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Breaking new ground for the world of Giant Screen exhibition, Walt Disney Pictures will release its major holiday 2002 animated feature, “Treasure Planet,” simultaneously in 35mm venues as well as in IMAX® Theatres and other large format cinemas on November 27, 2002, it was announced today by Richard Cook, chairman of The Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. Although 35mm prints of other new releases have been exhibited on the Giant Screen, “Treasure Planet” becomes the first major Studio feature specifically formatted for the Giant Screen to receive a day-and-date release. “Treasure Planet” was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, the team responsible for “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin” and “Hercules,” and features the vocal talents of Emma Thompson, David Hyde Pierce, Martin Short, Brian Murray and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Roy Conli served as producer.

Commenting on the announcement, Cook said, “‘Fantasia/2000’ was an enormous success in IMAX and the initial returns for ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in IMAX and other Giant Screen venues further demonstrate that audiences love the experience of seeing our animated films in this large format. ‘Treasure Planet’ is a daring and exciting fantasy that uses the Giant Screen to best advantage and lets moviegoers immerse themselves in the story. This is a great way to see this imaginative film and provides a whole new option for seeing the film in its first run.”

Thomas Schumacher, president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, added, “Whether audiences choose to see ‘Treasure Planet’ on the Giant Screen or in a traditional 35mm theater, they’re in for a spectacular experience. Not only is it an action-filled adventure with characters that moviegoers will genuinely care about, but it pushes the art of animation into new directions. John Musker and Ron Clements have an incredible track record as directors and, with this film, they explore new areas of the storytelling arena.”

Don Hahn, the producer of such Disney blockbusters as “The Lion King” and “Beauty and the Beast” and the Studio executive in charge of overseeing the Giant Screen edition of “Treasure Planet,” observed, “The Academy Award®-winning digital production system that we use at Disney allows us to create special versions of our films specifically for Giant Screen venues. So instead of simply blowing up each frame, as some Large Format releases do, we’re able to create a Giant Screen print one frame at a time without any loss of clarity or detail. The result is so impressive and approximates a 3D sensation without using glasses. ‘Treasure Planet’ is particularly well suited to this venue because of its fantastic settings and ambitious art direction. Audiences are going to be blown away.”

Based on one of the greatest adventure stories ever told – Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island – Walt Disney Pictures’ exciting new animated space adventure follows fifteen-year-old Jim Hawkins’ fantastic journey across a parallel universe aboard a glittering solar space galleon in search of the legendary “loot of a thousand worlds.” Befriended by the ship’s charismatic cyborg (part man, part machine) cook John Silver, Jim blossoms under his guidance, and shows the makings of a fine spacer as he and the alien crew battle supernovas, black holes and ferocious space storms. But even greater dangers lie ahead when Jim discovers that his trusted friend Silver is actually a scheming pirate with mutiny in mind.

SOURCE: Walt Disney Pictures