Disney Scaling Back on DVD Bonus Features and More!

[Neal]

Looks like thanks to the U.S. recession, Disney is cutting back on how they do their DVD releases. They've already stopped including paper chapter inserts as well as DVD disk art (see recent Oliver, Poppins, Caspian releases).

Well, now it looks like bonus features are being targeted according to Home Media Magazine:

“Disney had a challenging quarter in what is likely to be the weakest economy in our lifetime,” said Bob Iger, president and CEO, in a call with investors. It was packaged media, however, that appeared to give the executive the most concern.

Iger said the results, which he didn’t attribute solely to the economy, would have a long-term impact on the DVD business and would have the company “examining much of what we do,” including differentiating between the type of DVDs released versus their release schedules. He said Disney is taking numerous steps companywide to reduce costs, with each business segment adjusting to meet its revised needs.

“Our goal is to spend, in total, less on films,” Iger said. “We do believe production and marketing of DVD needs to be addressed.”

Specifically the CEO eyes reducing the number of bonus features included with a DVD and improving the price-to-value relationship. He wants to include standard-DVD and digital copy with the Blu-ray release and market it as a value-add to consumers.

“We’ve been taking a hard look at this business for a while,” Iger said. “The cost of those systems needs to come down.”

The executive said DVD sales in the fourth quarter were directly impacted by the “cataclysmic” events in the economy. He also said consumer options for home entertainment had evolved whereby the average household was in possession of about 80 DVDs, compared to 135-140 DVDs for avid consumers.

“This suggests that going forward, people potentially will be more selective about what they buy,” Iger said.

He said the studio would be mindful of consumer habits and be more careful in the timing and placement of DVD product at the retail level.

When asked whether Disney would release titles through video-on-demand at the same time as DVD, Iger said altering the release window was not a solution. Instead he advocated turning DVD releases into a retail event rather than stocking up on catalog titles earmarked for the dump bin.

Well, collector's, we thought our day had come with the advent of Blu-ray but it appears we thought wrong.

[Ben]

And there we were asking for more!

Seriously, Disney DVDs are among the most bonus starved out there already, and most of what they add is gunk.

Countless reissues on titles with minimal new extras is what's driving sales down - a new game is a lame way to address a new release, give us the real collectors items we want and those titles will sell.

[Neal]

Yeah, stop spending money making new games, promoting their tween stars through new 'music videos' (for the classic DAC songs), and editing down existing bonus features- just port the existing bonuses from previous DVDs/LaserDiscs - porting would save a lot of money versus editing or creating new games/music videos.

[Randall]

They want to cut back on special features, yet they will include two additional discs with each Blu-ray which mostly won't ever get used.

[Darkblade]

I dislike some of the games that they add onto the DVDs...Dont they ever add "The makings" of the dinsey films?

[Once Upon A Dream]

Why? what's wrong with the chapters inserts? and no disc art? that's dumb.
New games are cheap way for small releases,as the Disney Channel stars music videos,some are bad (Like Kiss The Girl from Little Mermaid PE and I Wanna Be Like You from Jungle Book PE) but some are actually good (Once Upon A Dream from Sleeping Beauty PE or Fly To Your Heart from TinkerBell).
Althought I think that the features in Sleeping Beauty Platinum Edition for exmaple are better then the 2003 edition and they don't have to port much things.

[Rodney]

I have to say, while I think chapter inserts are cute, I never use them. I just use the chapter navigation on the DVD.

[James]

Same here. And most DVD art is pretty basic too. I actually kind of like the discs with just the movie name on it, like some of those from DW lately.

