UltimateDisney.com: The Ultimate Guide to Disney DVD

2004: The Year in Review

Part 4
What do we expect to see in 2005?


Well, we hope for more season sets of Disney's animated TV series. The release of "Gargoyles" and its solid sales numbers should pave the way for more. Everyone has their favorites, but there are several seemingly ideal to putting out in season sets. If Disney decides to start at the beginning, they might look towards the two series celebrate their 20th anniversaries this year, marking the same milestone for the studio's Television Animation department. Those series are "The Gummi Bears" and "The Wuzzles", which both launched on the same Saturday twenty years ago from this upcoming September. See the full list of Disney's TV series here at UltimateDisney.com.

The year will also bring new season sets of popular Touchstone Television sitcoms. The debut of NBC's "Scrubs", plus the next installments of "The Golden Girls", "Home Improvement", and "Boy Meets World" are among the live action TV programming expected to come to DVD, as the market continues to excel. ("The Golden Girls" Season 2 and "Scrubs" Season 1 are due on May 17th.) ABC's two new hits of the 2004-05 season, "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost", are both rumored to show up on DVD before the year's end.

The beloved Platinum Collection line seems to have been steered properly with last year's terrific Aladdin set and this year is the first which sees two new Platinum Editions. Fans of Walt-era animation will undoubtedly be pleased to see Bambi (March 1) and Cinderella (October 4) making their DVD debuts at long last as loaded 2-disc sets.

December will bring more Walt Disney Treasures, the limited run 2-disc tins of vintage animation and television programming that has become quite a popular niche line. We don't know what will be in Wave 5, or even how many releases there will be (past waves have alternated between four and three). One set which seems almost certain to show up is The Chronological Donald: Volume 2, which will pick up where last May's debut volume left off, providing the irascible duck's cartoon shorts from 1942 up to near the end of that decade.

Embracing 2-disc re-releases of some of their more popular films met Disney with success in 2004. Reissues of Pocahontas and Lilo & Stitch have been expected for some time now, and have already been released in several parts of the world. The 10th anniversary of the former and a direct-to-video sequel Stitch Has a Glitch coming this fall for the latter would seem to pose the ideal opportunities for these two animated films to be revisited and we should see both before 2005 is done. (Pocahontas: 10th Anniversary Edition will come to DVD on May 3rd. Preorder.)

It's quite likely we could see additional double-disc Special Editions. For now, it's anyone's guess, but non-Platinum movies such as Dumbo and The Hunchback of Notre Dame have had rumors bouncing around. So has Tarzan, despite the fact that it was already issued as a 2-disc Collector's Edition and is supposed to remain out of print in the US for a few more years. (Its direct-to-video sequel is coming this summer, as are special editions of the original film overseas.)

Stitch isn't the only one getting a direct-to-video sequel in 2005. Kronk's New Groove, centering around the dim-witted henchman of The Emperor's New Groove will be released before a related television series hits the Disney Channel early in 2006. Tarzan II is set within the chronology of its predecessor. Expected on DVD this summer, it explores Tarzan's youth in the jungle. A similar tactic is being used for Bambi and the Great Prince of the Forest, a "mid-quel" which will reportedly examine Bambi's teenage angst. That sequel is scheduled for DVD release in early 2006. In addition, DisneyToon Studios is working on Winnie the Pooh's Halloween a direct-to-video project that should be out in time for the holiday this year.

In 2005, Disney will dip into its live action catalogue again beginning in April. We expect to see releases resume at a monthly rate, although as of now, we only know of the eight titles due to make their Region 1 DVD debuts in this fashion this spring. (See this forum thread to keep up to date on them.)

Finally, there are Disney's new theatrical films. Last November's 1-2 box office punch of The Incredibles and National Treasure make their way to DVD this spring, with Pixar's opus arriving as an enticing 2-disc set on March 15th, and the popular Bruckheimer/Cage adventure perhaps getting double-disc treatment when it lands on May 3rd.

This year sees an increase in the number of films Disney releases to theaters, with over 10 productions that will bear the "Walt Disney Pictures" name at the 2005 box office. Most of them will also come to DVD before year's end, with Q1's Pooh's Heffalump Movie, The Pacifier, and Ice Princess all primed to come to DVD over the summer and live action summer films Herbie: Fully Loaded and Sky High due on DVD in the fall.

Having been recently delayed several months, Chicken Little now won't be out on DVD until spring of next year. Pixar's Cars, also delayed, won't come to DVD until holiday 2006. And in between those, you can add in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (in theaters this December) on your long-term DVDs to anticipate list. (Adventure Through Narnia, a guide to C.S. Lewis' world and Disney's filming, will be out the week that Lion hits theaters.)

Complete, up-to-date Upcoming Disney DVD Schedule (2005 & beyond)

Discuss Disney DVD 2004: Year in Review

Read Part 1 of UltimateDisney.com's 2004: Year in Review
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Read Part 3 of UltimateDisney.com's 2004: Year in Review

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