Oppenheimer and the resurgence of Blu-ray and DVDs: How to stop your films and music from disappearing

Christopher Nolan has achieved some great feats of cinema in his career – but last November he pulled off something impressive on the smaller screen, too. Deep into the streaming era, where physical media can sometimes feel like a distant memory, the Blu-ray home video release of Nolan's Oppenheimer – one of 2023's biggest box office success stories – sparked a buying frenzy.

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The 4K Ultra HD version of Oppenheimer sold out in its first week at major retailers, including Amazon. Universal released a statement saying they were working to replenish stock as quickly as possible. Some limited edition copies were fetching more than $200 on eBay. It was a sign that, for some people at least, nothing beats that feeling of holding a copy of something you love in your hand or seeing it on your shelf.

Perhaps it's not that surprising. If anyone can inspire fervour over a release – in any format – it's Nolan, and the DVD and Blu-ray release includes three hours of bonus footage. Then there's the fact that, prior to its release, Nolan himself encouraged fans to embrace «a version you can buy and own at home and put on a shelf so no evil streaming service can come steal it from you».

Nolan explained his stance further in an interview with the Washington Post, saying: «There is a danger these days that if things only exist in the streaming version, they do get taken down. They come and go – as do broadcast versions of films, so my films will play on HBO or whatever, they'll come and go. But the home video version is the thing that can always be there, so people can always access it.»

Other directors have chimed in to