Mazje

Thanks for this. The only reason I was getting the stupid drum was because I figured this would be the only way you could get the other two movies. My kids like 2, and I actually enjoyed 1.5, so it's good to know we aren't tied to the big box set. Canceled my preorder.

The Monkees

I'm passing on the trilogy set it's just too damn expensive and there's too many other things I want on Tuesday. $75 is just a bit too much for my taste. I got my iron pack from Best Buy today and will just pick up the regular edition on Tuesday and will eventually get the other 2 next year when they are released separately.

Matthew Chmiel

I cancelled my pre-order on the trilogy set not because it was expensive, but because I hated how the discs were packaged (the packaging that holds the discs is very similar in fashion to the Tron limited edition set). I'm completely fine with the four-disc set for now,

I've never seen the DTV sequels, but if I can get them for cheap post-coupon, I might be down for the single releases. However, like others, I would've preferred all the original DVD bonus material on the disc itself rather than that virtual vault crap.

Superdaddy

Same here, but this is unfortunately par for the course with Disney BDs. I've held onto every single Disney DVD I have, due to bonus features either being dropped or tossed in these stupid "virtual vaults."

The only exceptions are two of the old barebones "Gold" editions, and I'll probably pass along my Platinum DVDs of Sleeping Beauty and Pinocchio to my kids eventually, since they were released at the same time as the BDs and all of their features appear to be present on the BD releases.

Isny

I actually spoke with a rep at D23 who works on the DVD authoring for Disney and he gave me some insight on the Virtual Vault and why they do it.

(No this isn't the same rep who gave me bad info on the 8 disc Lion King being delayed, but who knows if it was delayed and then they managed to get it out in time anyways, lol)

What they told me was that the main reason for doing the vault is due to cost. Disney allocates a certain budget to the company who does the DVD features/authoring for them and a certain amount of discs. They have no say in anything unfortunately, it's all the mouse's choice, and anyway they can save money they will.

Also, they want to keep the old special features in their native resolution, hence why it doesn't fill your screen when you use the Virtual Vault. Disney feels if they stretch it out and make it larger that it won't look good enough to present. (Either streaming or on the disc)

Travis McClain

Budget restraints, I understand. If this content necessitated any kind of remastering process or required an additional disc to manufacture and include, I could understand. I don't know offhand what content has been shunned into the Virtual Vault, but it almost has to be produced recently enough that a straight port in SD would be sufficient for most people and in any event preferable to the VV. And we are talking about Blu-ray; are we to believe that Disney has crammed their Blus with so much new bonus content they can't fit some older, SD content onto those discs? 'Cause they can store quite a bit.

Wait, what? Weren't they in a high enough resolution originally to fill my screen on DVD just a few years ago? The hell happened to their resolution between then and now?

ScissorPuppy

Yeah those reasons sound like fluff. HDTV's can show SD dvd features just fine and porting over what probably amounts to 3 or 4 gigs from a dvd to the massive space available on a Blu Ray shouldn't be a huge cost factor.

Michael Corvin

Budget restraints on a 17 year old film that raked in over $50 million in the past couple weeks?

Travis McClain

I interpreted what Isny was told to mean that the Disney home video department has its own operating budget and they have to spread that around to all the home video releases. So, while The Lion King would be an obvious priority, they still have to budget for all the other releases. For instance, obviously The Fox and the Hound was much lower on the totem pole; they threw in the DTV sequel, some fluff piece on unlikely critter companions and called it a day. It's not, then, that they didn't have enough to spend on The Lion King; it's that they had to have some left over for other, lesser releases.

Disney would have made a fortune off The Lion King without adding any new bonus content. I think the days of casual fans wanting or caring about bonus content have more or less passed. Studios have scaled back on supplements in large part because viewers don't seem to really care. They like deleted scenes and outtakes (especially for comedies), but by now I think most casual viewers feel like they know how movies are made and there's not much new to be learned from seeing the CGI team at ILM work on Transformers after having already seen them work on Star Wars.

If you're a studio, the question becomes, "Why are we even producing these supplements?" They used to add to perceived value of a DVD--particularly when the second generation of DVDs came out; the 2-Disc Special Editions that made their barebones single-disc, movie-only predecessors seem quaint. I can easily see why Disney would say, "Look, we're only going to spend $X on this bonus content stuff. If we don't add some, they'll think we're cheap but we all know most of our customers will never actually watch this stuff anyway, so there's no point throwing a lot of money at it."

Isny

This is what I got out of the conversation with the Disney rep. You hit the nail on the head.

