What will be the first big DAC released on Blu Ray?

[darth_deetoo]

I've just bought a PS3 and the Disney Classics are something I'm really looking forward to being put onto Blu Ray discs. I can't see myself replacing all of my DVD collection, but there are some things I'll definitely buy in HD, and certainly the majority, if not all, of the Disney Classics will be amongst those.

With a couple of titles starting to trickle out onto Blu Ray, most notable being Pirates of the Caribbean, what do you think will be the first big animated releases?

I can see any new Pixar films being released to the format, and potentially Meet the Robinsons, but as for the real classics, I think there will be a tendency to wait until the Platinum discs are due to start around again, and maybe even wait for a Snow White release. I certainly can't see them doing anything as early as The Jungle Book or 101 Dalmatians, so possibly Pinocchio, Fantasia or Sleeping Beauty? I think they'd be looking for a title that carries a lot of weight, and as much as I love Sleeping Beauty, I don't think it's as well regarded as many, or as famous as the likes of Snow White, Fantasia and Pinocchio. I'd love Beauty and the Beast to be the first, but I can't see them skipping Snow White and picking Beauty and the Beast as the first one.

It seems a long time to wait, and a part of me wishes if they're going to go with simultaneous Blu Ray / DVD reissues, they should get 101 Dalmatians out the way early next year on standard DVD and then relaunch the range in Autumn 2009 with Snow White, following with a new BD / DVD Platinum release every 6 months thereafter. Get Beauty and the Beast out the way next, as Snow White and BATB are probably the most sought after Platinum discs. To be honest, with the added titles to the Platinum range, it would be nice if they'd go for a quarterly or 3 times yearly release schedule to get through this material on BD a bit quicker.

[Farid]

I definately see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as being the first, big HD-title from the Disney Vault.

I don't think it's going to be re-released next year (unfortunately), but I expect it in 2009. On DVD and Blu-ray. Maybe even HD-DVD if the format win hearts in Hollywood, I hope so.

The one that started it all is going to be the one that starts it all for a whole new generation.

[2099net]

Well, I think it will be one of the ones that they listed in their promo. From memoary, that's Aladdin, The Lion King or Little Mermaid.

[darth_deetoo]

Well I believe Beauty and the Beast was featured in the Blu Ray promo, but I got the impression that was just a generic trailer and wasn't intended to show what was coming up first.

I can't remember which disc I saw the Blu Ray promo on now.

[Princess Stitch]

See, I was thinking about it too, once Pinocchio, Fantasia, Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians are released, it will be the end of 2009, which should put Snow White as the first 2010 release. It would make sense to start the blu-ray releases simultaneously with the platinums, but I'm not sure they'll be willing to wait that long to do it! (or maybe they're purposely waiting that long because most people should have HD tvs and blu-ray players by then) I also can't see them having their blu-rays in print when the DVDs aren't though. It would ruin the whole vault thing they have going. So expecting a run of classics on blu-ray like what happened with the limited issues probably isn't going to happen.

[darth_deetoo]

2010 seems an awfully long time to wait for any of the animated classics to appear on Blu Ray though. Especially with the Playstation 3 becoming more widely available, which has got very good Blu Ray playback.

I don't think you can take that it as a given that Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty and Fantasia are going to be the next Platinums after 101 Dalmatians.

I could see a schedule going something like:-

Oct 2007 - The Jungle Book (DVD only)

Mar 2008 - 101 Dalmatians (DVD only)

Oct 2008 - Snow White (Blu Ray & DVD)

Mar 2009 - Pinocchio (Blu Ray & DVD)

Oct 2009 - Beauty and the Beast (Blu Ray & DVD)

Mar 2010 - Fantasia (Blu Ray & DVD)

Oct 2010 - Sleeping Beauty (Blu Ray & DVD)

With some of the other titles starting to appear on Blu Ray between the Platinum one's, after Snow White's been released.

Personally, I think that's about the best solution to Disney's release schedule. Everything will have been released on DVD after 101 Dalmatians. Admittedly, Pinocchio has only had a limited release, but I for one could hold off on another release if they wanted to launch the Blu Ray line a bit earlier, and I think there should be a big title for the Blu Ray launch.

Having said that, Snow White's never launched a Disney Home Video range before. As I recall, Pinocchio was one of the very first VHS releases, and was one of the very first DVD releases, so maybe little wooden head will also lead the charge with Blu Ray?

[2099net]

The promo listed the titles as "coming soon" though. Are you saying Disney lies?

[darth_deetoo]

Well the one I'm thinking of just showed several clips from different Disney movies, and said something like coming soon to Blu Ray, but it didn't give any time frame, or list specific titles.

Coming soon could quite easily mean 3 or 4 years.

Having said that, I would be absolutely ecstatic if Beauty and the Beast turned up on Blu Ray within the next year, as it's one of my favourite films, live action or animation.

[2099net]

I'm sure by most people's definitions, "Coming Soon" isn't 3 - 4 years!

But who knows? I thought none of Disney's big guns would be out on Blu Ray for at least 3 years, but the Pirates movies prove me wrong.

I think a reasonably soon release for Aladdin is possible, being as by all accounts the Platinum release dramatically underperformed against expectations.

