Disney Digital 3-D is a
brand name
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
used by
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...
to describe
three-dimensional films made and released by
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, formerly known as Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. until 2007, is an American film distribution studio within the Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. It ha ...
mostly under the
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios uni ...
label and shown exclusively using
digital projection.
Disney Digital 3-D in itself is not a presentation or a production format or technology, but rather purely a marketing concept. Films advertised as Disney Digital 3-D come from a number of sources, film, digital camera as well as animation software, and can be presented using any digital 3D technology, including
RealD 3D,
Dolby 3D
Dolby 3D (formerly known as Dolby 3D Digital Cinema) is a marketing name for a system from Dolby Laboratories, Inc. to show three-dimensional motion pictures in a digital cinema.
Technology
Dolby 3D uses a Dolby Digital Cinema projector that ...
,
XpanD 3D and
MasterImage 3D. There is no specific handling involved.
History
Pre-2005 Disney 3-D films
Disney had previously released two 3D animated shorts in 1953, ''
Adventures in Music: Melody'', the first American 3D animated short, and ''
Working for Peanuts
''Working for Peanuts'' is a 1953 animated short produced by Walt Disney, featuring Donald Duck and Chip 'n' Dale. It is notable for being one of their first shorts filmed in 3D (the first being '' Adventures in Music: Melody'', which was releas ...
'', starring
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...
and
Chip 'n' Dale
Chip and Dale (also spelled Chip 'n' Dale) is a cartoon duo of anthropomorphic chipmunks created in 1943 by The Walt Disney Company.
Concept
The characters were first drawn by Bill Justice and introduced in the 1943 Pluto short ''Private P ...
.
Disney also produced 3D films for its theme parks, including
Disneyland
Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...
's ''3D Jamboree'' (1956), featuring the ''
Mickey Mouse Club
''The Mickey Mouse Club'' is an American variety television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996 and returned to social media in 2017. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first televised fo ...
'' Mouseketeers and including ''Melody'' and ''Working for Peanuts''; ''
Magic Journeys
Magic Journeys was a 3D film created by WED Enterprises for presentation at Disney theme parks. It was featured at four different parks over the course of its 11-year run.
History
On October 1, 1982, ''Magic Journeys'' premiered as one of the o ...
'' (1982), ''
Captain EO
''Captain EO'' is a 1986 American 3D science fiction short film shown at Disney theme parks from 1986 through 1998. The movie stars Michael Jackson, was written by George Lucas, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola (who came up with the name ...
'' (1986), ''
Muppet*Vision 3D
''Muppet*Vision 3D'' is a 3D film attraction located at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The attraction also formerly operated at Disney California Adventure. Directed by Jim Henson, the attraction consists of a pre-show which then leads into Kermit ...
'' (1991), ''
Honey, I Shrunk the Audience
''Honey, I Shrunk the Audience'' (known as ''MicroAdventure!'' in Tokyo Disneyland) was a 4D film spin-off of the ''Honey, I Shrunk the Kids'' film series that was shown at several Disney theme parks. The audience wore 3D glasses, and the gimba ...
'' (1994), ''
It's Tough to Be a Bug!
''It's Tough to Be a Bug!'' is a 9-minute-long 3D film based on the 1998 Disney·Pixar film ''A Bug's Life'', using theater lighting, 3-D filming techniques, audio-animatronics and various special effects. Flik, a character from the movie, hos ...
'' (1998), the film portion of
Tokyo DisneySea
is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, just next to Tokyo. It opened on 4 September 2001, at a cost of 335 billion yen. The Oriental Land Company owns the park, and licenses intellectual proper ...
's Magic Lamp Theater, and ''
Mickey's PhilharMagic
''Mickey's PhilharMagic'' is a 4D film attraction found at several Disney theme parks around the world, including Magic Kingdom theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Park (Paris), and ...
'' (2003).
Between 2003 and 2005, Dimension Films (then-owned by
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...
) had made a couple of 3D films. Two of them were ''
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over'' and ''
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D
''The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D'' (also known simply as ''The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl'', or often shortened to ''Sharkboy and Lavagirl''), is a 2005 American 3D superhero adventure film co-written and directed by Rob ...
''.
Post-2005 Disney 3-D films
The first Disney Digital 3-D film was ''
Chicken Little
"Henny Penny", more commonly known in the United States as "Chicken Little" and sometimes as "Chicken Licken", is a European folk tale with a moral in the form of a cumulative tale about a chicken who believes that the world is coming to an end ...
'', which was released in late 2005. For the release, Disney collaborated with RealD to install RealD's 3D digital projection system featuring Christie CP2000 2K
DLP projectors along with silver screens for 84 screens in U.S. theaters.
The computer-animated film ''Chicken Little'' was followed by a re-release of ''
The Nightmare Before Christmas
''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (also known as ''Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas'') is a 1993 American stop-motion animated musical dark fantasy film directed by Henry Selick (in his feature directorial debut) and produced and ...
'' on October 20, 2006, a 1993
stop-motion
Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...
film distributed by
Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures, Inc. was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Feature films released under the Touchstone label were produced and financed by Walt Disney Studios, and featu ...
, was originally shot in 2D on 35mm-film to digitally remastered with the 3D version generated by
Industrial Light and Magic
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American motion picture visual effects company that was founded on May 26, 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lucas founded, and was created when he began pro ...
from this source using computer technology.
