Prepare yourselves to explain what "The Cloud" is to all your elder family members because DVDs are going the way of the dinosaurs.

Variety has alerted us to PricewaterhouseCoopers's new study that shows box office and digital revenue is projected to rise steadily over the course of the next five years, while the sales of DVDs--as well as other disc formats--are predicted to fall drastically. This study posits that the sale of streaming video titles will exceed the sale of physical DVDs as soon as 2016. Which means, DVD's days are numbered.

DVD sales saw a 28% drop last year, making $12.2 billion. This total only is expected to reach $8.7 billion by 2018, a time at which electronic home video (streaming titles or digital downloads) are anticipated to be the highest-earning element of filmmaking. Within five years, digital video profits are expected to leap from 2014's projected $8.5 total to $17 billion. Basically, PwC projects that by 2018, digital video will be earning distributors more profits than movies' theatrical box office will.

However, PwC isn't calling theatrical releases obsolete--not just yet, anyway. Despite some doomsayers insisting the rise of digital video is luring people away from movie theaters, PwC's study declares ticket sales will climb 15.9% over the next half decade, but that will be in part because of ticket prices rising. By their estimate, the cost of a movie ticket will rise from an average of $8.89 to $9.81 by 2018. Notably, both distribution to China and 3D releases were meant as ways to bolster box office performance, but both are being met with challenges.

As far as China is concerned, studios are confronting several obstacles, including censorship, a cap on American films accepted annually, the rise of China's domestic film industry, and rampant video piracy. Regarding 3D, Hollywood's obstacle is essentially that audience enthusiasm for it is dwindling. So, studios are now responding by offering 20% less 3D titles than they did in 2011.

While the way consumers buy movies is changing, the desire to buy versus rent is still a strong one in this digital video climate. And the plus side from those producing titles is that there is far less overhead that goes into making a movie buyable on digital services as opposed to printing and publishing scads of DVDs and cases.

Ultimately, we're by and large investing differently in our love of movies. Now instead of rushing out to get an adored movie on DVD or Blu-ray, more and more are just buying a digital file with a click of a button on iTunes or Amazon. As I write this, I look up at my personal collection of DVDs, which fill nearly a whole wall in my living room. To think, five years from now this will be as laughable a site as the walls of discarded VHS tapes found at any thrift store.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/DVD-Going-Way-VHS-2016-43349.html

I agree if I can touch a DVD I believe that I own it 

My mom and I prefer to read the same genres for the most part.

Both she and I have a Kindle.

But we only buy e-Books when we're sure the other one will not be interested in that particular book.

Everything else is still bought as good ol' fashioned hardcover and paperbacks and loaned to each other whenever we fancy it.

An other problem i see with digital only is region coding. As an Dutch citizen i would no longer be able to buy US or UK releases which are released earlier, in better quality, or at all Just look at how long it took the Dutch distributors to release Arrested Development for example, compare so Criterion releases to the same title released in Holland. Or browse through my collection and see the titles still not released here in Holland.

As long as that problem continues to exist physical product will always be my choice.

And as others have stated, if i can't own physical copies i will either use Netflix more, or rent as buying will be useless,

Paul

With digital only releases we are going to get stuck with needing multiple accounts to get the movies you want (depending on provider), constant harassment from these accounts to subscribe to certain unrelated services, make you have to do silly things like the old 'like us on facebook' stuff, make you ensure whether you purchased the digital download for the right thing eg: your internet connected BD/DVD player, or internet connected receiver, or tv, or computer or a combination (different pricing model) and then of course when you go through everything to actually watch the movie you will have to wait while "accessing advertisements applicable to your location..accessing advertisements applicable to your profile...accessing digital company promotions and advertisements" and so on. And then of course, when the internet connection drops out 1/3 way through the movie you'll have to go through the entire process again to watch said movie.

No thanks, I want a hard copy I can just stick in the player and press play.

Quoting CubbyUps:

Quote:
One has to wonder about digital ownership. If you buy a digital download can the studio block you from watching it? Say how Disney loves to put their animated movies in the vault. The studio could say that you own the digital file but not the right to watch it when you want to.
Could this force rentals upon viewers too?

The studios failed with the DIVX format in the early days of dvd, but it looks like they may have won the battle in the long run. When movie ownership is back in the studios hands.

Call me old fashioned, but I don't accept that I own something unless I can physically touch it.

Even worse since you brought up Disney I will use them as well.  What happens when something appears in the digital file that was not meant to be there or something some exec find objectionable.  They just replace that part of the file or delete it all together and it is like it never happed.  What is worse is if it happens to be a part of the film you enjoy, it is still lost.  Also what about vaulting?  Yes you bought it, but you knew it would only be available for a "limited time"  Sorry we left out that was even if you bought the file.

Quoting ruben.:

Quote:
Then we go on the Black marked and bye DVD/Blu-Ray movies at the Pirate dealer. we must have the drugs.

*cheezy, fake Mexican accent*  "Hey maaaaan. I got what'choo want right here. Nothin' but the hard stuff. C'mon... you know you want doze episodes of Candid Camera never released to the public. I make you a good deal, OK?"

Quoting ShinyDiscGuy:

Quote:
Yep and good luck ever getting even a quarter of the content that was pressed on DvD.

Lucikly, I never owned a quarter of the content that was pressed on DVD.