The Lion King in Disney Digital 3D by 2013... what if?

[TonyWDA]

I've come not to trust Wikipedia when it came to news/events, but this one got me thinking (and hoping).

I decided to look into the Disney Digital 3D article on Wikipedia just yesterday. Apparently, The Lion King is to get the Disney Digital 3D treatment by 2013. AGAIN, THIS IS MOST LIKELY ANOTHER WIKI-HOAX... BUT..... what if?

What if IT IS to get the DD3D treatment? The Lion King is just epic, and scenes like "I Just Can't Wait to be King" and the Stampede sequence would do the 3D process justice. Think Wildebeest hooves popping through the screen on certain shots of the Stampede, as well as water splashing as Simba and Nala surf across the screen in "I Just Can't Wait to be King". Not to mention Mufasa's approaching the camera as he falls to his death.

Bottom Line: How awesome would it be for this to happen?
It's most likely another Wiki-hoax, so I won't get my hopes too high. But still; here's hoping it does happen. As I said before: The Lion King is just epic.

[SpringHeelJack]

Meh.

[JDCB1986]

Hopefully The Lion King and Aladdin both get the treatment !

Hercules and The Hunchback Of Notre Dame and Tarzan would look great in 3D also !

Beauty And The Beast, while I love the film... is actually not one I would think would be very spectacular in 3D. A few scenes I'm sure will look brilliant, but I think all of the films I mentioned above have more potential for greatness in 3D.

[TonyWDA]

Hopefully The Lion King and Aladdin both get the treatment !

Hercules and The Hunchback Of Notre Dame and Tarzan would look great in 3D also !

Aladdin would be quite a show in 3D. I can only imagine the Cave of Wonders escape scene in 3D; as well as "Friend Like Me".

The last three fit the category, too. I don't think it was intentional, but some, if not most, of the shots in certain Disney films were just made for 3D. In Hercules, it's the Hydra scene. For HoND, it's Topsy Turvy and A Guy Like You, just to name a few. For Tarzan... it's the whole film. How many times do you NOT see swinging and close shots of Tarzan?

[nomad2010]

Hopefully The Lion King and Aladdin both get the treatment !

Hercules and The Hunchback Of Notre Dame and Tarzan would look great in 3D also !

Aladdin would be quite a show in 3D. I can only imagine the Cave of Wonders escape scene in 3D; as well as "Friend Like Me".

The last three fit the category, too. I don't think it was intentional, but some, if not most, of the shots in certain Disney films were just made for 3D. In Hercules, it's the Hydra scene. For HoND, it's Topsy Turvy and A Guy Like You, just to name a few. For Tarzan... it's the whole film. How many times do you NOT see swinging and close shots of Tarzan?

Almost every Aladdin scene is 3D worthy. A Whole New World, Jafar's snake scene, the winter scene, Jasmine's birds flying away.. I mean everything.

[toonaspie]

Hopefully The Lion King and Aladdin both get the treatment !

Hercules and The Hunchback Of Notre Dame and Tarzan would look great in 3D also !

Beauty And The Beast, while I love the film... is actually not one I would think would be very spectacular in 3D. A few scenes I'm sure will look brilliant, but I think all of the films I mentioned above have more potential for greatness in 3D.

IMO some films were beautifully animated in such a way that 3D was meant for them: The Lion King and The Hunchback of Notre Dame are two biggies. Tarzan is another one.

Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin only have a few 3D sequences to sustain them. But I would love to see the entire "A Whole New World" in 3D they way they did it in Philharmagic where it feels like you're actually moving along with the scene.

I dont think I can wait till 2013 for Lion King 3D!!!!

[TonyWDA]

IMO some films were beautifully animated in such a way that 3D was meant for them: The Lion King and The Hunchback of Notre Dame are two biggies. Tarzan is another one.

Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin only have a few 3D sequences to sustain them. But I would love to see the entire "A Whole New World" in 3D they way they did it in Philharmagic where it feels like you're actually moving along with the scene.

I dont think I can wait till 2013 for Lion King 3D!!!!

