the stories of my grandparents, my great grandparents, but they never wrote it down. So those stories, those incredible times that have changed so much, are now lost to time. If we think about how much the world is changing while we’re in it, and how much it’s gonna change for our kids and our grandkids – wouldn’t you imagine that they’ll wanna read about your life as well?
Being a world traveler comes with the job, and de Gelder also explained why Bimini, a chain of islands in the Bahamas, is one of his favorite destinations.
”Bimini in the Bahamas is always a favorite of mine,” said de Gelder. “I have run tourist trips out there just because I love it out there so much and I wanna share it with everyday people, not just on television. We go out there for a few days and I introduce all of these people to these incredible hammerhead sharks, and then the tiger sharks turn up as well. You don’t need to be on TV, (and) you don’t need to be a part of Shark Week. You can just be a normal, everyday person. (Just) go and get your scuba diving license, and you can come and see these amazing animals as well. So that’s probably one of my favorite places in the world.”
Catch a clip of Bull Shark Dinner Bell (airing July 27, 11 pm et/pt on Discovery):
Are you a fan of Paul de Gelder’s work and Discovery’s Shark Week? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Invasion of the Mega Sharks, featuring de Gelder and Dr. Neil Hammerschlag, airs tonight at 10 pm et/pt!
***We receive a slight commission when you purchase through our Amazon SiteStripe and affiiate links. Thanks for your support!
Friday Blu-Ray News: ‘Pleasantville,’ ‘Cruel Story of Youth,’ ‘Unlawful Entry’ (PM Weekly #3)
Sony has two different ways of telling you not to trust it.
The first is loud: GTA 6, one of the biggest game releases in history, is shipping without a disc option on at least one platform. PlayStation itself is done with physical games entirely by January 2028. That’s the headline version, the one everyone already expects by now.
Read more: Friday Blu-Ray News: ‘Pleasantville,’ ‘Cruel Story of Youth,’ ‘Unlawful Entry’ (PM Weekly #3)The second is quieter, and somehow worse. Starting in November, roughly seventy one older Sony soundbars, AV receivers, and Blu-ray players lose their streaming app support. Spotify, Netflix, Google Cast, gone from hardware people already own and paid for. Not because the hardware broke, but because Sony decided it was done maintaining the software that made it useful.
Here’s the thing that connects them. Nobody buys a Blu-ray player worried that Sony will one day remotely lobotomize it. You buy a disc player because the whole point of a disc player is that it doesn’t need permission from a server to keep working. But if it’s smart enough to stream Netflix, it’s smart enough to be turned off from the other end, and now some of that same hardware is finding out the hard way.
Kelsey Lewin, who co-owns a used game store in Seattle, put it plainly to public radio this month: physical media disappearing isn’t just a movies problem anymore, it’s coming for games next. And the people who’ll feel it first are the ones who can’t afford to just rebuy everything digitally every time a platform changes its mind.
Two stories, one company, the same lesson twice in one month. If it plugs in and phones home, it was never really yours to keep.
Welcome to PM Weekly. Let’s get into the week.
THIS WEEK ON DISC
- Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008), first-ever 4K, Universal
- Anyone But You (2023), Sony
- Pleasantville (1998), Collector’s Edition, Shout! Studios
- The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), Sony
- Unlawful Entry (1992), Shout! Studios
- The Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971), Celluloid Dreams
- Cruel Story of Youth (1960), Nagisa Oshima, Criterion 4K
- I’ll Remind You of Everything: The Films of Mike Mills box set, Criterion (Beginners, 20th Century Women, C’mon C’mon)
INDUSTRY WATCH
The Paramount Skydance takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery hit a real wall this week. On Monday, a federal judge froze the $110 billion deal for at least fourteen days after twelve states sued, arguing the combined company would control too much of the theatrical and cable markets. A hearing is set for August 3. This is the same deal boutique labels have been racing against since spring, licensing Warner catalog titles while ownership stayed uncertain. Shareholders approved it in April. Regulators cleared it. A judge just didn’t. Nobody knows yet who owns one of the largest film libraries on Earth, or what happens to the pipeline that’s kept Arrow, Criterion, Shout! Factory, and Vinegar Syndrome’s Iconoscope stocked with Warner titles all year.
