How would you like to spend $1,500 on 100 Disney blu-ray discs (1080p) in celebration of Disney 100?
This is actual insanity.
If the discs were in 4k or if this was released a decade ago, I could see the price point. But most of these movies are not worth $15 in 1080p in 2023. The collectability aspect of this is neat (e.g., CoA, crystal Mickey ears, lithograph). But the price point is just shocking, especially when you consider that a Disney+ membership (offering you most films in 4k and more) is under $15/month.
Is it just me or are companies completely out of touch with their consumers nowadays?
Trying to ride the wave of their own TCG perhaps. I’m a die hard movie buff, but even I am selective with physical media. Odd pricing for sure, but Im sure slapping the terms “legacy” and “limited edition” works.
Definitely isn’t just you. Wizards $1000 proxy fiasco really slapped me in the face and woke me up to how out of touch most companies are these days.
If you think pokemon fans are odd then you dont know disney fanatics. This is not that absurd of a thing for disney depending on the versions of the movie it includes. I think this is the first bluray release that will include the black cauldron. Theres also a few others that are harder to find like 3 caballeros, make mine music, fun and fancy free, saludos amigos, and return to neverland. Notable absences are aladdin 2 and 3, bedknobs and broomsticks, and mary poppins. Strange choices are jungle book 2 and planes fire and rescue.
If I had the money and didnt have almost every one of those already individually, Id consider it but the price is outrageous when considering the value Id get unless it is full unedited features with all extra content that came on the individual blu rays.
Oh and to the original point that companies are out of touch, absolutely. But 100 blu rays, most of which arent cheaper individually, of childhood or at least child friendly movies that can be watched for 15 years without mysteriously being removed or altered in some way, isnt that bad of a deal. This isnt that out of line with normal costs, it just puts them all together in one bundle.
Disney fanatics are definitely on another level lol. When I was getting to know one of my former coworkers, I jokingly mentioned I had an unhealthy obsession with collecting Pokemon cards. I must have made him feel comfortable because he proceeded to show me all the Disney related stuff that he buys. My god was it a lot, and very expensive! He would even go to Disney parks multiple times a year to purchase special edition items, like Mickey Mouse ears.
This kind of collection is definitely something he’ll purchase, as ridiculous as it is.
I used to collect DVDs/Blu-Rays, but I gave that up roughly 10 years ago as the advent of streaming became more popular. There’s almost no reason to own physical copies in 2023, unless you are a videophile or audiophile and are incredibly discerning with picture/sound.
Paying for streaming is paying for convenience. I still regularly use blurays and dvds (need to find myself a vhs player for the few of those format movies I have that were never released in disc form). Sometimes the behind the scenes and extras or even commentary are worth having discs. Other times inconvenience is beneficial to making a special event of a movie and slows life down as opposed to instant gratification.
Somewhat. It’s a bit more than convenience when the picture quality (4k) is higher than all of my DVD (720p or 1080i) and Blu-Ray (1080p) collection.
100% agreed. I will never get rid of some of my discs simply because they contain content that I can’t find anywhere else. Others I am deeply attached to because I watched them over and over again for decades. But I would be lying to myself if I said that I didn’t prefer the convenience, picture/sound quality, and price point of streaming.
100% agreed with this too. There is something very special about sitting down with someone who has never watched a film and introducing them to a whole new world with the ritual that is grabbing the disc, plugging in the player, hooking up the cords, skipping the ads, and starting the film.
The reason to own physical anything is that you actually own it, or as close to owning it as is allowed these days. I buy physical games whenever I can. I don’t personally care about movies enough to buy physical copies, but I would if I did.
Why would I let companies decide when a piece of media should be gone forever? There are already several instances of media that only existed on streaming platforms that have been removed by the services, and they might as well just not exist.
The main differences here between games and movies is that movies will never disappear from the internet. I can think of many websites that stream movies in 1080p or higher for free. Legality/Ethicality of these websites is a different story.
So owning a disc really offers no utility beyond having access to features that have not made it to the internet. And this is coming from someone who is/was a film nerd with a significant (and defunct) collection.
The fact that those internet archives need to exist for games and movies is exactly my point. Yes, obviously part of why they exist is because people want to watch free media, but a lot of why they exist is because everything needs to be archived since the companies that create this content don’t give a crap. They actively do not want you consuming old media because it stops you from constantly buying new media.
The only exception is when they can bundle it all up with a nice bow and sell it to you again, like this Disney collection. Which, despite the insane price point, will 100% sell out and they know that.
Most companies that make entertainment in the TV/movie industry love when people watch their older content. They’re making money (e.g., direct sales to consumers, licensing, royalties, revenue sharing, territorial/international agreements) on old content without putting in any capital beyond the attorney fees to write up contracts.
Streaming allows: 1) consumers to gain access to thousands of TV shows/movies without paying for them individually and 2) companies to get paid on content that would otherwise die or become irrelevant.
The internet archives exist because people are cheap and don’t want to pay for TV/films that they could not otherwise access on streaming platforms…
