This is not how Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment thought this particular retail fairy tale would play out.
Back in January when the Mouse announced that “Sleeping Beauty” would be the first Disney Platinum Edition title to be released on Blu-ray, executives in that division of the Walt Disney Company hoped that this Hi-Def disc would help convince consumers that they really needed to adopt the next generation of DVD technology.
Unfortunately, nine months later, a worldwide credit crunch has U.S. consumers reconsidering their spending habits. Which isn’t exactly the best time to try & sell shoppers on the idea that they now need to revamp their home entertainment systems.
To further complicate this situation, one of the key selling points of the “Sleeping Beauty” Blu-ray is that it’s the first WDSHE title to make use of BD-Live technology. Which — provided that you’re watching this Hi-Def disc on an Internet-connected player — will then allow you to experience a whole new level of social networking & interactivity.
“Which means what exactly?,” you ask. Well, by taking advantage of BD-Live’s many features, you can:
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- Through “Movie Chat,” watch a movie together with other networked users and chat in real-time by making use of devices like PCs, iPhones or Blackberrys. You can also record images of yourself, superimpose that video within the film that’s being shown and then send that clip along to other networked BD-Live users.
- Through the “Movie Challenge” feature, you and your friends & family will be able to play a title-specific trivia game while watching that movie together. With the points you accumulate, you then “purchase” themed wallpaper & ringtones at the “Disney Movie Rewards Live” shop.
In short, with BD-Live technology, you no longer have to just passively watch a Disney movie. You and your friends & family can now actively take part in the Magic.
The only problem is … The Blu-ray players that will actually allow you to take advantage of BD-Live technology tend to be the newer, more expensive models. Which typically run $300 – $700 apiece. And given that the coming holiday shopping season is supposed to be the weakest in 17 years … One wonders who’s going to purchase these pricey players. Especially since rumors abound that — come Black Friday — the Big Boxes will be selling Blu-ray units for $149 or less.
“So people will still be buying Blu-ray players at the post-Thanksgiving sales,” you say. “How is that supposed to hurt the Mouse?” Well, those lower priced machines will most likely not feature an Internet connection. Which means that they won’t be BD-Live compatible. Which means that many consumers then won’t be able to take advantage of this highly touted WDSHE Blu-ray feature. Which is likely to have some sort of blowback effect on sales levels for these Hi-Def discs.
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Which is really not what Disney and / or the home entertainment industry needed to hear right now. Especially since sales of Blu-ray players have been slower than expected. Thanks — in large part — to the fact that many consumers have yet to be convinced that they actually need to upgrade their current DVD set-up.
Still, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment remains committed to this format. Which is why — back in August — they announced an ambitious new plan that will (in theory, anyway) help spur Blu-ray sales. This involves the Mouse making five of its more highly-sought-after Platinum Edition titles — “Pinocchio,” “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves,” “Beauty & the Beast,” “Fantasia” and “Fantasia 2000” — available for purchase in the Blu-ray format.
As you might expect, just like with “Sleeping Beauty,” all five of these WDSHE titles will be BD-Live capable. Which (it is hoped) will make these particular Blu-rays highly desirable to those tech-heads & teens who must always have the latest & greatest.
Which is all well & good. Except that Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment wasn’t really targeting early adopters with this new Blu-ray initiative. This time around, the Mouse wanted to convince a far large group of consumers that it had to embrace the next generation of DVD technology. Mickey was trying to sell these folks on the idea that they’d really missing out of something special if they didn’t upgrade to Blu-ray.
But given the negative impact that the credit crunch has already had on consumer spending levels … Convincing consumers that they need to upgrade to Blu-ray right now is going to be an uphill battle.
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Still, it’s not all been bad news on the Blu-ray front. Take — for example — last week’s announcement. When Jon Favreau revealed that — after two days of being on sale — the Hi-Def version of “Iron Man” had just become the best selling Blu-ray title of all time.
Disney hopes that — when “Sleeping Beauty” goes on sale today — that the Blu-ray version of this 1959 animated classic will eventually able to eclipse “Iron Man” ‘s sales record. More importantly, that their newest Hi-Def release will then be able to avoid some of the BD-Live related pitfalls that tripped up the Blu-ray version of “Iron Man.”
Still, in spite of the Credit Crunch and all of these tech-related concerns, Disney remains committed to Blu-ray. More importantly, BD-Live. In fact, to hear WDSHE president Bob Chapek talk:
” This is not just technology for technology’s sake … (BD-Live may) push (WDSHE) to reach heights that have never been before imagined. (Which is why) every subsequent Disney title will have BD-Live.”
But what do you folks think? Was it really wise for Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment to tie its future to a technology like BD-Live? Which seems to place far more importance on interactivity and social networking opportunities than it does on the movies themselves?
Your thoughts?