3D Disney Does it again...No 3D Bluray announced for "Maleficent." (1 Viewer)

SFMike · Aug 4, 2014

Once again Disney shows their true feelings of disregard for the bluray 3D format with their announcement of the home video release of Maleficent on November 4 with no mention of a 3D version whatsoever. I for one would like to know who in the marketing department makes these decisions regarding 3D releases and the thinking behind them. If you are no longer supporting bluray 3D in the region 1 market just come out and say it. Make an announcement and stop letting those few of us that would be interested in purchasing your product wonder on each new release what is going on.

We talk alot about the question of the health of 3D video on this board and the to me it looks like Disney wants to be the first to drive a nail in it's coffin but doesn't have the guts to come out and say it. Yes, the home market is small but not dead and has the long term possibility of growth. Get a plan for 3D and promote it or announce you've thrown in the towel in Region 1 and release region free 3D around the rest of the globe and let us order from abroad.

FoxyMulder · Aug 4, 2014

SFMike said:
Once again Disney shows their true feelings of disregard for the bluray 3D format with their announcement of the home video release of Maleficent on November 4 with no mention of a 3D version whatsoever. I for one would like to know who in the marketing department makes these decisions regarding 3D releases and the thinking behind them. If you are no longer supporting bluray 3D in the region 1 market just come out and say it. Make an announcement and stop letting those few of us that would be interested in purchasing your product wonder on each new release what is going on.

We talk alot about the question of the health of 3D video on this board and the to me it looks like Disney wants to be the first to drive a nail in it's coffin but doesn't have the guts to come out and say it. Yes, the home market is small but not dead and has the long term possibility of growth. Get a plan for 3D and promote it or announce you've thrown in the towel in Region 1 and release region free 3D around the rest of the globe and let us order from abroad.

Looks like their market research has concluded sales of 3D blu ray in North America are poor, we're getting it in 3D in the UK.

Disney blu ray tends to be encoded for Region A,B and C so the best option is to import the UK disc, i hope it's 7.1 audio, i had to import the USA version of Mary Poppins to get 7.1 audio because the UK edition was dumbed down to 5.1.

SFMike · Aug 4, 2014

FoxyMulder said:
Looks like their market research has concluded sales of 3D blu ray in North America are poor, we're getting it in 3D in the UK.

Disney blu ray tends to be encoded for Region A,B and C so the best option is to import the UK disc, i hope it's 7.1 audio, i had to import the USA version of Mary Poppins to get 7.1 audio because the UK edition was dumbed down to 5.1.

Once again, who makes these lame decisions?

Towergrove · Aug 4, 2014

If sales are poor then why does Disney continue to put out Marvel films on BD3D? I don't believe sales are poor but they are probably or most likely smaller than originally anticipated.

StephenDH · Aug 4, 2014

They are probably the same planks who made such a shambles of marketing the unfairly slated "John Carter", killing with one stroke an entertaining and potentially lucrative new franchise.

Kevin EK · Aug 4, 2014

I read somewhere that Disney was starting to lock their UK Blus to Region B.
Before I order this from amazon.uk as I did with Frozen and Oz, can we confirm that this release is not region locked? I'd rather not order an expensive coaster...

Also, I understand the Marvel releases are a separate matter, where Marvel controls how they'll be handled. The non-3D releases have all been Disney productions that were not Marvel material.

DavidJ · Aug 4, 2014

hanshotfirst1138 · Aug 5, 2014

Though I personally have no interest in 3-D, I find this odd. Are they waiting for a double dip down the road? Do they not want the expense of manufacturing a 3-D disc? It seems odd that they'd actually make a 3-D film and then not release it in that format.

Dick · Aug 6, 2014

hanshotfirst1138 said:
Do they not want the expense of manufacturing a 3-D disc?

What expense? It's merely replication, just like an ordinary Blu-ray, which is why the upcharge is such a ridiculous and counterproductive move on the part of studios who now appear to be actively trying to kill the format.

revgen · Aug 6, 2014

FWIW, Maleficent is not a natively produced 3D film. It was originally shot in 2D.

