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sleeping beauty

Opening Night Sleeping Beauty at the El Capitan

As John posted last week, Disney is showing Sleeping Beauty in a limited engagement at their El Capitan Theater in downtown Hollywood. It’s showing for the next three weeks while we wait for the 50th Anniversary DVD and Blu-Ray release to come out in October.

Thursday night was the first showing of the film in this theater. It was preceded by a panel discussion on the film. And I was lucky enough to get to go.

Even though I live about 40 minutes away, this was my first time to the El Capitan Theater. It’s just easiest to go to a local one. But I was quite impressed with it. This is an old time, one screen affair with a balcony. I just had to sit in the upper section. I got there early and got to hear an organist playing Disney songs until the evening’s program actually got started. That was lots of fun.

Up first was the panel. It was hosted by Don Hahn, the producer of such big hits as Beauty and the Beast (my favorite movie ever) and The Lion King. I think he was as pleased to be there as the rest of us were.

There were five people on the panel itself. Blaine Gibson and Frank Armitage actually worked on the film as animators. Bob Thomas wrote his first book on Disney animation during the period they were working on the film. Tony Baxter is currently an imagineer with Disney. Finally, Princess Aurora herself was there in the form of Mary Costa. Each member of the panel got a few minutes to talk about some aspect of the film.Read More »Opening Night Sleeping Beauty at the El Capitan

Disney’s Sleeping Beauty on Big Screen at El Capitan

“Sleeping Beauty,” one of the most spectacular, stylish, and unique films in the history of Disney animation, has undergone a total digital restoration of its picture and soundtrack in advance of the October 7th release of its 50th Anniversary Platinum Edition on Blu-ray Hi-Def and DVD, and will have an exclusive digital wide-screen engagement at Hollywood’s legendary El Capitan Theatre from August 29th through September 18th.

Lucky audience members will experience a brand new state-of-the-art restoration that was created using high resolution digital scans of the original 50-year old Technirama 70 negative (over 7.5 miles long), and hear a new special 7.1 stereo mix made from the original multi-channel stereo music masters recorded in 1958.  This special engagement of “Sleeping Beauty” will play from August 29th through September 18th.

Daily showtimes are 10 a.m., 12:15 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 4:45 p.m., 7 p.m., and 9:15 p.m.

To help celebrate the film’s new restoration and the 50th Anniversary Blu-ray DVD release, a special opening night gala event will take place on Thursday, August 28th at 7:00 p.m. These are always a pleasure to attend, so if you’re in the LA area on the 28th, you should get your tickets asap.

See the full Press Release below the cut:

Read More »Disney’s Sleeping Beauty on Big Screen at El Capitan

Disney’s El Capitan Theatre, Hollywood

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The El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood is the pinnacle of the Disney movie watching experience.  It is old Hollywood meets new, with restorations to both the exterior and interior, and equipped with Dolby SR-D digital sound, film and digital projectors, and 3-D capability. It is… Read More »Disney’s El Capitan Theatre, Hollywood