2099net wrote:The number of discs is irrelevant IMO. I remember when Bambi Platinum Edition was press released and people complained about how light that release seemed to be, but when it came out, we ended up with one of the most informative released for many a year - thanks to the "Inside Walt's Story Meetings". A special feature which actually assumed the audience had some intelligence and a desire to learn.
Exactly, lest we forget the countless amount of fluff features that packed the second disc on the Platinum DVD of
The Lion King (or the fact that
The Lion King II got spread out into a "2 Disc Special Edition", of all things). Clichéd as it may sound, quantity doesn't necessarily mean quality.
2099net wrote:I fear Disney's instance to sticking to its "Diamond" schedule is also affecting their product. Surely Disney should be releasing more CAPS era films in HD - I would assume the work to get these to a satisfactory HD viewing standard is slight... perhaps almost non-existent. I'd be perfectly happy for the older films to be released a slower pace if we got more modern films released. Is still see no reason for the HD release of Dumbo (especially as new content is scarce) or Alice (how many times has this been released on DVD?) while films like Hercules and Hunchback or even Treasure Planet (which was quickly knocked down from a 2 disc DVD set to single disc) are constantly ignored.
To be fair, I think Disney simply feels safe with releasing the likes of
Alice in Wonderland and
Dumbo on Blu as they know that they'll sell well. That said, I agree that Disney needs to get out of its safety zone and start putting out a few more films and not stick just to a concrete release schedule. It makes no sense for Disney to not re-release
Hercules, The Rescuers Down Under or
The Hunchback of Notre Dame even if just on DVD, as they both haven't been sourced from CAPS files, and
Hercules isn't even anamorphic (and though no
Lion King or
Aladdin in terms of
Aladdin, it's quite a popular film).
The Hunchback of Notre Dame equally had a wealth of laserdisc-era bonus features, so a bumper release on either Blu or DVD for that film in particular would be relatively easy to prepare and sell.
