Really? I really liked the cover art, actually. Even though they are rehashed clip art. Haha 
To add fuel to the fire, what’s the point of even releasing Ratatouille on DVD when you aren’t going to take advantage of the format? Apart from the better picture, and sound quality, why not just release it on VHS, or buy it from iTunes? If someone were to create a petition, I’d sign it. It’s a bit too late for Ratatouille, but hopefully someone from Pixar will pay attention and we will get a satisfactory 2-disc for Wall.E.
No, it isn’t right, nor is it fair. They probably went all out on the High School Music DVD because they want to keep the little fangirls happy so they will continue buying into the franchise. Us Pixar fans are a niche market - we don’t have much of an input in how Disney or Pixar market their releases because their just aren’t that many of us. Pretty sad really, when the message of Ratatouille is all about “quality over quantity”, but Pixar let Disney distribute their DVDs with the bare minimum of extras, especially when we are used to the fantastic Pixar DVD releases of the past.
It just doesn’t make sense. This is Disney’s way of cutting corners, and Pixar are letting them get away with it. It doesn’t live up to their motto, and they really should stand for themselves. Come on, John Lasseter, do something!
You know, it has happened before, that if the fans and others kick up enough fuss and make big enough noise, the company makes a compromise or gives in and listens to the fans and what they want.
For eg. Jericho. CBS was going to take it off, the fans kicked up a stink, Jericho lives!
Developers want SDK for iPhone and iPod Touch. Apple says “No! Use our spiffy web apps instead.” Fans grouch and groan. Apple says “Were going to give you a SDK in Feb '08.”
If kicked up enough stink, do you think Disney would listen? Like stink as in write letters to anyone and everyone in the corporate Disney/Pixar world. Open letters on the internet. Petitions. Flyers on the street pointing to open letters and petitions. You get the picture.
Kim Possible is proof it’s…possible. Haha. Fans managed to squeeze a fourth season outta Disney after the TV show’s preordained series finale.
~~=oP
Ok let’s do some math.
Depending on the size of the company, they usually start paying attention at around 3-5000 signatures on a petition.
Let’s say 5000. If the disc is sold at $30USD, well in the US alone they would make $150000 revenue. That’s just in the US right? Well think about how many more people in the US would buy it because it’s 2-Disc and nice special features, best reviewed film of 2007. There are a lot of other movie buffs out there that would snatch it up. Let’s say 20000 people in the US buy it. That’s $600000. I think they could easily make that. Considering how many people saw it at the cinemas and loved it, it would be safe to assume that 2-Disc set could milk out $1000000. In the US alone.
Well the French loved it! As well as a lot of other Europeans. You could sell 2 million copies over there. $60 million dollars!
In all actual factness, we are in a transition here from DVD to Blu-Ray. If Disney did release a 2-Disc Ratatouille edition in a few years along with Cars, well we would be right into the next gen by then, so what’s the point? Why did they even bother with the single disc? Why not give us 2-discs, and then in a few years release a better blu-ray version with some really cool features. Did you notice how long it took for really creative and good features to come to DVD? It took a few years. We are only the beginning here. They could then give us that Blu-Ray or whatever the winning format version is, and we would buy it because we are upgrading our movie collections.
Why give us a release that we won’t buy because we are waiting for a better release that probably won’t eventuate?
Another way to get Disney’s attention is… boycott the single disc lame edition DVD sets from Disney. Although I’m sure a lot of you a desperate to get your hands on Ratatouille. For the record, I still haven’t bought Cars. I’m that annoyed that there is no 2-disc, I am not going to waste my money on a 1-disc for them to milk more out of me later!
You see, families don’t really care if it’s 1-disc or 2-disc. They want it for the movie for their kids. They don’t watch the special features. But it’s the movie buffs that do. Don’t get them on you bad side. Always fear the vocal minority. We may be small but we can kick up a hell of a lot of fuss.
I really want my commentaries! It’s bloody standard fricken feature on DVD’s these days! WHAT THE HECK! (I wish you could see me right now. I am twitching with excitement and rage. An interesting combo at that) How hard is it to sit down the director and whoever else for 2 hours to record a commentary! The previous DVD’s commentaries always seemed to be done before the release in cinema.
Let us look at the release structure of Pixar DVD’s to date.
Toy Story - 1 Disc
A Bug’s Life - 1 Disc
Toy Story 2 - 1 Disc
TS Ultimate Edition? - 3 Disc? Commentaries!
Monster’s Inc. - 2 Disc - Commentary
A Bug’s Life - 2 Disc - Commentary
Finding Nemo - 2 Disc- Commentary
The Incredibles - 2 Disc - Commentaries!
