“You’re not your job. You’re not how much money you have in the bank. You’re not the car you drive. You’re not the contents of your wallet. You’re not your f**king khakis. You’re the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.”
Hey there, Cinemaniacs! Ealan here with another HMC Newsletter!
For those of you that are interested – or those who can manage to pull this off – a brand new 4K remastered version of Fight Club will be released in theaters tomorrow (April 22, 2026), so make it a night out if you can!
At my local theater, it’s only showing once at 7PM that day, so I personally won’t be able to attend such a screening. Dang. I would’ve loved to see it on the big screen after all these years.
But boy are we excited to talk about it with you all! So please join us today at 4PM PDT/7PM EDT, ask any questions that may arise, and come have fun with us!
“If we catch John Doe and he turns out to be the devil, I mean if he’s Satan himself, that might live up to our expectations, but he’s not the devil. He’s just a man.”
In typical fashion, we will be following up Fight Club with another 90s modern classic from David Fincher Se7en. And like Fight Club, it has been many years since I have sat down to watch it in its entirety.
It’s dark, gritty, with moody lighting, incredible performances, and so well-crafted like any other Fincher movie. At least that’s what my mind tells me going off the last time I’ve seen it, so I am looking forward to soaking it all in for next week.
I guess the only stain on the whole ordeal is the fact that Kevin Spacey is in it. Personally, I just can’t watch anything with him in it now that doesn’t give me a sour taste in my mouth. Tragic, really, since he really is a phenomenal actor. The Usual Suspects is another favorite of mine, but again – I haven’t seen that movie in decades. 😅
Disney Ends Its Home Entertainment Department
Just real quick I wanted to reiterate something Derek and I spoke about at the end of last week’s Double Take live stream – the chance for great stories to reach the public eye these days is completely backwards from what it used to be, and it’s very saddening.
What used to be chances being green-lit and given a proper theatrical release – small budget, original stories that aren’t meant to be tent pole box office smash hits that cross the $1 Billion threshold – are never given a chance now unless it is already based on an existing IP, a best-selling novel, etc, where an audience is already built in (well, unless you’re A24).
And yes – over the decades, there were still flops at the box office. It’s inevitable. But there used to be so many factors that went into a movie becoming a hit, and a major factor in the 80s, 90s and 2000s was home entertainment: VHS and DVD rentals from Blockbuster Video, showing Shawshank Redemption on TNT every Saturday afternoon for years on end, the ABC “Movie of the Week” screening every Friday night, and of course buying your favorites on physical media.
During his Hot Wings appearance, Matt Damon mentioned the very reason that small, but compelling stories aren’t given a chance anymore is because physical media sales have dwindled, with the collective mindset shifting to streaming instead. In fact, I’ll let Matt himself explain it:
And now Disney has just announced that they are getting rid of their Home Entertainment department completely. Not just some layoffs within the department, no – the entire department is getting axed.
Granted, Sony has in fact taken over Disney’s physical media distribution as of a couple years ago, so the actual printing of discs is a non-issue.
But what could be an issue now is which titles will be deemed “worthy” of a home release. Will Disney not invest any money into physical media sales anymore? Or only decide that best-selling, box-office smashes get a physical release? Does this mean that my beloved Andor Season 2 might never get a 4K Blu-ray release after all? I will be so sad if this is the case, because out of all the Star Wars properties in this Disney era, Andor has been my favorite by far. I already own the first season on 4K Steelbook, so I better have that collection completed with Season 2, or there will be riots in the streets. 😄
I know since the beginning of cinema, there has always been a fine line between business and art. You can’t have the art without the business part to back it up and allow it to be distributed to theaters, discs, streaming, etc.
But while there are always movies that are clearly cash grabs, the scales used to be balanced with art house pieces also, or stories that need to be told, regardless of how much money it makes, and they could still find their way to film festivals and eventually theaters.
But now? It just seems like it’s all business, and no longer driven by art. It’s become Moneyball, perpetuated solely by analytics and data crunching, as opposed to stories that are born through passion, stories meant to move you, elicit an emotional response, make you cry, etc. Now it just seems like movies and TV shows are delivered to our eyeballs covered in a thin candy shell with a logo wrapped around it. Just another pop-up ad to annoyingly swipe away.
So I don’t know about the future of Disney and their investments into physical media, but as of late, I have been continuing to collect older favorites on 4K Blu-ray, and I’m happy that I am.
It’s mine. I own it. I can hold it in my hand. I can pop it in my 4K Blu-ray player and not be bothered with ads before, during or after the screening. It looks and sounds better than streaming. There are no buffering moments where it suddenly drops in quality for no apparent reason. But sadly, that’s not necessary for most consumers. Convenience always wins when little as asked of you to be entertained.
But for those of us who still want to collect? We are few, and dammit we’re sticking to our guns. 😎
Thanks for showing up, Cinemaniacs! Spread the word! Physical media for life!