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The Hollywood Reporter now says that The Lion King will be getting a full theatrical 3D re-release on September 16 leading up to the Blu-ray release October 4. Read more about the update after the jump. Original article follows.

When Disney released The Lion King in 1994, they were kicking on all cylinders. They’d recently released The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin but after the quality of those films, a follow-up seemed impossible. However, The Lion King delivered big time and to this day remains one of Disney’s most successful films of all time. Though it had a very solid DVD release in 2003, that disc is now out of print so Disney will officially re-release the film not only on Blu-ray, but on 3D Blu-ray later this fall. Yes, The Lion King is getting a 3D post-conversion. They’re even re-releasing the film theatrically, in 3D, at at least one location, Disney’s flagship theater, the El Capitan in Hollywood CA from September 2 through October 6.

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quote: Geoff Jones

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Should I keep bothering? Should I just wait and watch at home?

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quote: Matthew Black

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I wonder if it was the actual movie sound mix that was subpar. I was watching it in one of the auditoriums at my theater, and this aud usually has really good bass (enough to hear in the hallway through a door during loud booming parts.) No matter how much I turned up the volume, the movie sounded flat.

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quote: Matthew Black

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I wonder if it was the actual movie sound mix that was subpar.

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It was one of the few times that Radio City Music Hall ran film, and I HAD to bring my boys to see it so they could see the Great Lady and what film looked like in this magnificant, one-of-a-kind showplace.

I can tell you, the sound was gonad vibrating incredible. Of course Disney brought in stacks of subbass bins on either side of the stage (covering them with acoustically transparant material -- brown in color, so it kind of match the side of the proscenium). And I can verify, that the wildebeast stampeed ROCKED every cell in your body; it even scared my younest nephew a little. So it was not the sound mix that was lacking, Mathew, but the theatre sound system -- a common weakness in many local plexes.

The fact that one can turn the volume up but not get enough deep base simply means they compromised when the did the voicing to keep sound low-end frequencies from bleeding into adjacent rooms. RCMH doesn't have to worry about adjacent rooms -- no subbass attenuation in THAT auditorium!

And MANY times is why a well designed and EQe home system can sound much better that the local cinema....and easily without too much trying.
 

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Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 09-22-2011, 03:28 PM:
 
@ Frank:

but that doesn't explain why or how I saw this in theater where bass is top notch, but when it came to 'The Lion King' the bass just felt lacking - the best scenes where the bass should be evident are

- the opening shot of the elephants feet
- the thwack of scar hitting the mouse
- the stampede
- Mufasa's voice from the sky

I can't verify this, but I've seen this in it's initial theatrical release, the IMAX release, the laserdisc, the DTS DVD and when compared to the new '3D' (2D) edition - it becomes very apparent that the soundmix seems like its been retinkered and not for the best.
 

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Posted by Connor Wilson (Member # 6088) on 09-24-2011, 10:41 AM:
 
I agree with Goeldner.

What Frank was talking about was the original 1994 release of The Lion King, with the original 5.1 Dolby SRD sound mix.

The 3D version has a new and different sound mix (obviously using the original stems) in uncompressed, 24-bit Dolby Surround 7.1 (a 5.1 DCP is also available). I saw this at the same venue Goeldner did, the ETX auditorium (#11) at AMC Tyson's Corner 16. This venue can reproduce bass at low octaves, in this case it LITERALLY rumbles the floor, and has 7.1 sound installed (but not officially licensed by Dolby). I know this for fact because I saw Transformers: Dark of the Moon at this same screen. I've heard sounds come from all four corners behind me, and the floor rumbled like an earthquake almost throughout the entire film (It's Michael Bay, what'd you expect?). I think that's enough for you to understand the performance of the ETX sound system at Tyson's. I know our friend Joe Redifer had a negative experience at his ETX in AMC Flatirons Crossing 14, but no two cinemas are alike.

As for The Lion King in ETX at Tyson's, I think there's only one word to describe it: flat. Sure, there were some low effects here or there (the elephant stomping during "Circle of Life"), but it never went low enough to shake the floor. I don't even think the back surrounds on the new mix were active enough. I think I only heard ONE effect come out of them during the film, and that's about it. I'm not sure if they even played the 7.1 DCP there. Some effects like dialogue played on the rears when for spatial realism, should've played in the backs. I know it's a film that was originally mixed for 5.1, but if you're going to remix it with two extra channels in the back, at least use them efficiently! I hope Disney or AMC isn't doing this to make The Lion King more kid-friendly by toning down the mix!

