The Lion King Blu ray

[Dan]

Amazon.com is running a special pre-order deal for the upcoming 3D Blu Ray releases of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse/ref=pe_ ... scathed-20

In addition to the general discounts the site offers, the link above will apply a coupon for an additional $8 off.

The deal is also applicable for The Lion King Trilogy Box Set. The 8-Disc set will have all three films containing Blu Ray and DVD discs with the first film having the inclusion of the 3D Blu Ray and Digital Copy discs.

The coupon runs through April 30.

[Josh]

I wonder which versions of The Lion King and Simba's Pride will be in the new Blu-ray trilogy. I'm guessing both will be the Special Edition versions. But who knows, since a lot of folks weren't thrilled with some of The Lion King's changes (particularly the shot of the crocodiles during "I Just Can't Wait to be King").

[Randall]

Yeah, like BatB, we'll likely get branching versions for TLK, but both essentially being versions of the Special Edition. I'm glad I still have the LD box set.

I never bought the sequels before, but might have to this time arpound. That trilogy box looks pretty nice, and the sequel films weren't half-bad either.

[Ben]

Trilogy box for me, and I'm guessing too that we'll get both cuts derived from the SEs. As with Beauty (and a few other Disney classics), we'll never see the original original versions again, for which like Rand I'm so pleased I still have my lasers.

I wasn't aware of changes to Simba's Pride, though? I recall that a couple of shots were re-done for some reason, but never looked into how much/what of the film was changed. I do enjoy Lion King 1.5 though - it's wonderfully done.

[Josh]

Most of the changes in Simba's Pride involved colorization. The result helped the film look more like its predecessor. MyLionKing.com has a good before/after shot. There were also a few other slight changes, as documented by LionKing.org.

Unfortunately for many Simba's Pride fans, the two changes we really want to see - the addition of Zira's death and Nuka's last words - will probably never happen.

[Ben]

Interesting...thanks Josh! Nothing really much there to convince me that LKII is anything more than one of the better DTVs though, which I can't honestly get too hot and bothered about. Some of the alterations seem odd though, like the reanimated shot and the shortening of another, even if it's something only major fans of the movie would notice. I thought Simba's Pride was essentially a decent offering, if not near the standards of the first film's plot or artistry (yes, Eric, I know it's thematically Romeo And Juliet)...

[EricJ]

(yes, Eric, I know it's thematically Romeo And Juliet)...

Actually, at the time, thought it was more, "Y'see, Scar really had a heterosexual female romantic interest that we forgot to tell you about!"
(Although we only have Zira's own word on that, and, well... )

[Aaron_03]

What purchase, if you plan to, are you going to make?

It's between the The 3D Version and the BD/DVD Combo Pack for me.

[Ben]

Trilogy set for me, which has everything in it.

[Dacey]

Saw the footage for the 3-D re-release with "Cars 2" today.

All I can say is...this is going to be good.

The "depth" is really something. I'm not even sure how to describe it, but the characters really look "rounded" now. And the backrounds really look "deep." When you saw the elephants slowly marching towards the camera, they really looked as though they were far away from "you" at first.

There was even some gimmicky stuff that worked. Zazu really for real flew out of the screen, as though you could reach out and I catch. I think I literally just said "whoa" during that part. Similarly, the shot with the birds flying "below" you also looked spectacular.

But here's the most amazing part: IT DIDN'T LOOK DARK! Not one darn bit! I'm not sure if the projecter's bulbs were burning brighter or if Disney just changed the colors in one way or another, but it looked like the same "Lion King" that we all know and love! So, if "darkness" has been a problem with some previous 3-D releases, it's not going be that way for this one if what I saw was any indication.

Now, granted, "Circle of Life" is obviously one of the most gorgeous animated sequences ever produced, so not all of the film is going to look that good. There will probably be a lot of moments in the film where the 3-D isn't as noticable. But this still looks like it's going to be worth the price, not just for the 3-D, but also for the chance to see this great movie on the big screen again.

