It seems Disney is taking a chapter from the books of game developers and weighing whether releasing physical media is worth it. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will mark the last Disney DVD and Blu-Ray released in Australia.
With well over half of Australia — 69% — having at least one streaming service, according to Finder, it was bound to happen where studios would consider leaving behind physical media. While this isn’t affecting the US or other regions yet, that’s most likely because only about 57% of Americans use streaming services, it’s still a good enough idea to offer up physical media.
As Collider notes, though, this move could end up doing more harm than good, as while physical sales are down in the country, the streaming landscape is a rather unstable market at this moment, especially with the ongoing strikes seeking more residual compensation. If you’re someone who prefers physical movies and shows, it might be worth investing in physical copies of your favorite media.
It’s always worth noting that while streaming is more convenient than making space for a ton of movies, it comes at the cost of losing access to some media once licenses expire or the company decides to pull it from the service. In recent years, the big media company scrubbed more than a dozen films from its Disney+ library. We also have Max, which scrubbed six animated shows, leaving some without any legal way to watch them.
Gabriel enjoys all things entertainment from writing about video games as the Managing Editor for PSX Extreme to covering the latest film and TV news for his own publication — Early Reel. Follow him on X.