An early review on Blu-ray.com gave the 2D BD of The Lion King: Diamond Edition full 5/5 marks for picture and sound. Since the Blu-ray will use the exact same DI of the new 2011 2D/3D version, it's either the AMC Tyson's for screwing Lion King up for the "kiddies", the reviewer never heard the original 5.1 mix on Laserdisc, or the 2003 DEHT 5.1 remix at least, the reviewer had a poor sound system, or Disney is just trolling us. I guess we all have to wait for the circle of life to turn around until we get it straight.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-24-2011, 11:33 AM:
 
For everything to be perfect, I guess you need to wait for the Golden Diamond Platinum Mega Super-Essential Complete Director's Cut: The Deluxe Edition (with two minutes of never-before-released footage).

It should be coming about four editions from now.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 09-25-2011, 07:13 PM:
 
Mike. After that, they's start all over again, only with the 3D version.
 

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 09-26-2011, 08:00 PM:
 
THE LION KING is still #1 after it had made a little over twenty two million this past weekend. Although it was scheduled for a two week run, Do you think Disney will extend it's theatrical engagement since it is making a lot of money? If they do, it will be playing at the same time when the Blu-Ray & DVD release scheduled for next Tuesday become available.

-Claude
 

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Posted by Geoff Jones (Member # 3668) on 09-26-2011, 08:20 PM:
 
http://www.slashfilm.com/disney-extending-theatrical-revival-the-lion-king-3d/

Briefly: The original plan for the 3D re-release of Disney’s 1994 smash The Lion King was to put the film in theaters for two weeks in anticipation of the film’s October 4 Blu-rayrelease. But the 3D conversion of the film has dominated the box office for two weeks in a row, falling only 27% in its second weekend, for a cumulative two-week take of $61.7 million.

And so, according to CNN (via The Disney Blog), the head of Disney’s theatrical distribution arm has pledged at least another week for the film to live in theaters. That means The Lion King will be on movie screens right up to, and perhaps even after, the film’s blu-ray release.

Details for the extended theatrical run have not been disclosed, but they likely boil down to keeping the film on the big sceeen as long as it is making money and isn’t cutting into Blu-ray sales. Expect another week, perhaps two.
 

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Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 09-28-2011, 04:56 PM:
 
maybe Disney can convert 'Aladdin' to 3D and give it a theatrical release as such.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-28-2011, 06:55 PM:
 
Please don't say that. I love Aladdin. I just want a Blu-ray release. I don't need a butchered theatrical version.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 09-28-2011, 07:12 PM:
 
I think they definitely will now add 3D to Aladdin.

The 3D on The Lion King looks very good indeed. If you get the best of both worlds (3D and a 2D Blu Ray) then why not?
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-28-2011, 08:05 PM:
 
I've heard lots of people say that Lion King looks like a Viewmaster.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 09-28-2011, 09:42 PM:
 
I must not have seen those bits.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-29-2011, 01:26 AM:
 
I am very familiar with the sound mix on Lion King, as I remember it fondly from my GCC Northpark days.

I watched part of this on a VERY good system that I know was properly tuned yesterday. To put it bluntly, the new mix is crap. Whoever re-mixed it should be shot.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-29-2011, 12:32 PM:
 
Did they tone down the mix? The previous DVD version already seemed a little different.

The Lion King indeed sounded great at Northpark. The opening song The Circle of Life ends with that drum slam of the title card hitting the screen. It sounded tremendous on the Northpark #1 THX system. I felt the air in my chest move. And it scared some kids pretty good. And that made it even better. A good sound system should have the ability to scare the shit out of someone at any given time.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-29-2011, 03:49 PM:
 

quote: Brad Miller

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To put it bluntly, the new mix is crap. Whoever re-mixed it should be shot.

