Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

Plus there's some kind of remastered widescreen Rescue Rangers, at least going by the version on +. But yeah, the vast majority of their Disney Channel stuff isn't released. Like not even something like Star vs. The Forces of Evil.

Was Fox really releasing a ton, though? Didn't they basically stop releasing Simpsons seasons on physical of any kind a long time ago?

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

I seem to recall they've been difficult since the very start of DVD. Anyone else remember how they resisted bringing the animated classics to DVD at first, they would give bizarre excuses like how animation doesn't compress properly. And then when they started, they were always highly priced and missing extras.

Our best hope lies in Shout/Scream, Criterion, etc convincing them to license out some stuff.
My goodness, can you imagine The Black Hole with Scream or Criterion?

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

Not really, but they were more than happy to license anything and everything. That obviously doesn't apply to 4k so much as it applies to Blu-ray, but I'll reiterate, this just feels like the first domino in Disney burying the Fox catalog. I really couldn't care less what they do with their own catalog. Big tent pole stuff will get a release and that's all Disney really does anyway.

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

Hell, they supported that DIVX disc format or whatever instead of DVD at first.

I would hope that licensing Gravity Falls to Shout Factory would start a trend, but AFAIK that mostly happened because creator Alex Hirsch campaigned for them to do so.

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

Disney at least half-assedly supported DVD from the beginning. Fox was the last major studio to support it- they put out titles on DIVX first, and then their first DVDs were overpriced and marginal quality (no 16x9 on the first few waves of titles, same as Disney but priced higher.) Both did better jobs with Blu-Ray when that started, and of course supporting that exclusively over HD-DVD.

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

A handful of the Disney Afternoon era shows (including Rescue Rangers) are available in HD on iTunes, so that is definitely a plus. Star might be there too.

What really sucks though is that one episode of Darkwing Duck, "Hot Spells" is not officially available anywhere. Religious people complained about its portrayal of black magic and demons. Sigh.

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

Yeah, Disney did really well in the early days with Blu-Ray extras (including commentaries with relevant images that would pop up on screen - still haven’t seen that since) and trying to incorporate BD Live into the menus. A lot more effort went into their discs from 2007-2009 than stuff from many studios years later.

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

I saw a new repackaging of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in Target yesterday. It looked like the same disc that was previously made by FOX and with the fan base it has you would think it could garner some sales with a 4K release.

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

(More generally).

Offhand I have no idea whether Disney is just releasing the exact same old Fox discs, with the Fox logos + info removed and replaced with Disney logos + info on the packaging.

Speaking in terms of hypotheticals, the only reason I would possibly buy "Disney re-releases" of previous Fox blurays, is if Disney had bothered to remaster them without any extra BD+ bluray drm. (Fox used BD+ on just about all their blurays from mid/late-2007 to early-2017).

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

Kind of odd to me as they just recently announced Hocus Pocus and Home Alone are coming to 4K next month. Wonder why the sudden change.

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

The article mentions that and Hocus Pocus, and speculates that the focus is on growing Disney Plus. Home Alone makes sense right before Xmas anyway (I wonder if they'll get the streaming rights back before Xmas). In fact, it kind of makes sense to release stuff they don't have streaming rights to if there's any sort of demand at all.

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

Disney denies it

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnarc.../#1ab41a8c48c7

Says every title will be evaluated case-by-case.

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

^^^^That's good to know if its true. I'd still like to see them license movies out from both the Disney and Fox library to labels like Shout, Criterion or Arrow. Those companies will put in the effort for great collector's editions of classic films.

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

I have to say, I was wondering how B. Hunt was going to reconcile this "insider" story about Disney and Fox abandoning physical media with his ongoing assurance (more than a decade running at this point) that new disc releases of True Lies and The Abyss are "just around the corner." :)

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

So Bill Hunt is wrong again? ;) I know a few people here aren't too keen on his alleged insider information.

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

This makes more sense. If something will make money, why not release it? But obviously not every potential release will make money.

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

So No 4K release of Kenny Rogers Six Pack then? Or Rhinestone with Stallone and Dolly Parton? ;)

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

Because their investors want to see D+ subscriber growth and doing D+ exclusives instead of physical releases will increase those numbers.

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

Well, then that still follows the case by case model. However there's a lot of stuff they don't have streaming rights to, why shutter everything (as the original article was claiming)?

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

Maybe they are likely to do a "back in the vault" scenario for everything they release. It has helped them moved catalog titles rather quickly before.

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

I could see them combining the two methods. Physical release for a period of time before it goes into the new vault, aka D+. I'd imagine that would maximize both avenues and make both types of consumers happy.

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

Here's my thoughts on the subject; Investors/corporations tend to favor growth over profits. It seems if a company is losing money the response seems to be "Who cares? Look at the growth!" Netflix streaming has been around over 10 years now which makes me think everyone who wants it already subscribes to it. The only real growth is selling subscriptions overseas to emerging countries/markets.

With streaming, if everyone is already signed-up then producing expensive new shows and $70 million features is eventually going to level-off because there is no added growth or revenue. They will have to keep producing new content for the purposes of trying to sway people from cancelling their subscriptions. The other solution might be the introduction of commercials before/after the title.

If you want to do some creative accounting, I guess people who unsubscribe and then re-subscribe a few months later can be seen as "financial growth".
Then again, I'm don't hold a masters degree in business.:shrug:

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

Did the BDA group throw him another lavish birthday party?

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

Re: Disney ending live action catalog 4K Physical Media???
 

Nahh, its part of history. He showed extreme
bias and essentially took a bribe.