Why Don't Disney DVDs Have Trailers? (1 Viewer)

[Michael:M]

Well, they do, of course - just not for the film featured. Has anyone ever had a chance to ask a Disney rep about this, or read any official word or response? I purchased Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl last week, and was a bit shocked that the trailer for the movie was not on it.

DVD's been big for 8 years or more, and including the original teaser/trailer has been fairly standard (granted, some older movies and bare bones editions don't have them, but the overwhelming majority do). As far as I know, Disney NEVER includes the trailer for the feature film on their DVDs, be they under the Disney or Buena Vista or Touchstone banner.

What is up with that?

 

[ChrisRose]

Just another example of Disney not giving a damn. It's depressing.

Sometimes they'll include trailers for their movies (sorry I can't think of an example right now), but they're inconsistent about it (much as they're inconsistent about OAR with their live-action catalogue titles).

I *am* surprised they left the trailer off Pirates, simply because they seem to go all-out with extras when it comes to their current hits. Not that I care about Pirates or High School Musical or whatever the hell...I want Disney to do Walt's classics right on DVD. :/

Oh, and I get the impression it's impossible to communicate with Disney execs - they're not as accessible as, say, Warner Bros. People have contacted customer service reps to ask/complain about things, but they're usually clueless.

P.S. If I may speculate a bit about Disney's trailer mentality - I suspect they view trailers as advertising tools and nothing more. They'll pack a DVD with forced trailers for *other* releases, but why bother including a trailer for a movie on the DVD for that same movie? We've already bought it, right? So we don't need to see an ad for it. I don't think they understand the collector's mentality - or they only understand how to exploit collectors/rabid fans - they don't care to go out of their way to "reward" us and make us happy.

 

[Michael:M]

I'm guessing you're at least somewhat on target here - I'm sure they don't see the point. However, when it's nearly industry standard to include the trailer, their consistent omission is just odd.

 

[RomanSohor]

Most of their catalog animated titles do include trailers (in the case of Walt-era ones, they often include original trailers, re-release trailers from the 60's, and even early Eisner-era re-release trailers).

 

[Jason_V]

Someone got their wires crossed over there. After loaded two disc SE's of stuff like Atlantis, The Emperor's New Groove and Dinosaur, we get basically garbage with a one disc Dumbo, no Treasure Planet/Lilo and Stitch SE, the "Cinderella Stories" on the Cinderella Platinum Edition...

Blech.

 

[Billy Fogerty]

I hate when the discs start off with trailers, and ads for coming soon to dvd.
It should go to the menu and give the veiwer the option.

 

[Garysb]

The Snow White DVD had trailers for all the many releases of this film.


I miss the Vault Disney line of live action films . I loved the feature where they told you what else was happening at the studio in the year when the film being viewed was released.

 

[EricW]

it's not just Disney. the recent Ultraviolet DVD from sony did not have its trailer, but the same UV trailer was on the Underworld disc released just weeks before.
it probably happens for all studios...

 

[Kelly Grannell]

I personally think that Disney is the one company that doesn't give a damn the most (if that's even a sentence).

Not only for their movie DVD. Even for their 50th anniversary WDW 4-park DVD set (US$80 plus shipping -- only available from WDW Florida) they look like they've been recorded 10 years ago. They mixed up some footage from Disneyland (this is supposed to be Disneyworld DVD for crissake!)

The same goes with "Around the World with Disney" coffee-table photo book. Many of the pictures are out of focus and/or not colour corrected.

Worst yet, their Disney Insider 2005 Yearbook (also another coffee-table photo book, limited edition, available to members only) only offers mediocre pictures. Three of the pictures (if you get a hold of one, open page 59) the pictures look like they've been taken using a camera phone (very pixelated and weird colours).

They just don't give a darn.

 

[Dick]

Industry standard? Once, maybe, but when was the last time you found a trailer (for the title you bought) on a Paramount or Sony catalog title?

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

My hypothesis, as posted in other threads, is this:

If a movie's DVD includes its original trailer, it's considered an added value supplement. Thus, if there's music in it, it must be paid for. And we all know how cheap the studios have been in recent years about that.

However, if you put a trailer on a DVD for a different movie, such as the forced trailers on a Disney DVD, then it qualifies as an advertisement and the original clearance contract stands and they don't have to repay for the music. Plus, they'll do video tweaking with the trailer to remove things like the original opening theatrical date, replace it with a "buy it on DVD" blurb or something.

I guess the trick is to find the DVD that uses your favorite trailer as an advertising element, and purchase that along with the actual movie. *sigh*

 

[Garysb]

I don't believe any trailers or the music contained within are subject to copywrite. All are considered advertising. All are in public domain and can be used without paying royalties.
This is why many film documentaries which can not afford to license film clips
from the studios use clips from trailers and disclose using subtitles that the clip is from a trailer.

 

[Jason_V]

Gary,

I would be on board with you if it wasn't for the trailer for Star Trek: Generations not being included on the 2 disc set when the trailers for every other flick in the series were included. I believe the reason given by Martin Blythe of Paramount at the time was some music contained in the trailer.

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.