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I’ll admit it: every Christmas will probably be a Disney Christmas in my house for the next few years, thanks to a four-year-old daughter who knows why Ariel has daddy issues and a two-year-old son who wants to be Lightning McQueen when he grows up.

As an unrepentant tech enthusiast who also wants to keep his kids happy ever after, you can imagine my curiosity about the announcement from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment about the company’s plans to maximize Blu-ray technology for its DVD releases, beginning with “Sleeping Beauty” in October. Disney is promising live chat rooms as the story of Princess Aurora unfolds on your flat-screen HDTV. Division president Bob Chapek pictures grandparents in one part of the country chatting with grandkids in another part as they all watch the movie together. He also previewed video messaging and an onscreen DVD menu reflecting the weather conditions where you are, all thanks to Blu-ray’s Internet capabilities:

Chapek said Disney’s goal is to “reinvent the experience of watching movies in the home ... by laying in a level of interactivity and connectivity that has never before been attempted in any format. This interactive connectivity will help us to connect families all across the country and help make the family room relevant again.”

There is a coolness quotient to all this that, combined with the powerful Disney brand and a vast library of classic films (including those from Disney/Pixar), carries the possibility of helping sales of BD players and Playstation 3’s. Other star attractions in the Disney corporate stable - “High School Musical,” “Lost,” “Hannah Montana” - await DVD exploitation in what’s being called the Disney BD Live Network.

At the risk of sounding like Cruella DeVil, Disney needs BD player prices to continue to come down and advances in technology to cut down on disc loading times. The company valued for quality family entertainment needs to ensure safe, secure chatting. And what about those of us who already own the first generation of those classic films on standard DVD? Pricing and piling on those extra features will be key, or else Disney’s desire to cash in on Blu-ray will be wishing upon a…well, you get the high-def picture.

Read [Hollywood Reporter]