NEW Disney Movie Club Exclusives 4/20/2021 -- The Black Cauldron 30th Anniversary Edition (1 Viewer)

[David Norman]

I see the Blu-Ray of THE BLACK CAULDRON has now started showing up on eBay, but at pretty
outrageous prices. There's no way I'm joining the Disney Movie Club, so I guess I'll just wait
until the eBay competition brings the asking prices down a bit. I look forward to seeing it, but
it's not as though I don't have other films to watch in the meantime. Nice to have it available,
though.

I know this has been covered many times, but I can't find the thread. If anyone can point me to it, I'll re-enter
this question.
Anyway, here goes:
Looking through my Disney Collection, the following appear to only be available on DVD:
DISNEY'S AMERICAN LEGENDS
THE BLACK CAULDRON
THE BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER
DUCK TALES: THE MOVIE
DONALD IN MATHMAGIC LAND
THE GOOFY MOVIE
MAKE MINE MUSIC
SALUDOS AMIGOS
THREE CABALLEROS
VALIANT
Does anyone have an up-date on when, or whether, we might expect any of these to come out on
Blu-Ray?

Pulled the last post out of 2016 - interesting to see that about half of those now have Bluray release.

Never did see a reason behind why "I'll never join DMC?" Is there a specific aversion to DMC or just a general Groucho Marx issue about it?

 

[DVBRD]

Someone mentioned BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER on this thread. It's not on Disney+, or to buy or rent digitally, but the sequels are. The DVD can be bought online for decent prices, so I don't know if it's OOP. I know it was an independent film. Is it possible Disney lost the rights?

 

[David Norman]

Someone mentioned BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER on this thread. It's not on Disney+, or to buy or rent digitally, but the sequels are. The DVD can be bought online for decent prices, so I don't know if it's OOP. I know it was an independent film. Is it possible Disney lost the rights?

Don;t think so -- they're still selling all 3 DVDs at DMC

 

[Dick]

Someone mentioned BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER on this thread. It's not on Disney+, or to buy or rent digitally, but the sequels are. The DVD can be bought online for decent prices, so I don't know if it's OOP. I know it was an independent film. Is it possible Disney lost the rights?

Whether they have or not, despite the fact that they own/owned the film, they did not produce or animate it. Maybe that is why it has been slow in coming, if it is at all.

 

[Arthur Powell]

Never did see a reason behind why "I'll never join DMC?" Is there a specific aversion to DMC or just a general Groucho Marx issue about it?

Some of us object to the feature title program. Yes, I know I'll likely get the whole "it takes two seconds to decline," but that's beside the point for me. I object to Disney trying to slip Mickey's hands into my wallet thirteen times a year. If I want your product, I'll let you know. Don't bother me otherwise. That said, if Disney were to commit itself to releasing a large volume of its still unreleased pre-1970 movie and tv catalog, I'd set aside my objection and join. However, since the pre-1970 content has amounted to a handful of titles a year at best (2017 was particularly bad), I'll likely continue buying from Amazon and Ebay resellers. True, I'm paying a bit more per title, but the premium is worth it to avoid the nuisance. I would also consider joining if they allowed for an opt-out of the feature title program after fulfilling your purchase obligations.

I do wonder why Disney is so resistant to putting the DMC blu-ray titles up on the Shop Disney website after some period of exclusivity. They've already done that with many of the DMC DVDs like The Monkey's Uncle and Charley and the Angel. That's just leaving money on the table especially for the non-US and non-Canada market.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Whether they have or not, despite the fact that they own/owned the film, they did not produce or animate it. Maybe that is why it has been slow in coming, if it is at all.

Respectfully, I don't think Disney is concerned with whether they produced something or not. They bought the distribution rights. If they didn't want anything to do with the movie, they would not have done that. Plus, they produced The Black Cauldron and it took almost 11 years since its last release (which occurred when they were already heavily invested in Blu-ray for other titles) for this Blu-ray to be released. They didn't produce Valiant, but they've issued it on Blu-ray. I think the simplest answer is the correct one: physical media sales have been down dramatically in the last few years. Disney likely does not expect that The Brave Little Toaster films would be big sellers on Blu-ray even when the market was larger. So they haven't gotten around to it.

