Oppenheimer Sells Out And Now Universal Is Playing Catch-up

Oppenheimer‘s director, Christopher Nolan, is no stranger to a run on physical media of his films. His highly stylized visuals are frequently prized in the home video market, though this most recent sell-out might be his biggest so far. The Blu-ray of his exploration of the man behind the atomic bomb contains over three hours of bonus features as well, making it equally appealing to those who are interested in behind-the-scenes information about their favorite films.

The depletion of Oppenheimer stock at major retailers, including Amazon and Best Buy, has led to a dramatic increase in the resale market for the prized platters, including reported payments as high as $200 for the special edition Steelcase version. These versions, housed in hinged aluminum cases, are frequently popular among collectors, and this is a film many people seem to want in their collections.

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, currently scrambling to keep up with the demand for Oppenheimer, expressed delight that people are so interested in the 4K Ultra HD edition of the film. They also assured fans in their statement that they are doing everything they can to accelerate delivery of the discs to retailers. This particular focus on physical media in an age of streaming services and digital distribution is particularly fitting for a Christopher Nolan film, given the director’s noted skepticism regarding digital media.

One of the few in Hollywood still shooting on film, the Oppenheimer director has long eschewed the digital age. He has also championed the movie theater as the ideal place to experience cinema, expressing suspicion about online distribution and streaming services. For Nolan, it’s important that once someone buys a Blu-ray, it is theirs to keep and won’t be taken back from them by major corporations—something that can’t be said of streaming services, who frequently delete offerings of even their own original programming.

The lavish special features on the Oppenheimer disc reinforce another advantage of physical media over streamed content, which rarely has any special features available and tends to feature generally paltry ones at that. Oppenheimer‘s worldwide earnings of over $900 million demonstrate the broad interest in the film and make it no wonder that there has been a rush on its high-quality home edition. Fans of the director have surely heeded his vocal advocacy of maintaining personal libraries of physical media, leading to the current shortage.If you’re one of those clamoring for an Oppenheimer 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, we suspect you won’t have much longer to wait. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is surely eager to make certain the highly sought-after discs are stuffed into as many stockings as possible this holiday season.