Why is Young Washington already on Blu-ray?

A summer hit becomes a shelf item

Eleven weeks from a wide Independence Day corridor to a plastic case is ordinary studio math. For Angel it is also the first big test of whether a Guild theatrical event still wants physical media when the app already has the file. The shop copy sold ownership. The reviews under the listing are people who saw it twice in theaters and want a disc to show family. One buyer said they would wait for 4K. Angel did not announce a 4K date with the September 22 street.

Erwin already announced 1776, the Young Washington sequel, from Mount Vernon the weekend the first film opened. Writing has started. No Friday. The Blu-ray is the first film becoming a living-room object while the second is still a sentence. The Guild’s three million members are the list Angel will walk into the next Washington Friday. A sold-out disc page is a smaller list, and a clearer one: people who still buy plastic.

Even a $47 million Angel title ends in the same aisle as every other catalog movie. The open question is whether 1776 needs that aisle, or whether the sequel’s first audience is already watching the first film on the app and never asks for a case.