Starting this year, Warner Home Entertainment will hold a moratorium on all Blu-ray and DVD copies of The Wizard of Oz. The studio has made this decision in order to ultimately boost consumer anticipation for future home video releases.
The moratorium officially begins on May 1st, when Warner's North American branch will halt The Wizard of Oz's distribution across all home video platforms, excluding The Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary Edition two-disc DVD edition. That particular version will enjoy an extended sales window, though Warner will cease releasing new copies of it in October of 2012.
At that moment, no Wizard of Oz packages will receive active production schedules until the fourth quarter of 2013; Warner will use that time to debut new holiday releases just before the picture's seventy-fifth anniversary in 2014.
These new Blu-rays and DVDs will have "new and restored" digital transfers and, according to Jeff Baker, Warner Home Entertainment's EVP and GM (Theatrical Catalog), will boast "90% – 95% consumer awareness, [including] a kickoff event consistent with only a handful of titles that are considered the crown jewels of our WB library."