News
Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 coming to BD and DVD
BURBANK, Calif., September 2010 —
Fantasia and Fantasia 2000
-- the magical, animated musical
masterpiece and the contemporary classic inspired by it -- debut
in highly anticipated Blu-ray High Definition and DVD
2-Movie Collection Special Editions on
November 30. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment is opening
the Disney vault to be able to present these two films that
broke the boundaries of imagination in the highest quality
possible.
The Fantasia and Fantasia
2000: 2-Movie Collection Special Edition will be
available in a 4-disc Blu-ray Combo Pack ($45.99 SRP) and a
2-Disc DVD ($39.99 SRP) for a very limited time only. The
Blu-ray transformation of Fantasia and
Fantasia 2000 will reveal the magic,
music and majesty of both films as never before experienced,
with state-of-the-art picture restoration of the original
Fantasia and pristine 7.1 Digital
Theater System Hi-Def Surround Sound. The Blu-ray combo pack is
a tremendous value featuring, in addition to the two films in
two different formats, a wealth of bonus features.
Among those Blu-ray special features is the highly requested
Academy Award® nominated short Destino. Available for
the first time ever on Blu-ray, the seven minute film is the
result of a unique collaboration between Walt Disney and
Salvador Dali begun in 1946, but put on hold due to studio
financial concerns. In 2003, Roy E. Disney worked with a team
of modern day animators to complete the film as a tribute to
Walt’s pioneering artistic vision. Accompanying the highly
anticipated short is an all-new feature length documentary
entitled “Dali & Disney: A Date With Destino,” which
explores the origins of the relationship between Disney and
Dali, their collaboration on Destino, and ultimately how the
film came to fruition so many years after its inception.
Fantasia, an unprecedented and
magnificent feast of music and animated images, was initially
released by the Studio in 1940 as a “road show” release. The
following year, at the 14th Annual Academy Awards,
Fantasia earned two Special Awards. The first was
given to Walt Disney and associates for their outstanding
contribution to the advancement of the use of sound in motion
pictures, being the first commercial film released in
multi-channel sound using a process called Fantasound,
and the second to conductor Leopold Stokowski and his associates
“for…unique achievement in the creation of a new form of
visualized music…thereby widening the scope of the motion
picture as entertainment and as an art form.”
Considered avant-garde during its time, Fantasia
has gone on to become one of the most popular movies of all time
and today is considered a classic. In 1990, the film was
selected for preservation in the United States National Film
Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally,
historically, or aesthetically significant.” Featuring the
Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Stokowski, this
groundbreaking film, which consists of animation set to eight
musical pieces, is narrated by Deems Taylor and includes an
appearance by Mickey Mouse (voiced by Disney himself).
Equally impressive is Fantasia
2000, the awe-inspiring extravaganza of
sight and sound, executive produced by the late Roy E. Disney.
Featuring an array of celebrity hosts including Steve Martin,
Bette Midler, James Earl Jones, Penn and Teller, Angela
Lansbury, Itzhak Perlman and Quincy Jones, the film, like its
predecessor, expertly visualizes classical music compositions
with various forms of animation and live-action introductions.
Fantasia 2000 is primarily performed
by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and conducted by James
Levine.
Synopsis: The dreams and visions of Walt Disney
come to life in Fantasia, which blends
music and film magic into an exhilarating movie-going
experience. Unforgettable images are brought to life by some of
the world’s best music, and highlighted by the comedy of Mickey
Mouse as a troublemaking sorcerer’s apprentice, along with the
beauty of winged fairies and cascading snowflakes, the majesty
of Noah’s ark and even plump hippos performing ballet in tutus.
Motivated by his uncle’s foresight, Roy Disney continued the
magic with Fantasia 2000
which begins where its predecessor left off. There are seven
completely new segments, and viewers watch a bustling
Depression-era metropolis in the style of Al Hirschfeld’s famous
cartoons, a flock of flamingos with slapstick yo-yo talents, an
ark full of animals gathered by Donald Duck as Noah’s first
mate, and musical life breathed into a family of flying humpback
whales.
Fantasia DVD Bonus Features:
- New Audio Commentary with Disney historian Brian Sibley
- Disney Family Museum
(running time: approx. 5 minutes) – Walt’s daughter
Diane Disney-Miller takes viewers on a tour of the new
Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, California featuring
a very large exhibit on Fantasia
and most importantly, the Schultheis notebook with long lost
Fantasia production notes found in
more recent years in the walls of a convent.
Everything on the DVD plus:
- Disney View – This viewing mode maximizes the Blu-ray viewing experience with a 16 x 9 aspect ratio. Original artwork created by a Disney artist, in a style that complements the beauty of the film.
- The Shultheis Notebook: A Disney Treasure (running time: approx. 14 minutes) –An in depth look at the recently discovered Schultheis Notebook. The detailed log was created by Herman Schultheis, an effects man on Fantasia, and intricately breaks down the film from a technical view. Many of the special effects used in Fantasia were a mystery to modern day animators until this notebook was recovered.
- Interactive Art Gallery and Screensavers – Viewers can explore the artwork of Fantasia as never before, in HD resolution with unique Blu-ray interactivity and programming.
- Audio Commentaries from
Fantasia Legacy Collection
o Audio commentary with interviews and story note recreations by Walt Disney, hosted by John Canemaker.
Fantasia 2000 DVD Bonus Features:
- Musicana – Walt’s Inspiration for a Sequel (running time: approx. 10 minutes) – This documentary reveals rarely-seen art created for Musicana, a late 1970’s project intended as a Fantasia sequel with a focus on exploring other cultures via their greatest musical compositions. Viewers are offered a look at the origins of pieces that were started by Walt, such as “The Emperor and the Nightingale” which was then taken over by a very young John Lasseter. Ultimately, Musicana was stopped to begin production on “Mickey’s Christmas Carol,” but the memories of this piece still live on with the animators who conceived it.
Fantasia 2000 Blu-ray Bonus Features:
Everything on the DVD plus:
- Dali & Disney: A Date With Destino (running time: 82 minutes) – This feature length documentary explores the collaborative relationship between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali, revealing how and why the Destino short came to fruition under the lead of Roy E. Disney in 2003 so many years after its inception in 1946.
- Destino (running time: approx. 7 minutes) – The legacy of Walt Disney and Salvador Dali lives on in this highly anticipated short film.
- Disney’s Virtual Vault --
BD-Live Feature
- Audio Commentaries from Fantasia
Legacy Collection (total running time: 84 minutes)
o Audio commentary with the directors and art directors for each segment.