A few words about Disney’s new strategy and moratorium plans

Yesterday the Walt Disney Company announced its new strategies regarding their future home video and DVD plans, which in essence limits a number of their animated classics in availability by putting them in their accustomed moratorium loop. But at the same time, Disney is taking 26 animated features out of this loop to make them permanently available, all year round.

The new policy raises some interesting questions, namely how is the moratorium going to be handled for the titles we are currently seeing released?

A Buena Vista representative told us that unfortunately this area is still a little unclear and will have to be adjusted and detailed out over time. It seems obvious however, that the new policy will supercede Disney’s previous plans to put these films on a 10 year moratorium after their release early next year. The new strategy asks for a release of all permanent titles within two years, which includes many of the films we are currently seeing released.

At the same time it will be interesting to see how Disney is handling the Platinum titles, most notably, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid, Lady and the Tramp and 101 Dalmatians. But then again, since the new strategy is the latest of Disney’s plans, it is certainly safe to assume that the company will adjust its previous plans to accommodate its new ones.

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