Below is a timeline for all the events pertaining to the companies who distributed movies to the home market. It should be noted that this website uses the term, “Home Video,” in two different ways. Firstly, it uses it as an umbrella term for the viewing of movies in the home, physical or otherwise. Secondly, its also the label given to the era in time where movies are being released on physical video formats.
February, 1997 (Los Angeles Times, 1997/02/07, p. F1)
Sirius Publishing Releases Their First 50 Titles on MovieCD
Sirius Publishing beats DVD to the market with their “MovieCD” discs. The discs offer “near VHS-quality,” and are playable in PCs with a CD-ROM drive. In their first 8 months, they reportedly sell approximately 300,000 discs through computer retail outlets. Their biggest selling point is their playability in laptops, allowing for “movies on the go.”
March 24th, 1997 (Billboard, 1997/04/12, p. 3)
Warner Home Video Releases the First 25 DVD Titles In the U.S.
In a soft test launch involving seven U.S. cities, Warner Home Video distributes their first 25 titles on the new DVD format (the first of which is the disaster film, Twister (1996)). Best Buy reveals that within the the first day of the format’s launch, they sold approximately 2,500 Warner DVDs from the 74 stores that carried the format.
June 1st, 1999
Napster Launches the First Widely Popular Peer-to-peer Network
Although mainly a music sharing platform (due to internet speeds at the time), it paved the way for subsequent peer-to-peer sharing programs that would allow the sharing of all files, including videos.
March 14th, 2000
Gnutella Becomes the First Decentralized Peer-to-peer Network
First available for download on the developer’s website, Nullsoft.com, it is the first peer-to-peer network to be decentralized. Rather than searching a single centralized index for the location of files, the load is shared among all the peers of the network, resulting in a more robust system. Unlike Napster, it allowed for the downloading of any file types, including video. The software was quickly reverse engineered and used for subsequent peer-to-peer platforms.
July 2nd, 2001
BitTorrent is First Launched
BitTorrent, a decentralized peer-to-peer protocol which uses torrent files and trackers, is first launched on bitconjurer.org. It later becomes the most used method to download feature films from the internet.
September 21, 2001 (lddb.com)
Pioneer Presses the Last Movie on Laserdisc
The last film pressed on the laserdisc format, Tokyo Raiders (2000), is released in Japan. The last American discs were pressed in October 2000 and were Bringing Out the Dead (1999) and Sleepy Hollow (1999).
December 12th, 2004 (China Daily, 2004/12/13, p. 11)
Sony Launches the Universal Media Disc (UMD)
Sony debuts the UMD (Universal Media Disc) format with the launch of their PSP handheld game system in Japan. Spider-Man 2 (2004) is among the titles available with the system’s release. Movies are released on the format up until 2011 with the introduction of the discless PS Vita.
July 4th, 2005 (Gazette, 2005/07/04, p. D2)
Hollywood Prepares Movies for Digital Download
Following the Grokster case, its announced that Hollywood had begun to digitize their films for legal online viewing. Sony, Universal and Warner are reported to already have the process underway. Warner specifically, by this time, reveals they’ve already had their entire catalog of approximately 5,000 films digitized.
October 12th, 2005 (Wall Street Journal, 2005/10/13, p. B1)
Apple’s iTunes Offers TV Shows For Download
Apple announces iTunes 6, the latest incarnation of their music downloading software. This time around, it allows users to purchase music videos and TV shows for viewing on their latest iPod model.
March 14th, 2006
“A History of Violence” Is the Last Major Film On VHS
New Line Home Entertainment releases A History of Violence onto VHS. It is the last major studio film given a wide release on the format. Disney would continue using VHS exclusively through their “Disney Movie Club” until the end of the year.
April 14th, 2006 icv2.com/articles/comics/view/8494/serenity-first-universal-title-hd-dvd
Warner and Universal Release the First 4 Titles on HD-DVD
Coinciding with the launch of Toshiba’s HD-DVD players in the US, Warner and Universal release their first titles on the format. They include Million Dollar Baby, The Phantom of the Opera, The Last Samurai and Serenity.
June 20th, 2006 (Wall Street Journal, 2006/06/20, p. D1)
Sony and MGM Release the First 7 Titles on Blu-ray
The very first titles are released on the new HD format, Blu-ray. They include 50 First Dates (2004), The Fifth Element (1997), Hitch (2005), House of Flying Daggers (2004), Underworld: Evolution (2006) and xXx (2002). The studio will also distribute The Terminator (1984).
September 7th, 2006 (Business Wire. 2006/09/07, p.1)
Amazon Launches Unbox To Download and Stream Movies
Amazon’s Unbox program becomes available through their website. For a rental or purchase price, users could download or stream “DVD-quality” movies and television. Their name would change several times, including “Amazon On Demand” and “Amazon Instant Video.” It would eventually settle on Amazon Prime Video.
September 12th, 2006 (Chicago Tribune, 2006/09/13, p. 3)
Apple’s iTunes Releases Their First 75 Movies
Apple finally announces full-length movies to be played back on the iPod. They open with 75 titles from the Walt Disney Company, each costing between $9.99 and $14.99.
January, 2007 (New York Times, 2007/01/25, p. C1)
Netflix Begins Rolling Out Their Streaming Service
Netflix slowly rolls out their movie streaming service at 250,000 customers at a time. Its a subscription-based streaming only service. Depending of the subscription, users are given an allotment of viewing hours each month. There are 1,000 titles to choose from at launch. The rollout is expected to complete by July.
August 4th, 2008 (Cablefax Daily, 2008/08/05)
The Courts Find DVR Cloud Services Non-Infringing
Cablevision wins their appeal in their case with the MPAA, who in 2006, sued the company, claiming their DVR cloud service permitted infringement. In 2009, the Supreme Court declines to hear the case, upholding the appeal.
June 1st, 2010
Sony Home Entertainment Releases the First Blu-ray 3-D Title
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009) is the first title to be released on the new Blu-ray 3-D format.
February 14th, 2016 https://hd-report.com/2016/02/23/1st-4k-ultra-hd-blu-ray-movies-released-by-sony-pictures/
Sony Home Entertainment Releases The First 6 UHD Blu-ray Titles
Sony Home Entertainment releases their first 6 titles on the new 4K UHD format. They include Chappie (2015), Hancock (2008), Pineapple Express (2008), Salt (2010), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) and The Smurfs 2 (2013).