Tag Archives: disney+

Iger States Song of the South Will Not Appear on Disney+

At the Walt Disney Company’s 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders held on March 11, 2020, Disney shareholder Matthew Hansen asked the first question during the Q&A session:

Good morning, Bob and Bob. My name is Matthew Hansen, I’m a shareholder from Salt Lake City. At last year’s meeting, you, Mr. Iger, mentioned that Disney+ would eventually have “the entire Walt Disney Studios library.” Currently there are a lot of absences from the catalog, ranging from various short films to “Victory Through Air Power” to “Follow Me, Boys!” and many more. What is the plan or timeline for the full catalog to be added to Disney+? Also, are there plans to add content such as Michael Eisner’s Disney’s Sunday Movie Intros? And along with that, many have wondered after your comments if, when you said “entire library”, does that include “Song of the South,” and if not, why can’t it be included with a similar disclaimer about containing outdated cultural depictions that currently accompanies many other titles on Disney+? ….”

Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger replied:

…. I think when I said “the whole library,” one of the things that we realized was a lot of what was made in the past is not of the quality just in terms of the quality of the film initially, when it’s digitized, and we’re working through some of that. We also had to prioritize because there’s so much that had to be digitized so we couldn’t get everything on. So I think in the end when I said the entire library it turns out not everything will be available because of some of those issues. I’ve felt, as long as I’ve been CEO that Song of the South was, even with a disclaimer, was just not appropriate in today’s world. That’s actually true with some of the other things that we’ve made as well. It’s just hard to, given the depictions in some of those films, to bring them out today without, in some form or another, offending people. So we’ve decided not to do that.

The full audio of the shareholder meeting can be listened to here. The Q&A session begins around the 39:15 mark.

Mr. Hansen has been dutifully asking about Disney’s plans for Song of the South at many of Disney’s shareholder meetings over the years (you can read about nearly all of them in our News Archive), and Bob Iger’s responses have varied.

Iger stepped down as CEO in February 2020, but is still serving as Executive Chairman; it is unknown at this time if Iger’s successor, Bob Chapek, feels the same way about this film.

Until then, there are several steps you can take:

Sign the Petition to Release Song of the South on Disney+.
Spread the word! Like Song of the South on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Nominate Song of the South to be added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. The National Film Registry was established to preserve and safeguard U.S. films that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Each year they select 25 films. It’s important to note that nominations do not carry over from year to year, so if you nominated Song of the South previously, you should re-nominate each year (and you are encouraged to do so).
If you subscribe to Disney+, you can suggest a title be added to Disney+ by going to the Help section, clicking on “Give Feedback” and selecting “Request a film or show” from the drop-down menu.

Disney+ adds “outdated cultural depictions” disclaimer to some films

Disney+, the new streaming service launched on November 12, 2019 (incidentally Song of the South’s anniversary), predictably does not include Song of the South among its available films. Several of their other older films have also recently had a disclaimer added:

This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions.

So far the films confirmed to have this disclaimer added include:

Dumbo (1941)
Peter Pan (1953)
Lady and the Tramp (1955)
Jungle Book (1967)
The Aristocats (1970)

It is unclear what criteria must be met for these films to receive this disclaimer. There are several other films that could be considered offensive to some, including more recent films such as Aladdin (1992) and Pocahontas (1995). What about the cigar-smoking parrot José Carioca in Saludos Amigos (1942), or the depiction of Panchito Pistoles as a gun-toting, sombrero-wearing rooster in The Three Caballeros (1944)? Where does one draw the line? There are also several films from the 1940s that Disney has inconsistently censored, including:

Removing the Martins and the Coys sequence from Make Mine Music (1947) for its depiction of gunplay
Removing the cigarette from Pecos Bill’s mouth in Melody Time (1948) for its depiction of smoking (yet they left his guns)
Removing the centaur Sunflower from Fantasia (1940) for its stereotypical depiction of African Americans

This begs the question if they will restore these above films to their original content, and add these disclaimers? One has to wonder if they will eventually do the same for Song of the South as well. You can suggest a title be added to Disney+ by going to the Help section and selecting “Request a film or show”.

