Summary
- Physical media for Netflix shows like
The Haunting of Hill House
remains unlikely due to Netflix’s prioritization of subscriptions. - Fans fear that Netflix’s exclusive horror series by Mike Flanagan could disappear from the platform without a physical release.
- Despite his efforts, Flanagan was unsuccessful in getting Netflix to release his shows on Blu-ray or DVD.
Horror master Mike Flanagan has responded to calls for his Netflix shows to be released on physical media. In the last year, it has become clear that finding your favorite movie or TV series on a streaming platform is something that can become difficult if the streamer in question decides to drop titles from their available catalog. This is something fans fear could happen with the popular horror shows of director Flanagan, including The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass. Flanagan has revealed that he attempted to get Netflix to put his shows out in physical formats, but they refused.
Like many multimedia formats that have reached the end of their shelf-life, physical media such as DVDs and Blu-rays seemed destined to go the way of the VHS tape in the boom of streaming platforms, where anything and everything is – mostly – available at the touch of a button. However, in the last few years, there has been a new surge in interest in once again owning an actual copy of new movies and TV shows that were originally streaming exclusives. It seems that Flanagan is a big champion of seeing his creations making it to shelves, but so far his attempts to make it happen have been unsuccessful. According to a post by the President of Physical Media on X/Twitter, Flanagan said:
“In the years I worked at Netflix, I tried very hard to get them to release my work on Blu-ray & DVD. They refused at every turn. It became clear very fast that their only priority was subs, and that they were actively hostile to the idea of physical media. This is a very dangerous point of view. While companies like Netflix pride themselves on being disruptors, and have proven that they can affect great change in the industry, they sometimes fail to see the difference between disruption and damage. So much that they can find themselves, intentionally or not, doing enormous harm to the very concept of film preservation.”
One reason many people are eager to see a copy of popular streaming titles sitting in their hand comes down to the way any streamer can drop titles overnight, even their own exclusives. This happened with the Disney+ series Willow, which was removed from the platform after a poor initial reception from fans. This means that currently no one can watch the series anywhere – without resorting to piracy, which is again on the rise.
Flanagan’s work on Netflix has been both prolific and well-received, but now that the director has shifted his allegiances to Amazon Studios, fans have been worried that Netflix could decide to archive his body of work. Whether that happens or not, the chances of seeing The Midnight Club or The Fall of the House of Usher being released in another format seems slim, as Netflix has released none of their exclusive shows on physical media, forcing fans to remain subscribed to their service if they want to watch them.
Related Mike Flanagan Teases Undiscovered Easter Egg in The Fall of the House of Usher Creator Mike Flanagan says fans have been pretty good at spotting the numerous Easter eggs in his shows, but there’s one that has yet to be found.
Recently, Disney finally began releasing their original wave of Marvel TV shows – WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki – on DVD and Blu-Ray. With the titles originally releasing in 2021, it has taken a few years for Disney to give many fans what they have been asking for, but whether Netflix will follow suit is yet to be seen. Flanagan certainly doesn’t hold out much hope of seeing his shows released in these formats anytime soon, but if any of them do vanish from the platform, we can expect to hear a lot about it from fans on social media.
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