International Tom &Jerry:The Golden Collection Volume 2 (1 Viewer)

[Ethan Riley]

Well, they just released 100 Porky Pig cartoons through the Archive, and if you want them, you have to order them through the internet where precious eyes won't see them at Target. So maybe they should put out Tom and Jerry this way.

 

[Traveling Matt]

There are thousands of cartoons where there would be no objection to marketing them to children. But Warner Bros seems to think that only collectors are interested in them. That is a huge mistake. As time passes, the cartoons fall out of public consciousness and there are fewer and fewer collectors to sell to. Yet every day there are new children who would love to see these cartoons. They're focused on the ass end of the market.

All they need to do is target the broad market first and serve that. Then every once in a while, do a special disc for collectors that has the odds and ends that don't fit in the general collections. They might have a chance of actually making money that way. I'm a collector myself, but I'd rather have a thriving market for these films than be catered to myself and have them stop dead for lack of sales.

I agree with your attitude, but much of your argument is outdated. Releases already have stopped dead for lack of sales. There is no "broad" market for classic cartoons anymore, regardless of target. This is one reason the Porky set finally happened. Warner Archive, Olive Films, etc are the future for classic cartoon releases, if there are any.

As for Tom and Jerry, I think they're a special case. Their material oversaturated the broad market back when it still existed, including with the old Spotlight Collections that released all but two cartoons in quite good A/V quality. So children are covered, now and for the future if titles stay in print. At this point, because of all that, I think collectors are right to finally expect complete, chronological and fully restored sets of the MGM cartoons. If that only happens through the Warner Archive, so be it. But like Popeye, and unlike the Looney Tunes, there's a small, manageable number of them. So restore 'em, release 'em and be done with 'em.

 

[FoxyMulder]

There's a point where it crosses the line into fetish. There are certain collectors who keep demanding these cartoons simply because they are deemed "racist". They focus on them way out of proportion. It's a handful of films and they aren't always the best films either. With the amount of truly great animation out there of all kinds, focusing on just the "unacceptable" titles is counter productive. Warner Bros tries to release what they think they can release and they're nailed to a cross for not including a "racist" cartoon. They release a film with a syndication title instead of the first release and people start organizing boycotts. The negative attitude of certain rabid collectors is the real reason why Warner Bros isn't releasing any more cartoons on blu-ray.

"This is why we can't have nice things."

While I agree with you regarding releasing some titles specifically aimed at children thus making money which would allow uncut chronological order releases of Tom & Jerry, I disagree that people just want the banned titles because they are racist, we want them as we are collectors of all this stuff, good or bad, not all the animated titles will be entertaining but as collectors we want it, also children do not see racism at that age, it’s adults who generally fill their heads with racist idealogy.

Let Criterion or Shout or Arrow have access to Tom & Jerry and release them or release them quietly via Warner Archive, limited sales is better than no sale and the archive will not lose money as it is on a per order basis with them, they burn the disc when you order it.

 

[bigshot]

I agree with your attitude, but much of your argument is outdated. Releases already have stopped dead for lack of sales. There is no "broad" market for classic cartoons anymore, regardless of target.

That's because they haven't been cultivating it. Mass market sell through won't happen with big expensive box sets. It has to be single discs priced very low. They should look different enough that people won't say "I already have that". They did that briefly with the Super Stars DVDs and those are still in print, but they put all of one character on each disc. It would sell better and be a lot more watchable if each disc had a variety of cartoons.

 

[Traveling Matt]

You don't seem to understand. There is NO market for classic cartoons at mass retail. The details don't matter, including packaging configurations. People are simply not looking at titles, let alone wondering whether they have them.

Warner Archive is the closest thing to retail, which is why Porky finally landed there. Here's a link to a podcast from the Porky thread. Jerry Beck and George Feltenstein talk about the set and how Looney Tunes moved from retail to MOD. That's where I'm getting my info. It's a good listen if you have the time.

 

[bigshot]

There is a market for family entertainment, especially in streaming. On youtube, children's animation of nursery rhymes get millions and millions of hits. The under 12 animation market is huge. They just aren't aiming at that market. They are focused on the collector's market which is a dead end.

If they were smart, they would go through the library and clear all the kid friendly cartoons they could, combine them into themed programs and make them available for streaming and download, and release them on DVD cheap. They would make money for sure and they wouldn't need to do extensive restoration or lots of supplemental material. They really should do the same for comedy shorts and family features and roll it all into one big family streaming channel. Warner Archive is great. I subscribe to it. But the family audience is bigger than that.