Platinum Edition
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first film released in the DVD series, in 2001. Lady and the Tramp, produced in CinemaScope, was also presented in an alternate pan-and-scan version included on the same disc.The Lion King and Aladdin both utilize a navigation system of multiple featurettes that can be played individually or together, while Peter Pan simply re-uses a brief 15-minute documentary from 1998. Beginning with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in October 2009, Disney began re-issuing Platinum Edition titles under a new Diamond Edition classification on Blu-ray, with accompanying 2-disc DVD sets. For the most part, the original mixes are also included. DVDs in this series typically contain a significant amount of bonus material, primarily housed on the second disc of the set so as to allow for a high-bitrate transfer of the feature.
Sleeping Beauty, originally presented in 2.20:1, is presented in its film negative s aspect ratio of 2.55:1. The two following titles, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King were released in IMAX and other giant screen theaters during the holiday season before its October DVD release.
One Hundred and One Dalmatians and The Jungle Book were both produced in 1.37:1 for intended exhibition in 1.75:1; the former film is presented in 1.33:1, while the latter is presented 1.78:1. Disney expects to release all its Diamond Editions by 2016. The following titles are also expected to appear as part of the Diamond edition series in the future: .
Most of the films in the collection are digitally restored from their original negatives, undergoing digital clean-up processes to remove dust, dirt, and scratches. The Walt Disney Platinum Editions are a line of DVDs (and later Blu-ray Discs) released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment as well as a follow-up to Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection, which ran from 2000 to 2001.
In March 2009 the last of the Platinum Editions were released, and in October 2009, a new line of Diamond Editions began to appear on Blu-ray, with accompanying DVD sets. Originally, the line consisted of the company s ten best-selling VHS titles and would be released in October of each year. In May 2003, Disney announced that it would be adding the next four best-selling titles to the collection.
The three exceptions are The Lion King, Aladdin, and Peter Pan. Starting in 2005, a Platinum Edition was released twice a year, one in October and one in February/March. The first six Platinum Editions, from Snow White in November 2001 to Cinderella in October 2005, were also available on VHS. Beginning with Sleeping Beauty in October 2008, Platinum Editions also became available on Blu-ray Disc.
Each of these three films also featured retouched and re-cleaned-up animation, alterations done to prepare the films for IMAX release. Each film s soundtrack is also remixed into Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. Since then, the interim between each re-issue of a particular film has been shortened to seven years. Each film in the Platinum Edition series is given a thorough restoration, and generally presented in their original aspect ratios, except for a few exceptions.
Many of the titles feature making-of documentaries that run from as little as a half-hour to an hour in length. Snow White and Bambi have featurettes detailing the restoration process included on the set as bonus features. Three of the Platinum Edition releases - Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King - were produced using Disney s Computer Animation Production System (CAPS), and were instead sourced straight from the digital masters used to create the film.
Earlier films in the series such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs were originally released with monaural soundtracks, and the new mixes created for Platinum Edition releases featured a combination of uses of original sound elements used in the original mix and rechanneling techniques. Later films in the series (including two, Aladdin and The Lion King, which were originally produced in 5.1) featured surround sound mixes specifically tailored to home theater audiences, branded by the company as Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mixes .
The series features restored digital versions of several of the most popular Disney animated features. Due to underwhelming box office results, a planned IMAX release for Aladdin was scrapped and the practice was discontinued.
In addition to the two discs for the movie and bonus features, the Blu-ray releases also include a DVD of the movie so consumers who want to own movies in high definition may still play them on systems without Blu-Ray compatibility. The original plan for the Platinum Edition was that the films would be re-issued for a limited time, once every ten years. The Lion King and Aladdin are presented in the full 1.66:1 aspect ratio of the film negative instead of their intended 1.85:1 aspect ratios, and The Little Mermaid - created in 1.66:1 and intended for exhibition in 1.85:1 - is presented in 1.78:1, midway between the two ratios.
Disney plans to release all the Platinum Edition titles except for Aladdin, which will be replaced by Fantasia and Fantasia 2000, in Diamond Edition.
