The Official Disney Movie Club Blu-ray Exclusives Thread (3 Viewers)

[Mark-P]

If you are obsessive about checking the status of your selections (which I am) then the club is perfect for you. However if you are a set-it-and-forget-it type then it's true that the club is probably more of a pain than it is worth.

 

[B-ROLL]

No way to stop to autoshipments even after you're a VIP.

I can't even find a way to send an email reminder that you will be sent the selection other that the initial one they send to let you know they have a new selection ...

I rember BMG CD Club had a strict policy that you had to respond back or you would have the selection of the month sent to you ... I had another issue that I had to speak to someone in customer service and when she asked the standard "Is there anything else?" I said I wish you would only send me selections I ordered and not the selection of the month> She said "I can fix that" and stopped the shipment that was pending and stopped automatic shipments.

So-called Negative Option is apparently illegal in Canada and may be somewhat restricted in 15 States in the US
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_option_billing
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/8403
With BMG and Columbia House if you DID NOT OPEN THE PACKAGE you Can write "REFUSED DID NOT ORDER -RETURN TO SENDER" and drop it it in the mail ... With them there would be an invoice you could usually see through the window and know what was in the package. With the new way DMC is shipping you won't know what's in the package ... you CAN check orders online to see what is on the way....

 

[Mike Frezon]

I sure wish they would put out The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band and The Happiest Millionaire. Two very good films with Sherman Brothers scores. Happiest Millionaire has a great stereo soundtrack, not sure if the other one was in stereo, it should have been.

+1,000,000

My kneejerk reaction is to say I'd join the club if even just one of those two films were announced. But I would likely just pay the best price I could find on eBay.

 

[David Norman]

I can't even find a way to send an email reminder that you will be sent the selection other that the initial one they send to let you know they have a new selection ...
....

I'm not sure if you can turn email reminders on or off, I know I just get a bunch of reminders every month which is one of the reasons I never understand how you could forget since it was such a nag screen-- it's always just been their default for my accounts. .

With BMG, CH, and several other of those late/great clubs you could turn off the Negative Option after you fulfilled, but not with DMC. It's probably the one thing most requested in every survey DMC has done or something I;ve requested everytime they ask if there is anything they can do to improve.

It is also why some folks just re-join and cancel as soon as there acct is fulfilled then rejoin 6 months or a year later and repeat. They rarely stay a member more than a month or two once there fulfill. They'll wait until they have 9 or 10 items and join/fulfill./cancel in 4-5 weeks as soon as all the packages arrive.

 

[Dick]

I can't even find a way to send an email reminder that you will be sent the selection other that the initial one they send to let you know they have a new selection ...

I inquired about this a few years back. The response was that one could do this with the DVD club, but not the Blu-ray club. What the f**k could the difference be here?

 

[B-ROLL]

I inquired about this a few years back. The response was that one could do this with the DVD club, but not the Blu-ray club. What the f**k could the difference be here?

If that was the case, as long as U are "fulfilled" you should be able to change to a DVD club membership - unless you actually want get the FT then it might be to your advantage to stay as bluray ... after a couple of days then U should be able to change to the no negative option ... PTA I know ...

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Does anyone know if the Disney Movie Club DVD of "Moon Pilot" is OAR and anamorphic?

 

[Mark-P]

Does anyone know if the Disney Movie Club DVD of "Moon Pilot" is OAR and anamorphic?

It is not. Aspect ratio of the DVD is 1.33:1 (open matte). If you want it in the proper aspect ratio, you'll need to purchase a Disney Movies Anywhere HD download.

 

[Kyrsten Brad]

It is also why some folks just re-join and cancel as soon as there acct is fulfilled then rejoin 6 months or a year later and repeat. They rarely stay a member more than a month or two once there fulfill. They'll wait until they have 9 or 10 items and join/fulfill./cancel in 4-5 weeks as soon as all the packages arrive.

I actually looked into this but unfortunately the current selections DMC makes available to first-timers has changed a bit since I joined 2 years ago. None of the classic live-action are offered and just a smattering of some animated old-time classice (Duck Tales, not offered) as being eligible for the initial package.

Wish someone would get off their duff and get The Parent Trap (1961 and 1998 remake) out there on Blu. That goes for The Black Hole (1979) as well.

 

[David Norman]

I'm seeing several DuckTales (no space) available as enrollment titles -- V1, V3, Treasure of the Lost Lamp. V2 isn't eleigible for enrollment for some reason

They aren't all listed in the Pictures, but if you type the name in they come up as eligible. If you call in an enrollment most all the DVD are allowed other than really new or special edition items. Most of the Bluray exclusives are eligible directly at the website -- just hit the exclusives tab or type in the search bpx

Which titles that are on disc are you looking for that aren't eligible? Unfortunately getting them to release certain items is beyond my reach

 

[Mark-P]

Title: Son of Flubber
Black & White
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (320 Kbps)
Subtitles: English SDH
Special features: none
Single layer
All region

 

[Dick]

Disney has really slowed down on these club releases. Damn! So much left unreleased.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Disney has really slowed down on these club releases. Damn! So much left unreleased.

Yes its frustrating and the only reason I can think of for it is the titles are not selling that well which is another sign of the times for the disc market unfortunately. Which is even worse for catalog titles.

 

[LeoA]

What could they really have expected, when they've so limited the distribution of these?

