Why does Disney pull their biggest titles so quickly?
 

I want someone to explain to me how it is beneficial for Disney to come out with DVDs like the various Tins, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Toy Story, and on and on and only have them on the market for such a short period of time. With a big name like Disney, wouldn't they make so much more money if they offered more of these major titles for a longer period of time.

This is just something I've always wondered about. I've never understood the concept of putting the DVDs/films "in the vault".

Easy: people will buy more or buy if there's any interest in the slightest if they think they won't be able to get the title later. Putting them "in the vault" makes them quasi-collectibles and thus, people are more apt to buy the title now instead of waiting around for a purchase that may never happen.

fuck that vault. It would be funny if it burned down.

That still doesn't make sense to me. Those that REALLY want the DVDs are going to buy them no matter what. It seems to me that if they remained on the market, those of us who want to own them but maybe not right this very minute, would just buy them over time. People just get an urge now and then to buy a product, or whatever.

I dunno, I just don't get it. To me it would just make more sense to make them available.

The "narrow window" approach has been part of the Disney marketing philosphy that even pre-dates home video. Going all the way back to the 40's, Disney films would be withdrawn once they completed their initial theatrical run, and generally would be off the market for 7 years before being re-released theatrically.

They've simply continued the same marketing ploy first with VHS and now with DVDs. It seems to work for them.

Well I don't know if it really works or not. One would have to look do a study. I think people assume it works. And without a "control group" to test it Disney DVDs not in the vault sold worse, one really doesn't know.

Simple marketing. They introduce the movie to a new market without them being over saturated with it.

Think of it this way. The kids that are 7 years old now will look back at the film and think "my, I haven't seen that in so long and I have memories of seeing it as a kid so I'll buy it again." If said film was in circulation the whole time or very easy to come by then they would see it as something normal and the extra value disney making it seem like would be lost. Makes some sense?

and those kids not born yet will be first introduced to it later so they don't have it saturated in their image as just something normal and it becomes rare to them.

It has been the disney marketing for decades and isn't changing anytime soon.

Also, when someone tells you that you have a limited time to buy it then you will pay attention to it and buy it. It gets rid of the "I'll pick it up some other time since it will always be there" mentality.

I look at it like this.

When they go OOP, there are still plenty of people who want the DVDs. Just look on eBay at all of the various auctions up for Disney DVDs, then look at all of the bids.

Isn't every one of those people who are bidding, a possible sale for Disney?

And most of those selling already a definite sale?

A couple of hundred, even a couple of thousand bidders is fairly inconsequential. It is Disney's method of keeping the price high and thus maximizing revenue vs cost. Since they have a huge catalog, they always have plenty of titles available, and because of the artificial scarcity, they are able to prevent price errosion.

Consequently, as a DVD bargain hunter, I have very few Disney titles, in my collection, those that are there are either used, misprices or super-deals like the costco set of non-tin tins.

I hate that whole idea. Its so not fair to anyone, just because disney wants money. I DONT CARE IF ITS A SMART MARKETING THING. What about in 10 years when a new generation of people want the dvd. Well they cant have it I guess because its in the vault. And only walt disney has the keys to the vault. So they will have to dig up his corpse and steal the keys from his boney arms and fuckin steal TOY STORY for everyone in the world. I hate disney and their ninjac tactics.

I never understood it either. If they want to put it in the vault then OK fine but it shouldn't stay in there for 7 to 10 years.

Say the DVD is released in 2001 and you're kid is 2 or 3 years old. You don't buy the DVD because the kid is too young to understand the film. Now Disney releases the same film on DVD or the next home video format 7 years later. So the kid is now 9 or 10 and really could care less about Beauty and the Beast but might have enjoyed it when he or she was 6 or 7.

even though I like the treatment a lot of the platinum editions have, I dont like the fact that so many big/popular titles are out of print. therefore driving up the price to crazy crazy numbers. it also brings all the bootleggers out of the woodwork (as my recent thread mightve mentioned)

Most parents I know will buy the movie when the kid is 2 or 3 or hell while pregnant because for the most part, Disney movies are seen as heirloom pieces and they want it for the future...

You'd think that would be a logical approach, but the sales numbers don't bear that out... Having a title perpetually available does not result in as many sales as having a big release, stopping production, and then having ANOTHER big release 5-10 years later. Doing so makes the title a "big deal" with everyone -- getting prime shelf space, advertising, industry buzz, etc. And then people scoop it up.

The reality is that people DON'T eventually buy these titles unless the titles are pushed into their faces. If Snow White was always available, lots (LOTS) of people would plan to get it "someday"... and that day would never come.


The best example of this I've ever heard of is JAWS. When the DVD came out, one magazine released the stats on the title (which had pretty much always been available on home video, even back to the early days of VHS). Total copies sold (VHS, Beta, LD, etc.) in 25 years... only 800,000. That's it. For one of the biggest, highest grossing films of all time. Why? The thought was that because it was ALWAYS available. It came out before most people even owned VCRs, never had a OOP/re-release cycle, so there was never a "big push" to get people to buy it.

Disney, along with Mcfarlane toys, Beanie Babies company, Topps, Upper Deck and other companies that make limited or rare variant items have an ebay division. they withhold items from the marketplace and then sell on Ebay for 4-100x the price. its like printing money.

i made that up, but whats to really stop them from doing it?

I think Disney is just dumb when they do it. When Criterion informs that one of their DVDs will be going Out of Print, I'll try and purchase it quickly. However, when Disney does it, I just laugh because they're just gonna re-release it with more features down the road.

You're focusing too much on the home video releases of Disney's major titles and forgetting about the theatrical re-releases that usually precede them.

Disney releases a movie to theaters, reaps the ticket sales, then releases the video/DVD a few months later, and reaps the profits from those. Then they pull the title.

Then, 7-10 years later, Disney repeats the theatrical/home video cycle for the "next generation."

You may not like it, and I certainly don't like it, but it's a brilliant way to keep making money off the same movies for generations.

The world is not fair and it does not cater to you.

And in 10 years people will not want the "DVD".

It's all about marketing strategy and guess what.. you have just bought into into the marketing strategy....

Thank you the Cow, you said it perfectly. the world is not fair indeed.

Simply put, it's Di$ney.

that's what i'm doing. don't know if my wife really cares but she doesn't have a choice. my son just turned one but i've been trying to buy what disney dvd's i can since when we found out she was pregnant.

I just want a good dvd of The Little Mermaid. That's all. I don't want to wait forever and ever. **Sob**

Thank you for letting me get that off my chest.

Simply put, what some people may have thought was clever and catchy several years ago is now lame, overused, a sign of lazy thinking and $TUPID.

Name a corporation that DOESN'T have marketing strategies that try to maximize profits.

Give it a re$t.

I'm sure Disney has never thought of that.

Come on, I'm sure they pay thousands of marketing people a gazillion dollars to do just that, and the result is that they find it works best to create a new market for their products every seven years or so.