Disney Cuts Back on DVD

[Goliath]

What gets me is what they keep wasting their money making silly interactive kids games for every release, most of which have absolutely zero replay value for kids. [...]

And no comment on the cover song teen pop music videos produced for nearly every single Disney product.

You nailed it. To think they spend money on that crap and ditch other 'behind the scenes' bonus feautures...

[Flanger-Hanger]

Not many opportunities call for "I Want It Now!", unfortunately.

albert

Any post by Reyquila? Also you forgot to change my name to Wire Hanger. Is the economy affecting your ability to pay your secretary to type?

Disneyfella, nobody knows what it is but knowing Disney I bet it will be really lame.

[drfsupercenter]

You nailed it. To think they spend money on that crap and ditch other 'behind the scenes' bonus feautures...

Yeah, seriously. DVD menu games aren't even special features... they're just a waste in the VIDEO_TS structure!

Those are the first to go, followed by the music videos. (When making backups that require shrinking to a single layer, that is)

Why can't they just keep those videos to fill the void on Disney Channel and leave them off the DVDs? That way I can just not watch them on one medium instead of not watching them on another medium

[DisneyFreak5282]

I think they should keep the "vault" but not force DVDs out of print so quickly. Didn't Snow White go out of print in a matter of months?

Yeah, it was annoying. The DVD was released (as I'm sure you know,) in October of 2001, and by the end of January 2002, it went OOP. The same thing happened with Beauty and the Beast - released October 2002, went OOP in January 2003. I think by the time they released The Lion King they got the hint that they should extend the period of time the DVD is out for, because TLK was released in October 2003 and went out of print in 2005.

[Escapay]

Also you forgot to change my name to Wire Hanger. Is the economy affecting your ability to pay your secretary to type?

Or I was in a rush when making that post.

albert

[Flanger-Hanger]

Also you forgot to change my name to Wire Hanger. Is the economy affecting your ability to pay your secretary to type?

Or I was in a rush when making that post.

albert

Seems logical...

[Goliath]

One thing I don't get is why people are complaining about Disney cutting back at DVD's already since at least 2005. Have they not seen the Platinum Editions of e.g. Sleeping Beauty? That was rich with bonus features. And there were more, like One Hundred and One Dalmatians. Only the 1-discs are poor, but they have always been poor.

[Flanger-Hanger]

One thing I don't get is why people are complaining about Disney cutting back at DVD's already since at least 2005. Have they not seen the Platinum Editions of e.g. Sleeping Beauty? That was rich with bonus features. And there were more, like One Hundred and One Dalmatians. Only the 1-discs are poor, but they have always been poor.

Really? You want to compare The many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh's 25th Anniversary Edition or Treasure Planet's or Dumbo's 60th Anniversary DVD with Oliver and Company's 20th or Fox and the Hound's 25th editions?

I'll make a list of decent or good single disc releases:

Escape to Witch Mountain
The Apple Dumpling Gang
Return From Witch Mountain
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Darby 'O Gill and the Little People
The Sword in the Stone (old DVD)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney made a new commentary for it, how often can you say that about other releases?)
Home on the Range
Island at the Top of the World
Pete's Dragon
Watcher in the Woods (Anchor Bay)
The Haunted Mansion (2 commentaries!)
Newsies

I'm sure there are more but as you can see Disney was more than capable of putting out a good single disc release. I'd say starting with 2004 they got lazy with their catalouge.

[rs_milo_whatever]

and there's a number of non-Platinums that got two-discs; Mulan, Brother Bear, Pocahontas, The Lion King sequels, etc.

[Escapay]

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney made a new commentary for it, how often can you say that about other releases?)

It's not new, it's re-used from the Deluxe Edition laserdisc.

Pocahontas, on the other hand, got an all-new commentary to replace the laserdisc version.

I'd say starting with 2004 they got lazy with their catalouge.

Definitely agree. 2004 was their last great year for catalogue titles.

albert

[Flanger-Hanger]

Definitely agree. 2004 was their last great year for catalogue titles.

albert

And first for worst with stuff like Gnome Mobile, The Happiest Millionaire, Family Band, Babes in Toyland, The Great Locomotive Chase all getting their video masters re-issues or lack of anamorphic enhancement.

Interestingly the yea before was when DVD started outselling VHS. Coincidence?

[The_Iceflash]

Definitely agree. 2004 was their last great year for catalogue titles.

albert

And first for worst with stuff like Gnome Mobile, The Happiest Millionaire, Family Band, Babes in Toyland, The Great Locomotive Chase all getting their video masters re-issues or lack of anamorphic enhancement.

Interestingly the yea before was when DVD started outselling VHS. Coincidence?

DVD started outselling VHS in 2003? Wow, it really is too soon for a new format. I thought it was earlier than that.

[Flanger-Hanger]

DVD started outselling VHS in 2003? Wow, it really is too soon for a new format. I thought it was earlier than that.

