File this one under "no good deed goes unpunished"… Walt Disney Studios thought they'd give Blu-ray Disc early adopters a nice 48-hour head-start by releasing its animated theater feature film "Bolt" in the 1080p format on a Sunday (March 22)—prior to the standard DVD launch the following Tuesday.
This would not be the first time a Hollywood studio attempted an early Blu-ray release to help boost the new technology, but with similar results: confusion on the part of retailers who simplified things by releasing both the Blu-ray and DVD versions of "Bolt" simultaneously. But for some reason, instead of erring on the first release day (Sunday) or the second one (Tuesday), apparently a lot of retailers release both versions even earlier: the preceding Friday, March 20, according to published reports.
The trouble reportedly arose that Friday morning when Walmart began selling both the Blu-ray and standard DVD versions in its many outlets. Disney's hotline for retailers to report early sales apparently overwhelmed the lines—leading Disney to reluctantly give the go-ahead to begin placing both versions of the movie on shelves.
Typically, video discs (both DVD and Blu-ray) are released on a Tuesday—while most theater films are usually released on a Friday (except around holidays). Any deviation from that routine—considering how many thousands of distributors and retailers are involved with disc releases—always seems to result in confusion and frustration from all sides of the marketing equation.
In a development unrelated to the "Bolt" release, Disney had reported healthy sales of its "Pinocchio" re-release earlier this month, where the studio said Blu-ray's slice of the overall video-disc pie hovered close to 15 percent of all disc purchases of the title in its first week of sales.