SFMike · Aug 6, 2014

hanshotfirst1138 said:
Though I personally have no interest in 3-D, I find this odd. Are they waiting for a double dip down the road? Do they not want the expense of manufacturing a 3-D disc? It seems odd that they'd actually make a 3-D film and then not release it in that format.

What the really odd thing is that they already have the 3D masters for these films ready to go but choose not to release them in the US. How do we know this? They release these film on bluray 3D in europe and asia and usually not at such a high pricepoint as they do when they used to release them here. A good example is 'Need For Speed", no 3D home release here but it's available on UK Amazon as a Reigon B release and I'm sure you can get it in asia too. So the cost of mastering the discs in 3D is not the problem it's just some lame marketing decision some business genius made. Some say it's to promote streaming the 3D version at home by making the 3D versions available online only. This may be true but it spits in the eye of a loyal 3D bluray consumer such as myself who doesn't want to stream eveything, for various reasons.

Just because the market share for bluray 3D is small doesn't mean we shouldn't be served by these corporate giants. Disney has given our niche market a big screw you here in the US. The least they could do is make the bluray 3D discs region free so that those of us who want them can remain happy Disney customers. At least where I am concerned they have made one very unhappy 3D viewer. But I forgot, hanshotfirst, you have no interest in 3D.

SFMike · Aug 6, 2014

revgen said:
FWIW, Maleficent is not a natively produced 3D film. It was originally shot in 2D.

Right Revgen, so was Need For Speed. My opinon of 3D conversions has certainly changed as the technology has matured and they get better and better. In my mind a well done conversion can be more effective than poorly presented native material, i.e. The Amazing Spiderman, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Strange Tides. And even at their worst they are miles ahead of the conversions you set or outboard converter box can do due to human intervention on the picture. So bring on well done conversions as I have grown to love them.

FoxyMulder · Aug 6, 2014

SFMike said:
Right Revgen, so was Need For Speed. My opinon of 3D conversions has certainly changed as the technology has matured and they get better and better. In my mind a well done conversion can be more effective than poorly presented native material, i.e. The Amazing Spiderman, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Strange Tides. And even at their worst they are miles ahead of the conversions you set or outboard converter box can do due to human intervention on the picture. So bring on well done conversions as I have grown to love them.

Maybe so Mike but many of them still feel like 2.5D.

I don't think your typical Hollywood director has a clue how to make a great 3D film, the future doesn't fill me with hope either.

StephenDH · Aug 7, 2014

SFMike said:
Right Revgen, so was Need For Speed. My opinon of 3D conversions has certainly changed as the technology has matured and they get better and better. In my mind a well done conversion can be more effective than poorly presented native material, i.e. The Amazing Spiderman, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Strange Tides. And even at their worst they are miles ahead of the conversions you set or outboard converter box can do due to human intervention on the picture. So bring on well done conversions as I have grown to love them.

I'm amazed by the amount of manpower and effort it takes to make a conversion. It's hard to believe it's economically viable but clearly the movie companies think it is.

StephenDH · Aug 7, 2014

SFMike said:
What the really odd thing is that they already have the 3D masters for these films ready to go but choose not to release them in the US. How do we know this? They release these film on bluray 3D in europe and asia and usually not at such a high pricepoint as they do when they used to release them here. A good example is 'Need For Speed", no 3D home release here but it's available on UK Amazon as a Reigon B release and I'm sure you can get it in asia too. So the cost of mastering the discs in 3D is not the problem it's just some lame marketing decision some business genius made. Some say it's to promote streaming the 3D version at home by making the 3D versions available online only. This may be true but it spits in the eye of a loyal 3D bluray consumer such as myself who doesn't want to stream eveything, for various reasons.

Just because the market share for bluray 3D is small doesn't mean we shouldn't be served by these corporate giants. Disney has given our niche market a big screw you here in the US. The least they could do is make the bluray 3D discs region free so that those of us who want them can remain happy Disney customers. At least where I am concerned they have made one very unhappy 3D viewer. But I forgot, hanshotfirst, you have no interest in 3D.

This is what makes BitTorrent so popular. The distributors play right into the pirates' hands.