It was either 2002 or 2003. It took 5 or 6 years after DVD was introduced for it to become the norm. With that logic, it would take until 2011 or 2012 for Blu-ray to be the standard, but the Blu has backwards compatibility and $200 players now.

[rs_milo_whatever]

not to mention that retailers have been surprisingly supportive of blu-ray. at least where i live and what i see in advertisements.

[Goliath]

Really? You want to compare The many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh's 25th Anniversary Edition or Treasure Planet's or Dumbo's 60th Anniversary DVD with Oliver and Company's 20th or Fox and the Hound's 25th editions?

I don't know about Pooh or Treasure Planet, but Dumbo was a poor and lazy release. It barely got any extra's.

The Sword in the Stone (old DVD)

The old was was poor and so is the new one. I'll give you The Hunchback of Notre Dame, although I've never seen that one.

I don't know about the live-action titles. They don't come out in Holland and I don't care for them. I'm talking about single-disc releases of the DAC's. The so-called 'special editions' are always better than the previous (mostly Gold Collection) editions. Yes, they're still poor when compared to Platinum Editions, but at least they have some added bonus features. Like The Aristocats had a deleted song, and Robin Hood had an alternative ending (storyboarded). So if anything, *even* the poor 1-disc releases got better, not worse. And other 1-disc titles get nothing new added, so they stay as poor as their older versions.

And my point was also, they have done a great job on their 2-disc editions, like Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians, Lady and the Tramp, Jungle Book etcetera. So saying Disney has been lazy for years is a bit of a stretch.

[Goliath]

and there's a number of non-Platinums that got two-discs; Mulan, Brother Bear, Pocahontas, The Lion King sequels, etc.

That supports my point of Disney not being lazy.

Wait, wait... *sequels* got 2-disc treatments and Oliver didn't?

[rs_milo_whatever]

Those were prior to 2005, so it supports our point .

[Goliath]

Those were prior to 2005, so it supports our point .

But... but... why would they put any money and efforts in sequels?

They're meant to make a few quick extra bucks. They're totally worthless.

[Flanger-Hanger]

I don't know about Pooh or Treasure Planet, but Dumbo was a poor and lazy release. It barely got any extra's.

The 2001 DVD? It got:

Audio commentary
Featurette
galleries
Trailers
Walt Disney's TV intros
cartoons
Reluctant Dragon excerpt

more than Robin Hood ever got.

The Sword in the Stone (old DVD)

The old was was poor and so is the new one. I'll give you The Hunchback of Notre Dame, although I've never seen that one.

Again, an entire Walt Disney Presents episode, featurette, gallery, still facts, cartoons etc. Can you say Summer Magic or Babes in Toyland got that?

I don't know about the live-action titles. They don't come out in Holland and I don't care for them. I'm talking about single-disc releases of the DAC's. The so-called 'special editions' are always better than the previous (mostly Gold Collection) editions. Yes, they're still poor when compared to Platinum Editions, but at least they have some added bonus features. Like The Aristocats had a deleted song, and Robin Hood had an alternative ending (storyboarded). So if anything, *even* the poor 1-disc releases got better, not worse. And other 1-disc titles get nothing new added, so they stay as poor as their older versions.

Only marginally so. Less than 10 minutes of new video content for Fox and Robin. Aritsocats was originally planned and advertised as a 2-Disc set. What did it get? Some new stuff yes but never as much as it should have. Tarzan's down conversion to 1 disc and Emperor's New Groove to one as well show a major decline in quality.

Whether or not you personally care about Live action titles is beside the point. The point is those of us who do care are being badly cheated out of something good and that Disney is content to know this.

And my point was also, they have done a great job on their 2-disc editions, like Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians, Lady and the Tramp, Jungle Book etcetera. So saying Disney has been lazy for years is a bit of a stretch.

Sleeping Beauty was only done well because the Blu was begin made too and created to appeal to the niche market who knew and demanded the quality from Disney (note the Blu-ray has even more bonus features than the DVD). Especially their first release of one of their animated features to the format. The others are no where near as good as Snow White, Aladdin and the like. The general spareness of 101 Dalmatians only proves this. Also only the platinums and WDT get 2-disc sets anymore where as Disney was content with doing this for their other movies in the past too.

They are lazy. Too lazy to justify re-releasing their older titles with pointless new editions, too lazy to properly restore their live-action content, too lazy to make more copies of WDT sets, too lazy to put out more of their extensive never released TV content, too lazy to make titles available outside the DMC. The list goes on with "cheap" begin the replacement word for "lazy" in some circumstances.

[Flanger-Hanger]

Those were prior to 2005, so it supports our point .

But... but... why would they put any money and efforts in sequels?

They're meant to make a few quick extra bucks. They're totally worthless.

Because Disney used to care about their DVD product. You can't say that now.