“The Little Mermaid” will be released in 3D this fall after all, but on Blu-ray instead of theatrically on Sept. 16 as previously announced. The Blu-ray 3D will likely be on Oct. 1.
And there will be no Disneynature film this April for the first time in five years, 3D or otherwise.
One had to suspect that since Disney announced the theatrical release of a 3D version of “The Little Mermaid,” that the 2D-to-3D conversion process was well underway, if not nearly complete.
So, when Disney recently announced that the studio was scrapping those theatrical release plans, the natural question was, what about completing the conversion and releasing it on Blu-ray 3D?
Raising the question further was the printed promotional material inside the new Blu-ray Diamond Edition of “Peter Pan” featuring a full page ad for “The Little Mermaid” in 3D on the cover of the booklet, billed as “coming this fall.” The same ad ran on an inside page of a similar booklet inside the sleeve of “Monsters. Inc.” Neither ad indicated whether the movie was coming to movie theaters or Blu-ray. The tiny print at the bottom of the ads indicates the movie is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment but that doesn’t mean much since sometimes the home entertainment divisions of studios are the entities that release the movies for a very limited theatrical run as part of the marketing campaign for their subsequent Blu-ray release. A video trailer for “The Little Mermaid” in 3D on “Peter Pan” was equally vague about its release venue.
Disney executive and producer of films such as “Beauty and the Beast” and the recent “Frankenweenie,” confirmed to me Wednesday night at the 3D Society’s Creative Arts Awards that “The Little Mermaid” conversion was indeed well along in the process. Although he did not know about home video plans, he agreed that it would be a helpful boost to the format to release the movie exclusively on Blu-ray 3D.
A Disney spokesman confirmed to me Sunday that the movie will be released on Blu-ray 3D this fall. Yahoo Movies is showing a release date of Oct. 1 for a Blu-ray Diamond Edition of the movie. The date is listed next to a 90-second trailer that does not show a date and says nothing about 3D, but only that the movie will be “for the first time ever in High Definition.” But another trailer we found (below) promotes the movie as being in 3D for the first time ever on Blu-ray 3D, but it is not called the Diamond Edition.
Meanwhile, Hahn also told me that there will be no Disneynature release on Earth Day this April for the first time since the franchise was launched in 2009. The next scheduled release is “Bears” on Earth Day in 2014.
— By Scott Hettrick
Really hope that they release this in the theatres. I’d do anything to experience these Disney childhood favourites on the bigscreen again or for the first time.
I also hope that they keep the changes between the 3D version and 2D consistent. Beauty and the Beast 3D had noticeable changes not only to suit the 3D version but imrpove on the transfer.
Personally I could care less if the film comes to theaters in 3d or 2d, however I am most interested in owning this film on bluray 3d… I have every Disney bluray 3d released to date ad I will continue buying them as long as Disney produces them… I would like to see
Disney make their animated films in 3d format for home viewing rather than spend the money in a theater , which in my case is 2 adult tickets and 3 children’s tickets. That’s almost $70 and than in a week or two later spend $30 to buy It on bluray 3d.. if Disney is going the route of converting their animated canon list to 3d I will gladly give them my money for the upgrades
I really hope they keep the cover art of Ariel going up to the surface it would look really good on a lenticular cover, but that is just my opinion..
Please bring the little mermaid to theaters
A friend of mine found on a dvd that it was coming out in theaters.
I was looking forward to this. When i read that it was going to be
In theaters in september that would be great . That is my birthday
It has always been my favorite
I love the Disney re-released movies in theater because it gives us a chance to take our little girl to the movies and there just aren’t many opportunities to do that. I have been looking forward to this release for 2 years and so has my niece since Ariel is her favorite. It is unfortunate that for whatever reason Disney is skipping the theatrical release of “The Little Mermaid” because so many little girls’ favorite princess is Ariel and it would be magical on the big screen in 3D. One of my favorite memories from when I was little is going to go to see Snow White in the theater. I would like to be able to carry on the tradition with my family.