HOLLYWOOD KEEPS REMINDING US WHY WE NEED PHYSICAL MEDIA MORE THAN EVER:
As mentioned previously, Paramount+ has incurred the wrath of sci-fi nerds by taking down the first 10 Star Trek films and moving them over to Max. Trek may be one of Paramount’s most popular franchises, but it appears the studio is not above licensing it out to other platforms, even if it undermines their own. This is not the only instance of Paramount allowing Star Trek media to spill away from “the home of Star Trek.” Last year, Paramount canceled the children-oriented show Star Trek: Prodigy after one season and removed it from the service. The show eventually moved to Netflix, where a second season was assured. Sure, the Star Trek movies will likely wind up back on Paramount+ eventually, but even then it can’t be the definitive place to watch everything from the franchise.
Even if Star Trek isn’t your bag, there are other examples. Disney+ took over distribution for new seasons of Doctor Who outside the UK, with their tenure starting with three specials starring David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor. But the previous revival seasons are on Max, and if you want to delve into the (26!) seasons of classic Who, then I hope you know what BritBox is. Speaking of British sensations, Amazon may have purchased MGM, but are all of the James Bond movies on Prime? Not quite. These are wildly popular franchises with massive back catalogs, exactly the sort of thing streaming was supposed to make it easy to watch in one go. Instead, audiences have to go digging through “where you can watch” articles and hope nothing changes by the time they can get through it all.
To be fair, Amazon, much like HBO-Max before them, may simply be protecting delicate young audiences from themselves: James Bond slapped with ‘trigger warning’ as modern audiences warned 007 franchise may ’cause offense.’
Your dad or granddad went through WWII; nothing he saw 007 do on a big screen in 1966 was going to phase him. Today’s “modern audiences” are infinitely more fragile.