Cars - 1 Disc - No commentary!
Ratatouille - 1 Disc - No commentary!
Why are we repeating history Disney!? Have you lost your mind like your cover art designer?! (Was that a little too harsh?) Don’t make me angry Disney! I have a blog, over a 1000 hits a day, #4 position currently on Google for the search term “pixar”, and a rabid angry Pixar fan base behind me also wanting a 2-Disc! What did you make last year? $36 billion? What was the line in The Incredibles? “We’re supposed to help our people! Starting with our stockholders, Bob! Who’s helping them out, Huh?” Well I am a stockholder. I don’t see any problem with you releasing a 2-disc edition of Ratatouille and Cars on DVD. Surely $35,800,000 can’t be too bad? Hell, if you hyped up a 2-disc of Cars and Ratatouille enough (perhaps even bundle them together?), your stock price may even rise slightly! Did you notice what happened when Apple announced the iPhone? Their stock price has risen phenomenally since then and lot of is thanks to the hype that surrounded it, created and supported by their religious like following (me included)! You’ve got Steve Jobs as your largest shareholder for Christ’s sake! Yes he is probably busy at the moment, it is the year of the Mac after all, well why not do some tie-ins with Apple? iPods that are pre-loaded with a couple of Disney movies?! Surely that would help lift the stock price and then why not release a 2-disc edition of Cars and Ratatouille with commentaries?!
I better stop now. I’m getting tired. Just think about it please, or I will fight you, that’s no lie.
Haha. You tell 'em, bawpcwpn!!
Now, see, THIS is where I get mad. I want a thousand bonus features just like everybody else on here, but if they’re not going to include the extra junk, then fine. But seriously, how much trouble would it take to include a freakin’ commentary? I wouldn’t hesitate to bite the back off of the chair I’m sitting in now if someone geniunely asked me to do so. I WANT…that…commentary, dudes. Heck, I’m gonna buy the freakin’ DVD anyway, because I love Ratatouille and am not going to spend my precious money on a flea-bitten Blu-Ray disc, but, I mean, SHEESH!! rolls eyes
Puh-ha! That cracked me up right there…
– Mitch
Wait a sec…
Does the Blu-Ray have commentary?
Th… there’s… there’s no commentary?
KAGERI ANGRY!! KAGERI SMASH!!!
Cars’ Blu-Ray does. The “Cine-Explore” features on the new Cars release is basically a quick link to all the features on the disc, including two audio commentaries. Ratatouille’s Blu-Ray will also have a Cine-Explore feature, so chances are there will be at least one, possibly two, commentaries.
Anyway, I’ve been giving the whole “1-Disc Pixar Releases” some thought lately, and I think the reason Disney hasn’t been giving Cars and Ratatouille the DVD releases they deserve is because they don’t need to.
With High School Musical, they’re trying to milk that franchise for all it’s worth. The movie got a much better reaction than Disney was expecting, and now they want to keep that fan base alive as long as possible. Suddenly they’re pumping out a soundtrack, a special edition soundtrack, a standard DVD, a 2-Disc DVD, and High School Musical 2, which has its own collection of soundtracks and DVDs/Blu-Ray. They’re trying to keep all the hype up for the eventual release of High School Musical 3, which is currently on schedule to become a theatrical film. So, essentially, Disney is giving the HSM franchise great treatment, because there is a lot of potential profits that can still be made from this years from now.
With Pixar, on the other hand, Disney doesn’t need to do as much for those movies because they’re a guaranteed profit no matter what! The truth of the matter is, most people just don’t care about the bonus features. Kids, in particular. Most families never even pop in the second disc of a movie, because all the making-of features don’t entertain their young children. Plus, since chances are that Pixar won’t be making sequels for most of its films, Disney really has nothing to gain by keeping up the hype for past Pixar movies. All they have to do is get the DVD on the shelves and start marketing the next movie.
Since Monsters, Inc., Pixar has released all of its films in terrific 2-Disc sets. Now, with Cars they decide to try holding back on content and see what happens. Turns out, everyone still flocked to the stores on opening week to pick up their copy, just like they did when it was a double-disc.
Among the online community, however, it was an outrage. Everyone hated the fact that Cars was only getting a single disc. An online petition was sent to Disney with nearly 800 signatures. There was even talk of boycotting the DVD altogether. But really, how many people actually didn’t buy Cars specifically because it only had one disc? If all across the United States there were even 50 people who didn’t buy it for that reason, I would be shocked. The fact is, Pixar just does too dang good a job on their movies. No one who enjoys their films can resist buying them, no matter what bonus content there is. If Ratatouille’s DVD didn’t have a single bonus feature, I would still be at the store on opening day to pick up my copy. Sadly, Disney has found something that they can skimp on and still make millions.
