THE DISNEY LOCKBOX

Remember when Disney VHS videos were all the rage? In fact they were so special, Disney had a policy of re-releasing its ANIMATED classics only once every ten years to limit supply, increase demand and create scarcity. This policy doesn’t apply to live action, Pixar, or other co-branded productions. So gee I guess all that macroeconomics I studied in college really was ‘kids play’; because even at the ‘Happiest Place on Earth’, CARTOONS heed the basics.

Why I started thinking about this topic was that I purchased a Toy Story 2 VHS video in its original oversized plastic case from a garage sale for a buck. I am not particularly in love with the movie or seeking it to complete my valuable collection. It just seemed kind of ‘dishonored’ among the piles of valueless junk and I thought I should give it a home.

Disney though fairly late to the DVD game due to their hedged bet with DivX, continues to preserve their most famous animated titles in the famed Disney vault. Similar to the VHS video policy, DVD’s are released for a limited time as ‘special editions’ or some similar language, before production ceases for up to ten years. This release period is a very short 60 days so of course demand is quite high and top dollar can be charged for the product.

What will be interesting is, since the degradation rate of DVD technology is much slower than VHS tape, what will Disney do if there is too much product floating around of a vaulted video over the next ten years? With VHS, you could assume that half the product would be lost to wear and accidents alone. Of the remaining half, a good portion is archived by collectors and just old Disney ‘softees’ like me, saving some good memories from the junk heap. Wow, if Disney would REALLY release Wall-E every 10 years, he could help me clean-up all of my accumulated and antiquated VALUELESS video junk . . . for my wife, that would REALLY be special.