Disney fans take note: the company has released the list of movies due out on home release this spring. It’s a combination of films out of the vault, first time home releases, and TV on DVD. First up, coming out last week, is “Peter Pan.” In honor of the film’s 60th anniversary, this is Disney’s first Diamond Edition and Blu-Ray release of the classic. Another famous Peter also hit the shelves this week: Peter Parker, in “Ultimate Spider-Man: Avenging Spider-Man.” It’s one of the Marvel cartoons Disney’s currently producing.
This week, in anticipation of its prequel’s June release, “Monster’s Inc.” arrives back on Blu-Ray. It’s coming out in a 5-disc “Ultimate Collector’s Edition,” with Blu-Ray, 3D Blu-Ray, DVD-Blu-Ray combo, and digital copies of the film. Also out this week under Disney’s purview are the last season/final volume of Marvel cartoon “The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes,” and 1999 Al Pacino film “The Insider.” Next week, “Phineas and Ferb: Animal Agents” comes out on DVD.
March 5 sees the first home release of “Wreck-It Ralph,” Disney’s fantastic video-game-inspired film from late last year. It’s accompanied by the home release of the TV-movie debut of Disney’s latest princess: “Sofia the First: Once Upon A Princess.”
On March 12, Disney releases a bunch of combo packs of its films and their sequels. “Brother Bear/Brother Bear II,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame/The Hunchback of Notre Dame II” and “Mulan/Mulan II” are all coming out on the same day. Each set of films will release together in the same set. The packs also contain Blu-Ray and DVD editions of each film. Also coming out on March 12 is the Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.”
It’s certainly going to be a cluttered spring for Disney fans. If you’re not sure which films to purchase, I’d stick with “Wreck-It Ralph,” “Peter Pan,” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” I’ve seen the sequels to both “Mulan” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” and neither of them is very good. Both films should be easy to find at your local library, are available for rental on Amazon, and even have copies of DVDs (and in the case of “Hunchback,” Blu-Rays) still available for purchase on Amazon. If you’re really desperate to see the sequels, try to find them at the library first, because they just might not be worth the purchase.
The “Monsters Inc.” re-release doesn’t seem that noteworthy either; there isn’t that much unique to the set, merely that it contains a ton of discs for only one movie. The many movie formats currently in play – DVD, Blu-Ray, digital edition – has proved a boon for greedy film companies, but such a glutted pack seems like overkill.
Of course, the positive side is that the Disney Vault doesn’t seem as significant as it used to. Disney seems to love to constantly release various versions of its movies, so between the library and back copies still available on Amazon, it’s rarely hard to find a copy of your favorite Disney film.
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