What's really cool is that there are a lot of kids out there who have never seen this movie before. Unless the rest of the movie's conversion is very different from what I saw today, this will be an awesome way for them to be introduced to it.

[Ben]

Disney have been more canny with reissuing TLK than they did with B&TB and TLK before, when they were doing the Imax versions.

Back then, both titles hadn't been OOP on home video for too long and they were then asking audiences to go see them again pretty soon after. This time, TLK has been OOP for a little while now, and like you say there's a new audience for it out there.

I still think they have dropped the ball on B&TB's release in having the Diamond Edition out too soon before announcing, then moving, then announcing again, the 3D version for that, and they can't seem to get a grip on putting both these films out in theaters and THEN announcing the BDs, so many people may just wait to own them instead.

But from what I have been hearing, the 3D does actually seem to work on these conversions and gets away from the flat multiplane effect to create an illusion of "depth", like you say Dacey. I honestly don't think you can put down the light aspect to anything other than Circle Of Life being a very bright and vibrant sequence, and it probably has been lightened during the conversion.

Bright and light animation is still what works best in 3D, but it'll be interesting to see how the darker scenes play out. Of course, the projector may have been burning brighter, which is James Cameron's suggestion for fixing the darker 3D problem, but this runs the bulbs out much quicker and theater owners have yet to go on record that they're even trying this yet. You might have been lucky, but I'd put it down more to it being adjusted during the conversion, which is the other method they're trying to combat the darkness.

Oooh...spooky!

[EricJ]

But from what I have been hearing, the 3D does actually seem to work on these conversions and gets away from the flat multiplane effect to create an illusion of "depth", like you say Dacey. I honestly don't think you can put down the light aspect to anything other than Circle Of Life being a very bright and vibrant sequence, and it probably has been lightened during the conversion.

The big "credibility" guns in the I Hate 3-D War is "It makes the picture look dark!"
With Disney putting more studio resources behind 3-D theatricals that they can later sell on 3-D Blu, that's the first cannons of the enemy that Disney's going to try to knock out, and set an example for other studios that want to stay in the war.
They may be a studio with deep insecurities, but it causes them to be find great inspiration at solving audience tech problems.

As for whether flat multiplane works in 3-D, I still haven't gotten around to Cars 2 to see the trailer (next week, maybe?)--
My only experience was back when Disney fans noticed those clear prismatic "3-D glasses" found in Crayola children's toys (which create "depth" by making dark blues recede and bright oranges stand out) actually worked with watching 90's Disney movies, and that it was possible to watch the "3-D version" of Pocahontas, long before people ever knew what 3-D TV looked like. I tried it...It worked.
My opinions on TLK and B&B are (ahem) well-known, but if you've ever seen "Just Around the Riverbend" on the toy glasses (which looks like it was made for 3-D gimmick), I have a distinct clue what 3-D "flat" multiplane should look like, and so want to see a real active-shutter version of Pocahontas. Haven't tried them on Lilo & Stitch yet, either.

[Darkblade]

Out of curiousity, will the blu ray release of this NOT have the morning report song in it? I was annoyed by the fact that Disney added that for no reason.

[Randall]

It should have both versions, each Imax-ized, just like the DVD.

[Bill1978]

Man I was hoping they would drop The Morning Report, waste of effort that was. I usually choose the special editions when watching BatB or Pocahontas, as I feel the 're-inserted' songs flow and were part of the initial concept. Morning Report is just a lazy cash-in on the Broadway musical that serves no purpose other than advertising the Broadway musical, that one really fills like it was shoehorned in.

It still annoys me that they re-released the soundtrack to the special edition of The Lion King to include that pointless number but when Pocahontas included the 2 versions of If I Never Knew You into its special edition they didn't even bother to release a special edition soundtrack digitally, so Disney/Menken fans could have a true studio recording of the number AND have access to the alternate finale cue with the reprise (without the talking)