Disney to debut Blu-ray platinum hits

Walt Disney Studios has announced that it plans to release a set of five Blu-ray "Platinum Hits", a collection of animated classics from the studio.

The studio is one of the staunchest supporters of the HD format and the new decision is based on the company's efforts to "accelerate consumer adoption" of the format. The studio says the five blockbusters will be released over the next 2 years.

The movies are 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,' 'Fantasia,' 'Fantasia 2000,' 'Pinocchio' and the 'Beauty and the Beast' although it is unclear in what order they will be released. On October 7th 'Sleeping Beauty" will be released to begin the "Platinum" line.

There was no other details except that each title will be two disc and include extensive bonus features as well as BD-Live interactivity.

"BD Live is not a niche product," added Bob Chapek, president of Disney Home Entertainment.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Aug 2008 15:15

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8 comments

varnull

money for old rope.. again! Trust disney.. the masters of reselling the same tired old crap to come up with more tripe for xmas.
These films were meant to be seen in the cinema.. do yourself a favour and see them in the manner they were intended... oh yeah.. disney don't send them round the cinemas any more.. because nobody wants to see this tired old rubbish any more.

now please forgive me.. my horse has just died and it needs a damn good thrashing.

30.8.2008 21:32 #1

DInc

Like half of those movies aren't even the original classics.
What about more of those like 'Snow White' and 'Beauty & The Beast', such as 'The Little Mermaid', 'Jungle Book' and titles alike?

Anyways, those would do fine on DVD still, I would rather have Pixar-movies and their amazing graphics on BRD.
They're already great on DVD, but you still have that extra in HD for those movies.

Besides these movies:

In my opinion they should only release movies from around 2000 and later on BRD anyways.
And maybe some visually amazing big movies from before that time.
But really no smaller and simpler like that such as pure comedies and simple dramas and such...
Who would buy that AGAIN anyways?

31.8.2008 01:39 #2

Pop_Smith

If I remember right Fantasia 2000 was the only one of those that was computer generated. The rest, even after a remaster, are just hand-draw movies.

I am not saying they are bad, I actually enjoyed them quite a bit, but I don't see much of a point in drawn movies being released in HD.

31.8.2008 03:32 #3

sk8flawzz

Well if done right, a proper transfer can mean deeper and richer colors, clean and smooth looking black lines, etc.
The DVDs already do look GREAT but IMO there's that 'fuzziness' to the picture on my 55"
I don't own any of these, but I want to, so hopefully the video and audio receive true makeovers for their HD debuts.

31.8.2008 05:51 #4

atomicxl

I don't think re-releasing is a bad thing. I don't know why you guys are so against it. It makes me think that you are the suckers who feel like companies "force" them to buy stuff.

Nobody is putting guns to your heads. You don't have to buy this if you don't want to. If you like this stuff, this is probably the best quality you can get it in. If you don't care, don't buy it. Its as plain and simple as that.

Originally posted by Pop_Smith: If I remember right Fantasia 2000 was the only one of those that was computer generated. The rest, even after a remaster, are just hand-draw movies.

I am not saying they are bad, I actually enjoyed them quite a bit, but I don't see much of a point in drawn movies being released in HD.If they still have the cells and they rescan them, these will look nice. I watch alot of anime and some of its old stuff thats remastered. You'd be surprised how much better things are. You can see how people drew the lines of the characters and all sorts of little things that you never knew where there.

If anything, hand drawn would look nicer. You get to see all the imperfections that makeup the style of the artist rather than 100% pixel accurate lines that computers will give you.

31.8.2008 16:35 #5

juankerr

Originally posted by atomicxl: If they still have the cells and they rescan them, these will look nice. I watch alot of anime and some of its old stuff thats remastered. You'd be surprised how much better things are. You can see how people drew the lines of the characters and all sorts of little things that you never knew where there.

If anything, hand drawn would look nicer. You get to see all the imperfections that makeup the style of the artist rather than 100% pixel accurate lines that computers will give you.Agreed. As long as the original 35mm film stock is still in good condition then a digital remaster should yield excellent results. As error5 explained here 35mm film can yield resolutions exceeding 1920x1080:
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/685814

If you want to see how good hand-drawn animation can look in HD then buy or rent the BluRay release of Persepolis:

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/persepolis.html

Quote:2D animation? Simplistic black and white art? A minimalist use of color? �Persepolis� isn�t exactly the sort of film one would expect to offer a compelling upgrade over its DVD counterpart. However, Sony has given the film an absolutely gorgeous 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that intensifies the imagery and reproduces Satrapi�s vision with painstaking faithfulness. The animation itself showcases sharp, clean lines, perfectly stark contrast, and incredibly inky black levels. The entire film plays just as it should: like a graphic novel whose characters are leaping off the page and onto the screen. More importantly, the occasional use of color is bold and stable, there is no crushing present in the darkest regions of the transfer, and detail is so impeccable that the various textures of the hand-drawn lines and painted background images are intact and clearly visible throughout the production.
...
The Blu-ray edition of �Persepolis� proves that high definition can even transform a simplistic, two-dimensional, animated film into a perfect work of art.We should expect the best from Disney on these classics. I'd also like to see these added to the list:

The Lion King
Alladin
The Pixar Films

31.8.2008 17:22 #6

Pop_Smith

31.8.2008 18:51 #7

klassic

Originally posted by varnull: money for old rope.. again! Trust disney.. the masters of reselling the same tired old crap to come up with more tripe for xmas.
These films were meant to be seen in the cinema.. do yourself a favour and see them in the manner they were intended... oh yeah.. disney don't send them round the cinemas any more.. because nobody wants to see this tired old rubbish any more.

now please forgive me.. my horse has just died and it needs a damn good thrashing.
First of all almost all movies were intended to be seen in the theater. But 99% of movies are not available in theaters anymore. You only see new movies in theaters, and very rarely can you find an old movie in a theater.

Now on to the re-re-release (or how ever many re's I need). Either you don't have any kids or they are all grown up. I have a daughter who is 3 and she loves all the Disney movies. Especially if they are about the Disney princesses. She actually prefers to watch Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians to Shrek, Ice Age, or The Incredibles.

So just because a movie is old, it doesn't mean that its not worth it for new generations to watch.

3.9.2008 11:05 #8

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