Disney to re-release more classics in 3D

Following the success of Disney’s 3D release of The Lion King, pictured right, the entertainment organisation has revealed more animated movies are to be released in 3D

Beauty and the Beast, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc and The Little Mermaid are lined up as the next batch of classic films to be re-released in the new format for cinema audiences.

These titles follow the 3D rerelease of The Lion King, which has made Disney Studios nearly $100 million worldwide in under four weeks. “Great stories and great characters are timeless, and at Disney we’re fortunate to have a treasure trove of both,” Walt Disney Studios president Alan Bergman said yesterday.

The Lion King also spawned a theatre show musical spin-off, as did Disney’s next outing for 3D, with a limited cinema re-run, the 1991 big screen cartoon, Beauty and the Beast is to run from January 2012. This is followed in September next year by Finding Nemo, which first hit the cinemas in 2003.

Monsters Inc will be given the 3D treatment in time for its return to the screens in 2013, 12-years after its original outing and finally The Little Mermaid – the oldest film of the four dating from 1989 – will join the line up of 3D movies later in 2013.