Disney/Buena Vista Catalog Titles on Blu

[Ribs]

In a pleasant surprise, Disney will be doing Blu-ray collections seemingly released as Club exclusives of classic shorts for their 100th anniversary next year. The first set will be ten Mickey and Minnie shorts. Surely these releases won’t remotely be comprehensive or approach the DVD era releases at all in that respect but to get a few dozen of these shorts out on physical BD over the year seems like something of a miracle given how Disney has treated them in recent years.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

Have they announced the other sets? It’s frustrating as those Disney Treasure sets were so comprehensive, but the later era ones are so insanely expensive ok the secondhand market. I don’t have Disney+, but was looking at the availability of their shorts and was surprised how few there are. I believe there’s no shorts from 1928-1932 other than Steamboat Willie, which are some of Walt Disney’s best work. I tried to watch Plane Crazy and The Gallopin’ Gaucho a few weeks ago and could only fine terrible, low bit rate versions on the archive.org.

[Ribs]

In another weird turn-up following the 100th Anniversary animated shorts collections, there will be a DMC exclusive 4K release of Cinderella (1950). Crazy! But great new releases are coming, especially of such a old title.

[cdnchris]

Apparently Mill Creek has signed a deal with Disney for live-action film and television releases, that also includes Fox/20th Century films. I'd have to assume that means other labels are able to get at content as well (Criterion 4K The Rock *fingers crossed*)

[Ribs]

Obviously great news, even if it just remains Criterion and Mill Creek - just having someone tapping that Fox archive let alone the Disney live action titles that's not quite as discriminating as Criterion will fill in a lot of gaps. Hopefully this will bring about deals with more labels, but either way this is a really positive development, especially considering modern titles like The Empty Man and Barbarian could finally see first releases after Disney passed on them for whatever reason.

Certainly imagine this should remove any doubt that something like Dead Presidents which we all know would be near the top of their priorities from the Disney/BV library will probably be coming from Criterion in the near future.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

I was trying to find the thread to share this in, but I think it makes sense here, but it seems Disney is lightening on their grip of a lot of things. For at least a decade, Disney has really blocked repertory screenings of their classic cartoons, especially when played on film, but somehow after all these years, the New Beverly ran three classic features on prints from the 80s and ran Fantasia earlier this month. That film in partcular calls out to me as I was part of a screening for it years ago where Disney said it could only play on DCP. Additionally, the Academy Museum is running Oliver & Company on 35mm and may have another Disney film slated that’s also on film. If this screening happens, it’ll be an extra surprise as it’s a Pixar film and cannot recall a Pixar film ever playing on film at a repertory theater.

I remember in the early DVD days, Anchor Bay releasing Disney oddities like Condorman, and hope to see similiar confounding releases from Mill Creek.

[beamish14]

I was trying to find the thread to share this in, but I think it makes sense here, but it seems Disney is lightening on their grip of a lot of things. For at least a decade, Disney has really blocked repertory screenings of their classic cartoons, especially when played on film, but somehow after all these years, the New Beverly ran three classic features on prints from the 80s and ran Fantasia earlier this month. That film in partcular calls out to me as I was part of a screening for it years ago where Disney said it could only play on DCP. Additionally, the Academy Museum is running Oliver & Company on 35mm and may have another Disney film slated that’s also on film. If this screening happens, it’ll be an extra surprise as it’s a Pixar film and cannot recall a Pixar film ever playing on film at a repertory theater.

I remember in the early DVD days, Anchor Bay releasing Disney oddities like Condorman, and hope to see similiar confounding releases from Mill Creek.

I’ve noticed this as well. I think Disney knows how small the repertory market is now, and they have no plans to have any more wide-scale releases of their pre-Pixar titles. I was stunned when the El Capitan showed a new DCP of The Black Cauldron a few years ago. They also showed a brand new 35mm print of Alice in Wonderland at LACMA.

I’m glad that Disney has some of the best archivists and has been so meticulous about preserving everything from day one, but it is so frustrating that titles which exist in radically different forms like the aforementioned Black Cauldron and Something Wicked This Way Comes are still only available in their studio-mandated versions.

[senseabove]

I was trying to find the thread to share this in, but I think it makes sense here, but it seems Disney is lightening on their grip of a lot of things. For at least a decade, Disney has really blocked repertory screenings of their classic cartoons, especially when played on film, but somehow after all these years, the New Beverly ran three classic features on prints from the 80s and ran Fantasia earlier this month. That film in partcular calls out to me as I was part of a screening for it years ago where Disney said it could only play on DCP. Additionally, the Academy Museum is running Oliver & Company on 35mm and may have another Disney film slated that’s also on film. If this screening happens, it’ll be an extra surprise as it’s a Pixar film and cannot recall a Pixar film ever playing on film at a repertory theater.

