You may recall the news from last summer's Comic-Con that Disney planned to re-release "Beauty and the Beast" enhanced in digital 3-D on February 12, 2010. Obviously, the Oscar-nominated classic did not make it to theaters last Friday. Instead it is reportedly due out sometime next year for the film's 20th anniversary.
But when exactly? And will there be more films retro-fitted, as was done recently with "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2?" Over the weekend, MTV had a chance to talk with Disney Animation and Pixar head John Lasseter about the upcoming project and the very good chance of someday re-releasing Disney's other films in 3-D.
"There’s no release date set yet for that," Lasseter said of "Beauty and the Beast." "But it’s an exciting thing. Because with our computers we can go back in. We have all the scenes and all the sets saved. Just like we did with 'Toy Story' and 'Toy Story 2.'"
Those earlier Pixar films were, of course, retro-fitted in the format as a sort of lead-in for this summer's made-for-3-D sequel "Toy Story 3." With next year's main Pixar release, "Cars 2," also being a 3-D sequel, it might make sense for the original Lasseter-written & directed "Cars" to be enhanced for a temporary re-release.
"We don’t have any plans yet for further 3-D-izing of our older films," he admitted, "but it’s always a possibility. I’m excited that people are loving 3-D and it seems to be not just a fad, but something that will stay."
The uncertainty may sound disappointing for fans of the apparently here-to-stay format, but while elaborating on his and Pixar's history and love for 3-D, Lasseter made it seem very plausible that we'll eventually get enhanced versions of at least the computer-animated Pixar films, such as "Monsters Inc." and "The Incredibles," if not other hand-drawn classics from Disney Animation.
"We love 3-D," he said. "Pixar has been pioneering 3-D since way back when. There just weren't theaters to show it in."
Lasseter referred to the 1989 short "Knick Knack," which ended up available on VHS and Laserdisc in a 2-D form. Later, a re-cut version of the film was shown theatrically in 2-D ahead of "Finding Nemo" then was ultimately shown in it's intended format preceding the 3-D re-release of "The Nightmare Before Christmas."
"I always feel like it’s the best way to look at what we create," he said of the digital 3-D format. "Because within the computer, we’re truly creating three-dimensional worlds. And it’s so much fun to actually be able to make the films that way now. I feel like we’ve always been making our films 3-D but we’ve just been looking at them in 2-D."
At a time when it feels like every classic film and blockbuster of the past is being rumored for 3-D re-release, perhaps Pixar's movies are the only ones that really call for an upgrade, as well as the only ones deserving of such enhancement. Lasseter and the rest of the Pixar founders really seem to know the format best -- and what's best for the format.
"Everything in our movies is there to help tell the story," he explained. "The color of the scenes. The lighting in the scenes. The music. Everything that’s going on is trying to tell the underlying emotion of the scene. Now we even use that in 3-D. These are subtle things that the audience doesn’t notice but they feel."
Which classic Disney works would you like to see re-released in 3-D?
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