On Friday, Sept. 16, 2011, Disney is bringing its animated classic, The Lion King back to theaters — this time, with the addition of 3D.
First released in 1994, The Lion King remains the most successful hand-drawn animated feature film of all time and has spawned two direct-to-video sequels, a Tony-winning Broadway show, and millions of dollars’ worth of merchandise.
In addition to the theatrical re-release, Disney is also releasing The Lion King 3D on Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on Oct. 4, 2011. In essence, the limited theatrical run is an extended ad for the beefed-up 3D-ified home video update.
This isn’t the first time Disney has updated its classic films using 3D technology. In Oct. 2009, Disney released Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D — also in a limited theatrical run — before bringing both films to Blu-ray.
After the success of Avatar, movie studios started to double and triple down their investments into 3D filmmaking. Disney was no exception, announcing that virtually its entire future animated release slate would be made for 3D.
Of course, unlike Toy Story and Toy Story 2, The Lion King is not a computer-generated film. Thus, the 3D conversion is going to be less seamless. Still, this isn’t the first time Disney has reformatted The Lion King. In 2003, the studio released the film for IMAX screens in the lead-up to the DVD release.
What do you think of Disney’s decision to release The Lion King in 3D?
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