Snow White Re-release Platinum Discussion & Cover Art Th

[azul017]

I do find it frustrating that Disney is just taking this Blu-ray over DVD thing a bit too far. I'm not a fan of Snow White, but it would make sense to release both editions on the same day and that way the consumer has the choice and not be forced to wait.

I'd be ticked myself if I didn't have a computer and rushed out to stores on October 6th to pick up a 2-disc DVD, then decided to get the Blu-ray because it had the first disc. Then two months later, the 2-disc DVD comes out proper and I'd be steaming mad because I wouldn't have a Blu-ray player yet to see the extras and feel cheated.

[ajmrowland]

Goliath

Really? You mean you think thre are people who are THAT mindblowingly stupid?

Well, I once saw a woman screaming at the service desk in Toy's R Us because a Final Fantasy game (for Playstation) wouldn't play in her son's Nintendo Wii, so yeah, I would say there are quite a few morons out there who don't know the difference between Blu-Ray and DVD. That's why the first year of Blu-Ray, they all had stickers on them mentioning that they only play in Blu-Ray players and PS3s.

But then again, I've seen people who can't remember a title for a game, too, but that's just GOLD!

[disneyboy20022]

Here is one reason that might add some Logic to Snow White being released first in Blu Ray... A post below that I just made......the thread is very familiar to the fiasoc of Bolt and Lilo being out early before Tuesday

http://www.ultimatedisney.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=24645

[DarthPrime]

The huge release gap is terrible in my opinion. Of course you can wait longer, but this is going to cause confusion and anger for customers who see the Blu-ray of Snow White and wonder why they can't buy the DVD version. Its not going to have the effect that Disney wants right now.

I don't hate Blu-ray and will own a player eventually, but Disney's new Blu-ray marketing strategy is starting to get annoying. A few days is fine, but almost 2 months? Completely ridiculous in my opinion. I really hope this does not become normal for Blu-ray and DVD releases.

I could see this happening in a few years when Blu-ray has more market share, but right now?

I hope that somehow, the gap will blow up in Disney's faces. No offense to those who buy Blu-ray, but I hope that the Blu-ray only sales aren't as high as Disney would hope...maybe the DVD sales won't even be as good as they hope.

I hope so too.

Same here.

I also don't like the argument of the Blu-ray comes with a DVD. This effects a very small portion of buyers. Most people are not going to buy the Blu-ray with a DVD even if they plan to eventually upgrade to Blu-ray. For most having something they can't use isn't worth the extra price, even if its only a few dollars.

I'm glad I already have the previous release.

[Marky_198]

espically since there is a sticker on the front that says the Blu Ray doesn't play on DVD players.

Will there also be a sticker on the front that says:

"The dvd WILL be available in a few weeks, just be patient, we are deliberately waiting with the dvd, because we hope that people will buy a Blu ray player instead of waiting for the dvd, because the Blu ray sales are not what we hoped they would be and if Blu Ray won't sell better we have to admit that trying to make Blu Ray the mainstream format was a mistake and we might lose money. We know this action is rude, but desperate times ask for desperate measures"

[2099net]

I'm sorry, but people keep saying Blu-ray sales aren't as expected, but what proof do they have? Agressive marketing? I'm pretty sure DVD was marketed agressively at the same time.

Look at this
http://www.psu.com/Blu-ray-two-year-sal ... 008-p0.php

According to statistics compiled by EngadgetHD and Pali Capital's Richard Greenfield, DVD players achieved 1.2 million players sold over the course of its first two years on retail shelves. However, this number is barely a dent in the estimated 2.5 million Blu-ray players that have been sold within the same life span. Perhaps more impressive is the fact these numbers do not take into consideration the PlayStation 3, which is Blu-ray compatible out of the box.

Not only has it sold more players (USA only stats I would assume), but the PS3 isn't included in the totals!

I know Blu-ray isn't setting the world on fire, but neither did DVD in the years 1998-2000 - you can see the buying pattern here

I mean, how many of you people can actually remember the excitement, doubts, debates and growth of DVD as it happened? Few of those who claim Blu-ray isn't performing to target I would imagine. Disney didn't even commit to the DVD format in a meaningful was until late 1999, possibly early 2000 - exactly the opposite of their commitment to Blu-ray.

As for Disney pushing Blu-ray - of course they are, they have invested heavily, and continue to invest in the format. Personally, I doubt Disney get any more profit from Blu-ray sales; authoring the discs is much more complicated than authoring DVDs, special features are filmed or edited especially for Blu-ray (I'm pretty sure the Circle-Vision on Prince Caspian would have cost a fair bit to film, edit and program), remastering old catalogue films costs money, experiments with BD-Live cost money. And of course, sales are still small compared to DVD - even if Pinocchio sold 15% of its copies on Blu-ray as been reported, the DVD sales were 85%.

And at the end of the day, if you charge a $10 premium, how much of that $10 gets eaten up by the retailer and the distributor?

Disney, as well as other studios are pushing Blu-ray because it's (reasonably) secure - its certainly more secure than DVD is, where anyone can rip a copy of a disc after only spending at the most an hour's research on Google.

Yes, at the moment, Disney aren't exactly helping their security by putting DVDs in with their Blu-rays, but I'm pretty sure its a cost/risk they see as worth taking in order to get Blu-ray as the accepted format - its basically a trojan horse, and you can see that as either cheap, careless marketing or absolutely brilliant marketing. It's up to you.

[CampbellzSoup]

espically since there is a sticker on the front that says the Blu Ray doesn't play on DVD players.