On the flip side, Eddie Mueller said at this past week's Noir City, for which 17 of 24 films were 35mm, that the Fox films were difficult to arrange, especially difficult to get on 35mm, and a few of them were still up in the air as late as the week before the festival began. And even then the reason they were ultimately able to show them was a friend of the Noir Foundation who was formerly involved in collection management at Fox, pre-Disney handover, calling in some favors. So the thaw does not seem to be evenly spread across their holdings. (Though it's also worth noting that there were good DCPs of two Fox films, Call Northside 777 and Unfaithfully Yours, and given that neither has a disc release anywhere in the world afaict, it seems likely they were created post-handover.)

[beamish14]

I’m glad that Disney is OK with collectors’ prints being used. I’ve heard that WB is adamantly opposed to that, and may attempt to confiscate them or shut down screenings.

[hearthesilence]

I’m glad that Disney is OK with collectors’ prints being used. I’ve heard that WB is adamantly opposed to that, and may attempt to confiscate them or shut down screenings.

Ugh. IIRC, this is why the complete version of George Cukor's A Star Is Born hasn't been made available even though an excellent print of it still exists, correct? Basically, a private collector reportedly has it, but he won't reveal himself due to WB's past legal actions regarding print ownership. (i.e. he doesn't even want to try and sell it to them because they may sue and claim rightful ownership)

[cdnchris]

My only concern with this is that Mill Creek will almost certainly be using crummy masters for most of the releases, packing them on single-layer discs. Still, at this point, I'm happy that Disney is very open to licensing now, with this and then Criterion getting Fox titles and Wall-E of all things. But if Mill Creek doesn't release Ruthless People so I can retire my non-anamorphic DVD, I will be super-pissed.

[beamish14]

I’m glad that Disney is OK with collectors’ prints being used. I’ve heard that WB is adamantly opposed to that, and may attempt to confiscate them or shut down screenings.

Ugh. IIRC, this is why the complete version of George Cukor's A Star Is Born hasn't been made available even though an excellent print of it still exists, correct? Basically, a private collector reportedly has it, but he won't reveal himself due to WB's past legal actions regarding print ownership. (i.e. he doesn't even want to try and sell it to them because they may sue and claim rightful ownership)

It wouldn’t surprise me at all. I’ve heard that rumor, too

[beamish14]

My only concern with this is that Mill Creek will almost certainly be using crummy masters for most of the releases, packing them on single-layer discs. Still, at this point, I'm happy that Disney is very open to licensing now, with this and then Criterion getting Fox titles and Wall-E of all things. But if Mill Creek doesn't release Ruthless People so I can retire my non-anamorphic DVD, I will be super-pissed.

Out of all the Touchstone titles, what I want most is Blood In, Blood Out. It’s such a huge cult title, but it’s probably the single most graphically violent film to ever be produced by the studio, which is why it has a very subpar pan and scan DVD

[senseabove]

I’m glad that Disney is OK with collectors’ prints being used. I’ve heard that WB is adamantly opposed to that, and may attempt to confiscate them or shut down screenings.

I don't get the impression that's the case? Reputable archives like LACMA or the Academy, sure, but in fact, at last year's Nitrate Picture Show finale secret screening, the first reel of a European archive's IB Tech print of Pinocchio was unprojectable, so they tracked that reel down from a private collection print—making for the extremely rare opportunity to directly compare a non-IB Tech reel segueing immediately to an IB Tech reel—and their pre-screening discussion made it sound distinctly like a smuggling job, with that reel being sent back immediately after the screening.

Ugh. IIRC, this is why the complete version of George Cukor's A Star Is Born hasn't been made available even though an excellent print of it still exists, correct? Basically, a private collector reportedly has it, but he won't reveal himself due to WB's past legal actions regarding print ownership. (i.e. he doesn't even want to try and sell it to them because they may sue and claim rightful ownership)

It's all just rumor, but IIRC what I've read, what that collector actually has is a few reels of alternate takes of now-lost scenes, so not the initial release cut, but probably still of value for recreating it with something better than panning across set photos.

[beamish14]

I’m glad that Disney is OK with collectors’ prints being used. I’ve heard that WB is adamantly opposed to that, and may attempt to confiscate them or shut down screenings.

