Platinum, S Beauty, S White questions (hunch and herc too!)

[EricMontreal22]

This is a kinda random question that I looked for answers on in other threads but found nothing...

What exactly is the mentality behind these DVD releases? I don't own the Snow White DVD release--I didn't have my own dvd player till a few years ago, and missed it when it was easy to find in stores. I've long hmmed and hawed about buying it now at a higher price but sorta thought since it started the Platinum line it would be reissued pretty soon and I might as well wait to see what's on that reissue...

I *do* own the 2 disc "platinum in everything but name" edition of Sleeping Beauty.

So my question is--why is Sleeping Beauty being released as part of the platinum line next year--even though it was a more recent release than Snow White? Did it sell so well that Disney is anxious to crank it out once more? I can't imagine *any* way it could be improved upon in terms of image (barring HD) and extras. I know it's long out of print as well but I'd much prefer we got instead a 2 disc "almsot platinum" treatment instead to one of the Disney features I feel deserves it and hasn't gotten it-0-like Hunchback (remember that awesome laserdisc it got?) or Hercules. Or surely the BRILLIANT Pinocchio deserves at least to get its 2 disc edition before Sleeping Beauty is reissued.

What gives? I'm all for Beauty finally getting her long deserved props, but...

E

[blackcauldron85]

There's actually a thread about the "Sleeping Beauty" Platinum Edition here:
http://www.ultimatedisney.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=20265

[caioloki]

I think that they are releasing SB in dvd and blu-ray next year to test the buyers. I mean, they wouldnt risk releasing their most beloved film (snow white) on blu-ray just to have it on store shelves and not selling (since blu-ray is very new technology), and neither are they going to risk releasing one of the most lucrative animated classic for the very same reason. I think they picked SB for some reasons:

1. To go along with all the princess merchandise already going on.
2. To make the restoration even better (SB SE was still grainy if you compare it with some of the more recent releases, like peter pan, cinderella , etc.)
3. It was not an incredibly lucrative film for disney in the past, so they wouldn't be risking too much.
4. If the blu-ray sales end up being good, disney will be sure, by then, that animated classics being released in blu-ray format is indeed a good idea and will certainly invest more on that. If otherwise, disney will wait for the blu-ray market to stabilize, so they can, at that stage, release the more "awaited for" classics like Snow White and Beauty and the Beast.

tell me what you guys think , and please correct me if i said anything worng lol

[EricMontreal22]

Good points! ALthough I think you're being too optimistic about yet another restoration being done to it--I can't seeit looking much better frankly, and I cant' see them investing much more money (although I suppose they'll have to do some for the HD print?)

It is a good point that it can testr the waters because it's seen as a classic Disney feature but yet has never quite bit one of their top tentpoles like Snow White (but then I think Pinocchio, which deserves a Platinum NOW so badly, could do the same--Disney used Pinocchio to test the VHS waters for instance and though I think it's one of their top three films they seem to be a bit lost with the property as of late--or maybe Dumbo or Alice in WOnderland, two films Disney has never cared enough about not to allow them to air on TV, video, DVD, never go out of print etc)

However while Sleeping Beauty was a box office disappointment in its first releease I believe by the 80s it did become one of their more lucrative films--I knwo the 80s VHS release was *massive* sales wise--I think their best up to that point.

[Escapay]

What exactly is the mentality behind these DVD releases?

Well, in terms of the Platinum releases, they were originally a set of 10 titles* that'd be given an exhaustive two-disc set featuring a stellar restoration and remastering and a wealth of bonus materials.

*The original order of 1 per year:
October 2001: Snow White
October 2002: Beauty and the Beast
October 2003: The Lion King
October 2004: Aladdin
October 2005: Bambi (moved up to March 2005)
October 2006: The Jungle Book (moved down to October 2007)
October 2007: Cinderella (moved up to October 2005)
October 2008: The Little Mermaid (moved up to October 2006)
October 2009: Lady and the Tramp (moved up to February 2006)
October 2010: 101 Dalmatians (moved up to March 2008)

So my question is--why is Sleeping Beauty being released as part of the platinum line next year--even though it was a more recent release than Snow White?

In May 2003, the decision was made to add four new titles to the Platinum line (which already contained 10 titles), thus making it 14 titles in all. They also chose to increase the output from one Platinum a year (every October) to two Platinums a year (every March and October). Among the four titles added to the line was Sleeping Beauty, even though it was already scheduled for a September 2003 release (and was advertised as such in the Platinum of Beauty and the Beast), as well as several DVDs between October 2002 and May 2003).

The new Platinum Schedule (circa 2003) looked like this:

October 2003: The Lion King
October 2004: Aladdin
March 2005: Bambi
October 2005: Cinderella
February 2006: Lady and the Tramp
October 2006: The Little Mermaid
March 2007: The Jungle Book
October 2007: 101 Dalmatians

March 2008: Pinocchio
October 2008: Fantasia
March 2009: Peter Pan
October 2009: Sleeping Beauty

However, in October 2006, it was discovered that Peter Pan would take the March 2007 slot, pushing back The Jungle Book and 101 Dalmatians to October 2007 and March 2008, respectively.

A French Disney site then posted on ther upcoming titles page that Sleeping Beauty would take the October 2008 slot, and that Pinocchio would be March 2009. Snow White is also expected to be the October 2009 Platinum, thus leaving Fantasia as the last of the "new" Platinum titles, and putting it in the March 2010 slot, with Beauty and the Beast returning in October 2010.

Did it sell so well that Disney is anxious to crank it out once more? I can't imagine *any* way it could be improved upon in terms of image (barring HD) and extras.

They could always turn the turn the 30 minute of featurettes on the second disc into a longer 45-50 minute documentary, with new retrospective interviews.

I know it's long out of print as well but I'd much prefer we got instead a 2 disc "almsot platinum" treatment instead to one of the Disney features I feel deserves it and hasn't gotten it-0-like Hunchback (remember that awesome laserdisc it got?) or Hercules.

Unfortunately, in an interview Don Hahn gave to UD, he said they currently had no plans for a Hunchback re-release in the near future (pretty much cancelling out a new release this year). The same likely goes for Hercules as we would've heard something about either of them by now.

Or surely the BRILLIANT Pinocchio deserves at least to get its 2 disc edition before Sleeping Beauty is reissued.

Its restoration has been finished for some time (was done in 2003, and R2 and R4 got a flimsy little SE to go with it), and as far as I knew, was to have been the *first* of the four new titles to get a Platinum release. Instead, Peter Pan got pushed up a few slots to co-incide with the now-delayed Tinker Bell movie, and Sleeping Beauty jumped the queue too (likely to take advantage of the Blu-Ray format). Being a widescreen movie, and a very meticulously drawn and artistic one, Blu-Ray would make Sleeping Beauty look more impressive than it already is, and would be a great hook for upgrading from DVD to Blu-Ray.

Escapay