This doesn't mean they won't -- I had given up hope for The Black Cauldron myself, and yet the disc is real and it is on the way to me, so anything except Song of the South is possible. But they are making their decisions based on financial considerations. If they think the movie will sell enough copies for them to make money on the release, they'll put it out at some point. If not, they won't. I don't think there are other considerations beyond that.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Back to The Black Cauldron:

I put in my old DVD to look at the art gallery that was dropped from the Blu-ray. I don't really remember seeing these, so I'm guessing I last looked at it when I first got the disc. But there is some really cool stuff In there. Concept art, character designs, behind-the-scenes photos of the cast and crew, posters, and even some stuff from Tokyo Disneyland. If this movie was a bigger hit, the development art in particular would probably have made it into an art book. However, given the film's lack of popularity with the general public, I'm guessing there never was an art book for this title. As is, it is a shame (although not a surprise) that the gallery's contents are not ported over on the Blu-ray.

That being said, with all the video supplements that I care about being ported over, the chances of loading up the DVD again just to look at the gallery is slim to none. So, while the gallery would have been a worthwhile thing for Disney to retain on the Blu-ray, I'm still going to pass off the DVD to a friend rather than hang onto it. The value they will get from having the movie is greater than the value I would get from retaining an otherwise out of date disc just for a handful of still images.

I also thought it was kind of hilarious that Disney included a long advertisement for Blu-ray (and a separate one for digital copies) on the bonus features menu despite the fact that neither of those things actually applied to that release. Who in the Disney marketing department thought "Upgrade to Blu-ray for better quality, but this movie isn't available on it" made sense? I mean, better late than never for sure, but Disney was supporting Blu-ray in 2010, so they could have done the anamorphic DVD and a Blu-ray at the same time.

 

[Dick]

Whether they have or not, despite the fact that they own/owned the film, they did not produce or animate it. Maybe that is why it has been slow in coming, if it is at all.

Hi, Jake. If you dispute my contention that Disney did not produce and animate this film, share it, please -- I am known to make mistakes. I believe the film was imported from Japan and that Disney did a little post work on it when they acquired the U.S. rights to distribute it including English voiceovers, title design, etc.

 

[Jake Lipson]

If you dispute my contention that Disney did not produce and animate this film, share it, please -- I am known to make mistakes.

I'm not disputing your claim. You're right that it was not an in-house Disney production. I'm respectfully disagreeing with your assessment that that is the reason it hasn't shown up on Blu-ray as I don't think that has an influence on their thinking. I certainly did not mean to come off aggressively or anything like that and I apologize if it seemed like I did.

That being said, the film was not from Japan, so I'm not sure where you ran across that piece of information. It was produced at Hyperion Pictures after having been pitched to Disney by John Lasseter pre-Toy Story. The crew on the film included a lot of people who would later have notable careers at Disney and Pixar. So it very much is an American production. I don't normally like to cite Wikipedia as a source because of course it is user-generated and therefore prone to inaccuracies. However, in this case I think the Wikipedia page isn't far off base as it matches other things I have heard about the film previously. So:

The Brave Little Toaster - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Some of us object to the feature title program. Yes, I know I'll likely get the whole "it takes two seconds to decline," but that's beside the point for me. I object to Disney trying to slip Mickey's hands into my wallet thirteen times a year. If I want your product, I'll let you know. Don't bother me otherwise. That said, if Disney were to commit itself to releasing a large volume of its still unreleased pre-1970 movie and tv catalog, I'd set aside my objection and join. However, since the pre-1970 content has amounted to a handful of titles a year at best (2017 was particularly bad), I'll likely continue buying from Amazon and Ebay resellers. True, I'm paying a bit more per title, but the premium is worth it to avoid the nuisance. I would also consider joining if they allowed for an opt-out of the feature title program after fulfilling your purchase obligations.

I do wonder why Disney is so resistant to putting the DMC blu-ray titles up on the Shop Disney website after some period of exclusivity. They've already done that with many of the DMC DVDs like The Monkey's Uncle and Charley and the Angel. That's just leaving money on the table especially for the non-US and non-Canada market.

I never really intended to join the Disney Movie Club and don't consider myself a "Disney guy" but once they reached a point where they had a number of exclusive titles I wanted, I joined. So, I've been a member since last year and so far it has not been a hassle nor an issue and when I did once miss my decline date I just called and declined which was no problem. If you don't respond to the feature title they actually take about a month before they ship it out so you have a long period of time to decline even if you forget. I don't think the feature title thing is Mickey reaching into your wallet they never force you to take a title. It is basically an active marketing thing that keeps you involved with their club.

That said, I can see no reason to join the Disney Movie Club other than to purchase exclusives. All the trinkets and bobbles they want to send you are certainly no enticement. If you want to collect some or a bunch of the exclusives then I would say it is very much worthwhile to join. Outside of that the club seems to me to be something to avoid because it seems you can get better deals on Disney titles from regular retailers.

