Sure Hope Disney's THE BLACK CAULDRON will arrive this year... (1 Viewer)

My understanding was that Disney was pretty much clearing out their "second-tier" animation titles before the end of this year. The South America stuff should be announced soon (THREE CABALLEROS, SALUDOS AMIGOS). MELODY TIME and MAKE MINE MUSIC (hopefully uncensored) should be coming also. But now I wonder whether or not THE BLACK CAULDRON is coming, since it was considered a black swan at Disney and was significantly cut to lessen the violent content. I would be grateful for a theatrical version on Blu-ray, but would absolutely forgive Disney of bunches of egregious screw-ups recently if they gave us the restored, uncut edition (not likely, since we didn't even get the long versions of BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS).

You know what they say, Dick: "Wish in one hand..."

I would think they might hold back until the actual 30th anniversary next year.

It would be nice to finally see all the deleted footage, if only as an extra.

I'd prefer if they actually put some effort into the set and gave us this:

[*]The theatrical version of the film
[*]An extended version of the film that re-instates all the finished animation, provided they still exist in the archives scenes (such as this one, which someone reconstructed online), along with digitally-inked-and-painted pencil animation that was excised as well
[*]The deleted scenes available to watch on their own, along with any other interesting ones found in the archives, like the "Fairfolk" Deleted Scene (9:52) from the 2010 DVD
[*]Commentary by co-director Richard Rich and a few key personnel still with the company (Mike Gabriel, Lisa Keene?)
[*]A new documentary about the production of the film, in the same vein as Waking Sleeping Beauty in terms of frank honesty about the film's troubled production and Disney's own anxiety's about whether or not to shutter their animation department. Perhaps Don Hahn can take unused interview material from the first third of that film to create a featurette that focuses specifically on The Black Cauldron.
[*]Excerpt from 1981's "The Illusion of Life" TV Special that featured a brief look at the pre-production of the film
[*]Donald Duck short "Trick or Treat" in HD
[*]Silly Symphonies short "The Skeleton Dance" in HD
[*]Still Gallery (I wish... Disney hasn't included them in years)
[*]Theatrical Trailer
[/list]
Of course, given Disney's track record with their second-tier titles, I expect we'll see a "Blu-Ray+DVD+Digital HD" combo pack next year that gives us a barebones Blu-Ray that simply has the film (and likely the "Fairfolk" deleted scene from the 2010 DVD), while the DVD in the set is just a repeat of the 2010 disc as that would save on making new pressings.

Albert

While we're wishing, footage of the Radio City Music hall preshow, if it exists, and footage of the now gone Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour attraction at Tokyo Disneyland. The Horned King and the cauldron were featured in that.

http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Cinderella_Castle_Mystery_Tour

Good luck with that. Disney legitimately considers this film an embarrassment and has only given it token releases in the past.

As long as we're wishing for the moon, can we get a remastered version of the computer game?

Lord Dalek said:

Good luck with that. Disney legitimately considers this film an embarrassment and has only given it token releases in the past.

Click to expand...

It was unavailable anywhere in the US from its original release until it came out on video in 1998. It was never even reissued theatrically in this country. That's how embarrassed the studio was by it.

The then new regime anyway. Who's left to be embarrassed now? It's not John Carter.

35mm theatrical reissues of older Disney films was a bit on the wane in the mid 90's. I can't recall any after Snow White in '93.

The film almost killed the studio (made less than 1/2 its budget and got outgrossed by a Care Bears movie) and a lot of people got fired as part of the fallout and transition over to Eisner. The survivors ended up getting kicked out of Burbank and sent to a much smaller studio in Glendale until they were allowed to come back in a much nicer building built with Aladdin money. In the end Black Cauldron represents the absolute nadir of these guy's careers and they have absolutely every reason to not want to talk about it.

Cutting 12 minutes of animation that had been inked, painted, scored and photographed obviously didn't make it a better film.

The then new regime anyway. Who's left to be embarrassed now? It's not John Carter.

Even that film merited a 4-disc release of extras and a 3-D release actually included in the same package with the 2-D version.

For this film, and at least one guy who worked on it doesn't mind looking back on it in hindsight.

Click to expand...

Long and short of it... Condorman and Night Passage have a better shot of making it onto blu before The Black Cauldron ever does.

Almost killed the studio? Frankly, they were already dying. And because it's animated, it's more likely to come out on Blu before the two titles you mentioned (and it's Night CROSSING, a perfectly decent film with a good performance by John Hurt.)

Lord Dalek said:

Long and short of it... Condorman and Night Passage have a better shot of making it onto blu before The Black Cauldron ever does.

Click to expand...

MatthewA said:

Almost killed the studio? Frankly, they were already dying. And because it's animated, it's more likely to come out on Blu before the two titles you mentioned (and it's Night CROSSING, a perfectly decent film with a good performance by John Hurt.)

Click to expand...

I wouldn't mind a Blu of Jimmy Stewart in Night Passage But of course that has nothing to do with Disney nor this thread.

