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

[Chip_HT]

That said, I can see no reason to join the Disney Movie Club other than to purchase exclusives. 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.

I dunno. Over the last three or four years, I've gotten about 100 movies and my average cost per movie is around $8. And that's including every new Marvel movie since Thor Ragnarok and every Star Wars since episode 8.

Those $30 full priced discs are more than offset by the 5 for $1 intro offers. And Disney allows (and sometimes encourages) customers to quit the club and rejoin to get the 5 for $1 deal again.

 

[Jake Lipson]

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.

If knowingly paying an eBay seller more money than the item is actually worth it/better for you than dealing with Disney, that's your prerogative. I'm certainly not trying to convince you otherwise. But from a cursory glance at eBay, The Black Cauldron is at auction currently around $31 for the lowest bid (which is probably going to go higher) and there are buy it now offers for $60. I would prefer to spend less money than that for one title. I love The Black Cauldron and I am glad it is available but I can't think of a single movie that I think would be worth that much of a markup.

As I've suggested previously in this thread, if you are friends with someone who does partake in the club, it is possible they could get it for you as part of their membership.

 

[Arthur Powell]

If knowingly paying an eBay seller more money than the item is actually worth is better for you than dealing with Disney, that's your prerogative. I'm certainly not trying to convince you otherwise. But from a cursory glance at eBay, The Black Cauldron is at auction currently around $31 for the lowest bid (which is probably going to go higher) and there are buy it now offers for $60. I would prefer to spend less money than that for one title. I love The Black Cauldron and I am glad it is available but I can't think of a single movie that I think would be worth that much of a markup.

As I've suggested previously in this thread, if you are friends with someone who does partake in the club, it is possible they could get it for you as part of their membership.

There's always a craze right after an exclusive is released. People were paying crazy money for A Goofy Movie and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea initially. Within a few weeks to a few months, I guarantee that the price on The Black Cauldron (a title I'm iffy on regardless - the Donald Duck cartoon is the bigger sell for me - has its HD status been confirmed yet?) will be trending closer to the twenty to thirty dollar mark for completed listings. I normally pay closer to the twenty mark, and often I'm paying under that. To avoid the hassle of the club, I think that's a reasonable premium.

Again, the "ease" of declining is immaterial to me. This might be Cecil B. DeMille refusing to pay the one dollar union due, but it's the principle for me. I object to the position that Disney, by default, would be permitted to charge me unless I intervene. I run a tight ship on my finances, and I don't like ceding that type of authority to a company. Plus I've also seen too many accounts on this site and other similar forums from people who I know are responsible and cautious having to deal with returning "declined" orders. I would simply prefer to avoid the hassle. Just sell me the title with no strings attached. I'm not Pinocchio after all.

With all of that said, I'm not totally dogmatic. If Disney starts releasing a lot more of its pre-1970 catalog, I might reconsider my stance. I just took a look at a list of the DMC exclusives, and there are enough "not essential" but still wouldn't mind having titles to fulfill my obligations. However, I'm not going to do that until Disney announces the release of a few of my must have titles. I'm going to need something more than Herbie the Love Bug or Dexter Riley to entice me. Actually, The Happiest Millionaire may be enough to entice me to join. So, it's Disney's move at this point.

 

[David Norman]

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'll take this a bit further -- took the model, improved it , made it far more friendly. Their online model eliminated the uncertain mail -back decline, they eliminated the Club Special (despecial) versions and sell std retail, overall decreased the total cost of a full fulfillment cycle, made it easier to cancel, and allowed pretty much non-stop no justification rejoin with the same intro deal with no waiting period between cycles (other than waiting a few days until teh account completely cleats the system).

As a rule Disney CS is 2nd to none

That said -- anyone in the US and Canada who doesnt want to join is perfectly fine except those who complain about the price of buying them off Ebay and calling Disney greedy b/c the scalpers make a lot of money

 

[Jake Lipson]

I object to the position that Disney, by default, would be permitted to charge me unless I intervene. I run a tight ship on my finances, and I don't like ceding that type of authority to a company.

If Disney starts releasing a lot more of its pre-1970 catalog, I might reconsider my stance.

Those two statements seem contradictory.

