I remembered when i was 5 seeing it 4 times in theaters in it's original release and had a few merchandise, i wondered how come it never showed up on video the next year or 7 years? i wanted it when i was 6 but felt sad it never showed up for 7 years but luckily it returned in theaters when i was 10 and finally got it on video for christmas.
"You killed Captain Clown, YOU KILLED CAPTAIN CLOWN"-The Joker
Yeah, in those days, there was no guarantee any movie would appear on video. It was a waiting game.
Basil of Baker Street
http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/basil/bakerst.html
I bet alot of kids of my generation who saw this movie on the big screen in it's original release were upset too. I felt the same way about Fox and The Hound (I saw the 88 re-issue 3 times in theaters and had a few merchandise), The Aristocats (I saw 87's re-issue 3 times as well and had a stuffed O'Malley and readalong book with cassette with stickerbook), Snow White (I saw this movie 2 times in it's 87 re-issue) and Oliver and Company (I saw this movie in it's original theatrical release 3 times and had the merchandise including the soundtrack to all the way to Mcdonalds stuff) on how they didn't show up on video until 94, 95 and 96.
"You killed Captain Clown, YOU KILLED CAPTAIN CLOWN"-The Joker on Batman TAS
Yes, I remember seeing this in the mid/late 80's on tv, yet was about 1992 before it was released on video.
I recall on almost every Disney release on video from the late 80's right up to 1994 there was always a preview for "The Aristocats" with "coming soon on video" yet no memory of it ever being released.
Starting with The Little mermaid (89) Disney began releasing their movies on VHS pretty quickly after Theatrical release.
shareEven though Disney had started their Walt Disney Classics line in 1984, it wasn't until 1990 that a new animated film from Disney was released on home video (that film being the Little Mermaid).
So in 1987, Disney didn't release The Great Mouse Detective to Home Video because there was no guarantee one of their animated classics would be released.
I loved this movie as a kid! I think when I first saw it was a little bit after when it was finally released on video, and I was in kindergarten ('93-'94).
A similar thing happened with Snow White. They had a 1993 re-release in theaters, and we went and saw it around 4th of July weekend that year. It seemed like it was around Halloween 1994 when it came out on video from that point.
I love Jesus Christ and am 100% proud!
Hmm, maybe Disney didn't release this cartoon film on video initially because they were scared of video tape piracy?
That aside, if I am correct, video tapes (and video tape players) were prohibitively expensive (USD 100 or more per tape) back in the late 1980s, making them unaffordable to many people.