Good point. Remember this, though: When a film goes through the 3D process, it isn't always just to have things popping out of the screen all the time; it gets distracting, as far as the plot of the film is concerned. Its to make the film even more amusing to look at (the separation of layers: Person/Object and Background).

[Kyle]

well, I still need to be convinced that hand drawn animation can work well in 3d in the first place, but I'm open minded, and I generally love 3d anyway.

but really, I'd be happy to see the lion king in theaters at all again let alone imax. I think the lion king was the first movie I ever saw in theaters. there are a few shots I actually remember being there in the theater that day, and its those very shots that would look the best in 3d too. those being the opening shot with zazoo flying in to the iconic cliff, and the other when simba crawls through the vynes and talks to his father.

if any part of this rumor is true I'll be excited. will have to wait and see what beauty and the best looks like to know how much I would look forward to it being in 3d.

[ajmrowland]

It's already been reported (not on wikipedia) that whatever's been previewed of BATB looks amazing. I imagine the "Belle" scene would look quite nice.

[JDCB1986]

Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin only have a few 3D sequences to sustain them.

Regarding Aladdin... I have to disagree.
It's not just about things popping out, but about giving the frame depth...

Just to name a few...
The marketplace could look brilliant in 3D, all of the people, all the stands filled with goods.
The desert, with rolling hills far off in the distance and the golden beetle flying in and out.
The cave of wonders interior scenes are loaded with depth, the many levels of jewels etc...
I can't really think of any scenes in Aladdin that WOULDN'T look brilliant in 3D

Let's just hope Beauty And The Beast does well so we can get the opportunity to see the others !

(Honestly, I doubt we will ever see The Hunchback Of Notre Dame or Hercules... if Disney doesn't care enough about them to give them a decent DVD or Blu-ray release... I doubt they care enough to re-release them theatrically. )

[zackisthewalrus]

I'd like to see "The Lion King" in 3D, but I don't wanna have to wait until 2013. Besides, I thought "Dumbo" was next anyway. Of course, "Dumbo" would be too short to show by itself.... I don't know, whatever suits Disney.

[milojthatch]

WHY!!!??? It looked crappy on the IMAX and now this? These films were not made for all these new age formats, they kill the movies that they do this too!

[Kyle]

It's already been reported (not on wikipedia) that whatever's been previewed of BATB looks amazing. I imagine the "Belle" scene would look quite nice.

3d isnt something I can just take someones word for though. people's opinions vary a Lot when it comes to who does 3d well and who doesnt. and since the only hand drawn animation Ive seen looked like cardboard cut outs (chip and dale short) I'll have to remain skeptcal. Ive heard its not like this in beauty and the beast, but I cant even wrap my brain around how you'd go about removing that feeling. its easy with 3 dementional movies, both live action and 3d both pretty much do it the same way, with two cameras. using 2 cameras for 2d things would, again, at best give you an animated cardboard cut out look.

The only way I can even think to do it would be to re amimate the main characters from a slightly different perspective for the second "eye" or camera. but thats not practical at all.

my only other theory is they made new shadow maps, but that doesn't hold much water. One, I'm not sure that would even work well, and two, much of the animation didn't even have shadows maps, as its usually regulated to close up shots.

WHY!!!??? It looked crappy on the IMAX and now this? These films were not made for all these new age formats, they kill the movies that they do this too!

what are you talking about? its not as if they simply blow up the picture, the films they show are actually being shown in higher res. whats not to like? and while I havn't personally seen the lion king when it was in IMAX last time, I heard they even went in and added more detail in some shots to make sure it held up on a larger screen.

when it comes to negatives, most of the time they can make them as large as they want, as long as they were preserved well enough, otherwise grain could become an issue.

[TonyWDA]

It's already been reported (not on wikipedia) that whatever's been previewed of BATB looks amazing. I imagine the "Belle" scene would look quite nice.

"Belle" is actually the scene that was previewed in 3D at the 2009 ShoWest. From what I've read (also not on Wikipedia), audiences were thrilled to have seen the scene in 3D.