I'm not trying to convince you of anything. What you do or don't do with your own money is your own business. If you would prefer to get exclusives from eBay at prices that are acceptable to you, then by all means you do you. I get them from friends at prices that we agree are acceptable, so I'm certainly not telling you to do it any other way than you want to do it. But it's kind of weird to object in principle to something that you can easily control and simultaneously be willing to throw out your principle.

the Donald Duck cartoon is the bigger sell for me - has its HD status been confirmed yet?)

You might have missed it since this thread is a bit long. But this was asked and answered a couple pages ago. Here you go:

Is the Trick or Treat short upgraded to HD, or is it the same transfer as the DVD? Either way, I'm glad they took the time to retain some of the extras from the most recent DVD. But it would be really cool if they made the effort to bump that up to HD.

Yes, it is. Nice fine grained transfer. There Are some speckles and minor print damage. The title cards are window boxed. But all in all, it looks very good.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I dunno. Over the last three or four years, I've gotten about 100 movies and my average cost per movie is around $8. And that's including every new Marvel movie since Thor Ragnarok and every Star Wars since episode 8.

Those $30 full priced discs are more than offset by the 5 for $1 intro offers. And Disney allows (and sometimes encourages) customers to quit the club and rejoin to get the 5 for $1 deal again.

Yes, I think if you are interested in a lot of Disney titles then the club makes sense. The way the club works it never makes sense to buy a single title from them because you are always getting offered 50% off any title if you buy one at regular price. So, it makes sense if you are buying something at regular price to fulfill a commitment to throw something else you want (or want to give as a gift) into your cart. So, if you want a Marvel or Star Wars picture or whatever, you can get them at a discount.

I'm not into the Marvel or Star Wars stuff and only have an interest in older Disney stuff or a few specific pictures. So, I quickly maxed out on what I was going to purchase and then had no need for the club. I will still follow what they come up with for exclusives and if they start hitting titles that interest me I would either, stay in the club to collect them, or join again at a later date if they happen to hit on a group of titles I am interested in.

Due to sales and gift cards and all that the Disney titles that are for sale at other retail outlets are easy to get at a good price if I want any of them. The only thing that the club offers, to me, that is unique and worth watching for are their exclusives. The Straight Story is another Disney title that would interest me on blu but that could be something Criterion does or another boutique label. Somehow I think the club exclusives won't venture into territory that would mainly appeal to adults. So, I have my doubts about Never Cry Wolf making it as an exclusive....though it should.

It was great to get Nomadland for ten bucks with my order and I'd rate my experience with the club as positive. There were no issues with items sent to me I declined or hassles at all. The decline process online is so simple and there is a running list of the feature titles on your club page showing if you accepted or declined them so kind of baffling that people have had issues with being sent items they declined.

 

[David Norman]

Quick information on the Nomadland Code Sheet. It's a Disney style number and even has the DMI info the bottom, but if you input it at DMI, you'll get confirmation of Nomadland Bluray but no points added to my aat. Apparently it wasn't meant to be a DMI points items but Disney messed up with the sheet.

I was already speaking with CSR about a different issue so I mentioned that I was getting no points for my Nomadland redemption -- she checked and came back with the info that there was an error, but she ended up adding 150pts to my acct b/c it was their error.

 

[Arthur Powell]

Those two statements seem contradictory.

I'm not trying to convince you of anything. What you do or don't do with your own money is your own business. If you would prefer to get exclusives from eBay at prices that are acceptable to you, then by all means you do you. I get them from friends at prices that we agree are acceptable, so I'm certainly not telling you to do it any other way than you want to do it. But it's kind of weird to object in principle to something that you can easily control and simultaneously be willing to throw out your principle.



You might have missed it since this thread is a bit long. But this was asked and answered a couple pages ago. Here you go:

How is it weird and contradictory? I'm merely stating what my current position is, but I'm not totally close-minded. I'm not a total stubborn troglodyte. So I can't read what others have posted and wonder to myself "maybe this isn't all that significant and I'm making it a bigger deal than it really is"? Is trying to be reasonable really weird and contradictory? Would people prefer for me to think and react more like our DC politicians? LOL Anyway, at this current moment, for Disney to overcome my objections, they would have to do one of two things: (1) either eliminate the feature title selection business or provide an opt-out or (2) significantly increase the output of its pre-1970 catalog releases to the point where I would be willing to tolerate - not like mind you - but simply tolerate the feature title nonsense. I don't see either of those conditions being met so more likely than not Disney will only release a few token titles I would deem essential, and I'll keep buying them from "scalpers" at SRP-level prices (or a bit lower). The premium is still worth it. If they released The Happiest Millionaire, I would consider briefly joining to get it and picking up my "non-essential" titles to fulfill the commitment and then canceling.

