Bad Santa DVD to be released under "Disney" label

[Jake Lipson]

Per IMDb daily news:

Only days after renaming its home video division to Disney Home Entertainment, the Walt Disney Co. announced Tuesday that it intends to release Badder Santa: The Unrated Version on November 20 in HD DVD and Blu-ray. In the past, Disney has gone to great lengths to make sure that the Disney name did not appear above any releases that did not reflect the wholesome, family-oriented viewpoint of the company's founder. However, the 2003 Billy Bob Thornton movie inarguably contains the raunchiest language ever delivered in a Christmas movie, and the "unrated" version includes deleted scenes that magnifies the scatological nature of the film. The film, released in high-definition formats at Christmas time may also confuse parents who see the names "Disney" and "Santa" on the cover of the packaging, along with the name of the film's co-star, the late John Ritter.

Admittedly some of this is inaccurate -- Disney doesn't support HD-DVD -- but what if it is true? I agree with Iger that working on Disney's brand recognition by using less names is a good idea, but there needs to be a seperate label for "adult" titles such as this. I can't see anything good coming of this.

[Dottie]

"Bad Santa: The new Christmas movie for the whol family! Your kids will never be the same!"

Theys should have thought about the label names, before announcing something like that. Hilarious!

[PapiBear]

When the name change was first announced, I predicted this would come back to bite them on the butt.

I'm just glad it bit them this soon. This decision to change the name of their various distribution arms is like New Coke - sounds great on paper, but in practice, it sucks.

[DarthPrime]

On HD DVD and Blu-ray? hmm... Let the Disney goes format neutral rumors begin.

[UncleEd]

All the more reason why Disney shouldn't make films like this under any name.

[Daisy Duck]

I would hate to see the Disney name now associated with un-family friendly movies. I hope this doesn't change Disney's image.

[GhostHost]

I love Bad Santa, but Disney's name does not need to be on it. But the HDDVD bit means that this article isn't 100 percent accurate in the first place.

[AwallaceUNC]

There's bound to be some misinformation here. Iger has fresh ideas and all, but anybody who's even heard of marketing can see this as a bad idea from a mile away. Putting the Disney name on something like "Boy Meets World" or even <i>Roger Rabbit</i> is one thing. <i>Badder Santa</i> is another. The studio caught enough flack over producing that movie when it <i>didn't</i> have the Disney name on it. I hope we don't see the day where <i>Bad Santa</i> can make it to store shelves under a Mickey banner while <i>Song of the South</i> remains confined to the vault.

-Aaron

[blackcauldron85]

Most people don't care who makes a film, so they don't care if the Touchstone banner, Hollywood banner, or any other banner (besides Disney) is on a film. But, Disney is separate, and Disney is family-oriented. That's like going to Toys R Us and seeing a porn movie section. It's just not proper, for the customers or for the brand name. Disney should keep the Touchstone & Hollywood banners...why change them? Who cares that people don't know that "Pearl Harbor" really is a Disney movie...people don't care, and those that do care know.

"Badder Santa" is not a Disney movie. It was made by an arm of the Disney company, but it's not "Disney". Touchstone (or Hollywood), yes. Disney, no. There needs to be that distinction, or else they will alienate a lot of their customers & people will begin to not trust the Disney brand and anything that comes from it.

[UncleEd]

Toys R Us sells Touchtone, Mirimax, Hollywood pictures and other films that aren't family friendly. One such film was Forest Gump when it came out. Although I like the story it contains drugs, sex, nudity, and plenty of F-bombs. Hardly belongs in a toy store.

[GhostHost]

I am really suprised this topic isn't getting more replies, this article is probably false, but regardless I would expect tons of replies for what would be the most contreversial and idiotic thing Disney has ever done if the article is true.

EDIT:

Nevermind, I just found this out from IMDB:

The Walt Disney Company on Thursday denied a report that it plans to release Badder Santa: The Unrated Version on high-definition video in November. The report had appeared on several websites that track DVD releases. (HighDefDigest.com said that the report emanated from "a retail announcement.") Coming in the wake of Disney's announcement that it plans to abandon its "Buena Vista" banner corporate-wide, the report generated particular interest since it appeared that an unrated movie would be distributed under the Disney name for the first time. However, a Disney spokesman said Thursday that no "new official name" for the company's video distribution unit had been announced and that for the time being it will remain Buena Vista Home Entertainment.

[Disney Duster]

Let me just say WHEW, and thanks GhostHost!

I too wondered why this didn't get more replies. Maybe there were lots of people who ddin't believe it could be true...and they were right!

[Jake Lipson]

WHEW indeed. Good to hear. (However, I don't see why it couldn't come out on hi-def. This is no reason to halt the release; just don't label it "Disney.")

[UncleEd]

But in cases like this I wonder if the report was true and Disney is now claiming it's not due to the poor response by the public? It has happened before plenty of times.

[Luke]

I'm pretty sure the report was based off one promotional item (called a sell-sheet) sent to retailers, which erroneously showed a tiny Walt Disney Home Entertainment logo on the spine of <i>Badder Santa</i> Blu-ray. That's happened before, with <i>Pearl Harbor</i> last year. I imagine someone -- who, I don't know -- must have made a news story out of something that really wasn't, working on the thus-unconfirmed rumor that Disney is dropping the BV name for home entertainment. That said, it's pretty clear that the sell-sheet was in error; since, on the same page, <i>Scary Movie</i> correctly shows the Dimension logo on its spine. Can't believe it got picked up so much, although IMDb has reported from questionable sources in the past.

As far as I can tell, <i>Scary Movie</i> and <i>Badder Santa</i> are both still coming to Blu-ray this fall.