When it comes to the home
entertainment launch of director Sam Rami’s Oz the Great and Powerful
it appears to be a case of fire, ready, aim!
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has somewhat haphazardly, it
would seem, set a June 11 street date for a four-SKU release of this theatrical
smash.
What makes this a curious
move is threefold.
First, the announcement
comes after the pre-book date of Apr. 30, which leaves no solicitation
period. That is becoming a common
occurrence with these mega-theatrical hits these days. The reasons for the seemingly backwards way
of launching a major property into the home entertainment market place are not
exactly clear (and we won’t even go there with this one).
So that’s the first
curious move on the part of the studio.
An announce date after pre-book.
No big deal, if you have the gold — and in this case we are talking
about a film that has pulled in $228.9 million in domestic ticket sales — you
can set any date you please.
Which leads us to the
second curious element in this mix. Why
June 11? A street date on the cusp of
summer, with consumers focused on the big summer theatrical hits seems a bit
odd for a film of this magnitude.
Frankly, we pegged this for an early September window with sales being
generated all the way through Christmas.
OK, odd, but when you
have the gold you can (drum roll, please) pick any damn date you want! June 11.
Perfect. No argument.
The ARR, by the way, is a zippy 95 days.
The third curious element
in this rush-rush-rush to market push for Oz the Great and Powerful comes in
the form of the SKU configuration. The
3D and 2D versions are being packaged separately.
No big deal, but Disney
has been putting out 3D/2D Blu-ray Combo Packs on a regular basis, but their new
wrinkle here is that if a consumer buys the 3D edition and was expecting to
also have the 2D viewing option, they will have to mail in a check for $5.99
(plus whatever shipping and handling is involved in the process) to get that
Blu-ray disc (how they store it once they get it is a matter of conjecture).
When you have the gold
you can do anything you please, but this smacks of a tin man’s ear when it
comes to good PR and keeping your consumer base happy. We suspect that there will be few takers for
this offer … and the push/pull for the 3D platform will prove to be
disappointing for this ill-conceived marketing ploy.
So there you have it, the
curious case of Oz the Great and Powerful.
As to the movie itself, there
has to be one big sigh of relief (WHEW!) over at the mouse kingdom. When it comes to doing a remake, a rework or
a re-imagining of a family (and cult) classic like The Wizard of Oz, you had
better do it right and not in anyway mock or offend the fans (just ask Michael
Jackson … oops, on second thought, can’t do that).
Filmmaker Sam Rami sets
just the right tone. Oz
the Great and Powerful is the perfect companion piece … Bravo!
As to SKU configuration,
there will be a stand-alone DVD edition (with a Digital Copy option), which
comes with a blooper reel and the featurette titled “Walt Disney and the Road
to Oz.”
On the Blu-ray side of
the ledger, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has a stand-alone Blu-ray
SKU (with Digital Copy) — the SRP is $39.99 — which includes the same bonus
features as the DVD edition, plus five additional featurettes: “My Journey in
Oz by James Franco,” “Mr. Elfman's
Musical Concoctions,” “China Girl and the Suspension of Disbelief,” “Before
Your Very Eyes: From Kansas to Oz and “Mila's Metamorphosis.”
There are also the
aforementioned Blu-ray 3D SKU (with Digital Copy) — the SRP is $44.99 — but
there are no bonus features listed (we believe that to possibly be an
oversight, and that all of the aforementioned Blu-ray bonus features are
include here … but then we could be wrong) and a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack (with
Digital Copy) — the SRP is also $44.99.
Four buying options in
all, which seems like one too many, especially with the $5.99 add on deal. It makes for something of a marketing and PR
mess … and it would seem that such a plan could only piss consumers off in the
long run.
But then what do I know
about anything to do with the marketing of an Oz film in the home
entertainment arena!
To download this week's
complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report: DVD & Blu-ray Release Report