If you are huge into Disney and want a lot of their titles then perhaps it is also worth it to join as you can grab a bunch of titles at a low cost. They are constantly offering 40% to 60% off additional titles if you by one at regular price. So, you can stock up if you want to purchase a bunch at once. Basically, the more you buy the better the savings. This does not apply to me as I don't intend to collect the majority of what they sell.

I'm in only for the exclusives and with my recent purchase I have met my commitment so unless they announce an exclusive I want I will be ending my membership pretty soon. May is actually my one year anniversary in the club. So, it took me one year to meet my commitment and I ended up with a bunch of exclusives for about 10 bucks each.

My Disney list is pretty short at this point and The Black Cauldron and Never Cry Wolf were probably the last couple of titles I was looking for. I don't know what the chances are they will do Never Cry Wolf but I can always join again later if they do.

 

[Arthur Powell]

I never really intended to join the Disney Movie Club and don't consider myself a "Disney guy" but once they reached a point where they had a number of exclusive titles I wanted, I joined. So, I've been a member since last year and so far it has not been a hassle nor an issue and when I did once miss my decline date I just called and declined which was no problem. If you don't respond to the feature title they actually take about a month before they ship it out so you have a long period of time to decline even if you forget. I don't think the feature title thing is Mickey reaching into your wallet they never force you to take a title. It is basically an active marketing thing that keeps you involved with their club.

If I have to expressly tell Disney that I don't want the feature title selection and not to charge me, then yes, the Mouse is trying to put his mitts in my wallet. The very fact that I have to "decline" is a hassle. You don't "keep me involve" by trying to arbitrarily charge me for titles. You can better keep me involve by releasing titles for which I will be happy to voluntarily open my wallet. If I'm interested, I'll let you know. Leave my wallet and me alone otherwise.

 

[Jake Lipson]

As I understand it, the Featured Title program is a condition of participation the club. They make the requirements and conditions extremely clear. So if you don't want to deal with it, don't join. They'd be reaching into your wallet if they tried to charge you for something without you knowing about it. But I've looked art the site and there's no way to join the club without being told about the Featured Title arrangement.

Because I only want an exclusive from them on an occasional basis, it is a lot easier for me to ask a friend who is a member of the club to throw in something for me when they are placing orders. I've done that a couple of times and have been very satisfied with what I got. Friends tend to be fairer than eBay sellers in terms of not jacking up the price.

Anything that is a wide release item is easier for me to get from other stores.

Like most things, the club is right for some people and not right for other people. It doesn't have to be right for everyone. But I don't think the Featured Title program is sufficient reason to vilify what the club is doing. I certainly don't think we would be getting The Black Cauldron on Blu-ray right now without the existence of the club. So if you've got to jump through a couple hoops to get it, I don't think that's a bad thing. They are providing titles which otherwise would not be available at all and I am grateful for that.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

If I have to expressly tell Disney that I don't want the feature title selection and not to charge me, then yes, the Mouse is trying to put his mitts in my wallet. The very fact that I have to "decline" is a hassle. You don't "keep me involve" by trying to arbitrarily charge me for titles. You can better keep me involve by releasing titles for which I will be happy to voluntarily open my wallet. If I'm interested, I'll let you know. Leave my wallet and me alone otherwise.

I'm not suggesting you join. I mean my point was that if the exclusives interest you it is the best way to acquire them. I did not find logging in to the Disney website to decline the monthly features a hassle. It was a quick click of the mouse, see what I did there, and done. They give you a lot of time to decline and if you fail to decline online by the deadline the order goes to pending for quite a while and then you can just call to decline. I think most of the exclusives are 10 bucks so, beats letting an Ebay scalper into your wallet...I mean that's how I see it anyway.

If all you are looking for is one or two of the exclusives then sure, purchase those and skip the club. You might pay a premium for them but it saves you having to sign in and click the word decline.

 

[Arthur Powell]

I'm not suggesting you join. I mean my point was that if the exclusives interest you it is the best way to acquire them. I did not find logging in to the Disney website to decline the monthly features a hassle. It was a quick click of the mouse, see what I did there, and done. They give you a lot of time to decline and if you fail to decline online by the deadline the order goes to pending for quite a while and then you can just call to decline. I think most of the exclusives are 10 bucks so, beats letting an Ebay scalper into your wallet...I mean that's how I see it anyway.

If all you are looking for is one or two of the exclusives then sure, purchase those and skip the club. You might pay a premium for them but it saves you having to sign in and click the word decline.

