Walt Disney Studios Home Ent. has unveiled five additions to their Platinum Collection of animated features to be released on DVD and for the first time, on Disney Blu-ray Hi-Def. These include classics PINOCCHIO, SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, FANTASIA, FANTASIA 2000 and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Each will be available for a limited time only, in new multi-disc sets featuring rarely seen footage and an array of new bonus features.
The one that started it all for Walt Disney, SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, the first feature-length animated film ever made, will be the title that will mark a new era in home entertainment around the world, launching Disney's worldwide BD-Live Network, a technological breakthrough in home entertainment that will connect family and friends, allowing unprecedented interactivity and ease, from anywhere in the world.
Disney's BD-Live Network will be initially launched in the U.S. only, with the first Platinum Edition Blu-ray release, SLEEPING BEAUTY 50th Anniversary Platinum Edition, available on October 7, 2008.
"The landscape for the Blu-ray format is very healthy, and we believe that the enhanced movie experiences that the format provides, such as Disney's BD-Live network, offer consumers the chance to reinvent the experience of watching movies in their homes, and the interactivity and connectivity that is being provided will truly make the family room relevant again," said Bob Chapek, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Worldwide President.
The Platinum release roll-out will be:
PINOCCHIO, the story of a wooden puppet who wants to become a real boy, comes to Platinum Edition DVD and Disney Blu-ray in spring 2009. Disney's second full-length animated movie, PINOCCHIO won two Oscars, one for Best Score and another for the song "When You Wish upon a Star." It returns for the first time since 2002.
SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, honored with a special Academy Award for screen innovation, has been unavailable since 2001. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS Platinum Edition will be released in the fall of 2009.
Walt Disney's experimental masterpiece FANTASIA won two honorary Oscars for its innovative use of animation and music. Most recently released in 2000, the restored and remastered FANTASIA Platinum Edition will be available in 2010. Alongside this release, a newly-restored and remastered FANTASIA 2000 Platinum Edition, will be available. FANTASIA 2000 begins where its predecessor, FANTASIA, left off, with seven completely new segments and the return of the popular "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," featuring breathtaking images coupled with classical music favorites.
In conjunction with these releases, DESTINO, the unfinished animated feature film created by Walt Disney and famed surrealist painter Salvador Dali will release. Begun in 1946, it was rediscovered in 2003 and completed by Walt's nephew, Roy E. Disney. The collaboration between these two legendary artists will be available to own for the first time along with an all-new feature-length documentary that examines the surprising partnership between Dali and Disney.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, the only animated film ever nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, earned six Academy Award nominations and won two Oscars. BEAUTY IN THE BEAST Platinum Edition will be available in fall 2010.
