3D Versions of Disney Films To Finally See Release… On Blu-Ray

Bad news for those awaiting the 3D theatrical rerelease of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST - it ain’t happening. Instead Disney is putting the film straight out on 3D Blu-Ray.

By Jan. 03, 2011

Before we all knew that post-conversion 3D was the devil it was the hot new thing. You’ll remember a couple of years ago James Cameron announced he would be post-converting Titanic, George Lucas was 3Dizing all of the Star Wars films and Walt Disney was working on a 3D version of Beauty and the Beast.

Despite initial positive buzz from a screening at the ShoWest convention, Disney kept pushing Beauty and the Beast back. And back. And back. It seemed to fall off the release charts. Now it has a release date, but it’s not coming to theaters (or at least not in any major way - it may pop up at the El Capitan here in Hollywood, which Disney owns). Beauty and the Beast 3D is coming to Blu-Ray.

Also coming to 3D Blu-Ray is The Lion King. Actually there’s a major onslaught of 3D Blu from Disney in 2011 - Tangled, Tron: Legacy, Bolt, Meet the Robinsons, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, G-Force and Chicken Little are all coming home on 3D Blu this year.

But it’s the lack of a theatrical Beauty and the Beast that’s intriguing. Has all of the backlash against post-conversion convinced Disney it’s not worth sullying one of their modern classics? Did the post-conversion not turn out as well as hoped? Is this, like the decision to release Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2D part of the death knell for the latest faddish outbreak of 3D?

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