In North America (Region 1), Cast Away was released on VHS and DVD on June 12, 2001, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The DVD version of the film is a THX certified two-disc Special Edition release that features a DTS 6.1 ES audio track and several bonus features, including galleries, special effects vignettes, an audio commentary, trailers, TV spots, behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, featurettes, and more. Within its first week, it became the fastest-selling DVD release in 20th Century Fox history, selling 1.8 million copies and surpassing X-Men. Additionally, the film generated $5.5 million in rentals, which broke Traffic's record for having the highest first week DVD rentals. Cast Away went on to hold this record until 2002 when it was taken by The Fast and the Furious. In total, the film made $57 million in home video sales and $20.6 million in home video rentals during its first week of release. It had the third-highest first week home video rentals of any film, behind Meet the Parents and The Sixth Sense.
By the end of 2001, the film collected $97 million in North American home video sales, selling 4.4 million units. It also earned $93.6 million in home video rentals, making it the year's third-highest rentals, after Meet the Parents and What Women Want. For the VHS rentals, it ranked fourth with $74.9 million, only behind the latter two films and Miss Congeniality. The DVD rentals generated $18.7 million, once again ranking fourth, this time behind Meet the Parents, The Family Man, and Unbreakable.
In Region 2 and Region 4 areas such as Australia, the United Kingdom and Europe, the initial home video releases were handled by DreamWorks Home Entertainment rather than 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The international prints also featured the 1997 DreamWorks Pictures opening logo, while North American prints featured the 1994 20th Century Fox opening logo. In South Korea (Region 3), the film was released on DVD on April 20, 2002, by CJ Entertainment. CJ Entertainment had also handled the South Korean theatrical distribution for Cast Away and other DreamWorks films such as American Beauty and Gladiator.
In North America, a single-disc DVD version of the film was released alongside the Fox film Independence Day on May 21, 2002.
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the film on Blu-ray in North America on December 4, 2007.
In February 2006, Viacom (now known as Paramount Skydance) acquired the international rights to Cast Away, along with the rights to all other 58 live-action films DreamWorks had released since 1997, following its $1.6 billion acquisition of the company's live-action assets. During this period, DreamWorks' live-action studio functioned as a semi-autonomous label of Viacom's Paramount Pictures, with Paramount handling distribution for the studio's new releases. In March 2006, shortly after the acquisition, Viacom sold the DreamWorks live-action film library, including the international rights of Cast Away, to Soros Strategic Partners (led by investor George Soros) and Dune Capital Management. This was done to help Viacom finance the acquisition of DreamWorks' live-action studio, as the film library alone was valued at $900 million. Soros and his associates temporarily took a majority 51% ownership stake in the library, while Viacom retained a minority 49% stake, with Paramount Pictures being given exclusive distribution rights under a five-year agreement, which could renew if Soros continued to hold a majority stake in the assets. In 2008, DreamWorks separated from Viacom to become independent again, partnering with Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, but Paramount Pictures retained distribution rights to the live-action DreamWorks library, including Cast Away's international components, which was still technically controlled by Soros. In February 2010, Viacom exercised its option to buy back Soros's 51% stake in the library for $400 million, regaining full control over the assets. Paramount Pictures continues to hold the rights to the Soros/Dune-acquired films, including ongoing distribution. Paramount Home Entertainment did not release Cast Away on Blu-ray internationally until 2012, possibly due to complications with Soros and Fox. Prior to regaining full control of the DreamWorks library in 2010, Paramount had already released other live-action DreamWorks films on home video.
In March 2019, the film's domestic rights transferred to The Walt Disney Company, after Rupert Murdoch sold most of 21st Century Fox's film and television assets to Disney. The film has since been made available to stream on Paramount+ in international markets such as Scandinavia and the British Isles, and was also on the streaming service for the Paramount-owned Australian broadcaster Network 10. In North America, the film has not been made available on Disney+, instead streaming on Hulu (one of the additional assets Disney acquired from Fox in 2019).
In 2024, it was reported that Disney were preventing the release of 4K masters for Cast Away and other Fox catalog titles like Die Hard 2 and The French Connection. However, an international 4K release may still possibly occur through Paramount's joint ownership of the film.
.jpg?width=400)
