WB Archive Collection: Discs On Demand!

[Randall]

Yeah, and the first suggestion I saw was for HBO Max. Uh-huh.

I wonder if this will be all there is to the revamp. I suspect so.

[Ben]

I wouldn’t be *quite* so sure...looks like a placeholder site at the moment...

[Daniel]

I would expect to see a real shop section added to sell merch like the old site.

[Randall]

Okay, the latest word form The Digital Bits:
https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-t ... 40621-1500

Speaking of the Warner Archive Collection, we want to take a moment to remind everyone that even though WB Shop has officially closed, Warner Archive Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K titles can now be purchased from their brand store on Amazon.com (click here for that). Warner Archive has just revealed more new upcoming titles (see our post yesterday) and we have word that they’ll have new titles through the end of 2021 at least. It’s likely that the label will continue indefinitely, just run by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment itself, rather than its former, dedicated team.

That last line looks like conjecture, but let's hope that WHV has the same enthusiasm for the line that George F and his crew did! Right now, they're announcing more titles than ever before. That seems to be a good thing, but we'll see what happens...

[droosan]

Hopefully, Tex Avery volume 3 is still in the works.

A Tom & Jerry Golden Collection volume 2 Blu-ray set would be nice .. but I'm not sure the T&J movie did much to improve the chances of that happening.

I'm also still holding out hope for a release of Touché Turtle & Dum-Dum, to complement (and complete) The Wally Gator Show.

Although the possibility seems vanishingly remote .. I'd also welcome more 'as-yet-unreleased' complete H-B series -- especially Quickdraw McGraw or Grape Ape -- or more Ruby-Spears shows, like Fangface.

--------------------------

I've changed my WA bookmark to their Amazon storefront, for now.

[Randall]

Agree on all points, droo!

I'm pretty sure we'll see another Tex volume.

My H-B shelves are bursting, but I'll always take more. There are still a few outstanding classics yet to be released.

[Ben]

George is still on as a "consultant", so he’ll make sure some titles still get suggested for release. And at the end of the day, the Archives has always basically been a catalog label, essentially, and especially on Blu-ray, often reissuing previously released DVD and Blu titles, or producing Blu upgrades to the initial MOD discs.

So it’s not like we're not going to keep getting the same legacy extras bundled in, and catalog titles will keep coming as long as physical media has a market. I’m still sure that the combined Warner-Universal deal has something to do with this, and that we may yet see even more catalog coming along...again as long as physical has a market.

The big thing WA has done is to create gorgeous new transfers often from the negs, which is a step up for Blu-ray from their original "grab the last video master" for the original MOD DVDs. But Warners has always been fairly good at protecting and preserving their heritage titles, so this will probably continue, too. They also know that they need to create new masters for streaming, ultimately, so if a title is restored then there’s only an upside to issuing a disc too.

I can totally just see the WA becoming a label within WHV, but one that pretty much keeps the same levels of quality coming along. The only thing may be a switch from WA's use of dual layer discs to the single layers that WHV more routinely use, though that’s not much different than most studios, especially on a single feature and a scant few extras. I’m sure, wherever we have to buy them from, that the WA isn’t done yet!

[Ben]

The new WB Shop is here: https://wbshop.com/

O results found for Warner Archive...

[Daniel]

Bleh. Reminds me of Zazzle.

[Ben]

Without the razzle dazzle!

[droosan]

Meanwhile, at Warner Archive's Amazon store page .. they've sorted their available titles into the following categories:

► New to Warner Archive
► Top Sellers
► Drama
► Film Noir
► Horror
► Musicals
► Westerns

It'd be nice if 'Comedies' and 'Animation' were added as categories .. perhaps 'Sci-Fi' or 'Television', as well.

Currently, one can enter "warner+archive+animation" into an Amazon search, to get a (completely random-ordered) list of WA's animated titles .. but it's not possible directly within the WA storefront.

An easy way to sort WA titles by studio -- Warner Bros, RKO, M-G-M, Hanna-Barbera, etc -- or by actor, director, or release year (all of which had been possible, on the prior WBshop site) might also be nice.

I'm hoping the WA Amazon store is a 'work-in-progress' .. and that better sorting/search options are added, eventually.

[Daniel]

A View All option would be nice too.

[Ben]

Nah...Warners don’t want to make it too easy for us to actually buy these things!

[Randall]

The new WB Shop is here: https://wbshop.com/

O results found for Warner Archive...

No "O", and no ABCs at all.

In fact, 0 results for DVD!

Nope, Warner Shop is dead to me now.

[Ben]

Ooh, harsh!



Requiem for a movie store... RIP WBS.