There's a couple points here I think we need to keep in mind:

[*]Disney is almost out of theatrical animated material for BD. Even their most disregarded films (Hercules, for instance, with two pathetic DVD releases) has come out. How much longer until The Black Cauldron makes it?
[*]They've released far, far worse animated product on BD (IMHO): the Cinderella sequels, as an example.
[*]Next year is the 30th anniversary. We all LOVE anniversary releases, so I'm expecting it next year.
[*]We're bound to get a load of nothing in terms of bonus features. Let's set that particular expectation low now so when the inevitable bare bones disc is released, no one is surprised.
[/list]

Jason_V said:

There's a couple points here I think we need to keep in mind:

[*]They've released far, far worse animated product on BD (IMHO): the Cinderella sequels, as an example.
[/list]

Click to expand...

And BLACK CAULDRON, for all its faults, is a better movie than Disney's ROBIN HOOD and maybe one or two others.

Jason_V said:

There's a couple points here I think we need to keep in mind:

[*]Disney is almost out of theatrical animated material for BD. Even their most disregarded films (Hercules, for instance, with two pathetic DVD releases) has come out. How much longer until The Black Cauldron makes it?
[*]They've released far, far worse animated product on BD (IMHO): the Cinderella sequels, as an example.
[*]Next year is the 30th anniversary. We all LOVE anniversary releases, so I'm expecting it next year.
[*]We're bound to get a load of nothing in terms of bonus features. Let's set that particular expectation low now so when the inevitable bare bones disc is released, no one is surprised.
[/list]

Click to expand...

That pretty much covers it:
A) They're down to their last,
B) It's an anniversary, but that doesn't mean they're bound to celebrate it by state law,
C) They're still ashamed of it, and use the fact that it was beaten by the Care Bears Movie in the 80's as an iconic symbol of the studio's malaise at the time, but
D) If you're expecting they do anything more than slap it on a bare-bones and sneak it out with three other titles, possibly during an August cleanup or Hallowen season, like a red-headed stepchild, you're SEVERELY letting childhood nostalgia get in the way. Just because you were born at the wrong time, don't think they'll pick up the tab for it.
Like MattA (no less!) says, as long as we're wishing for the moon, how about a pony, a free ride on the Main St. fire engine, and a big public press event with the Horned King waving to folks in front of the Times Square Disney Store, too?

(They could sell Robin Hood, Hades, Marie the Aristocat and Cindy's stepsisters at the park, and give them a comeback, but nobody in the intended demographic knows who Gurgi or Eilonwy is....NOBODY. And look how long it took for the studio to publicly admit their other indiscretions.)

Escapay said:

Of course, given Disney's track record with their second-tier titles, I expect we'll see a "Blu-Ray+DVD+Digital HD" combo pack next year that gives us a barebones Blu-Ray that simply has the film (and likely the "Fairfolk" deleted scene from the 2010 DVD), while the DVD in the set is just a repeat of the 2010 disc as that would save on making new pressings.

Albert

Click to expand...

Knowing Disney's Blurays I would be happy with just the film, with NO errors, NO change of colors and WITH Grain!
It seems there isn't any single Disney Bluray that combines these elements. (that's why I've stopped buying Disney Blurays)
I understand that I'm asking way too much here...

Right now, the Disney Family Movies channel is have a free preview. CAULDRON is available for viewing in HD via the OnDemand section. It's also OAR.

I have to base my hopes from different companies on their recent behavior.

Since we know from RAH that Disney is aware of the unhappiness around the release of The Sword and The Stone on Blu-ray, at this point I can only assume we will get The Black Cauldron on Blu-ray without any extra content (well, maybe the deleted scenes), and that the movie will be digitally cleaned up.

It seems pretty clear they don't pay attention to anniversaries for anything other than top tier releases.

Ejanss said:

That pretty much covers it:
A) They're down to their last,
B) It's an anniversary, but that doesn't mean they're bound to celebrate it by state law,
C) They're still ashamed of it, and use the fact that it was beaten by the Care Bears Movie in the 80's as an iconic symbol of the studio's malaise at the time, but
D) If you're expecting they do anything more than slap it on a bare-bones and sneak it out with three other titles, possibly during an August cleanup or Hallowen season, like a red-headed stepchild, you're SEVERELY letting childhood nostalgia get in the way. Just because you were born at the wrong time, don't think they'll pick up the tab for it.
Like MattA (no less!) says, as long as we're wishing for the moon, how about a pony, a free ride on the Main St. fire engine, and a big public press event with the Horned King waving to folks in front of the Times Square Disney Store, too?

(They could sell Robin Hood, Hades, Marie the Aristocat and Cindy's stepsisters at the park, and give them a comeback, but nobody in the intended demographic knows who Gurgi or Eilonwy is....NOBODY. And look how long it took for the studio to publicly admit their other indiscretions.)

Click to expand...

There has been a trickle of TBC merchandise in recent years, and Gurgi even made it into a Happy Meal around the time of the 90's VHS release.

The Horned King was part of an attraction at Tokyo Disneyland for many years.


He must really have a really good agent.