Dick · Aug 7, 2014

SFMike said:
Disney has given our niche market a big screw you here in the US. The least they could do is make the bluray 3D discs region free so that those of us who want them can remain happy Disney customers.

And Disney was the absolute biggest promoter of 3-D not more than a few years ago....remember? Now, "F**k those 3-D consumers...if our profits don't hit a half-billion on these movies, we're not going to give our loyal U.S. a 3-D Blu-ray release. Give it to Europe. The numbers are better." Here are ways you major studios have been slowly but surely ruining a truly promising resurgence of 3-D in the 2000's:

1. Over-charging for theater admissions of 3-D. Completely unnecessary. The price of those cheap glasses is negligible and could easily be absorbed by the studio, especially as the majority are returned to be recycled.
2. Really piss-poor choices of movies to be filmed in 3-D or converted to 3-D. Bad scripts, photography, directing, acting, etc. Too many completely redundant cgi animation titles. Live-action films that are vacuous and annoying. The cutting is often as quick as that of a 2-D movie (i.e. too fast to allow the human brain to register the information it receives), which is even more deadly for 3-D.
3. Speaking of which...bad conversions of 2-D to 3-D.
4. Poor projection in many theaters resulting in images too dark for shadow detail to show at all.
5. Blu-ray releases similarly overpriced, which is a real rip-off, since replication of 3-D discs is, after the masters are prepared, not a penny more costly for studios than 2-D.
6. 3-D Blu releases of U.S.-made films being made available only from Europe.
7. The slow-but-sure withdrawal of support for 3-D for the home, starting with #6 above, but hugely exacerbated by Panasonic's discontinuation of their 3-D plasma t.v. line.

I was excited at the start of this 3-D era. I invested a lot of money (for me) for a Panny plasma and requisite player and active glasses, to say nothing of a collection (now numbering 75 3-D Blu-rays), and I feel I am being betrayed because idiot studios allow so many dreadful 3-D movies (many of them conversions) to get released that ultimately wear the public down until they decide to stop paying the stupid upcharge and either watch the film in 2-D or not bother with them at all. Now they offer us seriously overpriced Blu-ray's (if the 3-D version is offered to us in the U.S. at all) and wonder what happened when the disc sales are underwhelming.

You could have done it, Hollywood. This could have been the real thing - an actual, long-lasting era of 3-D. But your greed and haste and lack of creative input have given us a huge junkyard of crap movies, with only the occasional LIFE OF PI or CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS and GRAVITY to serve as short-term life preservers, throwing aficionados small bones of new hope that the format might yet succeed this time.

We have the money to spend, but we're spending it less and less on 3-D because of the 7 examples listed above (and a few I've missed, no doubt). 3-D isn't dead yet, but you seem bound and determined to pound the last nails into its coffin. Why? You make me very angry as a fan and consumer, and only add to my distrust and dislike of the corporate mentality that cares nothing for its customers, as long as the bucks roll in.

Shame on you.

And Disney, you who once really did hold your loyal fans in high regard and with great respect, are perhaps the biggest offender of all.

MatthewA · Aug 7, 2014

Dick said:
And Disney was the absolute biggest promoter of 3-D not more than a few years ago....remember? Now, "F**k those 3-D consumers...if our profits don't hit a half-billion on these movies, we're not going to give our loyal U.S. a 3-D Blu-ray release. Give it to Europe. The numbers are better." Here are ways you major studios have been slowly but surely ruining a truly promising resurgence of 3-D in the 2000's:

1. Over-charging for theater admissions of 3-D. Completely unnecessary. The price of those cheap glasses is negligible and could easily be absorbed by the studio, especially as the majority are returned to be recycled.
2. Really piss-poor choices of movies to be filmed in 3-D or converted to 3-D. Bad scripts, photography, directing, acting, etc. Too many completely redundant cgi animation titles. Live-action films that are vacuous and annoying. The cutting is often as quick as that of a 2-D movie (i.e. too fast to allow the human brain to register the information it receives), which is even more deadly for 3-D.
3. Speaking of which...bad conversions of 2-D to 3-D.
4. Poor projection in many theaters resulting in images too dark for shadow detail to show at all.
5. Blu-ray releases similarly overpriced, which is a real rip-off, since replication of 3-D discs is, after the masters are prepared, not a penny more costly for studios than 2-D.
6. 3-D Blu releases of U.S.-made films being made available only from Europe.
7. The slow-but-sure withdrawal of support for 3-D for the home, starting with #6 above, but hugely exacerbated by Panasonic's discontinuation of their 3-D plasma t.v. line.