Remember as well, Disney doesn't do these releases themselves. They give a budget to another company who creates the special features and authors the releases, so all that company can do is work with the limitations given to them while still adding the features Disney wants to push on people. (Second Screen, Digital Copies, etc.)

In regards to the quality of the content, they don't want terribad looking SD content on a Blu Ray release unless it's small enough so that you can't notice the quality, hence the Virtual Vault.

Anubis2005X

I think I'm going to trade in my DVD copy of Lion King. I don't really care about the special features being on BD Live, so it's not really worth it to hang on to the DVD for me. Unless someone knows a good reason I should do so?

Travis McClain

If you don't keep your DVD, the terrorists win.

Anubis2005X

For a bit of cash and more space on my shelf, I'm gonna risk it!

Travis McClain

You heard it, folks. Anubis2005X hates America. Before you commit, though, you might want to consult Anwar al-Awlaki about this.

More seriously, though, I'm keeping mine because I bought the box set with the sketch cards and the hardcover book. If I just had the regular DVD release, I'd trade it in. The DVD in the combo pack really makes the elder DVD rather superfluous.

gryffinmaster

Same here. Very handsome set.

Artman

I must've missed it, so, similar to the Snow White BR, Lion King didn't carry over all of the DVD extras? Disappointing, but I can't say I watched the previous extras to begin with, so... still planning to pick it up this wk. (2D version, not paying a cent more for discs I won't use)

Brewc

I've seen pricing for the Drum set at $69.99, don't like the look but may as well get it. Reasoning is I figure gonna spend $20 for $20 somwhere with coupon, the 1 1/2 and 2 will be $19.99 release, same as maters tall tales, $10 for the extras in this isn't too bad

Peep

I'm not sure if I understood you correctly. Are you saying that the drum set has extras exclusive to that set?

phrekyos

Amazon shipped my copy of the drum set (Lion King Trilogy) so it seems it's not delayed after all.

PopcornTreeCt

I wish The Lion King included Waking Sleeping Beauty.

Giles

I think nearly every bluray release from Disney (of their animated films) doesn't have everything that the DVD edition had.

Ignohippo

Gotta save something for the next release folks. All of the other speculation is nonsense. Disney has always held things back on their first releases in a format so that they can add them out for the next release in the hopes the die-hards will double-dip.

Randy Miller III

Hey guys. For those who haven't read my review yet, I made an addendum yesterday afternoon after I noticed something: there's a very short edit to the film that hasn't been in any other home video release. It's in relation to that hidden "SEX" image in the dust, which you may or may not believe (I don't). This is a very brief cut and hardly noticeable, so I didn't change any ratings or my recommendation. But I felt it was worth pointing out, as some folks are extremely picky about these things.

Review: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/50645/lion-king-the/
"SEX" controversy: http://www.snopes.com/disney/films/lionking.asp

Gizmo

If there is another release. Blu-ray looks to be it for physical media.

Travis McClain

There may be a secondary reason: Disney has historically understood the importance to their brand of influencing the secondary market for their products. Every studio takes movies out of print on an ongoing basis, but Disney announces it and makes a big deal of it. It creates a psychological reluctance to part ways with Disney movies that doesn't exist for other studios. Ergo, there's often a shortage of used Disney DVDs (and now Blu-rays) on the secondary market. By keeping some bonus content specific to each release, Disney also discourages the OCD collectors among us (yes, you, Trevor!) from re-selling older versions even once a new one has been released.

Every time I go to Half Price Books, they have some used Disney DVDs but they're almost exclusively either:

• Whatever is currently in print; typically a previous edition
• Pixar titles (which, I think, have mostly stayed in print in one edition or another)
• Lesser Disney fare like those Princess Sing-Along DVDs

I've rarely seen, say, Lady and the Tramp and I don't expect to until its Blu-ray release. And even then, I won't expect to see as many of that show up used as I would expect older editions of other popular movies to show up once a Blu-ray edition arrives.

Disney doesn't just have fans, or even collectors; they have loyalists. By publicizing their print production schedule the way they have, and now by the subtlety of keeping some bonus content specific to each edition, they've done as much as a studio really can do to discourage the proliferation of their movies on the secondary market. That means that when they decide to release a new edition of something, it's been a while since anyone has seen it on a shelf somewhere at a reasonable price. Consequently, they buy the new edition many (perhaps even most) keep their older editions and Disney maintains a highly valued product line. If I ran a studio, this is exactly how I'd have drawn up the home video scheme.