Another factor in this whole situation is the current format war we’re in. In February of 2009, movies and television will completely switch over to HD. By that time, the battle between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD should be over. One format will be the DVD’s replacement, the other will go the way of 8-Track tapes and Beta videocassettes. Disney is fully supporting Blu-Ray, and is trying to convince consumers to go that route. If that means holding off the “good” content for DVDs in order to make Blu-Ray look good, then so be it. I’m really hoping that once the format war is over, Pixar will return to its great DVD (or Blu-Ray) releases. But that also means that Wall-E and Up could suffer the same fate as Cars and Ratatouille.
I don’t support what Disney is doing. I absolutely HATE that Ratatouille is getting an even more bare-bones release than Cars did. Still, since I’m planning on buying Ratatouille on the 6th, I suppose I’m only supporting their decision to give Pixar films a mediocre release.
That thought actually makes me all the more angry!!
I agree with absolutely everything everyone here has said. Especially bawpcwpn. I’ve already said my part, (see all of my posts in the last few pages), so I won’t bother reiterating, but if anyone were to start up a petition, I’d sign it. I’m also considering writing letters, and emails to Pixar and Disney… Would anyone else like to do the same?
Even if we get an explanation from Pixar, I’ll be happy. I wonder how they feel about this…
I don’t think I will boycott the 1-disc release, but I don’t know… Maybe there will be some good news by then in January next year, and I can just skip the 1-disc and wait for a glorious 2-disc. I hope Pixar are paying close attention to this thread, and if not, I’m sure they will hear from us soon.
I may be stating the obvious here, but I think out of everyone you would have the most contacts, and resources to get a petition or letter-writing campaign going. Time permitting that is.
In case any of you were holding out on the single disc, here’s something that’s gonna tempt you to buy it. Here in Canada, Future Shop has a special edition that comes in a nice steelbook case. It’s similar to the one that came with Cars, the only difference is that it appears that the DVD itself comes in the steelbook, like it was for Transformers where the DVDs already been packaged inside, and not like it was with Cars where they handed me the steelbook when I was at the cashier or like The Jungle Book where the steelbook came bundled with the regular case like if it were a two pack or something. I was hoping that if they got one, it would be like Cars so I could still get my copy on Blu-ray and still get the steelbook. Now I don’t know what to get, Blu-ray would definitly have an even better transfer than the DVD and more than the rather light amount of bonus material that it’s DVD counterpart has, but I do love my steelbooks. Anyways, if you want to check it out, here’s the link: [url]http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FSM2141405&catid=14746[/url]
(if you click on the image, it shows what the inside looks like, which is a nice image of Remy and Emile playing around in the kitchen).
Thanks for that, Mister Incredible. I love the packaging of that special edition with the logo on the front.
So, to clarify, that steelbook is the regular DVD version of Ratatouille, right?
Rachel, do you think us Aussies will get a Tin version from EzyDVD like we did with Cars?
bawpcpwn - I’m really hoping so… We might even end up getting one like the Canadians are getting. At least that’ll soften the blow of a 1-disc. I check the ezyDVD Ratatouille page all the time, so I’ll let you know, but there is still a while to go till January, so…
Mister Incredible - Interesting. I’m liking this DVD cover much more than the “other” version. Why can’t they offer that to everyone?
There’s no point in boycotting it. Disney is going to sell millions of copies of the thing anyway, because it will be the only version of the film available (for the time being). Heck, I’m going to buy it because I want it don’t want to spend the money on the Blu-Ray version and its player; henceforth, customers are trapped, in a sense.
– Mitch
Yeah well, I’ll probably end up buying both 1-disc versions: the regular one, and limited edition tin, because I’m a Ratatouille collector and all… I’m still really annoyed, though. Are you going to get the Canadian tin?
Also, does anyone know if there is any “technology” that you could get the audio commentary from a Blu-Ray version and stick it on your regular version? 
rachel - Cha, same here. I probably won’t be purchasing the Canadian version of the disc anytime soon, but when I get the money… (snigger)
Aha! I wish I knew how… 
– Mitch
Yeah, me either.
I’ll research the issue and see what I can come up with.
rachel - Cool. I hope ya’ find something!
– Mitch
Go to your rich friend’s house (who has BluRay equipment and the DVD and stuff) and record it on a tape recorder. Go home and turn it on while you watch your movie. Adjust the volume as needed.