I think you're just young and don't understand it from prior experience. Before, things pretty much only ever released exclusively in theaters. Rarely was a lower budget movie that was straight to VHS or DVD advertised even, so it was obvious that bigger better movies started their lives in theaters already. Follow up ads (or commercials rather) might be shown 4-6 months later letting anyone know who missed the theatrical release it's coming to a retailer near you in physical media form (again, VHS, DVD, and really even Blu Ray) so you could enjoy it at home. Other "subscription" services existed too in the form of premium TV channels like Home Box Office (obviously HBO) for movies, and Showtime for, well, shows...

When Netflix started to make streaming a thing, it was limited to non-new release movies (because their mail-out service was like a Blockbuster rental subscription), they rarely did TV shows, any online stuff couldn't support "Full HD" (1080p content like BD discs), and only stereo audio, to name a few.

These are some of the reasons I still mainly rely on physical media formats. I'm a sucker for quality, media preservation, and accessibility. Not worried about rights or contracts expiring and my physical discs going POOF! It's probably also why last year before I got priced out, I expanded to almost 200TB for my media server. ALL my DVDs, Blu Rays, UHD BDs, and most 3D movies and shows are copied there and then stored in the basement for safe keeping.