I’m a big physical media collector, and when I can, I pick up movies in the best format available. Although 4K Blu-ray has been out for a while now, not every movie, even new releases, comes out in 4K. Something I’ve been noticing is that even if a movie doesn’t get a 4K release right away, it’ll come down the road. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason as to why this happens.

What’s frustrating is that it happens way too often. Even movies that don’t have a lot of fanfare, like Renfield or The Last Voyage of the Demeter, fell into this pipeline. While I like both of those movies, they didn’t set the world on fire by any means, and they both launched with regular Blu-ray versions being available before moving to 4K. I don’t like wasting my money, and fortunately, I didn’t in the case of either of those movies, but I’ve been burned in the past by movies I thought were safe. The original 1954 Godzilla was out for years on a regular Blu-ray, and when I finally picked it up, the 4K release was announced. It would be funny if it wasn’t so annoying.

Something has to give here

My wallet can’t handle it

I’m not alone when I say I don’t like to upgrade discs all that often, especially not ones I just bought. When something’s been out of Blu-ray for years, I usually feel safe in buying that knowing that an upgrade isn’t around the corner, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. I have a Dolby Atmos sound system, a 4K TV, and a 4K Blu-ray player, so it makes sense that I’m trying to get a 4K Blu-ray disc when I can. I know that’s not always an option, but I don’t like to have the rug pulled from under me.

I don’t see why companies release a Blu-ray version of a movie only to release a 4K version of it a year later. They seem to banking on people wanting to double-dip. Not only is that scummy, if it’s true, but it doesn’t even work on me. What’s more likely to happen is that I’m training myself to wait for a 4K release if something only launches with a Blu-ray copy. I understand that printing 4K discs costs extra money, but I don’t want the self-fulfilling prophecy of something not selling on Blu-ray because people are trained to wait for the 4K release.

Physical media has been a shrinking industry for years now, and the last thing I’d like to see is it to dry up even quicker because people are waiting to buy things. It’s a recipe for disaster, and I’d rather see all versions of a film come out at once instead of waiting around for them. When I saw the Universal Monster movies were coming to 4K, I held off on buying the Blu-ray set of 30 movies. Slowly, but surely, they’re coming, so I’m glad I waited there.

What’s especially fascinating to me is when you read the back of a movie, and it tells you it’s scanned in 4K. That might lead to believe there’s a 4K version available, but that’s not always the case. Pictured above is the back of my Castle of the Living Dead Blu-ray, which is an example of that very situation. That either means there’s a 4K Blu-ray on the horizon, or the company is fine with taking a 4K scan and putting it on a 2K disc indefinitely. I wish there was a way to know either way, but it is what it is.

It’s not the end of the world

You live and you learn

As annoying as this issue is, I’ve learned to roll with the punches as there are much worse things that can happen. Watching something on Blu-ray is still a very good experience, barring some exceptions, so it’s not like I’m robbing myself of a good time. I’ve never finished watching a Blu-ray and my immediate thought was that I wished it was in 4K. If it ever was, that certainly doesn’t bode well for the quality of the movie.

Fortunately, the majority of things I pick up come with 4K Blu-ray versions at the start, so it’s not something I have to worry about. It would be totally different if something only launched on DVD, but thankfully, that’s not the case with anything. While there aren’t as many people in the physical media selling game as there were even a decade ago, it still feels healthy enough for me to pick up some new releases each month. Of those releases, I’ve only been burned a couple of times, Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me being the most recent example of one that really irked me. I get that it’s annoying, but it’s just one of those quirks of being a physical media collector.

Sometimes, a 4K release of an older Blu-ray is a welcome addition, because it’ll result in a big upgrade. I have no problem upgrading a disc I’ve had for years, I just don’t like buying a Blu-ray and then seeing a 4K was announced the next day.