‘Color Out of Space’ Coming to DVD/Blu-ray Sooner Than You Think

Credit: Pixabay.com

As you may know from an earlier post, I have been ready for Richard Stanley’s movie “Color Out of Space” for over two months. I was checking Fandango since Wednesday to see the showtimes for this movie adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story, which goes by the slightly longer title of “The Colour Out of Space”, for my area. Well, it was only showing at two theaters here in Sacramento in which both only had evening showings and were too far for me to drive especially that late on a Wednesday (two days before the official release date). After Wednesday, it played nowhere in the Sacramento area. By then, the theatre that it was playing at closest to my area was in Berkeley which is about an hour away by car and an hour and a half by train. I don’t drive long distance and I wasn’t about to head out on a train for a movie that doesn’t even run two hours long. So “Color Out of Space” is one of those movies that play only in select areas and so may not be coming to a theatre near you.

But if you’re a Lovecraft lover like me, don’t be too upset. “Color” is one of those few movies coming to DVD and Blu-ray early. It’s coming to these two formats February 25 of this year of 2020! Yes, only a month from now. And I imagine it will be coming to streaming video about the same time. I tried checking the internet to see when that might happen but couldn’t find anything. But there’s almost no way it won’t come to streaming video since that’s the big thing in movie distribution today. In some cases, too big.

DVDs and Blu-ray discs have become like print books and vinyl records. There are people, including yours truly, who like to have physical copies to put on their shelves. But streaming video like other media formats before it, such as DVD with VHS, is pushing out DVD and Blu-ray. Yet, it doesn’t stream everything.

There’s a limit on what streaming video services such as Netflix and Hulu will stream. They too many times exclude indie, foreign, art house and old films because those films “don’t sell”. “Netflix and Hulu aren’t willing to sign expensive contracts for films that will go unwatched,” says Andrew Heinzman at Reviewgeek.com. And “Color Out of Space” is an indie film one which will be “old” very soon by today’s high-tech standards. Also, not every streaming video service will play the same movies, regardless of how new those movies may be.

Neither can everyone afford or even wants to pay for a subscription with every single streaming service that’s out there. But with less alternatives for viewing movies, the streaming services make more money because the people who can afford the subscriptions will flee to them for what they want and can’t find elsewhere.

So, it’s ironic that it hasn’t yet, as of this writing, been announced when “Color Out of Space” will come to streaming video. Therefore, if you depend on the streaming services to watch your movies, don’t fear too much. “Color” probably won’t get overlooked. Which streaming service or services will offer the movie and how long for is a different story. If you, like myself, don’t like depending on streaming services for your movies and you purchase “Color” when it comes out on DVD and Blu-ray then save your copy. With streaming video companies’ agenda to sell only what’s new and popular, the movie may go obsolete with the very disc it’s on.

Has “Color Out of Space” come to your area? Have you seen it? If so, what did you think? No spoilers please. 

Until next time . . .