MARKET SIGNAL
UK physical music sales accelerated in the first half of 2026, and vinyl is closing in on CD for the format lead, up 16.4 percent year over year and on pace to overtake CD in units before the year is out. It’s a reminder that the appetite driving disc collecting isn’t isolated to movies and TV. When people are given a reason to want something physical, made well, priced fairly, actually available, they still show up for it in real numbers.
STORE OF THE WEEK
VisArt (Charlotte, NC)
Run by executive director Gina Stewart, VisArt has been open since 1982, surviving four decades and multiple ownership changes to become the last video store standing in Charlotte. It went nonprofit in 2018, and today holds the largest film and video collection on the East Coast, north of 50,000 titles, including thousands of VHS tapes and hard-to-find international and regional work most people have never heard of, let alone seen. Alongside the shelves, VisArt runs a screening room and rentable community space, less a store than a working archive that happens to let you take things home.
(Next week: Movie Madness, Portland.)
THE STACK
What I pulled off the shelf this week.
Steven Spielberg: Director’s Collection (2014)
Format: DVD, 8 Discs
Bonus Features: Featurettes, trailers, deleted scenes, production photos, storyboards, and TV spots across all eight films
Universal split this set right down the middle: four crowd-pleasers everyone already owns in some form, Jaws, E.T., Jurassic Park, The Lost World, and four films that only a director’s true believer bothers to track down, Duel, The Sugarland Express, 1941, and Always. That second half is the whole reason to own this over just streaming the hits. Nobody’s putting 1941 on a curated “essential Spielberg” playlist. A box set doesn’t have that kind of amnesia, it just sits there holding the whole career, commercial flops included, until someone’s actually curious enough to reach for disc six.
SIGN-OFF
That’s Issue #3. A judge froze an $110 billion merger, Sony found a second way to remind everyone what “ownership” doesn’t mean, and somewhere in Charlotte a nonprofit video store just keeps doing the actual work. If you know one person who still alphabetizes their shelf, forward this to them. That is the whole engine we have, and it is a good one.
See you Friday.
Sean Reid
Film & TV Production
seanreid@worldonetv.com
Daniel Askill Reflects On “Amazing Collaboration” With Sia in ‘Sia: Nostalgic for The Present’
Directed by Sia and Daniel Askill, Sia: Nostalgic for the Present captures the artist’s 2016 Coachella performance and world tour. The film hits cinemas starting July 23, and Askill talked about the joys and challenges of making this immersive feature.
Read more: Daniel Askill Reflects On “Amazing Collaboration” With Sia in ‘Sia: Nostalgic for The Present’
If you’re expecting a straight ahead documentary from this film, thank again. “I have worked with Sia for a long time, which has been a really lovely collaboration,” said Daniel Askill. “This film sits in a space that’s somewhere between concert and performance art and visual album. This was actually a film we orginally made for Sia’s Coachella performance in 2016. But it’s not a documentation of that performance.”
“Instead of doing a stage show, we actually we went onto sound stages in Hollywood with Maddie Ziegler and a bunch of actors (including) Paul Dano and Kristen Wiig and a wonderful group of people,” said Askill, who also worked with choreographer Ryan Heffington. “We created this film that then played on the big screens at Coachella. And Sia and her team mimicked it on stage, meaning there were no cameras on stage and the actors’ performances were recreated by dancers, but they were seen from the original film.”
Knowing Sia for two decades was one of the reasons why this film was a creatively “organic” experience for the co-director. “We had some unique challenees because of the nature of how it came together,” said Askll. “But you know, it was really fulfilling and I very much directed it with Sia, which is always an amazing collaboration.”
Full interview with Daniel Askill:
Sia: Nostalgic for the Present, which also features Gaby Hoffmann, Tig Notaro, and Ben Mendelsohn, hits theaters July 23. Share your thoughts on the movie in the comments!
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