HTF REVIEW: "101 Dalmations II: Patch's London Adventure (with screenshots) (1 Viewer)

[Neil Joseph]

I was so turned off by this release when I saw it on the shelf that I had already made up my mind that I would not purchase it (sight unseen) but your review has made me think twice. I will probably check it out.

 

[JosephMoore]

(And I still can't understand all the fuss about Treasure Planet's box office - for a start they didn't include any of the worldwide sales, and the DVD is more than likely to double or triple the films worldwide takings).

Treasure Planet tanked everywhere in evey way. Disney has "written it off" as a loss financially.

If you think Disney has put out some stinkers lately, just wait until 2004-2005. I can't mentioned details, but one of the ideas that will see the light of day (which has been flounering for *8* years) is possibly the worst animated story concept ever. (And that's saying a lot.)

 

[James Reader]

Treasure Planet tanked everywhere in evey way. Disney has "written it off" as a loss financially

Maybe theatrically yes. Bearing in mind it's still not opened everywhere, the box office takings will probably come to half the reported cost.
But, if Lady and the Tramp 2 can bring in $500m, why can't the DVD release of Treasure Planet being in more? The fact that Disney's own post-mortum research into Treasure Planet's failure at the box office show that the main reason people didn't go to see the film was 'because they were waiting for the DVD' suggests that it will.
A movie has a life longer than the theratrical run these days... and to think when VHS first came out, the studios wanted to stop it when not home viewing is their biggest cash cow!

 

[JosephMoore]

James,
"Lady and The Tramp" is a proven property. It has a built-in audience. "Treasure Planet" is a new "property." A set of characters and concepts to build a franchise (collection of products) around. The U.S. theatrical release works as market research to determine the demand for that property.

"Treasure Planet" proved to have no clearly defined target audience. It did not play strongly to any segment (kids, teens, adults, nobody.) The McDonald's promotions tanked. Everything tanked in every way. This does not bode well for video releases or any other future expansion of the franchise. Yes, there will be a video release. There will probably by a direct-to-video sequel, but I'm not just conjecturing when I say that Disney brass has "written off" "Treasure Planet."

If you have a modest theatrical success like "Lilo and Stitch" then you have something to build on. When you lay a "Treaure Planet" you try to move on.

Remember this thread and watch for the next couple of years: you'll see several theatrical sequels, two really bad original "traditional animation" features and a CG film that may or may not blow. You'll see both Imax and home video releases get more attention. You'll think, "How did that guy know all that?" ;-)

 

[Malcolm R]

Disney's own post-mortum research into Treasure Planet's failure at the box office show that the main reason people didn't go to see the film was 'because they were waiting for the DVD'

Again, can you link a source? You say it's Disney's research. Is it on their website somewhere? That also seems absurd (or at least corporate rationalizing), since other animated films continue to do well. Why didn't people "wait for the DVD" of Lilo & Stitch or Ice Age or Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron? All were reasonably big theatrical hits.

EDIT: Forgot to add that the Worldwide Gross for "Treasure Planet" to date is $77M.

 

[JosephMoore]

What's wrong with reading books? Playing games? Taking nature walks? Visiting museums? Is plunking kids down in front of videos the only way to raise children these days? As a parent, you're free NOT to buy every kids video that is released. Children need to hear "No" once in a while.

Yikes! This is a board about "home theater" not "home libraries."

 

[James Reader]

Both my sources are from various JimHill media articles. Probably not the most reliable of sources, but the basics are often correct.

Don't forget the $500M for 'Lady and the Tramp II' is for worldwide sales, and does not take into account production and marketing which will need to be removed to get the overall profit. (and probably the retailers' cut need to be removed as well). It may be dubious accounting, but no different to how Box Office is measured for cinematic releases.

Anyhow this is all OT from the review, so is probably not worth pursuing.

 

[Malcolm R]

Yikes! This is a board about "home theater" not "home libraries."

Fine, I withdraw the question(s) especially since, as others have said, we're far enough off-topic already.

 

[Mark Hanson]

My first thoughts here was its widescreen *&^&*&& after all of the other VHS transfers from Disney. My 5 year old did not even notice, if grandma had been there she sure would have and felt she got a broken product, but as for Kat and I we just sat together and enjoyed. So it is the adults who care and insist to them the gift was good.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Why do they find direct-to-video stuff worth presenting in widescreen, but NOT certain theatrical releases??
("Goofy Movie" was widescreen on LD but only pan and scan on DVD, but the direct-to-video sequel "Extremely Goofy Movie" was non-anamorphic letterbox!!)

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Disney's announcement that they were 'writing off' Treasure Planet was likely one or both of the following:
1) Spin control for a round of layoffs that they already had planned.
2) Playing tax games with the 2002/2003 fiscal years.
'Treasure Planet' will make money by the time the video release is done.

 

[JosephMoore]

Well, I finally got a chance to sit down and watch the completed movie. (I had seen some of the pre-production and some rough animation early on, but that was a long time ago.)

I have to say that this is hands-down the best work to come out of DTVA. The animation isn't quite feature quality, but it's pretty damn good. Technically it's spot on, just lacking a bit of the personality that the features guys breathe into their characters. The story is pretty entertaining, as well. The team did a great job including all of the 101 Dalmation prerequisites while still introducing enough unique elements to keep it interesting. Martin Short and Barry Boswick put in solid performances, but the new voice of Cruela falls a tad short of the original (to be expected.)

Very pleasantly surprised, I must say this is the only DTVA release that I'd want to watch again.

 

[Jedrek]

EDIT: Sorry, wrong thread.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Why do they find direct-to-video stuff worth presenting in widescreen, but NOT certain theatrical releases??
("Goofy Movie" was widescreen on LD but only pan and scan on DVD, but the direct-to-video sequel "Extremely Goofy Movie" was non-anamorphic letterbox!!)

Jesse,
my thoughts exactly!
While I'm all 100% for these direct-dvd animations coming out in 16x9 DTS glory (Ahhh!!), there is some irony that we can only get Muppet Christmas Carol in P/S Dolby!
dave