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Kpop Demon Hunters Kscape Release?

J

JNeil

New member
Joined
Dec 11, 2024
Messages
2
Location
Virginia
Kpop Demon Hunters was released on 4k Blu-Ray today, at least on Amazon. Anyone have any idea on if or when it will become available on the Kaleidescape movie store?
 
JNeil said:
Kpop Demon Hunters was released on 4k Blu-Ray today, at least on Amazon. Anyone have any idea on if or when it will become available on the Kaleidescape movie store?
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This is a Netflix title delivered via Criterion. It is Not expected to appear on K. Buy the disc.
 
Spot on with Model Citizen. For a premium service, dropping a 4K title in plain SDR without HDR or Dolby Vision in 2026 is just ridiculous. If we're paying top dollar for hardware and downloads, K needs to hold the studios to a higher standard instead of taking whatever half baked file they throw over the fence.
 
Kiddcadder said:
Spot on with Model Citizen. For a premium service, dropping a 4K title in plain SDR without HDR or Dolby Vision in 2026 is just ridiculous. If we're paying top dollar for hardware and downloads, K needs to hold the studios to a higher standard instead of taking whatever half baked file they throw over the fence.
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This happens regularly and all evidence points to these being deliberate choices on K’s part, not studio interference. Limited resources has been the only explanation of subpar releases.
 
LoveCinema said:
This happens regularly and all evidence points to these being deliberate choices on K’s part, not studio interference. Limited resources has been the only explanation of subpar releases.
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Its interesting....when I first joined Kaleidescape and noticed this...the general feedback was that K is totally dependent on the studios. I started wondering from a business pov...why would studios go out of their way to make lesser version of source files just for K...make no sense. I really believe that these irregularities and missing titles are more on K than they would like us to believe. IMO for a super premium service they should be sparing no expense on getting source files and signing deals with studios. But we know they make their $$ from hardware/server sales.
 
rafaelsmith said:
Its interesting....when I first joined Kaleidescape and noticed this...the general feedback was that K is totally dependent on the studios. I started wondering from a business pov...why would studios go out of their way to make lesser version of source files just for K...make no sense. I really believe that these irregularities and missing titles are more on K than they would like us to believe. IMO for a super premium service they should be sparing no expense on getting source files and signing deals with studios. But we know they make their $$ from hardware/server sales.
Click to expand...
All signs point to new subpar releases being K decisions.* I tracked the "Missing HDR" issue in detail for years and noted that it went from a small handful of cases per year, which could be excused as studio issues, to dozens of cases in a single year during the Strato V development. When asked directly, it has always been stated that K has to make resource-based decisions.

If you look past SDR vs. HDR, we can find much more clearcut issues with missing Extras and 4K vs. HD vs. SD. Warner Animation is an obvious example where we can see over the years K drop from 4K HDR to 4K SDR to HD to no longer getting the titles. Sorting by Most Popular can show the titles sell poorly. So, reduced quality following low sales leading to eventually dropped the line. I can't imagine any scenario where this is studio-driven.

The fact is that we don't know about the details of any K licensing agreements. We can gather what data we can from the general market but verifiable data is mostly at the very small and very large levels. For very small, there's usually a contract with a minimum spend and then open selection of titles with a revenue share that may adjust based upon quantity/quality (as well as pre-post minimum fulfillment). In general, the big boys don't pick anything and the studios just pump it all through and the stores take a cut (with some signs of minor curation at play).

So, where's K? As above, I think there's cases where we can very clearly see decisions being made. But, are these based upon differences in costs/revenue share or is it as simple as differences for in-house resources?** Every other store got two versions of The Exorcist in Dolby Vision. K got theatrical only in SDR only. Was this because getting HDR/DV was going to cost K more in revenue share? Or, was it because doing SDR and HDR encodes would take up more time and server space? We don't know. But, again, I can't imagine any scenario where Warner Bros told K they're not allowed to have both or denied access to HDR/DV.

Put simply (and perhaps brutally), K doesn't matter enough to warrant special attention from the studios one way or the other. Until I'm shown clear evidence to the contrary, K's habit of adding subpar new releases is purely self-inflicted.

*I've certainly heard from people I trust of exceptions like K "didn't know" Heathers was available digitally in HDR/Dolby Vision. However, that was some time ago and the title is still SDR so obviously nothing has been done about this.

**The notion that we've been denied so many titles outright, or at least in their highest quality, potentially due to in-house resource spend only while seeing 4K Cinematic rollout with hundreds of new 4K encodes and many more 4K encodes per title is something I'm still absorbing. We now have six high-bitrate 4K encodes for Finding Emily but still can't get The Exorcist with HDR??? Sorry, gonna stop typing now...
 
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I just realized we've had this topic (incorrectly) posted in a KPop Demon Hunters thread. :)

@josh would it be possible to spit this into a "K's Subpar Releases" thread starting with @Kiddcadder's comment?
 
Maybe K-scape should negotiate with the studios for a system where they pay a royalty for each sale? That would certainly take the front-loaded risk away and encourage K to offer more titles and versions. I’m guessing the studios want an up-front payment and wouldn’t go for it, but I really don’t know how these agreements work or could work.
 
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