Where do collectors go from here?

[SWillie!]

And again, this thread is not about digital vs. physical. Take that elsewhere, please.

I never said it was, but this ruling will have an effect on collectors.

Okay, I'll bite... how come? If anything, wouldn't the fact that you can't re-sell digital materials encourage a physical collector's market to continue?

[REINIER]

I dare say I own most disney art of.. book, some even in several outings. I have devoted most of my earnings sofar in gathering/accumulating as much of these as my paycheck will allow. I have every disney classic US bluray/dvd and again in several outings. My hording knows no end ! I find myself at a loss.. For,classic 2d has my personal preference and those "2d art of books".have long gone. Sure, there are the occasional wda archive type of books, but not nearly as abundant as the glorydays of old. I started collecting pixar and laika and dreamworks artbooks, but as devoted as I am also to 3d animation these books can't hold a candle to let's say: " The art of the Hunchback of Notre Dame". I long for great coffeetable books as opposed to those small disposable chronicle volumes. My bookshelves are crowded with animation and I will love them till the day I hopefully get to pass them along to another devoted fan... But for now I grow sad in knowing that the disney name that once stood for quality home releases, be it in book or bluray outing has lost it's glimmer and is in desperate need of repair. Bring back bookpacking for blurays, bring back bonus features like BaTBeast had and restore the moviecollection to "ultimate whizzpoppin freaking explialidocious fantasmicly brilliant" for all I care! Just treat these physical releases with the respect they deserve! Why is Emperor's new groove/kingdom of the Sun still without an artbook? Why can't there be updated volumes? How come not every movie get's an art of book? All legitimit questions in my book, yet to be answered

[disneyboy20022]

This is in regards to Bill Hunt of The Digital Bits sharing that the Blu ray 3D of Oz the great and powerful will not be a 3D combo pack, but yet it will be the same price as one..

I’m sensing a growing trend happening in the home video industry… and it’s not a good one. More and more, it seems like the people who make these release decisions at the major Hollywood studios – about which titles and features to release on Blu-ray – are people straight out of business or marketing school who are concerned only with the bottom line and have zero connection to the product, no love of film, no experience with home video/home theater enthusiasts and what they want (and are eager to buy if only the studios would listen to them)… and absolutely no interest in taking the time to find out. By releasing fewer and fewer catalog titles on Blu-ray, by actively turning down ideas for special edition releases and content (a complaint I’ve heard repeatedly in recent months from special edition producers), and by pushing the industry more and more towards downloads… these people are actively (and unwittingly) bringing about the demise of home video as we know it. They’re abandoning collectors and film enthusiasts, shrinking the home video market, and essentially putting themselves out of a job. All at a time when the folks at Warner Archive and some of the smaller indie studios (think Shout! Factory, Criterion, Olive Films, Twilight Time, etc) know that the way to move physical product – that’s discs to you and me – is to cater to enthusiasts by finding the right titles, making them special in a cost effective way and aggressively targeting the collector and enthusiast audience online. Listen up Hollywood: There’s still a huge audience of people out there who WANT to buy films on Blu-ray! They have money ready to spend, but you have to LISTEN TO THEM! You have to give them the product they want, with real value, at a price that isn’t insulting.

[DancingCrab]

It's true. I am losing interest in the Disney animated blu-ray line, because they seem so haphazard and un-collectable. I'm not going to go out of my way to buy a film series that have some great, some not so great restorations and cover art that looks like they were lifted from the covers of coloring books. The 2 movie collection crap is just the "icing" on the "cake", to put it nicely.

If Disney would do a uniformed collector's series of there Animation Studios films with nice and consistent packaging and well done restorations for all the films I would buy them as fast as my wallet would allow. But alas, I am not holding my breath for anything geared towards my kind in the forceable future.

As it is, I am only re-buying the movies I REALLY REALLY REALLY love and skipping out on the rest. Such a pity.

[SWillie!]

Thanks for posting, disneyboy. It's very true. Here we are, begging to spend all our money on something, and they just don't seem to get who they should be marketing to. It makes sense to market and push digital downloads to the average consumer who is more drawn to convenience and price. But for the physical market, they ought to be producing high quality releases that there is obviously an enthusiast audience for.

[GreatGreg]

Just as some people won't buy 'this 2-movie crap', someone else will say that MULAN 2 is their favourite movie and they are so happy to see it finally released on Blu-ray because it would never be released as a standalone title.

[DancingCrab]

Just as some people won't buy 'this 2-movie crap', someone else will say that MULAN 2 is their favourite movie and they are so happy to see it finally released on Blu-ray because it would never be released as a standalone title.

When that is your only option other than shipping from another country, yes, it IS crap for collectors of the DAC films. For whoever is thrilled for these 2 movie collections...good for them. It must be nice to have Disney catering to their wishes only and ignoring everyone else.

