The end is near -- the new movie landscape
 

I am a die hard physical media fan, but it looks like I am going to have to give in to the inevitable. Already Disney has broken the theatrical exhibition plane with Hamilton, Mulan, and a few others.

Warner Brothers had already announced that Wonder Woman 1984 was going to be theatrical and stream on the same date. WW 1984 can be 4K, Dolby Vision and Atmos. Now Warner announces that their full slate of 2021 releases will be day and date theatrical and stream on HBO Max. That's Dune, Matrix 4, Suicide Squad, Godzilla vs Kong, and In the Heights among others.

I'm not a fan of streaming since I don't think it can reach the quality of physical media, but I have watched Hamilton and the Mandalorian on Disney+ and The Aeronauts on Amazon Prime. I am eligible for HBO Max through my cable/Internet provider.

It looks like I am already surrendering to streaming. How does Kaleidescape fit into this new mix?

What does the future hold in store, and how do I adjust to this new, not fully determined model?

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne...x-and-theaters

I don’t necessarily have a problem with streaming, but the studios have to come to terms with the fact that they would be destroying the theater industry if this keeps up. I (and for a lot of us on AA, we) have to remember that in the grand scheme of things, very few families have a nice high end home theater to watch in, so for them, going to the movies is more of a thrill than it may be for me. Hopefully the theaters can withstand this now, but for the long term not sure how much revenue they can afford to do without.

- Buck

Personally, I never understood why new movies were not released direct to streaming to begin with. This seems long overdo. Why it took a pandemic to push it across the finish line is what I don't understand.

Movie theaters were in trouble long before the pandemic hit.

Times change, paying over $50 in tickets, paying for overpriced popcorn, sodas, candy, etc... the typical family scenario and you are looking at close to $100

Vs sitting at home on the couch, eating popcorn and drinking sodas for the $8 price of admission to the Amazon Prime, Apple or even free on Netflix, Hulu or others in a few month's time..

I for one will miss the theater experience but I am not one bit surprised. Times change, people change. Big screen tv and on demand streaming at home has become the new family theater experience.

Buying physical media such as DVD and BluRay? The DVD sales dropped 86% in 13 years due to the streaming platforms.

DVD players will soon start to resemble rotary phones on the kitchen wall. Has anyone seen those lately? :D

My problem with all this is quality. I will be curious to see Wonder Woman in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos via streaming. I can't see how the streaming platform can produce the quality.

I'm curious how Kaleidescape fits into all this?

I have a high end JVC 4K HDR projector professionally calibrated and a 2.35 cinemascope screen. I’ve done some comparisons with 4K streaming with the corresponding 4K HDR blu ray (and standard HD vs. standard blu ray) through a Panasonic 4K player. Physical media has won every single time. No exceptions. Now it’s not a ridiculous “OMG it’s a million times better” thing, but it is better if you’re into audio video.

- Buck

No complaints from my end here. The new AppleTv box synched up with my LG OLED set with Dolby Vision handshake and it is extremely impressive. I have not compared since I no longer buy Blu-ray discs but the few 4K that I do own, of the pure "eye candy" variety of Nature and such, where the images are popping off the screen and Oozing into high resolution rainbow puddles onto the floor... :smoking:

Yes, the 4K discs in the belly of the last generation of OPPO Blu-ray player still beats streaming but as Buck said above, nothing of the "Gobsmacked" sort with Hollywood variety of movies.

Give me a good Hollywood flick that was shot on actual FILM and I will be happy. I do NOT like green eggs and digital HAM, the movie watching SAM I AM.

Kaleidescape far exceeds all streaming services quality. It does so however at a very high price tag, it is a niche product. I did not think we would use it nearly as much as we do.

The hardware is very expensive, even being a dealer. You must buy the content from the Kaleidescape store, even if you previously own it on BlueRay.

A plus is that if you own multiple systems, as I do; you can download it up to 5 times at no extra cost. The GUI, access, flexibility, and reliability is well worth the price of admission IMO. You do not need live Ethernet service for playback.

For those who are curious; my 100TB Terra Servers and Strato Player carry a retail of $45K. My content which consists of about 1600 movies (most being 4K native) is another $50K.

Likewise, I have a Sony 4K HDR projector and widescreen. I think what I see at home rivals theaters. I also have a McIntosh B&W Atmos setup that beats any theater I have heard.

That's my standard. Streaming has to involve compression, and I have yet to see a stream that matches physical media or theatrical presentation for picture and sound.

Another thought on the whole Warner Brothers thing is that it leaves two large pots of money on the table -- theater box office and physical media. Even though sale of physical media is declining, it still provides considerable income to studios. Furthermore, I already have HBO Max as part of what I get from my cable/Internet provider. I will probably watch the 17 movies on HBO Max, but I won't have to pay anything. If they ever do release the 17 movies on disk, I will probably buy two or maybe three of them and these are the same two or three that I would probably see in theaters (before or after COVID, not during). Warner won't be getting all the money from me it could.

Thanks, Ivan for the information although it is a bit of a downer.