Monkeys Gone Home? - Blu-ray Forum

merlinjones · 01-05-2023, 01:56 PM

Just noticed that none of the classic Disney films featuring chimpanzees are available on Disney+.

Toby Tyler, Moon Pilot, The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, The Monkey's Uncle, Monkeys Go Home, The Barefoot Executive -- none are there.

Is this a weird PC PETA thing or coincidence?

kannibaliztik · 01-05-2023, 02:20 PM

Same as any other content, whoever owns the rights either does not want them streaming currently, or can't due to other contracts/issues in place.

merlinjones · 01-05-2023, 02:27 PM

Seems odd that, from an entire category of films (made 11 years apart), not one is there. Someone is the programming department is chimp averse?

WonkaBedknobs83 · 02-18-2024, 06:05 PM

I think some of those movies had iTunes upgrades to HD years ago (during the Frozen craze IIRC and well before it merged into Apple TV) that were also on VUDU and other such platforms along with other catalog titles of that era. What they considered HD is basically an interim level of quality between DVD and Blu-ray, which is why we haven't seen more Blu-ray discs of them. As it is, I can recall that at the time they had The Monkey's Uncle in HD and 16x9 but The Misadventures of Merlin Jones was just plain old standard definition and 4x3. Perhaps the presence of The Beach Boys singing the title song in the sequel got it bumped up first or perhaps the OG needed more restoration work. And not to be morbid, but maybe the recent bad news about Brian Wilson will make it a topic of discussion again internally at the studio.

I know it's a long shot, but I wonder whether Paddy Chayefsky, whose screenplay for The Hospital became a United Artists movie the same year, ever saw The Barefoot Executive (which I know was one of those iTunes HD-ish transfers along with Kurt Russell's Disney debut in Follow Me, Boys) before writing the screenplay for Network. As it is, that movie opens with William Holden drunkenly joking about "wiping that (expletive deleted) Disney right off the air" with a Sunday night TV show called "The Death Hour." Not only that, the fake network Raffles was the head of is called UBC while Chayefsky's was called UBS.

Perhaps dog and cat movies make more money because more people actually have them as pets.

01-05-2023, 01:56 PM	#1
merlinjones Senior Member Member since:Oct 2008	Monkeys Gone Home? Just noticed that none of the classic Disney films featuring chimpanzees are available on Disney+. Toby Tyler, Moon Pilot, The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, The Monkey's Uncle, Monkeys Go Home, The Barefoot Executive -- none are there. Is this a weird PC PETA thing or coincidence? Last edited by merlinjones; 01-05-2023 at 02:07 PM.

01-05-2023, 02:20 PM	#2
kannibaliztik Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Mar 2012 4K collection:- Blu-ray collection:- DVD collection:- Trading Score:237	Same as any other content, whoever owns the rights either does not want them streaming currently, or can't due to other contracts/issues in place.

01-05-2023, 02:27 PM	#3
merlinjones Senior Member Member since:Oct 2008	Seems odd that, from an entire category of films (made 11 years apart), not one is there. Someone is the programming department is chimp averse?

02-18-2024, 06:05 PM	#4
WonkaBedknobs83 Expert Member Member since:Sep 2021 4K collection:10 Blu-ray collection:60	I think some of those movies had iTunes upgrades to HD years ago (during the Frozen craze IIRC and well before it merged into Apple TV) that were also on VUDU and other such platforms along with other catalog titles of that era. What they considered HD is basically an interim level of quality between DVD and Blu-ray, which is why we haven't seen more Blu-ray discs of them. As it is, I can recall that at the time they had The Monkey's Uncle in HD and 16x9 but The Misadventures of Merlin Jones was just plain old standard definition and 4x3. Perhaps the presence of The Beach Boys singing the title song in the sequel got it bumped up first or perhaps the OG needed more restoration work. And not to be morbid, but maybe the recent bad news about Brian Wilson will make it a topic of discussion again internally at the studio. I know it's a long shot, but I wonder whether Paddy Chayefsky, whose screenplay for The Hospital became a United Artists movie the same year, ever saw The Barefoot Executive (which I know was one of those iTunes HD-ish transfers along with Kurt Russell's Disney debut in Follow Me, Boys) before writing the screenplay for Network. As it is, that movie opens with William Holden drunkenly joking about "wiping that (expletive deleted) Disney right off the air" with a Sunday night TV show called "The Death Hour." Not only that, the fake network Raffles was the head of is called UBC while Chayefsky's was called UBS. Perhaps dog and cat movies make more money because more people actually have them as pets.

Best iTunes Movie Deals