 

[Jake Lipson]

How is it weird and contradictory?

Because you have said that your objection is letting Disney do an automatic charge in principle, but you'd then bend the principle if they give you a particular movie.

Like I said, I'm not here to convince you to join the club. You do you. Your money and your choices on how to spend it or not spend it are your own and you don't need me or anyone else to validate them for you.

This thread isn't even about the club in general but specifically in reference to The Black Cauldron and Valiant as the newest club exclusives.

I'll have more comments about The Black Cauldron when mine comes in the mail, but it hasn't just yet.

Apparently it wasn't meant to be a DMI points items but Disney messed up with the sheet.

That would make sense because Nomadland is under the Searchlight banner and clearly made for adults. They might include Fox family-friendly titles in the program (like Spies in Disguise for example) but I doubt they would intentionally start marketing Disney points with adult-oriented films. They didn't include points with the DreamWorks live action titles they distributed either like War Horse.

 

[Arthur Powell]

Because you have said that your objection is letting Disney do an automatic charge in principle, but you'd then bend the principle if they give you a particular movie.

Like I said, I'm not here to convince you to join the club. You do you. Your money and your choices on how to spend it or not spend it are your own and you don't need me or anyone else to validate them for you.

This thread isn't even about the club in general but specifically in reference to The Black Cauldron and Valiant as the newest club exclusives.

I'll have more comments about The Black Cauldron when mine comes in the mail, but it hasn't just yet.

Again, how is it weird and contradictory? If I said this was an absolute principle, you may have a point, but I never said this was some absolute standard. It's simply the reason why I haven't joined DMC to date, but things can change. Is it weird and contradictory to be reasonable? To have certain reservations, objections, and, yes, principles, but to be willing to be open minded to other points of view and/or the current market? Jayembee actually made some good points earlier that make sense to me - that I can have objections and view the DMC experience as something of a hassle - even something I would prefer not to deal with at all in principle - and yet simultaneously conclude the value of the end product can supersede the "principle" (which in this case is really a "first world problem"). Ever heard of "competing values"? On one hand, I don't like how DMC does those automatic charges and would prefer not ceding such authority, but on the other hand I love good bargains. Which hand has the greater weight can vary over time. If DMC released more of the movies that I would want to purchase, I might be willing to set aside my "objections" and "principles." However, as of yet, they haven't given me the necessary impetus to do so. The Happiest Millionaire could be that impetus. A far greater emphasis on Walt Disney-era titles could do the trick too. If they actually did any of that, well, I reserve the prerogative to reconsider my stance. I still wouldn't like the featured title non-sense, but I also don't like certain forms of taxes. So what? I pay blasted taxes anyway. So, yes, right now my "objections" and "principles" stand, but so did Ozymandias at one point. Well, I'll just go right on being "weird" and "contradictory." I'd like to see more of the DC politicians being "weird" and "contradictory" in that way.

Enjoy The Black Cauldron. It's not a film I'm interested in, but the inclusion of the Donald Duck cartoon makes me hopeful that perhaps DMC will consider volumes of the classic shorts.

 

[Jake Lipson]

the inclusion of the Donald Duck cartoon makes me hopeful that perhaps DMC will consider volumes of the classic shorts.

I'm not going to continue to go around and around with you on whether you should join DMC or not. Like I said, do whatever makes sense for you to do.

I wouldn't read too much into the Donald short personally. It was previously included on both DVD versions of The Black Cauldron from 2000 and 2010 respectively. So obviously somebody at Disney likes the idea of pairing this short with this movie. I don't see the inclusion of one short with a movie that have been paired together before as being indicative that they care about releasing a lot of shorts, but I would love to be wrong because more shorts being available is a good thing.

It will be interesting to see whether any other forthcoming DMC exclusive releases start to port over previous bonus material, since they typically don't do that, or if The Black Cauldron is an anomaly.

 

[David Norman]

That would make sense because Nomadland is under the Searchlight banner and clearly made for adults. They might include Fox family-friendly titles in the program (like Spies in Disguise for example) but I doubt they would intentionally start marketing Disney points with adult-oriented films. They didn't include points with the DreamWorks live action titles they distributed either like War Horse.