[darth_deetoo]

But by the same token, they might be more inclined to hold it back if the DVD didn't do well. When I think of the big guns being brought out on the format the ones that immediately spring to mind are Snow White, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. All would be in high demand, and I think could do a lot to win the format war. I've always thought the sort of thing that will win the format war is big titles, Blu Ray has the potential of Star Wars, Disney Classics, Spider-Man, Lord of the Rings and James Bond. With Warner supporting both formats, that opens up their catalogue. The only thing really missing for Blu Ray is Universal, and most notably, many of the Spielberg films. Of course, the question is how long do we have to wait for some of these big titles?

[2099net]

I would guess a l-o-o-o-n-g time. Casino Royale got publicity for selling 100,000 copies in the first 10 days (or some similar time frame) in the US, but the SD DVD sold over 4m copies in the same time.

The HD formats are just slim pickings at the moment, and no studio wants to dig deep and release their big archive films when potential sales are so small.

If you remember DVD, it took years for Spielberg or Lucas to release any of their films on the format. They only did so once they considered "critical mass" of installed players to have been met. There are exceptions to the rule (such as the Pirates films and Day-and-Date titles such as Casino Royale), but this was true of the early days of DVD too.

[disneystarsfan]

here's the link to that promo of what DAC's are coming out in blu-ray:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8DQYi25-nc

according to the ending, Aladdin, Beauty and The Beast, The Little Mermaid, and The Lion King are coming soon.
are so are some pixar movies:
Finding Nemo and Monster's Inc.

[darth_deetoo]

I don't think that's the trail I saw.

But.....

Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Aladdin!!!!!!!

How awesome would that be? These are right at the top of my list of favourite Disney movies. And these are the kind of titles that could really decide a format war.

And another of my favourite Disney movies, Sleeping Beauty is featured prominently in the trail too.

Here's hoping.

BTW, I've just watched Casino Royale on Blu Ray and it looks incredible.

[Princess Stitch]

I think the price of the Blu-Ray players will probably have alot to do with when the DVDs are released. HD tvs are coming down in price now, but they're still really expensive, and it costs almost $1000 to get a Blu-Ray player, which is an expense alot of people just can't afford. If they do a release this year or even next year, I think the sales are going to be bad. Just not enough people have the players yet. Or at the least maybe they'll release stripped down versions with no new extras. If they wait 2-3 years the players will probably be cheaper and more people will own them, which means they'll sell more copies and make more money.

Think about what the DVD release schedule was like. They did the limited issues, yes, but then they released their classics slowly. Just because there's a demand for a particular title, doesn't mean Disney will release it, they've never worked like that. If they did, we'd be able to get Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King right now on regular DVD because I'm sure alot of people want them.

[Mason_Ireton]

I voted for S.Beauty, haven't played a blue ray player, but we just got a HD Tv which is really cool looking. I perfer just to release the remaing platniums on regular 2 discs cause some of us might not be sure bout blue/HD. I agree with everybody bout Pinocchio starting Blue Ray for 2010 but it'll probaly be released on regular 2 disc dvd too. Sleeping Beauty, Beast, and Aladdin are definte shoe ins for Blue Ray while it's too early deciding on Pinocchio, Bambi, Jungle Book, etc.

[goofystitch]

I voted Pinocchio for the fact that it has always been the first DAC released in home video formats. I'm not sure about laserdisc, but it was the first on VHS and DVD. I think it would be cool if Disney stuck with that tradition. And I really hope the Pinocchio Platinum DVD comes out before Snow White. I mean, Pinocchio hasn't been available for 7 years. That's the normal moratorium length now.

[darth_deetoo]

Pinocchio did get reissued as a 'special edition' a few years ago in the UK.

[Wonderlicious]

I don´t know about what you guys think, but something inside me feels that Disney was actually using the prospect of the biggest classics on Blu-Ray as shown in the trailer as something to make people go and get a Blu-Ray player as soon as possible, which would then make a market for such films on Blu-Ray. Personally, I think that they´ll be coming soon, in the same way that postponed DVDs often are...announced in some way yet delayed for longer than expected.

I personally think of the older classics (as in pre-Chicken Little), they may put some titles which are popular, yet not exactly the most beloved of the titles. Stuff like Dumbo, Robin Hood, The Aristocats and Lilo and Stitch are possibilities. I could imagine Alice in Wonderland and Mary Poppins coming to Blu-Ray relatively early.

[Widdi]

I voted Pinocchio for the fact that it has always been the first DAC released in home video formats. I'm not sure about laserdisc, but it was the first on VHS and DVD. I think it would be cool if Disney stuck with that tradition. And I really hope the Pinocchio Platinum DVD comes out before Snow White. I mean, Pinocchio hasn't been available for 7 years. That's the normal moratorium length now.

Robin Hood was the first DAC to be released on VHS, not Pinocchio.

Personally until Blu-ray holds a big enough chunk of the market for home video, I can't see Disney releasing any of the big titles. My money is on them testing the waters with a few lesser titles first and seeing how they preform.

[NarniaDis]

Actually Pinnochio had a 1981 VHS release - I've not been able to find any other info on Robin Hood Pre-1991s Diamond series Release...