This is a weird story for me to report on because as I type it out, I can not for the life of me figure out what this means or why it happened. I didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to think it was true. But apparently the BluRay 3D version of "Doctor Strange" us now out-of-print and the only way you are likely to find it is on eBay (or sites similar to that). The prices aren't exactly cheap at the moment either. And before anyone asks: Yes, this includes the imported disks as well. Why is this the case? Heck if I know. I don't know what Disney's logic is anymore when it comes to this format. I searched for "Captain America: Civil War," "Moana," "Zootopia," "The Jungle Book," and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," and those all appear to still be in production with new copies shipping out. What makes "Doctor Strange" a particularly troubling discontinuation is that the movie isn't very old. In fact, the most has only been out on home video for less than six months.
That isn't a very long time to give people a chance to buy something. This does make me wonder if this is the future of BluRay 3D for Disney: Release a limited quantity early on and then discontinue the product shortly afterwards. I mean, on one hand, I guess I'll take something over nothing. At this point I pretty much have to. But I find the practice disturbing none-the-less because if this is what is going on and word gets out, this is going to be a blood bath as scalpers rush into the stores to buy up as much inventory as they can with the intention to sell at an inflated price later. A surge in sales won't insure a second pressing either. I think Disney is pretty much done with the format and are only releasing disks because Marvel has told them to. I'll keep you up to date to see if this is a one off situation or a sign of things to come. In the meantime, if you see this on a store shelf, don't hesitate to buy it; it may be the only chance you'll have at this point.
Looks like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales will not get a domestic 3D release. Pre-release for imports have been announced but we can only hope they will actually materialize (which they did not for Pete's Dragon).