Return to Oz

[Udvarnoky]

Anyone know any details yet for the new Return to Oz release? I am really looking forward to it.

[badboy2102]

All I know is that it's due out early Feb. 04. Haven't heard to much on what the movie contains as far as speacil features.

[Luke]

Welcome to the forum! When I know, you'll know. At this point, all that's known is the $19.99 SRP and February 3 release date. It *should* be in widescreen, but I can't be certain. Not sure if Disney is just going to port the Anchor Bay DVDs, or if they can even do that for Oz and Midnight Madness.

I've heard Disney is going to be more willing to give us OAR on catalogue titles in the future. (Now, that they've butchered nearly every live-action '90s film released on DVD last year...)

[Udvarnoky]

Thanks for the latest news.

But why would Disney be unable to give us more than an Anchor Bay port? Do they not have control over the movie, unlike Anchor Bay? I'm hoping it's going to be a new transfer, because the old DVD had lots of pixellation/compression problems.

[DrkDevil]

....and i hope they´ll release it on region 2 because i would really love to have this title.

[Luke]

Thanks for the latest news.

But why would Disney be unable to give us more than an Anchor Bay port? Do they not have control over the movie, unlike Anchor Bay? I'm hoping it's going to be a new transfer, because the old DVD had lots of pixellation/compression problems.

Let me clarify. Disney CAN give us more than an Anchor Bay port. I'm not sure what the terms of their agreement with Anchor Bay specifies in terms of bringing over the few supplements that disc had, or if AB maintains video rights to those (they're probably fair game).

Remember that Disney likes to put as little effort and money into these catalogue releases as possible - and so a port just seems like common sense. One alternative to just repackaging the AB disc is making something like other live action '80s films got - Honey, Cheetah, Natty, Return to Snowy River - barebones and pan/scan.

The info I've gotten seems to indicate that Disney is trying to round up existing featurettes for their catalogue titles, and will make an effort to present films in OAR. That bares well for the titles on the slate then.

[Udvarnoky]

From what I understand Buena Vista was very harsh with all Anchor Bay releases. All of them (save Watcher in the Woods, which was a project that took place over many years...but there are still things that Disney did not allow anchor bay include...see this site: http://www.geocities.com/ditcin4/watcherinthewoods.html ) were nearly bare-bones. The Something Wicked This Way Comes DVD has only the theatrical trailer as a supplement...and even that is edited. Look at the very end of the trailer...the aspect ratio of the film is a lot wider than the rest of the trailer to conceal Disney related names. Also, there was a Ray Bradbury commentary on the laserdisc of this movie, but it's left out of the DVD...no doubt because Bradbury discusses in his commentary how Disney changed the movie and messed it up from how he and Jack Clayon originally intended. Look at the Return to Oz DVD...it comes with an insert that is a copy of the poster...only the word "Disney" is removed from the tagline. Also, soon before the Anchor Bay edition was released, the back of the dvd box was seen online...with the theatrical trailer in the extras section. We know that the DVD does not contain the trailer, so we can assume that it was forced off the disc at the last minute, probably because it had Disney references in the trailer.

So, with all of this Disney commotion that went on in the past, I'm very interested as to why Disney suddenly wants to release Oz under its name again. I really do hope that they have extras on this one, and a better transfer. (hopefully 16X9 enhanced) I hope Disney starts taking interest i its old classics, and give them the respect they deserve.

I'm also guessing that with Buena Vista's strict standards regarding Anchor bay, it has full rights to these movies.

[Luke]

Interesting. I knew about Disney being particular about what AB could or couldn't do. But I think that One Magic Christmas must also have had its trailer pulled at the last minute, although it's listed on the package.

[Udvarnoky]

Really? I didn't know about that...


It will certainly be interesting to see what Disney has planned for its edition, if anything at all.

[BasilOfBakerStreet427]

I think it will be a port of the Anchor Bay edition.

[2099net]

As for the AB releases of Disney films, I got the impression from something I read that one of the licencing issues was that nothing on the packaging (and therefore, I assume the disc supplements) could indicate that these were Disney films. I don't know, but were these the first time Disney had licenced out its films to another company? Seems like Disney didn't want their name on other people's product. A shame really, as Anchor Bay released much better editions than Disney ever would (and I believe this got them into trouble with The Happiest Millionaire. Mainly because Disney was annoyed that the Anchor Bay release was showing up how poor Disney's own in house releases were at the time).

The films choosen were films that Disney either felt didn't match their current 'branding' (Watcher in the Woods, Something Wicked..., perhaps Return to Oz) or films that Disney literally couldn't give a damn about - they had a huge number of much more popular films, so why not turn in a quick profit by licencing out the titles they had no intention of releasing. Of course, a few years later Disney does have an interest in releasing them, having gone through the bulk of the more popular titles in their back catalogue.

It's odd, because I got the impression all the Anchor Bay titles were just going to be relicenced to MGM. Must have got in a muddle, and MGM must be getting other Disney titles. Also, the Watcher in the Woods disc does mention Disney a few times if I recall correctly, especially in the commentary and alternative endings supplements.

Oh, and does all this mean that finally Disney will release a proper Black Hole DVD - something comparable to their Tron release?

[Luke]

It's odd, because I got the impression all the Anchor Bay titles were just going to be relicenced to MGM. Must have got in a muddle, and MGM must be getting other Disney titles. Also, the Watcher in the Woods disc does mention Disney a few times if I recall correctly, especially in the commentary and alternative endings supplements.

Including the warnings in the trailers...

[Inga Tu Schmista]

It's odd, because I got the impression all the Anchor Bay titles were just going to be relicenced to MGM. Must have got in a muddle, and MGM must be getting other Disney titles. Also, the Watcher in the Woods disc does mention Disney a few times if I recall correctly, especially in the commentary and alternative endings supplements.

MGM has a lot of the non-Disney titles, like Silkwood and stuff like that. Disney got the Disney stuff back (maybe figuring why should anybody else make money off of their products when they could), and the Miramax stuff as well. In addition to the Disney titles coming to DVD next year, some other stuff - the first title that leaps to mind is "I've Heard the Mermaids Singing, whatever that is) is going to be released under the Miramax label.

~ITS

[Udvarnoky]

In the link I posted, it says that by the time Watcher in the Woods came out, "the madness had stopped" and Disney had allowed it to be in the trailer. Just the same though, you'll notice that the Disney name is still nowhere to be seen on the packaging, and even with the commentary and all the extras, Disney didn't allow the original cut of the film, the TV spots in their entirety, and all of the interviews.

[Udvarnoky]

I certainly hope it's not a direct port....I doubt Disney has the rights to the Balk interview, so we may be lucky ot get any extras whatsoever.