'The Falcon And The Winter Soldier' Captains The Next Round Of Disney+ Marvel And 'Star Wars' On Physical Media
'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier', 'Andor', 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' and 'Moon Knight' follow last year’s releases of 'WandaVision', 'Loki' and 'The Mandalorian'
More Disney+-original Marvel and Star Wars series have found their way out of being only available through the service. Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Moon Knight will each be getting individual 4K UHD and Blu-ray releases,in Steelbooks being called “collectible packaging”, with pre-orders starting on March 12.
Unlike last year’s wave of Loki season 1’s September 26 release, WandaVision’s November 28 release, and the December 12 release of The Mandalorian’s first two seasons, all four series of this wave will have their releases by Disney Home Entertainment on the same day: April 30. Interestingly, Andor’s release is not the only one labeled “The Complete First Season”. Obi-Wan Kenobi is the only release this round labeled The Complete Series, which makes sense for the purpose it so served, despite several instances of reporters asking Ewan McGregor about a potential second season. meaning that indeed, both Marvel series are also labeled as first seasons.
Andor has long been known to be running for two total seasons, though the strikes did mean the second will not be premiering until next year. Similarly, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has two next steps that manifest next year, even if the road beyond that is unknown, reunification on a full season that would be titled Captain America and the Winter Soldier (as demonstrated in the finale credits), or anything before whatever the next Avengers film is called, was never anticipated. The newly-christened Captain America, Sam Wilson as played by Anthony Mackie will next star in Captain America: Brave New World with series stars Carl Lumbly and Danny Ramirez. That opens on February 14, 2025. Meanwhile, Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier has been recruited for the Thunderbolts, the MCU’s very next film after Brave New World, having traded for The Fantastic Four’s May 2, 2025 spot. Moon Knight starring Oscar Isaac (who turned 45 on Friday) was also always treated as a miniseries, but the character nor any of his identities has not appeared in anything since it ended in May 2022.
As for bonus features, each release contains concept art cards as well. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Moon Knight are both equipped with deleted scenes and gag reels, as well as their respective episodes of Assembled, as well as a featurette. The former’s deleted scenes are called “Flight Lesson”, where Sam and Rhodey have a heart to heart and bond over flying, and “Still Not Funny”, where Bucky brings a treat to Sam's family gathering. The featurette is called “Cap’s Shield”, where Mackie and the creative team discuss what Captain America’s iconic accessory ultimately represents, along with the numerous challenges of capturing the the functionality on camera. For Moon Knight, the featurette is called “Egyptology”, where Egyptologist Ramy Romany, Isaac and others further explore the ancient Egyptian mythology that were such a crucial part of the series, and the deleted scenes are called “Don’t Go There”, where while walking in the streets of Egypt, Layla questions Marc's state of mind and motivations and “Breaking the Cycle”, where Arthur makes a pleading speech to his crew to take action alongside him.
While neither Star Wars series has a gag reel, deleted scenes, or behind the scenes documentaries (Obi-Wan doesn’t even have A Jedi’s Return), they are packed with more featurettes. Obi-Wan Kenobi has “Duels of Fate: Obi-Wan vs Vader”, “The Dark Times: Villains,” and “Designing The Galaxy” and episode commentaries from director Deborah Chow, while Andor has only featurettes “Ferrix Part 1: Imperial Occupation”, “Aldhani: Rebel Heist,” “Coruscant: Whispers of Rebellion”, “Narkina 5: One Way Out”, and “Ferrix Part 2: Fight the Empire”.
The news comes as Disney announced in February that it is shedding manufacturing, distribution and marketing of physical media to Sony Pictures Entertainment, something that has also resulted in the closure of the Disney Movie Club. Disc sales have steadily declined industry-wide as the years have gone on, but the overlap between physical media collectors and fans of genre fare remains significant to do this with, and may explain why it’s these seven Disney+ original series in particular than those without the brand recognition.
Sources: The Digital Bits, Variety