Disney plans to reawaken its 1937 classic "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" on Blu-ray, seven weeks before the rerelease of the DVD.
Walt Disney's first full-length animated film will be making its high-definition debut.
The Oct. 6 Blu-ray package does include a standard definition DVD, though, as Disney has been doing with its recent classic-catalog rereleases. The Blu-ray exclusivity period is a new twist for the studio that championed the high-def format.
The solo DVD version of "Snow White" comes out Nov. 24, two days before the family-friendly Thanksgiving holiday.
As with all of the classic Walt Disney titles, availability will be limited by design. "Snow White" last came out on DVD in 2001 and was discontinued, but third-party copies have long been available on Amazon, most recently priced at $17.50.
Other Disney Platinum Edition combo packs on the market are the classics "Sleeping Beauty" and the just-released "Pinocchio."
With the combos, DVD buyers intending to upgrade to Blu-ray in the future are covered. The packs also provide insurance against a collapse of the Blu-ray format, unlikely in the medium term but conceivable. Another advantage that parents appreciate is having a less-valuable DVD that the kiddies can use/abuse for their multiple viewings while the Blu-ray remains pristine. And Disney, of course, gets to charge about $10 extra for putting a DVD in a package it was making anyway.
"Snow White" will unspool in widescreen (1.33:1) with 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Disney didn't list the extras, but viewers familiar with the studio's home video presentations know pretty much what to expect. The combo lists for $40 while the double-disc DVD set is skedded for $30.
"Snow White" might be the fairest of them all in HD, but it'll have to top the excellent "Pinocchio," released in March as an HD-SD combo pack and double-DVD set.
Disney has done a good job keeping their movies fresh by not overmarketing them. We bought every single movie when our kids were little. Now we likely will do that on dvd once we have grand kids.
Posted by: arizona 13 | April 05, 2009 at 01:50 PM