Why does Disney release special edition versions of movies then after a year put them in the vault forever

[DodgerGirl]

When I would buy Disney movies I noticed that whenever they released special editions of movies such as The Little Mermaid or Cinderella they would release them then around Christmas Disney would put commercials saying that it was your last chance to buy that movie because the film would be in the vault next year and I wondered why they did this? Was it to give the movies more selling time or was it due to the film becoming a possible collector's item. Take for instance when Aladdin debuted on DVD for the first time in 2004 it was a big seller but once it got put in the vault the original Aladdin DVD from 2004 is rare to find and the same thing with Beauty And The Beast's DVD release in 2001 and what it tells me is that Disney made limited copies of these films when they first came out. And when the DVD of Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs came out in 2001 it was a hit but ever since the new Blu-Ray version and Diamond Edition of Snow White came out the original Snow White DVD is very hard to come by. A second thing I noticed about Disney movies is that they used to advertise the debut of a new edition of a classic film than the film never gets released. Take for instance Disney was gonna rerelease Sleeping Beauty in a new video edition in 1991 but it was then pushed to 1997 and the original 1987 Sleeping Beauty video is rare to obtain. Now due to Alice In Wonderland becoming popular again it makes me think Disney will make a new edition DVD of Alice In Wonderland and the original DVD will be rare to find now
Why did Disney do this with their animated movies?

 

[maltdizzy]

Ah, the "Disney Vault".

Back before home video and widespread cable TV, you had two ways to see a classic movie, either catch it the one time it aired on TV that year ...or... very popular films were often re-released in cinemas. For many, that was the only way to ever see the film in its intact form — not edited to fit the screen, not edited for time, and not interrupted with commercials — on the big screen with popcorn on your lap. For The Walt Disney Co., this was a great way to reintroduce a classic film to new generations of fans. Each dace Snow White would come out and a new set of parents would take a new set of children to the theater to see what their parents took them to see.

The Disney Vault was a way to get that same concept with home video sales. A film would be released, often with new features every 7-10 years, and a new generation of parents would buy it up for show their kids. If the film was always available, if it's too easy to access, someone will say, "maybe next time"; but if its availability was limited, that created a since of urgency. Most films sold 80+% of all copies in the first two or three weeks they are released on home video (family films general faired better, people are always making new kids). With the Disney Vault, Disney could get those same sales, on the same film, every decade.

But, today people want to have access to everything, everywhere, all at once. It doesn't matter if they'll ever watch it, they just expect it to be available in case they ever want to. So the market is changing, and Disney is changing with it.

 

[DodgerGirl]

Why I think Disney decided to rerelease movies in Special Edition DVDs and videos was to sell the DVDs and videos at a cheaper price because back in the 90's Disney launched the Gold collection series of movies that had a smart vision and an idea to release a different movie every month and it worked. Because previously before the launch of the Gold Collection they released the Masterpiece Collection which was the same thing as the Black Diamond Collection but renamed under a new name. But I think with the movies such as Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs Aladdin Cinderella The Lion King being released in new Diamond Edition Blu-Rays and DVD's I think this will mean the first editions will be more collectible for fans

 

[BrianL]

My favorite editions were the Blurays with multiple movies, including the direct-to-video sequesl. I would have never bought them aon their own, but at that price-point the sequesl were basically free bonus content.

 

[DodgerGirl]

Another thing that I could never ever figure out about Disney movies being released and then being put back in the vault was that the commercials used to advertise that it was your last chance to buy that movie because it was the last time in the century to own it. Disney started doing this when Fantasia was released on video and then when Pinocchio was released in the 90's on video for the very first time they claimed the same thing with Pinocchio but then it was basically a lie that Disney did to fans. I also can't figure out why Disney started putting three packs of the same movie with the sequels in them and to me it was alright but many people own movies like Cinderella and The Little Mermaid already so why package them like this and my guess is so people get them just to get the sequels because the sequels alone are hard to find by themselves and when you find the copy of the Disney sequel you want they want big time money for it. Take for example I can never figure out why Beauty And The Beast The Enchanted Christmas is so hard to find on DVD and when you find a copy of it you have to pay 30,99 for it and the original first edition of that movie is rare and you might think because it's a Disney Christmas movie the price for it would be lower and later Disney put Beauty And The Beast The Enchanted Christmas in a two-pack collection with Belle's Magical World and now it's in the vault for good. My guess is that Disney didn't sell very many copies of Beauty And The Beast The Enchanted Christmas on DVD when it first made it's DVD debut and so it's considered a collector's item now

 

[maxbuffmelvin]

The bonus content was worth the purchase price.

 

[starry_solo]

Money of course. We have three DVD/blu ray versions of Beauty and the Beast. Would have had two for Mulan but the second version kept having issues in one scene.

 

[DodgerGirl]

My aunt had always wanted the original 1988 VHS version of Cinderella but had never been able to find it and by the time the rerelease of Cinderella was released on VHS in 1996 my aunt couldn't find the original Cinderella 1988 VHS and I always wondered if the first VHS version of Cinderella from 1988 got put in the vault when the rerelease of Cinderella in 1996 came out on VHS? My aunt has started her own small collection of Disney movies and she tries to get them before they go in the Disney Vault and among the movies she has are Pinocchio and Beauty And The Beast and Enchanted and her thrift shop gets the movies before they get in the Disney Vault and my aunt hopes to add more Disney movies to her collection soon