Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment today lifted the curtain on the anticipated Blu-ray debut of its celebrated Platinum Collection of animated features. The first wave includes some of Disney’s most beloved 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 next fall, and they’ll be available in new multi-disc sets featuring rarely seen footage and an array of new bonus features.
Technically the first Disney classic to appear on Blu-ray will be Sleeping Beauty 50th Anniversary Platinum Edition, which ships on October 7 this year. That film will debut Disney’s new BD-Live Network in the United States alone. Disney’s BD-Live Network will connect family and friends in-movie from wherever they may be, enabling them to chat live during the playback.
However, an entire wave of Disney Classics will start hitting Blu-ray in 2009, the first fittingly being the one that started it all for Walt Disney: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This title will launch Disney’s BD-Live Network worldwide.
The full Platinum Blu-ray release roll-out will be:
- Pinocchio: Spring 2009
- The beloved story of a wooden puppet who wants to become a real boy, this was Disney’s second full-length animated movie and won two Oscars. It returns for the first time since 2002.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Fall 2009
- Honored with a special Academy Award for screen innovation, this movie has been unavailable since 2001.
Fantasia: TBD date in 2010
- Walt Disney’s experimental masterpiece won two honorary Oscars for its innovative use of animation and music. Alongside this release, a newly restored and remastered Fantasia 2000 Platinum Edition will also be available. Fantasia 2000 includes seven completely new segments and marks the return of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
Beauty and the Beast: TBD date in 2010
- The only animated film ever nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, this film ended up winning to Oscars.
In conjunction with these Blu-ray releases, Destino, the unfinished animated feature film created by Walt Disney and surrealist painter Salvador Dali, will also release. Begun in 1946, it was rediscovered in 2003 and completed by Walt’s nephew, Roy E. Disney. The collaboration between these two 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.
