"This is why physical media matters": anger as Google yanks access to The Lord Of The Rings films, even if...

Joe Svetlik

Mon, August 10, 2026 at 10:14 AM UTC

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Google Play movies home screen. — Credit: Google Play

Here's one swindle to rule them all. Google has angered movie fans by revoking access to digital copies of the The Lord Of The Rings: Extended Edition Trilogy – even for those who had purchased the films.

Though 'purchased' should be in quote marks. Because, as with most digital services that sell movie content, 'purchasing' just means the ability to watch offline. It's really more of a licence to watch – you never really own the content, as this incident shows.

User 'ugoindownsaka1' posted on Reddit when they found that the 'purchased' films had vanished without warning. When they confronted Google via its chat service, their request for a refund or gift card as compensation was declined.

The agent claimed that as the films were purchased in 2022, they were outside of the 120-day refund window. They also said that as the films were now available on YouTube, the customer should contact that service for assistance (despite the fact that they bought the movies from Google Play and that Google owns YouTube).

Unsurprisingly, the backlash was damning.

"This is why physical media matters" was one of the comments we can repeat in a family publication. Others remarked that it's hardly surprising that piracy is on the rise, given that buying a digital version rarely gives you lifelong access – a sentiment summed up by the slogan, "If buying isn't owning, pirating isn't stealing".

This is just the latest case of customers kicking back against digital services. Last year, a lawsuit was filed against Prime Video alleging that its purchase feature was misleading as it was merely a viewing licence. And recently, subscribers to the Premium tier of Disney+ in some European countries lost access to 4K and HDR due to a court case involving the back-end technology that Disney used – 4K has since been restored , but HDR is still lacking.

We don't condone piracy. But we understand the anger people feel at having their digital libraries plundered of content they have paid for. Once again, it just goes to show that you're safer with physical media like a 4K Blu-ray. The quality will be better, too.

We have approached Google for comment.

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