Again, if Disney committed itself to releasing more of its pre-1970 movie and TV catalog, I'd plug my nose and join. However, we're lucky to get a dribble of maybe one or two older titles a year. If that's all Disney is willing to offer me, then I'll just go with the scalper. Yes, I know how easy it is to decline, but the principle is what's important here for me. I don't like the idea of telling a third party that I don't want them automatically charging me. I don't allow any entity to have that type of prerogative with my credit cards. Yet, I'm willing to compromise on that, but they're going to have increase their output of the movies I want to see released.
BTW - it's still a hassle and nuisance. As for the ebay "scalper" coming into my wallet, it's because I give him/her express permission to do so. He/She isn't trying to do so preemptively. I would prefer Disney to give me that same luxury.

 

[Arthur Powell]

Double post.

 

[PODER]

Pulled the last post out of 2016 - interesting to see that about half of those now have Bluray release.

Never did see a reason behind why "I'll never join DMC?" Is there a specific aversion to DMC or just a general Groucho Marx issue about it?

No aversion to Disney whatsoever, as anyone who enters my apartment can see. The place is overflowing with Disney memorabilia. My reason for not joining is simply because I already have every Disney Blu-Ray that's been issued.

 

[Jake Lipson]

My reason for not joining is simply because I already have every Disney Blu-Ray that's been issued.

Except the previously released club exclusives? Or have you bene getting those through other means? (I'm not trying to be argumentative here, just curious.) As I said in my previous post, the club is right for some people and not right for other people, so you certainly don't have to join. But if they have enough exclusives you want to make a membership commitment, you might want to consider it.

 

[jayembee]

The very fact that I have to "decline" is a hassle.

Sure. It is a hassle. But in the grand scheme of things, the benefits of getting something at DMC prices -- especially discount prices -- more than outweighs any hassle. Even as hassles go, it's much less of a hassle than having to delete emails or texts from retailers and other businesses asking me to rate how the "experience" of purchasing things from them was. I don't need purchasing experiences to be "pleasant"; I just need to be happy enough to not complain.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Disney didn’t invent the model of the subscription club - they just followed in long established models previously used by entities like Columbia House. It is what it is. I personally don’t see it as being nefarious in any way and for what little it’s worth, I’ve never had an issue being credited for shipments I didn’t want. I think once I missed the reply deadline and once they glitched and sent me something I declined. For the package I didn’t open, it was as simple as writing “declined - return to sender” on the package and giving it back to my mailman, and for the package I did open, Disney mailed me a return label to stick on the package. Full refunds issued without hassle, and polite apologies given from their customer service team. I don’t do the cancel and reenroll cycles anymore since there’s so little I buy these days but I’ll accept 15 seconds of declining a selection every 4-6 weeks to maintain access to any potential exclusives.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Again, if Disney committed itself to releasing more of its pre-1970 movie and TV catalog, I'd plug my nose and join. However, we're lucky to get a dribble of maybe one or two older titles a year. If that's all Disney is willing to offer me, then I'll just go with the scalper. Yes, I know how easy it is to decline, but the principle is what's important here for me. I don't like the idea of telling a third party that I don't want them automatically charging me. I don't allow any entity to have that type of prerogative with my credit cards. Yet, I'm willing to compromise on that, but they're going to have increase their output of the movies I want to see released.
BTW - it's still a hassle and nuisance. As for the ebay "scalper" coming into my wallet, it's because I give him/her express permission to do so. He/She isn't trying to do so preemptively. I would prefer Disney to give me that same luxury.

I agree that if Disney wants to maintain the "Club" the best way to do so is through releasing more exclusives, probably more interest if those were older titles, otherwise there is no need for the club...at least not to me. If I understand things there was a slowdown in creating exclusives due to Covid but now they are supposedly kicking that back into gear.

Disney has been around for a long time so we all probably have different titles that interest us. For me Never Cry Wolf would now be the top title as that is front of my mind. But I think you are correct 1970s titles would probably interest quite a few people.

I'm likely out of the club once my next shipment arrives. I don't care for joining clubs either and the truth is the majority of the feature titles don't interest me. I focused on the exclusives but I did end up with Nomadland for 10 bucks with my recent shipment of The Black Cauldron (which looks great by the way!).

I don't know, it was not really a nuisance to me for the year I've done it. I missed the acceptance/decline deadline on two of the orders. One was a decline, so I ended up calling and they cancelled. The other I meant to accept but did not do that in time so that order sits in the pending limbo as I type this. They really give you a lot of time to decline and then even if you let all that time pass and don't decline they send a return label sticker with every order so you would just need to drop it in the mail. I mean you basically would never end up charged for something unless you want it.

I guess we all have different ideas of what a hassle is as well.