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Cover Art - Miracle DVD, a tale of two nations (1 Viewer)

Tom Tsai

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After Disney changed the DVD cover to display the American flag more prominently and to show the USA team logo, I had this feeling that there's no way Disney would market it the same way in Canada...

and it looks like Disney's marketing team has been pretty smart in understanding their respective markets.

US Cover:


Canadian Cover:
http://www.dvdsoon.com/product-image...80&quality=0.8

Notice how there's no sign of the American flag or the USA team logo on the Canadian cover?

Also, notice the quote difference:

USA version: "The true story behind the greatest moment in sports history".

Canada version: "The true story behind one of the greatest moments in sports history".

I don't want to start anything negative between our two nations, just stating the fact that Disney has done their homework on this one :D
 

Mike_Stuewe

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US version is better

USA! USA! USA!

seriously though, thats a common sense move by Disney. Hypothetically speaking, as an American I would totally grab the US version of the cover instead of the Canadian if I didnt know the difference. So it works. :)
 

MikeEckman

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I guess it does make sense, but I hate the fact that they try to make a movie MORE appealing by making the flag bigger or putting a starring actors face really big on a cover or something.

Why not just make a marketing poster when the movie is in the theaters and just continue to use it for home video? Sigh...
 

Pete M

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So, do the Canadians defeat the Americans for the Gold Medal in the Canadian version? :D
 

EdHoch

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Good work by the marketing people at Disney. I don't know the particulars, but Canada had their Summit on Ice back in the early 70's where they beat the Soviet national hockey team...in the Soviet Union, on their home ice!

That's why our friends to the north might take exception to us arrogant Americans calling the 1980 US upset THE greatest moment in sports history...
 

GlennH

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Interesting.

I like the Canadian cover much better. More balanced looking and aethsetically pleasing. Easier to see at a glance that it's about hockey. A quick glance at the USA cover almost looks like a Rocky movie (except Rocky didn't wear sweaters in the ring). I also don't like how the players legs are cropped off in the USA version. It loses something without the ice skates.

To me, the real story here is the ability of the underdog to overachieve through teamwork and hard work. It was the Olympics, so obviously competing countries are involved, but putting the primary focus on the nationalistic angle cheapens it.

That said, it really doesn't matter. I guess they know what they're doing to maximize sales.
 

Kevin Leonard

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When this DVD was first announced, the Canadian cover was being used for the US version. I really have no idea why they decided to alter it, as the original choice looked fine, and it doesn't look like a case of pasting a big head to highlight the film's star(s).
 

Greg_S_H

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Well, the American art is more in line with the poster art. At least, that image of the figure in the center was on the teaser poster that I first saw about a month before the film opened. That was the first time I even heard of the film, so I remember it well.



Are we sure that's supposed to be Russell, as some have implied? It doesn't look like him to me. It looks more like a player.

Edit: Heh. Now that I look at my own post, it's even more obvious. In this version, we get the stick and gloves.

Debate about whether or not this was the greatest moment in sports history has gotten at least one thread closed, so use caution. I'll only say this, and then stay out of the debate: what was or is the greatest moment in sports history is a very subjective thing, but hockey fans should be heartened that a hockey game would be considered for that honor. The sport is really struggling to find an audience down here, so any recognition helps. Just a shame the movie didn't do so well.

Edit 2: Then again, looking at Box Office Mojo, it looks like it ended up making $64mil. There is no information there about how much it cost to make and market the film, but $64mil. doesn't strike me as horrible for a movie such as this. I bet it made a bit of a profit.
 

Jeff Gatie

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The particulars are that those were Canadian pros. NHL players. Including Orr (although he did not play much), Esposito (Phil and Tony), Cashman, Park, Hull (Dennis), Guy Lapointe, Dryden, Cournoyer, Ratelle, Mahovolich, Makita, Serge Savard, Clarke, the list goes on and on. The USA team in 80' were true amatuers by any definition. This is what made it the greatest upset in sports history. Greatest moment, well that's subjective, but there is not much argument that this is the greatest upset in international sports. It would be like the Ukraine beating the Dream Team of Jordan, Magic and Bird.
 

Herb Kane

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So were the Russians.

Apples to apples argument. The only difference was, the Russians were virtual unknowns as the integration process in the NHL hadn’t yet taken place. These were the elite of their country.
 

Jeff Gatie

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Herb, I was taking nothing away from the Summit series or the Canadian victory (how could I when the team had 5 players and the coach from the 72' Bruins:D) . It was truly the elite of the world pitted against each other and a great series. However, comparing it to the 1980 USA victory is not apples to apples, given that the 80' Russian team were also professionals in every sense of the word and the USA team was a bunch of college kids that really had no right to be on the same ice as the USSR. That's what made it so astounding and much more of an upset.
 

Herb Kane

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Ahhh. Your original wording kinda implied that because these were NHL players that it was an uneven matchup, which really had no bearing on it.
 

Jeff Gatie

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No, the USSR teams of the seventies were definitely an equal, some say better foe that any NHL all-star team. Tretiak was considered the best goalie in the world and their system was flawless. They also tended to be bigger, better conditioned and better trained than the highly talented, swashbuckling, devil may care NHL players. The NHL players of the 60's and 70's relied on talent and toughness more than training and conditioning, especially in the off-season. Some of them even had to work a regular job in the summer while the USSR team lived together and trained year round.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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Normally I'd agree. But the Cold War subtext certainly makes the nationalistic angle more prevelant than a normal sports film would have.
Sure the movie portrays it as primarily an underdog story (which it is) but the Cold War undercurrent is ever present.
 

GlennH

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That's a good point, Adam. 1980 certainly were still Cold War days with the USSR as strong as ever.
 

Stephen_J_H

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This reminds me of the change Disney made to the cover art for Recess: School's Out for the Canadian release.
American:
I can't find the image online for the Canadian cover, but it replaces the American flag in the background with a shot of the front of the school, which is more in keeping with the film anyway.
 

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