Despite a nearly universal critical thumbs up, Disney’s Winnie the Pooh left much to be desired at the box office. If the problem doesn’t lie in Winnie the Pooh’s quality 2D animation, the problem might have lain in releasing the Disney title the same weekend Warner Bros. released Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Speculatively, the less critically loved The Smurfs release two weeks later might have taken away some of Pooh’s box office thunder. Or maybe, Disney’s low-key marketing left much to be desired.
Whatever the box office blunder, if you missed out on Winnie the Pooh, Disney is still preparing a pretty Pooh-tacular home release. The movie will be released on DVD, Blu-Ray, and movie download on October 25th. Bonus features won’t be as extensive as an average Disney release, but they still look finely tuned. DVD and download features will include a bonus short called “Mini-Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: The Balloon” and a second short that premiered in theaters called “The Ballad of Nessie.” Deleted scenes will round out the extras on DVD and download copies.
The Blu-Ray will come with a couple more music-based extras. Since Zooey Deschanel of She & Him lent her voice to the soundtrack, the direction the Blu-Ray is taking music should be pretty awesome. Bonus features exclusive to Blu-Ray will include a “Movie Sing-a-long” segment as well as “Disney Song Selection.” Even if you don’t want to throw out the cash to purchase Winnie the Pooh, I suggest Red Boxing or Netflixing the title. You could do worse in an autumn of post-summer animation blah.