I don't get the impression that's the case? Reputable archives like LACMA or the Academy, sure, but in fact, at last year's Nitrate Picture Show finale secret screening, the first reel of a European archive's IB Tech print of Pinocchio was unprojectable, so they tracked that reel down from a private collection print—making for the extremely rare opportunity to directly compare a non-IB Tech reel segueing immediately to an IB Tech reel—and their pre-screening discussion made it sound distinctly like a smuggling job, with that reel being sent back immediately after the screening.

Interesting. The print of Fantasia that Dandy mentioned came directly from Quentin Tarantino’s archives, but perhaps they don’t want to rock the boat with such a notable collector

It’s interesting how Universal doesn’t even take action when stuff they no longer possess is screened, like 70mm blowup prints from the 80’s. All they want is the licensing fee

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

I’m glad that Disney is OK with collectors’ prints being used. I’ve heard that WB is adamantly opposed to that, and may attempt to confiscate them or shut down screenings.

I don't get the impression that's the case? Reputable archives like LACMA or the Academy, sure, but in fact, at last year's Nitrate Picture Show finale secret screening, the first reel of a European archive's IB Tech print of Pinocchio was unprojectable, so they tracked that reel down from a private collection print—making for the extremely rare opportunity to directly compare a non-IB Tech reel segueing immediately to an IB Tech reel—and their pre-screening discussion made it sound distinctly like a smuggling job, with that reel being sent back immediately after the screening.

Interesting. The print of Fantasia that Dandy mentioned came directly from Quentin Tarantino’s archives, but perhaps they don’t want to rock the boat with such a notable collector

As were the three that played in August. I'm assuming that Disney doesn't want to bother Tarantino. Then again, with the Academy screenings happening as well, maybe there's an understanding of being able to see these films in their original format for a modern audience. We'll see if the Pixar screening I mention happens on 35mm as that to me is extremely strange.

I’m glad that Disney is OK with collectors’ prints being used. I’ve heard that WB is adamantly opposed to that, and may attempt to confiscate them or shut down screenings.

I think it's a little bit of both. When they did a Cinerama screening of The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm years ago, one of the three parts of the projected image had to be borrowed off a German collector with the specific stipulation that the film print could not be repossessed by Warner. Warner is one of the best studios for keeping track of their prints, but will sometimes allow collector prints to play in the rare instance that the print can't be sourced. I believe they did that with a screening of Tsui Hark's The Blade many years ago as their one print in storage had no subtitles.

On the flip side, Eddie Mueller said at this past week's Noir City, for which 17 of 24 films were 35mm, that the Fox films were difficult to arrange, especially difficult to get on 35mm, and a few of them were still up in the air as late as the week before the festival began. And even then the reason they were ultimately able to show them was a friend of the Noir Foundation who was formerly involved in collection management at Fox, pre-Disney handover, calling in some favors. So the thaw does not seem to be evenly spread across their holdings. (Though it's also worth noting that there were good DCPs of two Fox films, Call Northside 777 and Unfaithfully Yours, and given that neither has a disc release anywhere in the world afaict, it seems likely they were created post-handover.)

I wonder if they're still sorting our issues specifically with the handling of the archive at Fox? The only classic era Fox film I can recall seeing in theaters in recent memory was a screening of Thieves Highway, which was a DCP with that smooth, waxy look you get on the Criterion Blu-rays of Fox films.

[dwk]

The Mill Creek deal is just for previously released titles. Nothing new.

[soundchaser]

The Mill Creek deal is just for previously released titles. Nothing new.

That monkey's paw really working overtime for this.

[cdnchris]

Dammit

[captveg]

That deal should at least make several OOP titles from the 20th Century and Disney archives available again, presuming they use similar enough encodes on the same source masters.

[FrauBlucher]

With Criterion's favorite pastime of sitting on titles, makes me wonder about how many 20th Century titles they could be sitting on from prior to Fox/Disney sale

[ianthemovie]

This Digital Bits review of the DMC exclusive 4K release of Cinderella has me intrigued. A considerable bit of the grain, texture, and color that had been scrubbed from previous Blu-ray editions are now said to be restored. I was figuring I would probably pass on getting this, but now I'm curious. I wonder if anyone has seen it and can weigh in on how it looks.

[yoloswegmaster]

Here a few screenshot comparisons between the previous BD and the new 4K master. It looks much better now but it needs to be said that they didn't add the original mono track to the 4K release.

[ianthemovie]

Snow White will be released on 4K on October 10.

[beamish14]

According to NZPete, who runs the absolutely fantastic Matte Shot blog and maintains close friendships with a lot of old school VFX people, Disney sent out invites in November for crew members who worked on Something Wicked This Way Comes to watch Jack Clayton’s original cut. Clips of this iteration also screened a number of years ago at a film music conference, but I strongly suspect they’re testing the waters and moving towards releasing this version.