10 Things About 2000s Movies That Everyone Misses Today

3. DVD Special Features

Legally Blonde Reese Witherspoon
Warner Bros. Pictures

Ah, the Digital Versatile Disc, what a great invention.

The first foray into film for many, DVDs are still looked on favourably these days even though they are pretty much entirely obsolete.

The format was first developed in the mid-to-late '90s, with the disaster movie Twister the first commercially available on DVD in the US in 1997. This gave the format the run-up it needed to take the proceeding decade by storm.

Ha, Twister, storm, d'ya get it?

DVDs didn't just offer an easy way to watch movies at home, but they also had far more storage space and interactivity than VHS tapes. This led to the rise of one of the greatest home entertainment innovations of all time - the special features menu.

Deleted scenes, alternative endings, commentary, exclusive trailers, games, the special features had it all. A budding cinephile could lose hours of their life trawling through what they had to offer, learning more about their favourite movies than anyone ever thought possible.

With DVDs very much on the decline these days, the art of the special features menu has been lost to time. But good God did it leave behind a legacy.

Contributor
Contributor

Jacob Simmons has a great many passions, including rock music, giving acclaimed films three-and-a-half stars, watching random clips from The Simpsons on YouTube at 3am, and writing about himself in the third person.