Special VHS Release for 'Alien: Romulus' Announced by 20th Century Studios

An anonymous reader shared this report from ComicBook.com: On Saturday, 20th Century Studios announced that the latest entry in the Alien sci-fi horror franchise will get a limited-edition VHS release on December 3 — just in time for the holidays.

The VHS release of Alien: Romulus is the first such release from a major studio since 2006... a major win for fans of physical media. In recent months, there has been a great bit of conversation surrounding the so-called death of physical media with the rise of digital and streaming with some retailers even having previously announced that they have or will be stopping sales of physical media. But with streaming platforms removing content for various reasons, there's been a rise in appreciation for physical media which has, in turn, resulted in increased sales, particularly when it comes to limited edition items such as Steelbooks [collectible steel-case disc releases]... Given that the Alien: Romulus VHS release is part of an overall celebration of the franchise for its 45th anniversary year, leaning into that nostalgia for feels pretty spot on.
The release will present the movie "in a 4:3 aspect ratio," writes the Verge, "hopefully with well-done pan-and-scan..." (Their post includes a promotional picture showing the "slick, vintage-style" box-cover art.)

"The tape has only the film," notes Gizmodo, "and no special featurette attached at the end, like some used to back in the day."

Gizmodo also reminds readers of Hulu's 2025 series Alien: Earth and an upcoming videogame sequel to 2014's Alien: Isolation.

So...

[Valgrus Thunderaxe]

There's some facility somewhere with VHS duplicating machines sitting around since 2006, and they all still work?

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[Richard_at_work]

Do not underestimate the power of localised markets for cheap older tech goods in places like Africa or Asia...

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[NewID_of_Ami.One]

Yes I remember having bought one of those for my car

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[EvilSS]

I picked up some B-horror movie called Kill Her Goats released in 2023 specifically because they had a VHS release. Thought it was neat. So yea, somewhere out there some company is making VHS tapes, and (probably some other company) is still manufacturing VHS releases for films.

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[arglebargle_xiv]

That was my reaction as well, someone is deliberately creating a shitty low-grade version of a movie originally created using good-quality tools? Are they also going to inject noise into the signal, and artificially create a few instances of that moving-band-of-noise/black effect you'd get if there was a dodgy spot on the tape? And for added realism, they could include a ratchet mechanism that has the tape jam and then spool out of the cassette into the player about three quarters of the way through.

One word: letterbox

[kmoser]

Why would I want to see a cropped movie?

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[Anonymous Coward]

You're probably not an embearded Brooklyn hipster.

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[ArmoredDragon]

They probably prefer the warmer sound of vin... -- I mean VHS.

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[ObliviousGnat]

Ask anyone who didn't see it in the uncropped IMAX 1.9:1 ratio.

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[Guspaz]

If you care about the film's aspect ratio, then buy the UHD bluray and not a VHS.

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[nicubunu]

Because your only TV set in the house was bought 20 years ago and it has a narrow screen.

Where's the Laserdisc version?

[sinkskinkshrieks]

Such discrimination!

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[q_e_t]

I demand a version on 8mm film for my projector. And interspersed text for the dialogue so I can accompany the viewing on the piano forte as I have a baby grand in my home theatre.

"a major win for fans of physical media"

[SeaFox]

What a stupid line. A release on a format few people can play now isn't a win in any philosophical battle over intellectual property. It's just a publicity stunt. Releases on formats consumers can easily pay back from and can be assured will continue to work even if stakeholders go bankrupt is what people want, and DVD/Blu-ray are those formats now.

Re: "a major win for fans of physical media"

[newcastlejon]

It is analogue, but that's not why it degrades. It's not always analogue either, see D-VHS.

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[lsllll]

This one time I had a digital compact disc I played once a week. It played well for a while, but then started skipping and stuttering. Eventually my CD player couldn't even find the digital signature on my CD and it wasn't playable any longer.

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[drnb]

A release on a format few people can play now

It probably comes with a key for a digital download.

