Here today and gone tomorrow: that's the bleak future your favourite films could face.

For those who lived through the home entertainment boom of the 1980s, it may seem like a familiar prognosis.

When VHS players became a mainstay in living rooms around the world, Disney realised they could drive supply and demand by simply locking away their classic films.

VHS tapes would be available to buy for a short time before going back in the Disney vault, seemingly never to be heard from again.

And guess what? It worked.

One decade at time, Disney films would be rereleased — and sales skyrocketed.

Almost 40 years later, we're seeing the same scenario playing out on our (much larger) screens.

If you rely completely on streaming services to access films, prepare for a game of musical chairs. ( ABC News: Matt Eaton )

As the number of subscription-based streaming services in Australia nudges close to double digits, they're all creating their own digital vaults too.

The ownership of your favourite films just became more important than ever.

The state of pressing play

If you rely completely on streaming services to access films, prepare for a game of musical chairs.

On Disney's streaming service, Disney+, there's a category called "out of the vault", which boasts a huge collection of films available to stream for the first time.

It's an exciting prospect if you're keen to revisit Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Love Bug or Steamboat Willie, where it all began.

A subscription guarantees you access to most of Disney's library, but the big question is: for how long?

Disney may rotate their classics in and out of the vault, and their ownership of 20th Century Fox means another vast library of films is now at the mercy of the same policy.

Repertory cinemas around the world are now being told the Fox films are going in the vault — everything from Alien and The Princess Bride to Fight Club and All About Eve.

Creating scarcity means the value of a subscription to a streaming service increases because it's the only place to access a collection of films.

Disney+ surpassed 10 million subscribers when it launched, and it's expected to get close to 20 million by the end of the year.

They have a captive audience.

Stay on brand

Films are also at the mercy of a company's brand.

Currently, Disney+ is sticking to a family-friendly approach with the ratings of most titles capped at parental guidance (PG).

The PG approach means you're unlikely to see adult titles added to the service.

Disney may decide to launch an after-dark version, but that will no doubt mean another subscription.

In America, the majority Disney-owned streaming service Hulu is the home of anything upwards of an M-rating.

Hulu hasn't launched in Australia yet, but it's a possibility if Disney decides to expand their streaming empire worldwide and leverage their ownership of Fox's back catalogue.

But again, it's another subscription to factor into your budget.

Rewriting history

Ready for things to get more complicated?

Controlling films on a digital platform means they can be easily edited.

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The version of A New Hope on Disney+ has an edit to the Greedo and Han Solo scene.

A bigger explosion has been added to cover Greedo when Han Solo shoots and he exclaims "maclunkey!"

The edit was made by Star Wars creator George Lucas prior to the launch of Disney+.

The alternation is tiny — Lucas has been tinkering with Star Wars for years — but it's an example of how quickly a film can be altered in digital circulation.

Casting couch jokes have been removed from Toy Story 2 in response to the discourse about sexual misconduct, which included the film's co-director John Lasseter, who was accused of misconduct by staff and exited the studio.

Scrubbing outdated humour and representation from films is a dangerous precedent. There's a way to acknowledging the mistakes of the past while keeping a film intact.

Disney has cultural depiction warnings on cartoons like Dumbo, following the lead of Warner Brothers who issue a warning at the beginning of old Looney Toons episodes that state: "The cartoons you are about to see are products of their time."

Warner Brothers now issue a warning at the beginning of old Looney Toons episodes. ( Reddit )

Quality control can also lapse in the streaming space. The Simpsons is available on Disney+, but it was uploaded in the wrong aspect ratio, which means visual jokes have been clipped.

Disney are working on a reverting the episodes to their original 4:3 aspect ratio and an update is due mid-2020.

There's a risk of similar incidents happening with older films shot in different formats that don't match the settings of widescreen, high-definition televisions.

If streaming is the only way to watch a film, you must deal with the mistake until it can be fixed — if they bother to fix it at all.

The scarcity of classics

Netflix are releasing the latest films from filmmakers like Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story) and Alfonso Cuaron (Roma), but it's slim pickings for any film made prior to the 1980s.

In 2017, it was reported Netflix had only 30 films made in the 1970s in their film library, and it's patchier the further you push back in time.

Netflix will continue to add more of their own original films because those titles will remain when every studio has withdrawn their films to compete against the streaming giant. ( ABC )

Netflix will continue to add more of their own original films because those titles will remain when every studio has withdrawn their films to compete against the streaming giant.

The shift to replicate Netflix's success was inevitable once they disrupted the media landscape and amassed an estimated 140 million subscribers worldwide.

But Netflix has always had a succession plan for when competitors woke from their slumber.

Soon, Netflix will be made up mostly of Netflix originals as more media companies withdraw their films to set up their own services.

You may subscribe to a streaming service because they have all the James Bond films, but if the rights switch to another company, you may end up subscribing to another streaming service to get your 007 fix.

The easiest fix? Own it.

Old school on demand

Stock up on your favourite films now while they're still available to buy.

With the growth of streaming services there may come a time when films on disc go to physical media heaven with VHS tapes and CD singles.

DVD and Blu-Ray sales are plummeting in Australia while streaming is expected to grow into a $4.6 billion industry by 2023.

The production of physical media could halt if media companies decide all roads must lead to streaming services.

But physical media has a habit of snapping back to popularity when an industry goes digital.

The ultimate case study is in the music industry where vinyl now outsells CDs, despite the dominance of music streaming services like Spotify.

Earlier this year, Kylie Minogue had the number one album on the ARIA charts thanks to vinyl.

Vinyl is reportedly back in a big way with sales sitting around the $20 million mark, and it's expected to grow to $40 million by the end of 2020.

On the film front, video stores are coming back from the brink of extinction. E-Time Video, the last video store in Cairns, experienced a 25 per cent increase in business over a year.

Community cinemas are being built in garages where people screen titles from their film collection.

E-Time Video, the last video store in Cairns, experienced a 25 per cent increase in business over a year. ( ABC Far North: Sharnie Kim )

In Sydney, the Film Club store in Darlinghurst has been flooded with requests from film fans looking for titles not available to stream.

The video store is not dead yet.

The illusion of availability

Streaming services are a mirage for film lovers.

When we think about films digitally the possibilities are endless, but it's a format with strict limitations and standover media conglomerates.

If you combine the libraries of all the streaming services, they only cover a small portion of film history and rely heavily on the output of American film studios.

Once you own a physical copy of a film, it can't be altered or uploaded in the wrong format. ( ABC Illawarra: Sarah Moss )

Keep in mind, if you want them all you must combine their subscription fee, too — and it's costly.

Once you own a physical copy of a film (handle with care), it can't be altered or uploaded in the wrong format. You can view the film anytime and you're not reliant on the strength of an internet connection or hard-drive space.

One purchase and it's yours forever.

Long live physical media.

Cameron Williams is a freelance writer and film critic based in Melbourne.