Will there also be a sticker on the front that says:

"The dvd WILL be available in a few weeks, just be patient, we are deliberately waiting with the dvd, because we hope that people will buy a Blu ray player instead of waiting for the dvd, because the Blu ray sales are not what we hoped they would be and if Blu Ray won't sell better we have to admit that trying to make Blu Ray the mainstream format was a mistake and we might lose money. We know this action is rude, but desperate times ask for desperate measures"

No actually it will say with big Disney lettering... if you don't want to invest in Blu Ray you wait along with everyone else.

[ajmrowland]

Oh great. One little announcement, and this whole thread is turned into "Snow White and the Seven Weeks".

[jotaabs]

This is just a marketing strategy cause Disney, of course, needs to make money. For fans, it's just mean.

Putting the Blu Ray on the market earlier, for unaware costumers, will make them wondering about the DVD version. They will think the DVD may not be out ever, cause blu is the new technology and bla bla bla, and they will be 'forced' to buy a blu ray player. And then, 2 months later, they will realise that they've been tricked.

Of course in the near future Blu will be the only tecnology, like DVD in the VHS era, but please, this strategy have nothing to do with put "The one that started it all" again on sales but just to make money.

[CampbellzSoup]

it comes WITH the freaking DVD.

[Flanger-Hanger]

This is just a marketing strategy cause Disney, of course, needs to make money.

Like the did in 2001 with the DVD release arriving 7 weeks before the VHS.

And I'm sure plenty will just buy the combo pack so they have a DVD copy of the film to park the kids in front of. Only a few film fanatics will be interested in the second disc's content and of that small percent (10% according to Disney) some will be excited to buy this on blu-ray. The complaining here will be trivial compared to what happens with actual sales in October. Disney will have TV ads explaining this to people like Pinocchio. This will not be a poorly thought out marketing scheme for sure (nor was it when other studios did it before).

And you're still getting a second Platinum title in the fourth quarter of 2009 so why are people here getting so upset?

[TheSequelOfDisney]

I really don't see what the big deal is about this. Disney isn't forcing anyone to move on to Blu-ray. With SW they just want the general public to know that they can get so much more with this new technology and that SW would be the perfect oppourtunity to go to the next level. Disney just wants us to know that BD is a great opportunity to get one of their best classics out of the vault and to be seen and heard like never before. I've upgraded to BD and the quality is so phenomenal that once seen I never want to so back to DVD unless I only "liked" the film and didn't see the need to have it on Blu-ray. All the time on here people are complaining about how sucky the transfers are. Now here is the opportunity to get a brand new, breathtaking restoration, and you are complaining. People on here don't make any sense.

[2099net]

God Lord, Flanger is right!

According to Amazon the original Platinum edition DVD came out October 9th 2001 and the VHS came out November 27th 2001.

So nothing at all is different. Good call Flanger!

[The_Iceflash]

God Lord, Flanger is right!

According to Amazon the original Platinum edition DVD came out October 9th 2001 and the VHS came out November 27th 2001.

So nothing at all is different. Good call Flanger!

Disney sure is trying to repeat History aren't they?

[ajmrowland]

Well, you forget most major companies have psychology departments. How else does Disney come up with such strategies?

They believe the public will respond to this in such-and-such a way, that they're willing to follow through.

History doesn't repeat itself; people repeat history.

[Flanger-Hanger]

Of course I'm right Netty! I do my reading.

And why not try to repeat history? The old DVD sold 1 million copies on the first day of release, 2 years before DVD became the norm.

I wonder what the 1994 Laserdic vs. VHS release was?

[ajmrowland]

So it took DVD about 6 years to become the norm. Oddly, I see Blu-ray not taking much longer in doing the same.

[CampbellzSoup]

I'm not so sure Blu Ray is going to be the norm, it's just the option for people with high def televisions and surround sound audio.

Apparenlty Disney wants to push that, and to be honest I really only buy thier movies on Blu as they truly put that effort in making it great on all ends.

[Marky_198]

So far the first 2 animated classics on Blu ray (Sleeping Beauty and Pinocchio) have been catastrophic!
With the missing lines, shifted chorus parts, shifted instruments, and all the other errors.
As long as they are unable to give us excellent transfers of the films on Blu ray, I won't even think of buying a Blu ray player. Or one of these tampered "classics" on Blu ray for that matter.

I wonder if they will get things right with Snowwhite. Are they going to separate all the words, instruments, chorus parts, sounds, lines again?
And turn this one into a different film as well?
I'm not too comfortable about this, looking at the 2 previous travesty's.

So I'm REALLY happy with my dvd's.

[Wonderlicious]

Well, as I've said before, I don't have enough funds to get a Blu-Ray player (or HD-TV, or even PS3) for at least a year or two more, so buying the Blu-Ray is a bit out of the question. To be honest, unlike with Pinocchio (which hadn't had a 2-disc set before) or even Sleeping Beauty (whose aspect ratio was better on the new DVD), I don't see much point in getting Snow White on DVD again. If I had a Blu-Ray player, perhaps. But otherwise, I really believe that I would at the most just rent out the new DVD to watch any new bonus features.

I do agree that a lot of people would be mad at this. But in all honesty, a good number of the real collectors (read: those who would watch disc 2) already have a Blu-Ray player. And in all fairness, waiting a few weeks isn't too gruelling. As lovely as Snow White is, don't you think that there's a bit of ludicrously impatient behaviour going on? A lot of international territories in the past (even the likes of the UK and Australia where English is spoken) had to normally wait years after the US releases of the older animated classics on video before their's came out (for example, the first US Bambi video came out in 1989, whereas in the UK - and presumably other countries - it came out in 1994). At the end of the day, seven weeks isn't all that much when you think about it.

And obviously, I bet that in many international territories, the Blu-Ray and DVD would probably come out simultaneously (albeit a bit after the American Blu-Ray release anyway).