Correct me if I'm wrong, but if these discs already shipped to a lot of retailers, and BV recalls them, don't they have to pay for that freight? If so, it would seem any financial gains from the ability to promote the product as "Oscar nominated director" would be lessened by the recall expense.
In the highly unlikely case Burton is nominated for an Oscar, then all Disney has to do is print stickers and send them to retailers, and give them some incentive to put them on the covers of the DVD. Not for one moment do I believe that this DVD has been delayed because of the Big Fish Oscar potential. Particularly after copies were already shipped to retailers. Disney throw away money for fun? Not likely.
Maybe it has something to do with the crowded Feb. 3rd release date. But whatever. I'll just be able to get one of the others that are coming out that day. I need to keep a reality check on myself considering what my fellow Americans in uniform are going through overseas.
Still, it is frustrating and more than a little puzzling. And mind you, I still won't buy it if I feel they're screwing with me. But I'm not going to let something like this bother me. It could be worse.
More like Johnny Depp possibly getting a nomination for "Pirates of the Caribbean," which unlike "Big Fish," is a Buena Vista/Disney title. That's the buzz I've been hearing lately.
Sorry, but none of the cross promotional reasons mentioned in this thread would result in enough sales to justify authoring, pressing, distributing and recalling the disc a second time! (I assume new discs have been pressed since the first recall, being as this new release was to be a 2 disc set)
Disney wouldn't take a second financial hit on what is - after all - a commercially unsuccessful film. (That's no dig at the quality of the film, but it was never a commercial film. It was filmed in black and white. It will never be a mainstream film. And more power to it for not being mainstream).
Agree it must be legal, but you really have to wonder who jumped at *this* time. There are retailers who have had the discs for almost a month, and some sent them out yesterday so they'd arrive on release day. My shipment got pulled shortly after I was notified it was sent, so there must have been some strongish incentive to react.
I just don't see how the market for Ed Wood would be large no matter what they tie it to. And they sure priced it lower than typical, what I call "last legs" pricing, like you normally see when something's been issued a few times already.
I don't get the whole legal angle. I know stuff has been pulled before for legal reasons, but don't the studios get all the clearances etc. before making announcements and certainly before pressing the discs and sending them to retailers.
I just won an eBay auction that purports to be the Region 1 DVD. I'll check in when I receive the disc and let everyone know if it's the real McCoy or not.
I got the DVD last night. It is not a 2-disc. Nor was it priced low. The picture is good but not great. The extras so far are below par. Maybe Disney pulled it because it wasn't living up to the hype.
In contrast to an earlier post I made, I do now believe it could have been some legal issue that came out of the woodwork, but like I asked before, how does something legal pop up so late in the game? Everything on that disc that would need to be should have been cleared before it went out. Does anyone have any known examples of where something like this happened for legal purposes?
So it's not a 2 disc set after all? Does it have the deleted scenes on the disc BOoneG, or is it just the same as the previously recalled disc/international versions?
While it doesn't happen often, there is a long history of recalled, discontinued, and canceled video releases (VHS, LD, and DVD) due to legal and copyright issues.
The most famous DVDs that fall under that category would be Warner's original release of 'Little Shop of Horrors' because it included the alternate ending for which the director owned the rights to and did not give Warner Bros permission to include it. The other is the original release of 'The Devil's Advocate' (also a Warner Bros title) which was recalled because it included images of a sculpture that Warner had not secured the rights to. There have been some less profile cases as well, but these types of recalls/cancellations, while rare, due happen.