A couple of weeks ago, Prime Video subscribers noticed that director Andrew Patterson’s 2019 film The Vast of Night had disappeared from the service. While movies come and go from streaming all of the time, what made this particular case so odd was that The Vast of Night was originally distributed by Amazon Studios. The movie was exclusive to their streaming service and did not receive a physical release, meaning that it is currently unavailable to legally watch anywhere. Nobody could tell why the Amazon film had disappeared from the company’s own streaming platform just as Patterson’s new film (The Rivals of Amziah King) is garnering critical acclaim. Our own attempts to solve the mystery were met with no replies.
However, it seems like this mystery has finally been solved, and the explanation is both encouraging and a reminder of how fragile the whole streaming ecosystem is.
According to writer C. Robert Cargill, who spoke with Patterson regarding the issue, Patterson has acquired the rights to The Vast of Night and is currently speaking with distribution partners. He seemingly hopes to both get the title back on streaming and to finally secure a physical release for the film as well. There’s no word on when these releases may happen or what streaming service the movie will eventually be available on (we’re currently working to find out more information regarding both matters), but it seems that the movie that vanished from the internet without a trace or explanation will come back in some form in the hopefully near future.
Besides the fact that I’m quite a big fan of the The Vast of Night (I recommended it as one of the things you should watch if the end of Stranger Things left you craving better things), this odd occurrence feels like a strangely perfect snapshot of the current media landscape. Even if you have an acclaimed movie out in theaters (at least in limited release) at the moment, your debut film can just disappear from streaming and therefore be impossible to watch without warning or explanation. It recalls the recent announcement that the PlayStation store will soon delist over 550 movies due to expiring rights issues. Even those who previously purchased those movies at any price will no longer be able to access them after that point. It’s frustrating enough to try to keep up with what is on any given streaming service on a month-by-month basis, but these events remind you how quickly the landscape can change.
Still, there is something encouraging about this update. More and more creators seem increasingly concerned about how and where their works will be available. From Ryan Coogler securing the rights to Sinners after a period of time to various directors fighting for proper theatrical releases for their movies, we do seem to be inching towards an age where the right questions about distribution rights (difficult though they may be) are starting to be asked. The call to abandon all digital hope and start hoarding physical media likely remains an enthusiastic but impractical solution, but creators ensuring their work remains available at all feels like a vital part of the future of all forms of media.
And at the center of this rant is a… well, a pretty good movie. The Vast of Night became something of a cult hit during the time when we were all looking for interesting new things to stream during the pandemic, and the movie remains an effective, if flawed, mystery that makes the most out of the cinematic nature of its largely analog technology. If you haven’t seen it, you should definitely check it out whenever and wherever you can eventually watch it now that the most obvious destination has vanished.
