rb_canadian181 wrote:All this discussion of the new cover art possibilities got me thinking of one I remember seeing that eventually got scrapped when they were releasing the 1997 re-issue on VHS. This is about as good of a close-up as I've ever found of the un-used artwork. You can see that it says "cover art subject to change". Anyway I find this might be a good idea for them to use (something similar) for the next release because it's not an in-your-face close up and it has a variety of characters.

 
I completely forgot it comment on this prospective VHS cover with the cancellation of the theatrical rerelease! I have never ever seen this before so thank you so much for posting it! If it was a little more refined with Ariel and Eric being more on model and it used original artwork for Scuttle, Sebastian and Flounder instead of relying on stock clipart then it would make a really nice cover which would easily appeal to children who would immediately be able to recognise the characters. Oh and like someone else suggested Eric should be holding his flute and not a sword as that it's completely random! What I find most interesting about this advert is how it states "Video Appeals to Boys and Girls!"; as a straight male who's favourite film has been 
The Little Mermaid since the age of about 2 it has always annoyed me that people refer to it as a "girl's movie" (the same applies to all other Disney Princess films) they're amazing films and should be enjoyed by everyone young and old! If only Disney marketed the film as gender neutral as they do here, guess the Princess franchise has pretty much killed any attempt at that 
I re-watched my Platinum DVD today and it has made me even more excited and anxious for it's BluRay release. It is going to look and sound amazing. I'm still gutted that I'm not going to be able to see it again on the big screen, but then Disney are so illogical at times I shouldn't be surprised. I hope they at least put a lot of effort into promoting it's release from the Vault, if they do that it is sure to sell thousands of copies and top the Bluray charts at least! 
 
Going back to my earlier post about what I would like to see on this release it would also be amazing if Disney dug deep into their Vault and included the original 1989 
Making of The Little Mermaid that aired on the Disney Channel prior to the film's release. It can be seen on YouTube 
here. I very much doubt Disney would include it but it would be awesome to have alongside the McDonalds commercial to get a feel of the movie's original buzz. I hope we get some initial cover art and the trailer very soon, I'm looking forward to seeing how the logo will look! I was also thinking the could also perhaps (very unlikely) include the documentary 
Waking Sleeping Beauty being that it's all about the Disney Renaissance and it only had a very limited release, we didn't even get it here in the UK! I would love to see it!
This is guess work on my part but it seems we might be looking at an August release at least in the UK which was when we got 
Cinderella last year. I say this because Amazon have several 
Little Mermaid related books listed for a July/August release so this suggests that the release will not be long to follow. These are a few of the listings, I suspect the one's that have cover art might be updated nearer the time when the film's new logo is released:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Learn-Draw-Disn ... 316&sr=1-3
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Mermaid- ... 383&sr=1-6
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Mermaid- ... 411&sr=1-7
I'm going to be keeping a close watch on new listings for 
Mermaid related merchandise over the coming months  
