Why Is the U.K. getting Disney animated Blu-rays months before we do? (1 Viewer)

[Dick]

Disney is such an American icon (yes, I know they depend heavily upon the foreign market), but why is the U.K. getting TARZAN and 101 DALMATIANS way ahead of us (as was earlier he case with DUMBO)? True, most of the U.S. special edition extras have been dropped and may eventually resurface on later domestic Blu-rays, and, yes, these are region-free, so anyone can order them, but has anyone an idea about why this happens? 101 DALMATIANS will be out in the U.K. in September, but we won't get our Diamond Edition until spring of 2013. Just curious.

 

[Mark Oates]

Maybe Disney is using the UK as a gauge for demand for titles

 

[TravisR]

My guess is that they spent millions on a team to analyze sales data which told them that the fall is the best time to release that type of movie in Europe and the spring is the best time for the U.S.

 

[Mark Oates]

That makes sense - the evenings are drawing in, kids coming in from school (usually wet and fed-up); captive audience.
So why's the spring the best time of year for the US?

 

[Mark-P]

I've no idea why the U.K. is getting them before us, but Tarzan is already available there and the Amazon reviewers are really bitching about the quality. Apparently it has compression artifacts and lossy audio.