Disney DVDs Dilemma

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 3:54pm

I was out shopping today looking to update my old original VHS's of my Disney movies to DVDs and was shocked to find that many of them are unavailable.
I asked the salesclerk if the store might have Beauty and the Beast or The Little Mermaid in storage but he told me that most of them had been recalled and that I if was desparate I could special order them.
I'm just shocked that these animated classics are so difficult to find and that only Mulan 2 was on the selves. What's the deal with these DVDs? And why would they be recalled?

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 3:56pm

Disney pulls their movies after release and keeps them out of circulation. It's been their way for a long time, that way they can either release the movies back in the theaters before re-releasing them on DVD (or video) and get two more in flux's of revenue, or they can simply make people wait and get more sales in a smaller window of time, without having to constantly keep things in print. (Not that they can't afford to do that, they just don't want to.)

[Songs4aNewWorld]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 3:56pm

They take the movies and bought them in the "Disney Vault." They are supposedly not going to release them again, but you know in 5 or 10 years they will so they can make more money off people. If you really want them, look on eBay.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 3:57pm

They have either not been released on DVD, or have gone back into the Disney vault for a while.

BatB was released on DVD in 2002, but is now in the vault.
Mermiad will not be released on DVD until 2006.

Disney is very tricky in their selling of DVDs.
But it is kinda brilliant marketing, because once a DVD is released, you have to get it soon beofe it goes back into the vault for another few decades.

[Matt_G]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 3:58pm

Little Mermaid has been of print for a few years now but is being rereleased next fall as a special edition. Beauty & the Beast shouldn't be that hard to track down, even though it's now out of print also. I saw it at Best Buy last week.

[me101]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 4:06pm

Yea, for Christmas my mom was trying to get me the Beauty and the Beast DVD. I think it's really ridiculous, and annoying.

[Marquise]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 4:12pm

i'm an overall animation fan, i've been drawing since i was a kid and i'm in the process of taking up some graphic design courses. i usually purchase those Disney DVDs as soon as they are released. they tend to go out of print after awhile. i only re-buy the ones i really want if they are re-released in Special Editions. i have the original DVD release of "Mulan" but wasn't moved to purchase the "new" Special Edition version.
but on the other hand i own "The Little Mermaid" on DVD and i will most definitely purchase the "new" Special Edition version because it's one of my favorites.

On that note "Lion King" fans better purchase "The Lion King", "The Lion King 1 1/2" and "The Lion King II: Simba's Pride" because ALL are going back in the vaults.

[Matt_G]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 4:15pm

Lion King 1 1/2 and Part 2 should have never come out of the vaults to begin with. Thank God Eisner's out of the company. Hopefully now we can be done with these f*cking sequels. Seriously, we all could have lived without Cinderella 2 where the stepsisters become nice.

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 4:21pm

Wow, I never realized one had to be so on top of these! Oy
Speaking of Cinderella, when is the original film going to be released?

[Matt_G]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 4:22pm

It is being released as a special edition this October.

Updated On: 2/21/05 at 04:22 PM

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 4:30pm

I'm assuming it has to do with DVD special features but what are the differences between the Platinum Edition and the Special Edition?

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 4:30pm

I collect all the Full Length Animated Feature Disney DVD's along with all of their sequels. I need about 6 more to finish my collection. Bambi is coming out next week for the first time ever on DVD. And yes, I always buy the speical editions when they come out. I am a sucker for Disney's marketing tactics.

PS: Glad that Matt_G is back to posting on the board! Since you went to Good Vibrations via standing room, was the performance sold out???? That is just sad. The show should have closed on February 6th.

[Matt_G]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 4:31pm

Disney's "Platinum Editions" are like extreme special editions. They release one every October and they really just go to town on the extra features.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 6:46pm

Well, regarding the sequels, the third Aladdin is amazing...

[harris007]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 6:54pm

Got to agreet with stick too, their the only sequels i like in the disney relm.

[Jimmcf]

Posted: 2/21/05 at 7:30pm

And Bambi comes out on March 1

[shira467]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 6:33am

I may have to actually but these babies then...

[Marquise]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 8:17am

wow! Bambi is a Platinum Edition and it's being released in March! I guess they did away with the "one every October" release schedule.

Most definitely picking this up and "Cinderella". I have almost every Disney feature length animated film produced.

[moonys_autumn]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 9:49am

http://www.animated-news.com/archives/00003066.html

Sad what became od the Disney artists...

[scotty]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 10:26am

twas great to see 'Aladdin' released. Tis my fav.

[ScottInLA]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 12:45pm

> wow! Bambi is a Platinum Edition and it's being released in
> March! I guess they did away with the "one every October" release > schedule.

Yeah...as I understand it now, it's two Platinum per year, instead of just one per year.

The restoration work alone is really worth it on a lot of the older ones...I don't remember where, but I remember seeing some side-by-side frame comparisons of Snow White when it came out, and the difference was amazing.

[zepka102]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 12:47pm

priest, i LOVE the 3rd aladdin movie!! not as much as the original, but hey, it still cracked me up... ESPECIALLY the genie... man i was crying when he was jumping out of the plane...



i need to watch that again... maybe i'll do it today

[commasplice]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 4:07pm

I wish Disney would be a little bit more considerate with some of their live-action releases.. a bunch of the movies I loved when I was a kid have gotten really crappy pan-and-scan treatment (I mean, they made a fantastic 10th anniversary Newsies DVD, how hard would it be to give the Muppet Christmas move or Heavyweights a widescreen transfer!? Shh, you know Heavyweights is a great movie.)

Also, http://www.ultimatedisney.com/ seems to know almost EVERYTHING about the status of every possible Disney property on DVD. They're so thorough it's ridiculous.

[Marquise]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 4:12pm

i know what you mean commasplice. i had been waiting for a proper DVD release of "The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band" for years. When Disney finally got around to releasing it they just slapped a pan and scan version onto the disc.

The only thing that got me to purchase it was my love for the movie itself, the featurette on the making of the movie and the audio commentary by Lesley Ann Warren, John Davidson and Richard Sherman.

IMO they could have done more with it.

Posted: 2/22/05 at 4:14pm

1) Your video store should have Mulan in stock. It was just reissued in October. If they don't have it, maybe you should find another video store.

2) Disney is brilliant to do this: It makes the reissue of old films an EVENT, and forces people to run out and BUY. It saves them money, also as they don't have to maintain stock on catalog items. It dates back to the old film days and it's because they realize that every 7 years or so there's a whole new audience born for these classic films.

3) Your viedo store clerk mis-spoke that you could "special order" the out-of-print titles. E-Bay or a collector's type website might have used copies (or new copies from someone smart enough to stockpile) but you won't get a new copy from Disney-- that is the point of the moratorium.