Thanks to everyone for the news reports!

Today Marks Song of the South’s 73rd Anniversary

Today marks the 73rd anniversary of Song of the South’s worldwide premier at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Georgia.

Today also marks the premier of the new Disney+ streaming video service, which will reportedly not be offering Song of the South among its available movies. The movie has never been commercially released by Disney on VHS or DVD in the United States, and despite a recent call from Disney Legend Whoopi Goldberg to bring back and discuss this film, Disney has continued to sideskirt releasing the film, while profiting off of the movie through Splash Mountain merchandise, collectibles, and the Academy Award-winning song “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah.”

It’s hard to believe that my website will be 20 years old next year, but my mission remains the same: provide as much information to the public on this movie as I can in the absence of Disney. If you want to help preserve this movie (after all, whether you love or hate the film, it’s part of cinematic history), be sure to check out our Facebook page, and sign the petition if you haven’t already done so. The biggest way you can help is to spread the word about this movie. You might be surprised how many people don’t even know this film exists (and I’m afraid that might be what Disney wants).

New Disney+ Streaming Service Will Not Include Song of the South?

It is being widely reported that Disney’s new streaming service “Disney+” will not include their Academy Award winning and controversial movie Song of the South, contrary to Disney CEO Robert Iger’s quote that Disney+ would “house the entire Disney motion picture library.”

Ironically, the new streaming service is set to launch on November 12th, the anniversary of Song of the South’s worldwide premier in 1946.

It has also been reported that Disney will be censoring another piece of company history as well: the crows from Dumbo (1941). If so, this would join several other films from the 1940s that Disney has decided to edit over the years, including scenes and elements from Fantasia (1940), Make Mine Music (1946), and Melody Time (1948).

Disney Legend Whoopi Goldberg was interviewed at the D23 Expo in July 2017, and had this to say about both films:

“I’m trying to find a way to get people to start having a conversation about bringing Song of the South back, so we can talk about what it was, and where it came from and why it came out. I want people to start putting the crows, you know, in the merchandising. Because those crows sing the song in Dumbo that everybody remembers. So I want to… I want to highlight all the little stuff people sort of maybe miss in movies.”
http://www.songofthesouth.net/news/2017/07/16/disney-legend-whoopi-goldberg-wants-song-of-the-south-released/

New Disney Streaming Service to Include Song of the South?

According to an article posted today over at Polygon, Disney’s new streaming service “Disney+” will include the “entire Disney motion picture library.” Presumably, that would include Walt Disney’s Academy Award winning 1946 film Song of the South, which hasn’t seen the light of day in the U.S. since 1986.

To quote Disney CEO Robert Iger at today’s investor meeting held in St. Louis:
The service, which I mentioned earlier is going to launch later in the year, is going to combine what we call library product, movies, and television, with a lot of original product as well, movies and television. And at some point fairly soon after launch it will house the entire Disney motion picture library, so the movies that you speak of that traditionally have been kept in a “vault” and brought out basically every few years will be on the service. And then, of course, we’re producing a number of original movies and original television shows as well that will be Disney-branded.

In the past, when shareholders have asked Robert Iger about releasing Song of the South, he has stated in no uncertain terms that the studio had no plans to re-release the film:

Iger (2011): I just don’t feel that it’s right for us to use company resources to make [Song of the South] available, whether it’s wide or whether it’s narrow… narrowly available. It’s a strong belief that I have— consulted with other top executives of the company. They all agreed, and I think, just remember it as it was, and don’t expect to see it again for… at least for awhile, if ever.

Maybe sufficient time has passed and they’re finally ready? Only time will tell if this is truly the entire Disney motion picture library, or just their usual fare. The service is slated to be released later this year, so “fairly soon after launch” could mean 2020 or beyond. We’ll be keeping an eye on this, however.

Thanks to James Moyner for the news report!