It’s about to get even harder to buy some of Disney’s strangest movies on Blu-ray

Disney is ending Disney Movie Club, the online store and subscription service where fans could purchase Blu-ray or DVDs of House of Mouse movies. The digital bits informs that the closure continues a new agreement that Disney has signed with Sony, under which Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will take over all physical media production. Disney Movie Club’s news formwork was delivered to the service’s 10 million American users via email, as well as to the service’s website on Tuesday.

“We have enjoyed serving you for the past 23 years, but consumer behavior and viewing preferences continue to evolve, which is why we have made the difficult decision to close Disney Movie Club,” Disney Movie Club wrote in a view statement by The envelope. Disney Movie Club users will have until May 20 to place their final orders, and Disney will officially end the service on July 20.

First launched in 2001, Disney Movie Club offered fans access to a wide selection of Disney’s physical media library, including titles from Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and 20th Century Studios. New members who signed a two-year contract would receive their first four titles for $1, with the condition that buy at least five other movies for the total price for the rest of the contract, indicated Disney hikers in your review.

Although Disney Movie Club’s prices were often higher than brick-and-mortar stores or Amazon, the size of its library was unmatched. For fans of older or hard-to-find Disney movies not available to stream, purchasing a DVD from Disney Movie Club was sometimes the only option to watch the movie at home (unless they stumbled upon an old copy on eBay or somewhere else). The service also offered extra benefits for members, such as special editions or exclusive prizes.

For some Mouseketeers, the writing was already on the wall. disney close service in Canada last October, citing “declining membership” as a factor. Just a couple of months earlier, in August, Disney production stopped DVD and Blu-ray discs in Australia and New Zealand.

Many Disney families and adults likely replaced Disney Movie Club with the Disney Plus streaming service, which launched in 2019. But since not all of the Disney Movie Club selection was available on Disney Plus, some fans kept both services. Especially since Disney and other streamers occasionally remove titles, purchasing a physical copy of a beloved movie or show eliminates the risk of it one day being gone forever. Outside of Disney Movie Club, Disney super fans and collectors commonly turn to Amazon, eBay, or physical media resale sites in search of old or hard-to-find Disney movies.

Physical media consumption has been in free fall for more than a decade, coinciding with the widespread availability of streaming services and digital rentals and purchases. Taken a particularly bad hit in 2023. Combined sales and rentals of physical media (including DVDs, Blu-ray discs and 4K Ultra HD) fell by more than a quarter (25.3 percent) last year in the U.S., according to Digital Entertainment Group estimates.

Since Sony will take over Disney’s physical media operations, Disney fans in the US will still have some sort of option to purchase DVDs and Blu-ray discs. But it’s unclear what exactly this new offering will look like and whether Sony will reduce Disney’s physical media offerings or continue offering the same titles.