Cognition Dissemination: Best Buy’s Not Reversing Those Plans

Best Buy’s phasing out of physical movies and TV shows was inevitable. But it all still feels unbelievable.

The plan to phase them out was first confirmed by the long-running The Digital Bits, with Variety corroborating the news before Best Buy came out and made an announcement themselves. It was on schedule to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2024, notably the end of March this year. Companies have been slowly but surely diminishing the importance of physical movies (and games to a lesser extent… which is bound to increase over the next couple of years) for several years now, with a sadly sizable portion of the consumer base agreeing with them. Best Buy’s announcement felt like one of the biggest moves yet.

But it’s nonetheless mind-blowing to see this all unfold. For years, stores could be trusted to have an ample supply of physical movies. Best Buy was one of the biggest among them, with large stores that used to have rows upon rows of movies and shows available in several formats. It felt like they would be one of the last stores to get rid of their movie sections, despite the lower number of physical stores these days. The company getting rid of them not only in physical locations but also through their website feels like the end of another chapter movie and TV show ownership.

Even more startling is how some stores aren’t even waiting until the aforementioned planned date: They’re getting rid of their physical displays now. Several stores have removed the entire sections where Blu-rays and DVDs were sold. If they’ve yet to rearrange the stores and replace that section with another, they’ll have nearly-empty spaces where greatness once existed. Anyone in the know will have some idea of what used to be there. All the Blu-ray discounts that occurred during the holiday season were the final hurrah.

There was a short time when I thought Best Buy might reverse this trend, or at least delay it. Reports suggested that Oppenheimer overperformed in sales after it first released on both Blu-ray formats in November. Retailers couldn’t keep the movie in stock, and the Steelbook version of the release sold out quickly. Yet, no word came from Best Buy about them relenting in their plans. Potentially-superlative holiday sales for a bunch of movies and shows, alongside the fire sales, didn’t stop their plans either.

It’s already clear what the home video landscape will resemble following Best Buy’s bowing out of the market in one way. All those exclusive Steelbook offers have shifted to Walmart, which will be selling exclusives for the upcoming releases of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and Suzume. This is a big-enough signal that Walmart will be the chief seller in the home video market at brick-and-mortar retailers, considering, well, who the hell else is there? Target severely diminished their DVDs and Blu-ray section over the last few years, and it’s a surprise that they didn’t pull out of the market first. There’s no telling how long both Walmart and Target will remain in this game. They might even bow out this year.

I’d like to think that Best Buy will regret this in time, but that’s unlikely to happen soon enough. The company’s financials are fine, and stockholders love them some cutbacks. We could reach a point where the audience comes to regret welcoming the Digital Future™ and Streaming Future™ with open arms, and remembers the halcyon days when they actually owned the products they purchased. Just because Sony hit the brakes on deleting Discovery content that PlayStation users purchased through PlayStation Network doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future. It will happen. But there isn’t a big enough audience concerned about our future lack of ownership.

When piles upon piles of TV shows, music, movies, and even games are removed from people’s libraries despite paying money from them, the regret will hit hard. The same applies to movies with altered digital and streaming versions, a fear that’s already extended beyond old Hong Kong movies following China’s takeover of the territory. By then, however, it will be far too late to halt the deeper plunge into the digital abyss.

It’s worth noting the party here that really wants this. Blu-ray sales could still be brisk enough for all we know, but corporations would relish a world where no one fully owns the content they want. Brick-and-mortar retailers may have diminished in popularity and omnipresence, but they’re still capable of influencing public opinions and options. If movies and TV shows are no longer available on home video, what is anyone going to do for ownership? Well, outside sailing the high seas for buried treasure, if you get my drift. Blu-rays are set to stick around, but don’t be surprised if the prices are higher, the discounts are less common, and the number of places to buy them further reduce.