I was excited at the start of this 3-D era. I invested a lot of money (for me) for a Panny plasma and requisite player and active glasses, to say nothing of a collection (now numbering 75 3-D Blu-rays), and I feel I am being betrayed because idiot studios allow so many dreadful 3-D movies (many of them conversions) to get released that ultimately wear the public down until they decide to stop paying the stupid upcharge and either watch the film in 2-D or not bother with them at all. Now they offer us seriously overpriced Blu-ray's (if the 3-D version is offered to us in the U.S. at all) and wonder what happened when the disc sales are underwhelming.

You could have done it, Hollywood. This could have been the real thing - and actual, long-lasting era of 3-D. But your greed and haste and lack of creative input have given us a huge junkyard of crap movies, with only the occasional LIFE OF PI or CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS and GRAVITY to serve as short-term life preservers, throwing aficionados small bones of new hope that the format might yet succeed this time.

We have the money to spend, but we're spending it less and less on 3-D because of the 7 examples listed above (and a few I've missed, no doubt). 3-D isn't dead yet, but you seem bound and determined to pound the last nails into its coffin. Why? You make me very angry as a fan and consumer, and only add to my distrust and dislike of the corporate mentality that cares nothing for its customers, as long as the bucks roll in.

Shame on you.

And Disney, you who once really did hold your loyal fans in high regard and with great respect, are perhaps the biggest offender of all.

Somehow, merely clicking "like this" for this post does not do it justice. How much did it cost to convert this film to 3D after the fact? And if Americans want this film in 3D by the means by which Disney did choose to offer them, what could possibly make them think no one would want a 3D Blu-ray of it?

Remember, this is the studio that released Planes in 3D Blu-ray in the US but not Frozen.

SFMike · Aug 7, 2014

MatthewA said:
Somehow, merely clicking "like this" for this post does not do it justice. How much did it cost to convert this film to 3D after the fact? And if Americans want this film in 3D by the means by which Disney did choose to offer them, what could possibly make them think no one would want a 3D Blu-ray of it?

Remember, this is the studio that released Planes in 3D Blu-ray in the US but not Frozen.

You are right MatthewA, Dick's excellent points in his post do deserve more than a mere "like this". You've got a good point about Planes being released on bluray 3D and not Frozen. I get the impression that decisions on Pixar releases, as well as Marvel releases, are not made by the same people. These big corporations have so many managers that I'm sure this has something to do with how an individual film is released. I seems the Disney brand is the one that has decided bluray 3D isn't worth it in the US. Disney as a corporation is always ready to squeeze a little more profit out of every endevour (have you seen ticket prices at Disneyland recently?) so I find it odd that they choose to cut the 3D in home video while there are still some of us who will pay for the product. It makes one believe the stories you hear that this division is trying to foist streaming on US 3D lovers with this policy. Some MBA thinks this is a good idea so we as consumers suffer. This is the corporate way.

MatthewA · Aug 7, 2014

SFMike said:
Disney as a corporation is always ready to squeeze a little more profit out of every endevour (have you seen ticket prices at Disneyland recently?) so I find it odd that they choose to cut the 3D in home video while there are still some of us who will pay for the product. It makes one believe the stories you hear that this division is trying to foist streaming on US 3D lovers with this policy. Some MBA thinks this is a good idea so we as consumers suffer. This is the corporate way.

The theme park pricing structure, especially when compared to what a cast member makes (it's not much more than minimum wage), is one of many reasons I can no longer support this company's products. But I wouldn't begrudge them a dime of their profits if the value one was getting for one's money were more than it is.

huskerbear@frontier.com · Aug 10, 2014

They continue to make 3D movies. It sounds like the problem is people in the US have supported 3D far less than other places in the world. They are not dropping 3D, but they might be dropping it in the US.

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