[ajmrowland]

It's already been reported (not on wikipedia) that whatever's been previewed of BATB looks amazing. I imagine the "Belle" scene would look quite nice.

"Belle" is actually the scene that was previewed in 3D at the 2009 ShoWest. From what I've read (also not on Wikipedia), audiences were thrilled to have seen the scene in 3D.

My point exactly. I couldn't remember the source, but I do know it was that scene.

and Kyle, how could you still go with the "cardboard cutout" thoughts? We're talking CAPS movies. Individual lines can be separated digitally, allowing for more depth in that one moment when belle extends her arm in the opening number. Shots in the prologue would have different layes, especially the one with the clouds. "Be our Guest also would look good" and both this movie and others have had characters lunge toward the camera. A gimmick? Maybe, but that's just the way the shots were initially composed.

[Roger Rabbit]

Certainly would require some work to make even the musical numbers of LK in 3-d. Not everyone likes 3-d. People can be distracted or alarmed with the 3-d effects. Would you still enjoy "I Just Can't Wait to be King?" if you suddenly were dodging ostriches and rhinos coming at you and couldn't focus on the artistic beauty originally put in the song?

[TonyWDA]

Would you still enjoy "I Just Can't Wait to be King?" if you suddenly were dodging ostriches and rhinos coming at you and couldn't focus on the artistic beauty originally put in the song?

Well... yes, actually. As far as Disney is concerned, almost everyone knows what The Lion King is; have seen it, and are especially familiar with it's musical numbers. Remember also, and this has been said in several different ways on this post: 3D isn't always about having things pop out at you; it's about giving the film depth. I mean, really; There aren't many moments in the movie where the lions try to stick their paws into the camera.

Quite frankly, if your going to a cinema to see a movie subtitled "in 3D", what else do you expect to see? Things are bound to look realistically separated from the background. If you're not a fan of 3D (not you personally; I mean in general), don't see a movie in 3D.

[PixarFan2006]

I'm not really sure hand-drawn animation would work in 3D. The only way I would see it is if it's the original version from 1994.

[Kyle]

Kyle, how could you still go with the "cardboard cutout" thoughts? We're talking CAPS movies. Individual lines can be separated digitally, allowing for more depth in that one moment when belle extends her arm in the opening number. Shots in the prologue would have different layes, especially the one with the clouds. "Be our Guest also would look good" and both this movie and others have had characters lunge toward the camera. A gimmick? Maybe, but that's just the way the shots were initially composed.

Not sure how I couldnt. I know we're talking about caps, but have you ever seen a multiplane shot in person? that's what I figure it'll look like. Sure, there will be depth, but it'll still be a series of flat layers. the only depth I think we'll get is when the animation was done on separate layers. in other words, you'll be able to tell bell's hand from her arm/torso, but the handitself will be flat. like a piece of cardboard sitting in front of another piece of cardboard a few inches away.

I can try to demonstrait if yould like, but you have to be able to do the magic eye technique to see the 3d, not everyone can.

[Kyle]

ok, heres a mock up to demonstrait my point, or question rather.



the top two pics can be viewed as one 3d image if you know about to view magic eye pictures. for those unfamilar, there are many methods people have to do this, but basically you have to star off into distance, then look at these two pics without focusing. you may have to move back a foot er so from where your sitting depending on the size of your monintor to make it work. If done right the imagines will combine into one. Do not go cross eyed, as this will give you the opposite effect, making the background appear as the foreground and vise versa.

anyway, back to my point, the 3d Ive created here would be fairly simple, yet it looks cardboardish because of how flat the forground is. the bottom pic to the left represents the depth you get when using 2 layers, or cels. the white is closer to the camera and the black is further. see how theres really only 2 depths?

a more proper depth map in a real 3d movie would look something like the one on the right. you get shades of grey to flesh out the 3d. see how Bell's hand is closer to the camera than her elbow? my question is how can this be done? I can do it, but it would involve a tedious process, and really wouldnt work well in animation. it would involve altering the linework quite a bit, which I dont see disney doing for every frame.