Streaming is not forever

 A movie I saw in 2021 (and I thought I reviewed for this blog) is gone apparently. I got confused and reviewed the movie (or at least talked about it) on my podcast but not my blog.  (Oh well.) 

It is not on any streaming service, at least not according to the two searches I did. It apparently can’t be digitally rented or bought. It is not on physical media, maybe it never was, and now the film appears to be just gone. It was a film from 2016. Maybe it was not a classic film but that film is less than 10 years old and it is just gone. (I guess there could be an illegal copy on You Tube but maybe there isn’t.)

I am not mentioning the name of the film. This is not as much about the specific film as much as my shock  on how fleeting streaming is. This film came out at a film festival in 2016, was reviewed by the Hollywood Reporter, and now just seems to be gone. The 1998 horror movie Pumpkinhead, for example, is streaming on some sites  and available for digital rental or purchase. (I need to re-watch Pumpkinhead, maybe this year.)

I don’t think this is what we were promised with streaming media.  Maybe we were never really promised that every film (American film at least) would be available at a moments notice. I thought it was promised that relatively recent films would be available. “Well, Sean that is why physical media is so essential.” Not every film these days get physical media. (This film did not apparently.) Michael Jai White’s As Good As Dead, from either late 2022 or early 2023, is not on physical media.

Also maybe it is different in other parts of the country or in bigger cities in my state but stores where I live are downsizing their sections devoted to selling Blu-rays and DVDs. It is not what it was even four or five  years ago. 

There are some Netflix movies that aren’t, as I type this, on physical media. What happens if Netflix goes out of business?