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I am very disappointed to hear that because that likely means the Blu-ray mix will be ass, too. Why do they even bother? It costs them money to do stuff like that.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 09-29-2011, 08:44 PM:
 
Agree the sound mix is VERY ordinary on this.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-30-2011, 02:38 AM:
 
The studios do this because there seems to be this notion that a new mix is somehow better. In reality mixes today are mostly toned down and BLAH or they are Michael Bay suck-ass compressed screechy noise.

Its sort of like trying to listen to music these days on the radio. My ears bleed with the overcompression, pumping and splattering of the high frequencies. Then to add insult to injury, all of the talentless twats use AUTOTUNE to make it sound even more obnoxious.

Getting back to the movies, I am against ANY tampering of the audio mix for home video or re-release. Enough of this "lets mix it for near-field" horseshit! Leave the damn mix alone. I've yet to hear ANY remix that sounded better than the original.

One thing you are definitely correct on Joe, don't buy the blu-ray!
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-30-2011, 12:34 PM:
 
I'm afraid I have no choice on that since it is one of Jen's favorites. Aside from that all I can say is that I hope they don't rape Aladdin. I've had the DVD for a long time and the new home theater mix they did on it is absolutely unlistenable. Fortunately they kept the original 5.1 mix in as well and you could select between the two. At least give us this option, Disney! And they had both better be uncompressed or DTSHDMA.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-30-2011, 01:02 PM:
 
One theory I have about these movie re-mixes is they're being engineered to perform on lowest common denominator equipment: like the tiny $200 5.1 home theater in a box setups you'll see in Wal-Mart or Sam's Club from time to time.

When 5.1 digital was first hitting movie theaters and home theater it was a really high end thing. Now it's more common place with more common place equipment. Add to that more common place customers, some of whom don't like things to be dynamic.

It's sort of like the shit that took over the music industry: compress the crap out of the mix so the CD sounds little if any better than a 128kb/s AAC file someone is playing through their iPhone.

The ironic thing is the newest audio formats, disc-based media, computer gear and sound system gear have incredible power and potential. And it's being wasted.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-30-2011, 01:14 PM:
 
That's the logic that baffles me. I know why most music is compressed these days (to sound "good" in the car where it has to compete with road noise, screaming pedestrians, etc). But really, spending money to remix a movie for people who won't spend money on a decent sound system is backwards. You don't want to spend money if you don't have to, instead you want to make the consumer spend the money. So leave the mixes alone, they will sound like shit on the crappy systems and more people will spend money to get a near-halfway decent sounding system.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-30-2011, 10:06 PM:
 
Joe is right. If people don't care to setup some sort of decent sound system, they don't care about how it sounds.
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 10-04-2011, 09:06 PM:
 
Well, it happened:

Announcement from Disney

quote:

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — "Finding Nemo," ''The Little Mermaid" and two other animated Walt Disney tales are following "The Lion King" into 3-D mode on the big-screen.

Disney announced Tuesday that the 3-D reissues will begin Jan. 13 with 1991's "Beauty and the Beast," the first animated feature ever nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards.

The studio will follow with 3-D re-releases of 2003's "Finding Nemo" on Sept. 14 of next year, 2001's "Monsters, Inc." on Jan. 18, 2013, and 1989's "The Little Mermaid" on Sept. 13, 2013. "Monsters University," a 3-D prequel to "Monsters Inc.," comes out June 21, 2013.

Disney's 1994 hit "The Lion King" far exceeded the studio's expectations in a 3-D theatrical reissue, pulling in $80 million domestically since debuting Sept. 16.

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quote: Exasperated movie buying customer

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OK, this box has a Blu-ray and DVD in it but it looks like a DVD box. And this one has the same Blu-ray and DVD inside and it looks like a Blu-ray box.

This is the stupidest fucking thing I've seen in a long time.

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quote: Joe Redifer

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So I watched the Blu-ray and the mix is indeed underwhelming. Of course the review at blu-ray.com touts how amazing it is and how it brought chills to the reviewer. It brought chills to me, too... the same kind of chills I get when my ass is about to explode with diarrhea. I didn't get up and move around to confirm it, but it sure sounded like the dialog was being played simultaneously across all three front speakers. Is it like this with the theatrical 3D version? It is also cropped to 16:9 (which is like a square compared to the vast openness of the wondrous FLAT format).

Seriously, listen to it at several different parts. Dialog in all three front speakers? Go listen right now.

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