Pretty much what I read into their apology -- 'only some Fox items are designated to have points." Spies in Disguise, Call of the Wild, New Mutants did have points while Ford v Ferrari, JojoRabbit, X-men did not (though the latter predate the Merger). Again I was shocked several of those were part of DMC at all since Disney dumped most of their own Adult oriented stuff years ago.

 

[Arthur Powell]

I'm not going to continue to go around and around with you on whether you should join DMC or not. Like I said, do whatever makes sense for you to do.

I wouldn't read too much into the Donald short personally. It was previously included on both DVD versions of The Black Cauldron from 2000 and 2010 respectively. So obviously somebody at Disney likes the idea of pairing this short with this movie. I don't see the inclusion of one short with a movie that have been paired together before as being indicative that they care about releasing a lot of shorts, but I would love to be wrong because more shorts being available is a good thing.

It will be interesting to see whether any other forthcoming DMC exclusive releases start to port over previous bonus material, since they typically don't do that, or if The Black Cauldron is an anomaly.

Going round and round? I merely stated why I currently won't join but that should there be certain changes I'd reconsider. That's it. We were going round and round because you thought it "weird" and "contradictory" that I'm actually reasonable and open-minded. I thought that being reasonable and open-minded were normally good things.

As for the Donald Duck cartoon, it is interesting to note that that the DMC back covers normally have some verbiage saying something about how the DMC line is for movies and shorts from the Disney library, and this is the first time that we've actually gotten any of the shorts from DMC (please correct me if I'm mistaken). I agree that one shouldn't read too much into this one instance, but at least the shorts are on the radar even in a small capacity.

 

[Citizen87645]

I counted the source material for The Black Cauldron as some of my favorite books as a kid, but for some reason I didn't know until just now that Disney had adapted them into this movie.

I'm curious if anyone else has read the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander?

 

[jayembee]

I counted the source material for The Black Cauldron as some of my favorite books as a kid, but for some reason I didn't know until just now that Disney had adapted them into this movie.

I'm curious if anyone else has read the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander?

I have. Probably about 40 years ago. I liked them well enough, although I wouldn't say they are favorites of mine.

 

[Lord Dalek]

I counted the source material for The Black Cauldron as some of my favorite books as a kid, but for some reason I didn't know until just now that Disney had adapted them into this movie.

I'm curious if anyone else has read the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander?

Adapted is a bit of a stretch. More like cut and paste elements from three different books into one film.

 

[richardburton84]

I counted the source material for The Black Cauldron as some of my favorite books as a kid, but for some reason I didn't know until just now that Disney had adapted them into this movie.

I'm curious if anyone else has read the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander?

The books are among my favorites as well. The film is primarily derived from the first two books (The Book of Three and The Black Cauldron) with a lot of drastic changes. Gone is Arawn (the real villain of the books; the Horned King only appears in the first book) and Gwydion, to name only a few major characters missing from the film and some of the characters that do make it into the film are far different from how they are in the books, and not necessarily for the better (Ex. The Fair Folk are more like dwarves in the books and the witches of Morva are more like a Welsh version of the Fates). That said, I’ve read that Lloyd Alexander liked the film for what it was, despite the multitudinous changes Disney made.

 

[Citizen87645]

I did try to read them again as an adult but found them too juvenile for my tastes now, so I stopped before I ruined my own childhood memories.

The series that held up better was Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising sequence. I'd still like to see that get a proper adaptation.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Back in 2016, there was this article in Variety about Disney trying to do a live-action adaptation of the books. I was surprised they would return to it, given the reputation of the original. At the tine, I just thought they were drunk on their live-action remake train and that at a minimum it would generate a Blu-ray for The Black Cauldron if anything came of it. I haven't seen anything about this project since this article, and it has certainly been long enough for a project announced in 2016 to materialize. So the fact that it hasn't probably means that either it is stuck in development hell or maybe it has been abandoned altogether.

‘Chronicles of Prydain’ Movie in the Works at Disney (EXCLUSIVE)

Disney has acquired movie rights to the fantasy series “The Chronicles of Prydain” and is in early development on the project, Variety has learned. The five novels by Lloyd Alexander, b…

variety.com

Now that DMC has come through on this one, we still have a Blu-ray of the animated film regardless if nothing ever happens with a remake.

 

[jayembee]

I have. Probably about 40 years ago. I liked them well enough, although I wouldn't say they are favorites of mine.

By the by, my wife loves the books. She's never seen the film, and was excited to learn that I had a copy on order.