Something like The Son of Flubber, priced appropriately at $15-$20, could easily move five copies at every one of the 5,000 + Wal-Mart's in the US alone. That's an easy ~$500,000 right there for a release that has already had the transfer done, regardless of what happens on Blu-Ray. And toss in another major retailer or two like Target and have them up on Amazon. and things would be looking pretty good.

There's no reason why for top tier live action Disney classics like this, that they couldn't easily bring in several million in revenue with each release and improve their bottom line. Disney has the clout to get these on shelves and be prominently displayed. But they're not even trying.

And if they did, greed would set in and they'd overprice them with such releases set at $30 or more, leaving just the most interested fans and a fraction of the sales (And profit) that a more suitable price would provide.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Unfortunately Leo those days are long gone. Disney knows the market for these older films with a limited audience. Its tough to find even a DVD of the old Disney movies in a Walmart these days unless its in the bargain bin. The only older Disney titles the general public is interested in is their Animated titles. They stopped showing these films on the Disney Channel well over a decade ago for the same reasons. They made the right choice by making them club exclusives where they only need to produce a limited amount of them which means low risk for them. If they went retail and had to mass produce them, distribute and advertise them they would be losing a ton on these and the series on Blu would have ended long ago. At least we are still getting something this way even if they are being released very slowly. My Daughter will watch any Disney animated film but would rather watch paint dry than watch any of these older Disney live action films that I love dearly.

 

[LeoA]

I don't think they need to advertise.

It's up to families to expose their children to these classics, if the kids are open to older material and don't just recognize that it's not a brand new movie and immediately dismiss it. I think a heavy move on Disney's part to advertise these, even on their own tv network where they'd be giving up sell-able ad space, just wouldn't pay just as you said.

But I think you underestimate their worth. I'm not saying that we have something here that if properly handled, would double Disney's stock price. But there's certainly value there with something like The Parent Trap.

They've made a significant investment in HD transfers for these films (Sometimes even replacing an earlier HD transfer and restoration from ~10 years ago). So someone high up there thinks there's money to be made. unless they have the decency to think this investment is worthwhile just for preservation's sake, which I highly doubt. I don't think that just relegating them to streaming, a Disney night every few months on TCM, and the Disney Movie Club is the best use of these transfers.

I'm in my local Wal-Mart every few days and stroll past the DVD section regularly. I think we often tend to underestimate sales around here. Some great stuff seems to all too often sit, but I've often seen things like the last few DVD releases of the Paul Henning rural sitcoms by CBS move in surprising numbers where 6-7 copies is down to just 1 in short order and with restocks happening. If something like that happens at every such Wal-Mart, it adds up.

I think the top tier titles could easily return money to Disney's coffers. And the second tier titles, if bundled, also likely could like the three Dexter Reilly comedies starring Kurt Russell.

 

[Randy Korstick]

I think the HD upgrades are nothing more than future proofing their catalog like a lot of studios are doing so they can use it for TV, Streaming, Downloads, Blu-Rays whatever they want in the future and it is up to modern standards so its a good investment on their part.
I don't doubt there are about a dozen of the Disney live action films: 20,00 leagues, parent trap, old yeller that could do pretty well with a major retail release. But the vast majority of the titles are largely unknown to the general public today as sad as that may be.
Very few companies do better market research than Disney their results are proof enough so it really doesn't matter what we think the value of these films is, they have done their homework. I'm sure the dwindling DVD sales of these titles as well as title recognition were major factors in their decision to not release these retail.
Of the 3 things I mentioned advertising would be the least expensive. The need to mass produce a retail release which will later result in tons of unsold copies plus the distribution and storage costs are both far greater than advertising.
Believe me I like your suggestions but they have already done that on DVD including bundling those titles when the market for discs was good and those sales must have only been ok or they would be doing what you said. Factor in the big decline in disc sales and they have their data. Disney is not a company to miss a money making opportunity.
I think disc sales of certain titles probably sell better in certain areas of the country and discs in general may sell better in some areas of the country but in the major markets they are disappearing fast. In California every time I go to a Walmart, Target, Best Buy or Costco their disc section continues to rapidly shrink. I think it will only be another 2-3 maybe 4 years before we will only be purchasing discs online.

 

[Randy Korstick]

I would also bet that from the beginning of this series from the Disney club they were gauging the sales to see if they were possibly missing a good retail opportunity. With the number of titles continuing to be reduced and speed of release being reduced despite them having HD masters already available the writing is on the wall that the sales are not as good as they hoped. And if they are not satisfied with small expectations in the club then they are certainly not going to make the big move to do these retail. At least they are making some money in the club rather than losing money.

 

[skylark68]

I agree with most of what has been said but I don't think we are seeing the begining of the end of physical disc sales at Walmart or Target. This is not an insult but there are probably quite a few people out there who would still buy VHS tapes of they were on the shelves at either of those stores. Some folks lack the sophistication or desire to stream movies and still rely on buying discs of movies at these stores. I believe that's the main reason Walmart in particular still carries mostly DVD as opposed to Blu-ray Discs. These same folks aren't going to stream films more than likely. Remember Walmart removed fabrics from a majority of their stores a few years ago because they believed most customers weren't making clothes any more. There was a customer outcry and they started stocking fabrics and patterns again at many stores that had lost this. I think the same thing would happen if physical media was pulled.

 

[Randy Korstick]

I understand exactly what you are saying Timothy and I agree I think there are still some areas of the country where disc still sell well but they do not represent the majority of the country. And those areas will probably have discs for sale for a much longer time. Clearance sales will also probably be around for a while after most stores stop carrying regular discs for sale.