[GreatGreg]

Just as some people won't buy 'this 2-movie crap', someone else will say that MULAN 2 is their favourite movie and they are so happy to see it finally released on Blu-ray because it would never be released as a standalone title.

When that is your only option other than shipping from another country, yes, it IS crap for collectors of the DAC films. For whoever is thrilled for these 2 movie collections...good for them. It must be nice to have Disney catering to their wishes only and ignoring everyone else.

I see. It is cool as long as your needs are satisfied, and not those of others.

Maybe, just maybe you are not in the majority? Could that be possible?

Irregardless, this is going off-topic. The topic of the post is what happens to collectors once we all move to downloaded media and I think the answer there is that there are plenty of art books, and giclees and VHS box covers at Art of Disney and beyond to satisfy Disney collectors.

[DancingCrab]

I see. It is cool as long as your needs are satisfied, and not those of others.

Maybe, just maybe you are not in the majority? Could that be possible?

WTH are you talking about? When did I ever say or even allude to anything like that? If anything that is exactly what I (and a lot of other collectors) are complaining about...ONE fanbase is being catered to while all the rest are being completely ignored. I NEVER said that they shouldn't have 2 movie collections available for those who like them, I said it's crap that that is the ONLY option they put out for people wanting these movies in HD. Why (or how) you misread what I wrote is beyond me. You completely missed my point and twisted what I said.

[John Pannozzi]

I'd be content with digital downloads. But I'd wonder what would happen to audio commentaries and subtitles. Can MP4s have switchable audio and subtitle tracks?

[Patricier21]

i collect several things, from disney and other dvds to thomas the tank engine and scale model trains. so my collecting side is covered pretty well. the issue i have with sole digital media and having to download instead is that i just dont trust it, unless its going to work like itunes and be stored on your computer instead of a "cloud" or whatever. it would be too easy for a legit website to take your money and decide a year down the track to fold, taking your money and your movie.

however, i think internationally at least, dvds and physical copies will available for many years as not every home has a computer or internet access and i think that will be reality for a while yet. kind of like how many homes dont have dishwashers or spa pools.

If you're a Thomas fan you may wanna check this out: http://restorethemagic.org/index.php/20 ... new-years/

[Prince Edward]

As a Disney fan & collector, I buy the following:
- Blu-ray's (previously DVD and VHS): Disney animation, Pixar, Marvel, blockbuster Disney live action movies like Pirates and the fairytale live action movies.
- CD's (I especially love all the Alan Menken soundtracks, but try to collect the Disney soundtracks in various languages - English, French, Japanese, Italian, Spanish, Polish, German, Danish, Swedish & Norwegian)
- movie posters
- comic books (the Donald Duck & Scrooge McDuck comics by Don Rosa & Carl Barks)
- animation/art/making of books (Disney animation and the biggest live action Disney movies including Marvel, not the Pixar books)
- expensive figurines, snow globes, keep sakes and limited edition dolls from Disney Store/the Disney theme parks (mostly stuff from the classic/fairytale movies, I find it so sad that movies like Hercules, Pocahontas, Mulan and The Hunchback of Notre Dame get's almost no merchandise though)
- Kingdom Hearts stuff: the games, soundtracks, manga books, art books and guide books.

Other stuff I like to collect:
- Blu-ray's, PlayStation games, movie posters and music CD's in general
- history books (especially anything Napoleon related)
- souvenirs from historical sites/museums (especially figurines and small statues)

Even if Disney stop releasing physical copies of their movies at some point, I would still have lot of stuff to collect and I would still be giving the Disney company a big amount of my money^^

[The_Iceflash]

I think the logical place for collectors to go is towards Disneyana. Vintage collectibles come in all types and can be very affordable and fun. For example, vintage Silly Symphony and other early shorts/feature sheet music can be fun to collect:

I'm wishing:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/255401351/ ... _gallery_1

Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/214608690/ ... _gallery_1

[Jc]

Ask yourself this: when you buy a DVD or blu-ray, is it solely because you want to watch the movie?

No

Or is it because this is your way of showing support for the movie, showing off your tastes and preferences - because you enjoy owning your favorite films?

Errr... Yeah, an expensive way

With a release like this, we get the movie itself - available to watch anywhere, anytime - substantial bonus features that would normally be included on the disc, some great collectible materials to display, an awesome making of book to sit on your shelf in place of your dvd cases, and above all - a sense of "owning" this film. Imagine a release that was the result of the combined efforts of Disney Home Entertainment, the Animation Research Library, and Chronicle Books (the current publisher of Disney's art-of books).
Would you find yourself collecting this sort of release? What aspects of owning a film are you drawn to most? Could you ever see yourself collecting something else in place of DVDs? Where do collectors go from here?

If the future digital releases look at least close to something like this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgzX4yaraL4
It would be great to have all the collectible items minus physical media (which can be replaced with digital code). Especially, since someday home consumer Internet bandwidth will allow us to watch blu-ray quality movies online. But darn, I still want the lithographs