A Reason to Smile
In which Norm makes a discovery.
So here’s something interesting: Paramount Home Entertainment is back to combo releases now!
Apparently it started last month with Transformers One, which I didn’t receive, but I was pleased to see that my review copy of Smile 2 offers both 4K and Blu-ray platters, unlike the first Smile, which was among Paramount’s first titles to hit the market in separate 4K and BD editions. (For the last two years, if you wanted a combo edition of a Paramount title you had to splash out for the steelbook.)
See? Separate!
Checking the studio’s release slate, I confirmed the upcoming discs of Gladiator II and Sonic III will also be released as combos, and only combos. That’s great, but here’s why it’s interesting: This decision means no individual Blu-ray edition of these films will be available to buy, which as far as I can tell is a first for a major studio.
Criterion did it with the Ranown Westerns box in 2023, I assumed because their internal tracking told them sales would trend toward the 4K edition to justify the expense. It’s very different to see a studio take its entire line in this direction … but factor in the savings on packaging and the real surprise is that it took this long to go there.
With the prevalence of 4K drives in gaming machines, why wouldn’t you consolidate your sales? (It’ll also have the effect of boosting the numbers for a given title, since individual 4K and BD discs would split the tracking and make a given title appear to underperform on sales charts.)
And don’t worry, they’ll still be releasing these films as standard DVDs. Costco and Wal-Mart are still doing decent business in standard-def media, believe it or not.
My review of Smile 2 will drop over the weekend. (It’s good! And Naomi Scott is phenomenal.) I just wanted to set this little nugget out on its own so it didn’t derail the piece. And as long as I’m just throwing out behind-the-scenes stuff, if you have a Microsoft 365 subscription and you want to get rid of the AI helper bullshit – and avoid the additional fee they’re going to impose – follow these instructions and be free of Copilot in about five minutes’ time.
I’m off to donate more platelets. Keep smiling!