Amazon Takes Fight to Captain America and the Mighty Mouse

Amazon has stopped preorders for some DVDs and Blu-ray discs released by Walt Disney, as part of an apparent contract dispute.

The Seattle-based online retailer is making it more difficult for customers to preorder physical copies of the films, a strategy Amazon has employed in the past in dealing with recalcitrant suppliers, including Time Warner’s Warner Bros. as well as in an ongoing dispute with the publisher Hachette.

Maleficent, Muppets Most Wanted and the latest Captain America movie were unavailable for preorder, the Wall Street Journal reported, though customers could still buy digital versions in advance.

Amazon has been engaged in an increasingly acrimonious dispute with Hachette over e-book pricing, with Amazon restricting the sale of Hachette books until the two parties arrive at terms. Over 900 authors, including Malcolm Gladwell and Stephen King, have signed an open letter criticizing Amazon’s policies.

Amazon hasn’t yet publicly commented on the apparent dispute with Disney.

[WSJ]