Re: "a major win for fans of physical media"

[SeaFox]

You mean a key for a license for access to a steam of the film on a popular platform? It's not a "download" any more than just temporarily caching for convenient playback.

Oh, Cool!

[nsuccorso]

This is intensely stupid! And a waste of time, energy, and resources!

What, no PSP UMD release? Whereâ(TM)s my Betamax copy?!

And play it on what?

[Powercntrl]

The only reason the continued production of vinyl records isn't a complete dumpster fire is that you can technically still play them on a current model turntable that doesn't suck. Granted, according to polls about half of the people buying new vinyl records don't play them anyway, but it's nice to know if you did actually want to use them for something other than a wall decoration, they are actually still a playable form of media.

VHS VCRs on the other hand, haven't been manufactured in probably close to a decade. The ones that are still out there are all nearing the end of their useful lives. It's as dead as a dead format can get. So they're basically selling a VHS-shaped collectible. About the only saving grace making it not entirely the dumbest thing people could buy as a collectable is the fact that NFTs are also a thing.

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[anoncoward69]

It would be funny if it was literally the VHS box art with a blank VHS tape in it. If it's even got a tape in it. When was the last time VHS tapes were physically made? These must be NOS tapes, hopefully they have been stored properly and arent growing mold. If these are NOS tapes, then they must be getting sold to 20th century studios for a pretty penny considering the rarity of NOS VHS tapes.

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[skogs]

My vinyl sound quality overall is excellent. My wife was like "I feel like we're missing some of the sound" and I asked what she meant - she literally meant the popping and hissing. I told her "Yeah, this is an aerospace quality turntable and modern fantastic perfect amplifier and speaker. What you're remembering is what our poor ass parents used, without washign their hands, and allowing tiny children us beat up the needle and drop dog hair on the record."

Vinyl on its own is great.

VHS ... VHS blows. It

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[Pentium100]

At least do SVHS.
VHS is OK for recording, but not my preferred format for buying movies. However, I'd rather take a VHS release than pay for subscription (though I could pay for one month and record the movies I want to VHS).
On the other hand, if they are going for nostalgia, VHS is probably the only possible format - nobody has the equipment to make laserdiscs anymore and film is expensive, so an 8mm or 16mm release would cost a lot.

I still use VHS once in a while to record stuff from TV. The stuff I'm rec

It might be for the best.

[newcastlejon]

With the lower quality that CGI character might not look so janky. They'd have been better off trying to find another actor that looks like a younger version of him.

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[Guspaz]

Eh, it looked fine. Particularly since much of its appearance was via a small low-resolution CRT monitor. The appearance wasn't the issue with the character. Copy and pasted dialogue, on the other hand, was one of the issues.

DVD would have been more practical

[DrMrLordX]

VHS tapes wear out pretty quick, unless you just don't plan on viewing the movie very often. DVD isn't perfect but it's generally a lot better, and you don't have to worry about the built-in DRM from Blu-ray.

Why VHS instead of say a CD, DVD or Bluray ?

[NewID_of_Ami.One]

Why VHS instead of say a CD, DVD or Bluray ? Those are physical media too. Or is it about being analogue ?
Originally CDs used to be analog if i remember right. No one has VHS playback equipment

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[Coius]

I beg to differ. I have 3 S-VHS/MiniDV JVC DVS1U/DV2U/DVS3 decks (one of each) which can output copy protected VHS video stripping the DRM out via a IEEE-1394 (4-Pin) and It can play & record to S-VHS tapes, VHS, MiniDV, MiniDV SP/EP/LP and can output MiniDV in RGB/S-Video or composite/component, and even pass through RCA input to the FireWire port, and dub between the two decks and has jog shuttle for searching, is Adobe Compatible (can import via Premiere) and in general has a Cable TV tuner and incl

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[aergern]

They are making a BRD UHD (4k) media release. Amazon bought BestBuy's business and there are quite a few smaller retailers who produce physical media. The big deal about Target is smoke being blown. Target is for appliances and cheap clothing mostly.

https://www.amazon.com/Alien-R... [amazon.com]