Timon/Pumbaa fan wrote:Don't believe me? Sony and Paramount also reported decreased sales on DVDs. In fact, DVD sales in general decreased from the previous year for the first time in it's history.
Yes, but none of the studios had severely cut back on the content and the amount of releases the way Disney has.
Look at Warner's continued dedication to many classic films. While a nice selection of well-known titles get single-disc Deluxe Editions or multi-disc Special Editions (or Ultimate Collectors' Editions), they also have a variety of titles that will almost always include the theatrical trailer, a vintage theatrical short, and a vintage theatrical cartoon. In addition, several are branded as
Warner Night at the Movies and include additional materials such as newsreels and period trailers. Many of their boxset collections (Film Noir, Gangsters, Classic Musicals, Signature Collection, etc.) have commentaries on at least one film in the set, and some even have short-but-informative featurettes.
Fox likewise has a series of devoted DVD lines that range from Film Noir, Cinema Classics, Marquee Musicals, etc. and they ALL have commentaries, photo galleries, and trailers, and in the past year or so, most will always have one or several featurettes.
Columbia may not be as active as Warner and Fox when it comes to their older movies, but at least they put some effort into releasing well-known titles (
The Caine Mutiny and
The Guns of Navarone had nice upgrades last year), and they put together a nice Frank Capra box set, and there was a great Cary Grant box set that came the year before.
Paramount isn't the greatest when it comes to classic films, but at least they offer nice special edition re-releases of contemporary films. Did a film like
Flashdance really need a 49-minute documentary (well...5 featurettes)? Would many people flock to the two-disc edition of
Face/Off? Well, maybe they would, but still, they know there's money to be made in re-releases that actually offer something of substance. And they put better effort into some of their less successful films. The
Stardust DVD has an excellent half-hour documentary that would likely be only 7 minutes long if Disney had its hand on it. And most importantly, Paramount includes the trailers! The easiest bonus feature ever and Disney doesn't add them, unless it's to promote another film! I don't want to have to take out DVD "K" to see the trailer for movie "P"!
The Criterion Collection has consistently maintained high-quality releases for a variety of titles and their DVDs almost always puts others to shame.
A few years ago, Disney had some effort. Minor releases like
The Black Hole had a featurette and trailer.
Tron got a two-disc set.
The Shaggy Dog had a commentary and a couple of featurettes. And yet today Disney can't be bothered to release any more catalog live-action titles, unless it's a lousy laserdisc-to-DVD transfer that is touted as a Disney Movie Club exclusive. They find room for tons of games and music videos but can't be bothered to offer open-matte and theatrical-matted animated films, or just scrounge up a couple people and some Disney historians and interview them for retrospective featurettes on lesser-known titles (come on, even a 10 minute featurette about
Robin Hood is better than just a deleted scene and an art gallery!), and feel that the only thing they can really offer collectors and enthusiasts are limited-run two-disc sets every Christmas season.
Scaps
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