In 2007, Disney re-released the film ''
Working for Peanuts
''Working for Peanuts'' is a 1953 animated short produced by Walt Disney, featuring Donald Duck and Chip 'n' Dale. It is notable for being one of their first shorts filmed in 3D (the first being '' Adventures in Music: Melody'', which was releas ...
'' with the theatrical release of the 3D version of ''
Meet the Robinsons
''Meet the Robinsons'' is a 2007 American computer-animated science-fiction comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The List of Walt Disney Animation Studios films, 47th animated film produc ...
''.
The first live-action Disney Digital 3-D release was ''
Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert'', which followed in 2008. In 2009, ''
G-Force
The gravitational force equivalent, or, more commonly, g-force, is a measurement of the type of force per unit mass – typically acceleration – that causes a perception of weight, with a g-force of 1 g (not gram in mass measure ...
'' became the first film in Disney Digital 3-D from producer
Jerry Bruckheimer
Jerome Leon Bruckheimer (born September 21, 1943) is an American film and television Film producer, producer. He has been active in the genres of Action film, action, Drama film, drama, Fantasy film, fantasy, and Science fiction film, science fi ...
.
On May 29, 2009, Disney released
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...
's ''
Up'', the first Pixar film to be presented in 3-D. This film was then followed by a 3-D
double feature
The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown.
Opera use
Opera ho ...
re-release of ''
Toy Story
''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter (in his feature directorial debut), produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the '' Toy Story ...
'' and ''
Toy Story 2
''Toy Story 2'' is a 1999 American computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The second installment in the Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' franchise and the sequel to ''Toy Story'' (1995), it wa ...
'' on October 2, 2009, although neither of these films' animations was altered. Subsequent Pixar films, such as ''
Toy Story 3
''Toy Story 3'' is a 2010 American computer-animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the third installment in the ''Toy Story'' series and the sequel to ''Toy Story 2'' (1999). It was d ...
'' and ''
Cars 2
''Cars 2'' is a 2011 American computer-animated Spy film, spy comedy film produced by Pixar, Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the sequel to ''Cars (film), Cars'' (2006), the second film in the Cars (franchise), ''Cars'' f ...
'', were also released in Disney Digital 3-D.
Two of Disney's traditionally animated films were reissued with 3D conversions in 2011; ''
The Lion King
''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance, it ...
'' – released on August 26 internationally and on September 16 in North America, and ''
Beauty and the Beast
''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' ( ...
'' – limited to 13-day run in September at the
El Capitan Theatre
El Capitan Theatre is a fully restored movie palace at 6838 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood. The theater and adjacent Hollywood Masonic Temple (now known as the El Capitan Entertainment Centre) is owned by The Walt Disney Company and serves as th ...
in Los Angeles for North America, as well as short runs in New Zealand, Japan, Australia, India and Spain in 2010. These re-releases were being supervised by
Don Hahn
Donald Paul Hahn (born November 26, 1955) is an American film producer who is credited with producing some of the most successful animated films in recent history, including Disney’s ''Beauty and the Beast'' (the first animated film to be nom ...
, who produced both films. ''Beauty and the Beast'' in 3D received a wider release on January 13, 2012. Two more films were reissued in 3D in 2012; ''
Finding Nemo
''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton with co-direction by Lee Unkrich, the screenplay was writ ...
'' on September 14 and ''
Monsters, Inc.
''Monsters, Inc.'' (also known as ''Monsters, Incorporated'') is a 2001 American computer-animated Monster movie, monster comedy film produced by Pixar, Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. Featuring the voices of John Goodman, B ...
'' on December 19. ''
The Little Mermaid
"The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a h ...
'' was going to be re-released in 3D on September 13, 2013, but was cancelled due to the underperformances of the other Disney 3D re-releases until further notice. The 3D version of ''The Little Mermaid'' did, however, play for a limited engagement at the El Capitan Theatre from September to October 2013.
List of Disney Digital 3-D films
Feature films
Original releases
Reissues
Short films
Original releases
See also
*
List of 3D films
These are lists of 3D films:
* List of 3D films (2005–present)
* List of 3D films (1914–2004)
{{DEFAULTSORT:3D films
Lists of films by technology ...
*
3D film
3D films are motion pictures made to give an illusion of three-dimensional solidity, usually with the help of special glasses worn by viewers. They have existed in some form since 1915, but had been largely relegated to a niche in the motion pict ...
*
Digital cinema
Digital cinema refers to adoption of digital technology within the film industry to distribute or project motion pictures as opposed to the historical use of reels of motion picture film, such as 35 mm film. Whereas film reels have to b ...
*
Digital 3D
Digital 3D is a non-specific 3D standard in which films, television shows, and video games are presented and shot in digital 3D technology or later processed in digital post-production to add a 3D effect.
One of the first studios to use digital 3 ...
*
RealD 3D,
Dolby 3D
Dolby 3D (formerly known as Dolby 3D Digital Cinema) is a marketing name for a system from Dolby Laboratories, Inc. to show three-dimensional motion pictures in a digital cinema.
Technology
Dolby 3D uses a Dolby Digital Cinema projector that ...
,
Panavision 3D
Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company founded in 1953 specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses during ...
and
XpanD 3D (presentation technologies)
References
External links
Disney's Digital Cinema Portal
Pixar Projection 3D D-Cinema"Disney Hatches Chicken Little in Digital 3D"(''AWN'', October 31, 2005)
{{Disney
Disney technology
3D imaging
3D cinema
Audiovisual introductions in 2005