Disney Vault
The "Disney Vault" was a term formerly used by The Walt Disney Company for its policy of regularly placing sales moratoria on home video releases of specific animated feature films. Each Walt Disney Animation Studios film was available for purchase for a limited time, and then placed "in the vault", unavailable for retail sales, pending some future re-release.
Following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney and the launch of the streaming service Disney+ in 2019, the notion of the Disney Vault has been used by journalists to describe practices by Walt Disney Studios restricting many more back-catalogue theatrical films from cinema screenings.[1]
History
This is the modern version of Disney's practice of re-releasing its
With the release of the Signature Collection in 2016, Disney released three movies per year instead of two. By 2022, all of the films that were vaulted had been fully released.
When Disney's streaming service and namesake Disney+ was announced in 2019, Disney CEO Bob Iger stated that the service would contain Disney's entire film library, which would de facto retire the concept of the Disney Vault as a home video control device.[4] However, the service fails to include much of Disney's library, and a separate practice restricting repertory screenings of films from the Disney back-catalogue remains in effect. Following Disney's purchase of 21st Century Fox for its entertainment assets, Disney withdrew the Fox film library from distribution to theaters (with the notable exception of The Rocky Horror Picture Show), effectively placing the Fox back-catalog in the Vault.[1]
One Disney film that remains vaulted is 1946's Song of the South. The film has not aired on American television since 2001, nor has it ever been released on home video in the United States, due to criticism of its portrayal of African-Americans. In 2010, and again in 2020, Iger stated that the film would not be re-released on DVD or Disney+.[5][6]
In May 2023, Disney announced that it would permanently remove dozens of underperforming films and TV series from its
Controls
The Walt Disney Company itself stated that this process was done to both control their market and to allow Disney films to be fresh for new generations of young children.[9] A side-effect of the moratorium process was that videos and DVDs of Disney films placed on moratorium become collectibles, sold in stores and at auction websites such as eBay for sums in excess of their original suggested retail price. The practice had also made the Disney films a prime target for bootleg DVD manufacturers.[10]
Films
The following films were considered to be subject to release and later return to the Disney Vault.[11]
Main features
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
- Pinocchio (1940)
- Fantasia (1940)
- Dumbo (1941)
- Bambi (1942)
- Cinderella (1950)
- Alice in Wonderland (1951)
- Peter Pan (1953)
- Lady and the Tramp (1955)
- Sleeping Beauty (1959)
- 101 Dalmatians (1961)
- The Jungle Book (1967)
- The Little Mermaid (1989)
- Beauty and the Beast (1991)
- Aladdin (1992)
- The Lion King (1994)
Sequels
- The Return of Jafar (1994)
- Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996)
- Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997)
- Belle's Magical World (1998)
- The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998)
- Fantasia 2000 (1999)
- The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (2000)
- Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure (2001)
- Return to Never Land (2002)
- Cinderella II: Dreams Come True (2002)
- 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure (2003)
- The Jungle Book 2 (2003)
- The Lion King 1½ (2004)
- Bambi II (2006)
- Cinderella III: A Twist in Time (2007)
- The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning (2008)
See also
References
- ^ a b Zoller-Seitz, Matt (October 24, 2019). "Disney Is Quietly Placing Classic Fox Movies Into Its Vault, and That's Worrying". Vulture. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
- ^ "Front Row, Sofa! - Di$ney Does The Little Mermaid". dvdfuture.com. Archived from the original on October 13, 2007. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
- Gannett Company. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
- ^ Perez, Sarah (March 8, 2019). "Disney's forthcoming streaming service will kill the Disney Vault". Tech Crunch. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
- ^ "Iger keeping options open for ABC". The Hollywood Reporter. 10 March 2010.
- ^ "Bob Iger Confirms 'Song of the South' Won't be Added to Disney+, Even with Disclaimer". 11 March 2020.
- ^ "Disney Removes Dozens of Series from Disney+ & Hulu, Including 'Big Shot', 'Willow', 'Y' & 'Dollface'". 18 May 2023.
- ^ "Disney to Take $1.5 Billion Content Write-Off Charge in June Quarter After Pulling Dozens of Titles from Streaming Services". 2 June 2023.
- ^ Hoffman, Ilene (November 1997). "Buena Vista Home Entertainment: A Very Lucky Accident Indeed". Animation World Network. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
- Univision Communications.
- ^ Mullins, Jenna (February 6, 2015). "Disney is taking a Movie out of the Vault, but why do they hold our childhoods hostage in the first place?!". E!. NBCUniversal. Retrieved February 6, 2016.