Well, we kind of brought this one on ourselves. After the massive success of The Lion King 3D, adding another $80 million to the film’s already huge $883 million worldwide take (back in 1992, so I am not adjusting for inflation), Disney has announced that four other trademark films will be making a return trip to theaters in 3D: Beauty and the Beast, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc, and The Little Mermaid.
The press release, like all press releases, goes on about how great the company’s (past) stories are, and how these films made a boatload of money while racking up the awards. The Beauty and the Beast re-release isn’t much of a surprise as it has been talked up for the past year—The Lion King 3D acting as a sort of precursor to how such a re-release could fare. The two Pixar films make sense as their CGI style should make for an easy transition to the 3D format. The Little Mermaid is the dark horse of the bunch.
While this writer goes to a corner and broods that Aladdin isn’t getting any 3D love, check out the release schedule for the confirmed re-releases:
Beauty and the Beast: January 13th, 2012
Finding Nemo: September 14th, 2012
Monsters, Inc: January 18th, 2013 (its prequel film, Monsters University, will be released June 21st, 2013).
The Little Mermaid: September 13th, 2013.