[Cinderallaboi]

well i dont know what you all mean but one thing i cant stand is that they have 2 version of the same movie a one disc dvd that just has the movie and hardly no bonus stuff and a 2 or more disc dvd that has the movie and bonus stuff. I really wished that they would just make one version of the move on dvd. I was so mad when i got Wall-e on dvd all the store had was the once disc they didnt have the 3 disc dvd so i ended up buying the once disc dvd

[Cinderallaboi]

So lately movie studios have been releasing 2 version of the same movie on dvd a one disc and a 2 or more disc dvd. This is one thing that I hate they they are doing. For Christmas in 2008 I got the movie The Dark Night on dvd and I was thinking I was going to get the 2 disc dvd but no I got the one disc and now the stores I have been to dont have the 2 disc anywhere. This is a problem i have been facing with dvds now that studios have been doing this to almost all new dvd releases. And Walmart is now helping at all with this. They are making dvds in a dvd plus gift pack. But one thing about those is that the movie that is in the pack is the once disc version. So if a movie as a 2 disc or more discs version you would have to buy that separate I really dont know why they are doing this. Now i wished that they would just release the 2 or more disc of a movie and forget making the one disc.

[eddievalient]

I feel your pain. The supermarket I work at has a video rental department and I often buy used dvds from there to save money, but they never get a 2-disc edition of anything unless that's the only version (which doesn't happen very often). Consequently, I'm still waiting to get Indy Jones and The Incredible Hulk cause I want the disc with all the extras (although at $25 a pop, I may be waiting awhile for the price to come down). It doesn't help that I live 60 miles from the nearest mall and can't just run out to pick 'em up used. Grrr...

[Randall]

There are good reasons why the single-disc versions exist, of course, though I do sympathize. Single disc versions are, as Eddie suggested, favored by rental outlets. And, many individuals would rather pay less for a single disc rather than pay extra for a second disc they won't use.

It is too bad that both versions are not always readily available where you live. That's why a lot of us make most of our purchases online. Lots of selection at Amazon!

[GeorgeC]

Kid,

Do you understand that there are people who actually LIKE behind the scenes documentaries about the making of films and audio commentaries by the people who MADE those films?

That's who Disney ISN'T pandering to with all these cuts AND prices increases!

Listen, you can complain that you couldn't find your precious one-disc version of Wall-E -- but you could look in other stores because they had that single-disc version at other stores BTW --, but pretty soon we're all going to be forced to buy those single disc releases that have NO extra content because of the executives.

This is more than just about you!

It's a very short-sighted business decision that just isn't reinforced by what generally goes on with movie sales. Movie sales AND early technological adoption are driven by movie COLLECTORS, not people who just buy bare-bones discs! Blu-Ray sales are being driven by COLLECTORS, not people looking for the cheapest version of a film on disc. If Disney really wants to hurt itself, they can go ahead and cut all the extra features AND raise the prices on discs!

If Disney WANTS their disc sales to plummet, by all means go ahead and abandon the platinum series collectors! People will spend their money on OTHER studios' releases that DO pander to their likes! Frankly, that's what the "regime change" at Disney a few years back was supposed to be all about, wasn't it -- being SMART and actually LISTENING to people for a change?

This whole site is visited by people who collect films, appreciate the backstories of specific films, and appreciate the history of making films. Granted, that's not the whole audience of visitors, but it's an important segment that's going to be ill-served by these short-sighted changes. These moves by Disney's upper elite betray a complete lack of knowledge about early adopters and their afficionados -- the people who have been Disney fans THEIR ENTIRE LIVES -- including the times when it WASN'T cool to be an animation, let alone Disney fan.

Gee, how much is this really going to save Disney versus what it could cost them in the goodwill of their consumers? $51 million more or less? Gee, that's a figure Mr. Iger ought to be familiar with!

I've said on more than one occasion that I was disappointed that the extras on the earlier Disney laserdisc boxsets WEREN'T carried over to the two-disc DVD releases and now the Blu-Ray editions. I guess it wasn't enough that people were getting screwed out of those. Now, we're not getting anything because Disney execs decided all of John Q. Public doesn't want them on DVD or Blu-Ray, period!

But notice that the prices to get into the parks aren't going down, either... What's the deal, Mr. Iger? Enough millionaires or people with kids that WILL spend those outrageous prices for 3-4 days in the parks but nobody can spare the money for 2-disc releases? It doesn't make sense!

[Ben]

NOTE: Cinderellaboi's comments about the 2-disc Vs. 1-disc debate was carried over from another thread, which I have merged here due to the similar comments made in both arguments.

[Cinderallaboi]

not really im talking about all dvds from all studios this post is talking about disney dvds only so i really dont know how they go together?