http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117899655?categoryid=20&cs=1
(cut and pasted here)
'Aladdin' pops DVD cork a decade after its debut
BV gives retailers 9-month heads-up, preps marketing
machine
By SCOTT HETTRICK
After spending the past 10 years locked in a Disney
bottle, "Aladdin" (and Genie) will become part of a
whole new homevideo world on Oct. 5, when the Disney
toon makes its debut on DVD.
Buena Vista Home Entertainment is giving retailers a
nine-month heads-up to make way for Prince Ali and the
big blue genie voiced by Robin Williams.
After generating another $120 million and $160 million
in consumer spending via first-time DVD editions of
"Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King,"
respectively, the past two holiday seasons, Disney has
equally high hopes for "Aladdin."
BVHE president Robert Chapek says the unusually long
advance notice also allows the studio time to set up
one of its biggest marketing campaigns ever and finish
work on the two-disc DVD Platinum special edition
($29.99) that will feature the most advanced set-top
interactivities yet.
Interviews have yet to be recorded for bonus features,
but the studio is hoping Williams will be involved in
the extras. Among the voice impersonations Williams
provided that were not used in the movie were W.C.
Fields, President George H.W. Bush, John Wayne,
Sylvester Stallone and George C. Scott as Patton.
The 1992 film, which has been off the market entirely
for 10 years, has been newly restored for its
inaugural digital presentation and 5.1 surround sound
and enhanced home theater sound mix.
To accommodate the sharper DVD image quality, more
than 20% of the original artwork has been enhanced,
with some characters redrawn to add more facial
detail, and backgrounds in many scenes have been
touched up for color and detail. Stars in the sky
presented perhaps the biggest challenge, with a total
of 92 star scenes reworked to be more believable on
the TV screen.
Among the bonus features is a deleted song called
"Proud of Your Boy" by Oscar-winning songwriters
Howard Ashman and Alan Menken set to newly produced
animation, as well as two audio commentaries.
Interactivities include a virtual carpet ride; a 3-D
tour of Genie's lamp; games; an option for pop-up
trivia presented during the film; musical postcards;
sing-along songs; and a new musicvideo of "A Whole New
World" by Disney Channel stars.
======================
My take - redrawing? What the...??? Leave it alone.
I hope they do what they did with BatB where you have the different versions of the film, if you want to see the original instead.
As for the added song - good song! I would rather have seen "To Be Free," but I love "Proud of Your Boy" anyways. And hopefully the song will work without actually having Aladdin's mom there as was originally intended.
As for the new music video... ugh. Not anther Disney Channel Stars song. As I have said before: find some fresh faces. The song may be good, and I'll reserve judgement until I hear it, but I'm really sick of seeing Hilary Duff, Raven, and Christy Carlson Romano all over everything.
The pop up trivia will amuse me, though. I always was a sucker for Pop-Up Video and Pop-Up Brady.
Your thoughts???
-Kirsten
(cut and pasted here)
'Aladdin' pops DVD cork a decade after its debut
BV gives retailers 9-month heads-up, preps marketing
machine
By SCOTT HETTRICK
After spending the past 10 years locked in a Disney
bottle, "Aladdin" (and Genie) will become part of a
whole new homevideo world on Oct. 5, when the Disney
toon makes its debut on DVD.
Buena Vista Home Entertainment is giving retailers a
nine-month heads-up to make way for Prince Ali and the
big blue genie voiced by Robin Williams.
After generating another $120 million and $160 million
in consumer spending via first-time DVD editions of
"Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King,"
respectively, the past two holiday seasons, Disney has
equally high hopes for "Aladdin."
BVHE president Robert Chapek says the unusually long
advance notice also allows the studio time to set up
one of its biggest marketing campaigns ever and finish
work on the two-disc DVD Platinum special edition
($29.99) that will feature the most advanced set-top
interactivities yet.
Interviews have yet to be recorded for bonus features,
but the studio is hoping Williams will be involved in
the extras. Among the voice impersonations Williams
provided that were not used in the movie were W.C.
Fields, President George H.W. Bush, John Wayne,
Sylvester Stallone and George C. Scott as Patton.
The 1992 film, which has been off the market entirely
for 10 years, has been newly restored for its
inaugural digital presentation and 5.1 surround sound
and enhanced home theater sound mix.
To accommodate the sharper DVD image quality, more
than 20% of the original artwork has been enhanced,
with some characters redrawn to add more facial
detail, and backgrounds in many scenes have been
touched up for color and detail. Stars in the sky
presented perhaps the biggest challenge, with a total
of 92 star scenes reworked to be more believable on
the TV screen.
Among the bonus features is a deleted song called
"Proud of Your Boy" by Oscar-winning songwriters
Howard Ashman and Alan Menken set to newly produced
animation, as well as two audio commentaries.
Interactivities include a virtual carpet ride; a 3-D
tour of Genie's lamp; games; an option for pop-up
trivia presented during the film; musical postcards;
sing-along songs; and a new musicvideo of "A Whole New
World" by Disney Channel stars.
======================
My take - redrawing? What the...??? Leave it alone.
I hope they do what they did with BatB where you have the different versions of the film, if you want to see the original instead.As for the added song - good song! I would rather have seen "To Be Free," but I love "Proud of Your Boy" anyways. And hopefully the song will work without actually having Aladdin's mom there as was originally intended.
As for the new music video... ugh. Not anther Disney Channel Stars song. As I have said before: find some fresh faces. The song may be good, and I'll reserve judgement until I hear it, but I'm really sick of seeing Hilary Duff, Raven, and Christy Carlson Romano all over everything.
The pop up trivia will amuse me, though. I always was a sucker for Pop-Up Video and Pop-Up Brady.
Your thoughts???
-Kirsten
