Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment To Release A Blu-ray Only Edition Of Amazon MGM Studios' The Boys In The Boat On June 25

Last week we wondered if the news that Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment would be releasing the Amazon MGM Studios’ film production of American Fiction would also mean that director George Clooney’s adaptation of Daniel James Brown’s 2013 book, The Boys in the Boat, could also get a physical media push by Warner.

And just like that, news arrived that indeed this would be the case.   A Blu-ray-only (no DVD, no 4K Ultra HD) edition will be shepherded home by Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment on June 25.

The ARR for that end of June street date is a whopping 179 days.   Domestic box office receipts for this excellently produced biopic came in at $52.6 million.

Warner is a gun for hire in this distribution deal.   Don’t blame them for the less than competent way the management of this $40 film production has been handled.

It remains a mystery as to why Amazon paid $8.45 billion to buy MGM in 2022 and then has done little to nothing with the film and series assets they acquired.   If the purpose was for programming for Amazon Prime, it was an extremely expensive proposition for what they actually got.  

If it were for the MGM brand, then — like Whole Foods and the Washington Post — it is just another example as to why Jeff Bezos should stick to delivering packages.

Take, just for example, The Boys in the Boat.   18 days into the theatrical run, Amazon MGM Studios opened up a premium VOD window, which meant that both box office returns were then truncated (why go to the local multiplex when you can watch the film at home) and the “Helper” community was given easy access to a pristine master of Clooney’s film.   

Can you guess what happened with that dumb move?   Within hours both DVD and Blu-ray editions were available.

Just how stupid is that?   Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment must now compete with multiple DVD and Blu-ray editions that will have been out and in consumer’s hands 161 days before the legit Blu-ray finally arrives.

Not only is Warner pushing a rock up hill with that very long “piracy” window, but the Blu-ray they’ve been given to distribute comes without any bonus materials!   Sigh!!