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Beauty
and the Beast at 100 Theaters
(by
digitalmediafx.com)
Walt Disney's rerelease of Beauty and the Beast
will appear on a record 100 and other big screen theaters
worldwide on January 1, 2002. The 100 screens is a record
debut for any movie to the IMAX venue. The old record
was 75 theaters set last year by Disney's Fantasia
2000.
The
rerelease of Beauty and the Beast features a new
six-minute segment that goes with the song "Human
Again." The segment was cut early on from the original
release of Beauty and the Beast and had to be animated
from scratch, with minor story adjustments, for the IMAX
version.
The
release also features a new name, and much longer name,
for the movie. Disney is officially calling the movie,
Beauty and the Beast: The Large Format Cinema Special
Edition.
Working
from the film's original digitally stored files (archived
on 9,000 CD-ROMs), Beauty and the Beast has been
meticulously and painstakingly reformatted one frame at
a time to take full advantage of the Giant Screen. The
film's original tracks have been remixed for this special
edition and improved film stocks have been used to make
this animated favorite "look better (as well as bigger)
than ever," according to Disney.
"Beauty
and the Beast will always hold a very special place
in our hearts here at Disney," says Dick Cook, chairman
of The Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. "It was
the first animated feature to ever receive a Best Picture
Oscar nomination and it helped to revitalize the art of
animation and the movie musical. We wanted to celebrate
the film's 10th anniversary in a big way and a Large Format
release is about as big as it gets. The addition of a
never-before seen musical sequence with a great song by
Ashman and Menken is further cause for celebration and
we think audiences will respond in a big way to this as
well. Seeing Beauty and the Beast on the Giant
Screen is like seeing the film for the first time. It
is a great motion picture experience and a great way to
celebrate the 10th anniversary of this landmark film."
Overseeing
the new animated sequence and the reformatting of Beauty
and the Beast: The Large Format Cinema Special Edition
were the original filmmakers -- producer Don Hahn and
directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale. Under their guidance,
a team of Disney's artists and technicians launched a
major effort to remove dust and dirt, add detail and effects,
and create new animation for the occasion. Special camera
heads and film printers worked around the clock to reformat
the original film for the Giant Screen and to create prints
(in 8 and 15 perf formats) that would provide a stronger
level of clarity, dimension and sound quality.
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