Disney's Remaining Films

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by BillieCassin

Apparently, a few years back Iger held a private screening to review it (if I recall, he hadn't ever actually seen it), and decided that it stays in the vault. I do give the guy credit for at least checking it out as a possibility, though.

As much as I feel it should be available, I do get why they don't and what a precarious situation it puts them in. Disney uses the characters in every theme park they have as walk-arounds, Splash Mountain (which is based on the film) is one of the headliner attractions in the three flagship parks (Disneyland, WDW, and Tokyo), and the only way Disney wouldn't get crucified by parents who pick it up for their kids is if they didn't put any of the characters on the cover and put it in a brown paper label that said Adults Only, LOL - which ain't never gunna happen. ;-)

It is a shame, it does have historical value - but I shu' nuff can't see no way 'round it.

I have a pretty good DVD bootleg of Song of the South, so if it never releases I'm fine with it. However I still think it's a shame that this film stays locked up as Disney's "dirty little secret." To me, it's no worse than Gone With The Wind and that movie has been made available for purchase time and time again to very little backlash. Personally I believe if SOS was released the fallout would not be anywhere near as bad as so many anticipate. People need to understand the era in which a piece of art was created. If SOS was made today, yes I could certainly understand the issue with that. But this movie is nearly 70 years old! People need to gain a little perspective when judging a film.

Personally I do believe that Disney will eventually release the film. Why? Because it will eventually become public domain and there is absolutely no way Disney passes up an opportunity to make money off of it before that.