Conference koolit::disney

317.0. "Pinocchio" by BREAKR::MIKKELSON (Kill me. I need the money.) Tue Jul 07 1992 13:47

    Since most of what I post to rec.arts.disney on USENET seems to end up
    here anyway, I though I might as well do it myself:
    
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               For 'Pinocchio,' theatrical life after video release
  
                 Film returns today as 'pinnacle of restoration'
  
  
    Like a wooden puppet magically transformed into a real flesh-and-blood boy, 
  a tired, murky video is being converted by Walt Disney Pictures into a major 
  theatrical rerelease.
  
    Today [June 26], 1,450 fully restored, new Technicolor prints of the 
  studio's 1940 animated feature, "Pinocchio," unspool in theaters nationwide.  
  This revival marks the first instance in which Disney has rereleased a film 
  previously available on videotape.
  
    But, studio officials were quick to point out, the video version can't hold 
  a candle to sharp images and dazzling colors hitting the big screen today.  
  New techniques, they said, have brought "Pinocchio" back to life.
  
    Disney's two-year restoration job on "Pinocchio" is "the best job we've 
  ever done," said Jeff Miller, vp manufacturing for Buena Vista Worldwide 
  Services.  "It's the pinnacle of restoration."
  
    So enthused was Miller that he insisted "Pinocchio" looks better today than 
  when originally released in 1940.
  
    "That's because the development of optics now generate sharper images and 
  the Kodak film stock of today is like 'Star Wars' vs. the bicycle," he said.  
  "You get a sharper picture, better shadow delineation and truer color 
  representation."
  
    The studio began restoring its classic animation with "Snow White and the 
  Seven Dwarfs" in 1987.  But Miller cites the restoration of "Fantasia" as 
  "really critical" to advancing the studio's reclamation techniques.  
  "Fantasia," which has always been in release since the 1960s, had extensive 
  wear and damage.  Miller pointed especially to the restoration of the film's 
  damaged soundtrack, "an expertise that carried forward on the 'Pinocchio' 
  soundtrack."
  
    Pete Comandini of YCM Labs, who supervised the restoration, performed 
  "microsurgery" on the brittle, original three-strip Technicolor negative, 
  Miller said, with a magnifying glass and a razor blade.  "He's truly the 
  artist in restoration," said Miller.  "He learned that on a hard negative he 
  can actually feel the dirt."
  
    After the negative was cleaned and repaired, YCM's liquid gate contact 
  printing process (for which the lab won an Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & 
  Sciences plaque of commendation earlier this year) mitigated the wear and 
  tear and softened the damaged by filling in scratches so they become less 
  visible.
  
    Disney then went to its animation research library to guide the final color 
  timing and verify the final continuity.
  
    Meanwhile, Disney's sound team, led by by rerecording mixer Terry Porter, 
  who also did the "Fantasia" restoration, worked to produce a new Dolby Stereo 
  soundtrack, which, he said, involved "evaluation and research."
  
    Listening to the original track, which was probably recorded in 1938 or 
  1939, Porter quickly discovered that it was "quite dirty.  We heard a fair 
  amount of hums, hisses and a few distinguishable pops, which probably was 
  caused by dirt on the optical track when it was transferred over to 
  magnetic."
  
    After cleaning up the existing track, Porter faced the problem of creating 
  a Dolby track.  "Which was tricky because all we had on 'Pinocchio' was a 
  mono track -- or so we thought.  Then we went into the Disney archive and 
  discovered a music-only track of the show."
  
    Porter was able to "suck the music off" the mono composite track, 
  synthesize the music, then recombine it with the dialogue effects to create 
  what Miller referred to as a "pseudo stereo track."
  
    The key issue in any such restoration, said both Porter and Miller, is not 
  to change any of the creative elements of the original film.  "We didn't want 
  to change the original balance or add any effects," said Porter.  "We kept it 
  the way it originally was intended to be heard, but made it capable of being 
  played on today's sound system."
  
    "We apply the technology of today as if it had existed then and we do not 
  change anything creative in the picture," said Miller.
  
    Unlike its 1987 reissue of "Snow White" -- in which the film was vertically 
  panned and scanned to fit the 1:85 frame -- Disney made certain "Pinocchio" 
  will be projected in its original 1:33:1 aspect ratio, with special black 
  masking oriented into the 1:85 release prints to preserve the integrity of 
  the entire image.
  
    "Pinocchio" is widely regarded as one of Walt Disney's finest films.  Its 
  bold and startling colors, its often scary and subtle story marked a dramatic 
  new direction for the pioneer of animation, away from the simple humor and 
  slapstick of Mickey, Donald and Pluto.
  
    Yet "Pinocchio" lost $1 million in its original release in 1940.  Not only 
  was it expensive to make -- $2.5 million, a daunting sum in those days -- but 
  World War II cut off the international markets.  Movie receipts from Britain, 
  Germany, France and the Low Countries had always paid Disney's bills.  But 
  now troop movements and blackouts dried up everything.
  
    And in America, critics were uncertain about the "highbrow" cartoon about a 
  puppet whose conscience comes in the form of a grasshopper.  Only the two 
  Jiminy Cricket songs made the charts.
  
    It remained for "Pinocchio" to find its audience serially.  Subsequent 
  rereleases allowed audiences to catch up to a film that in many ways was 
  ahead of its time.  During its last theatrical release in 1984, "Pinocchio" 
  grossed $26.4 million.
  
    Which brings us to video.
  
    "Pinocchio's" 1985 videotape release sold fewer than 700,000 units overall. 
  "In that embryonic stage of video, the number of households having VCRs were 
  small compared to now," said Tania Steele, vp worldwide publicity at Buena 
  Vista Home Video.  "So (sales were) small compared to what a feature of that 
  magnitude can do today."
  
    Coming on the market at $80, the "Pinocchio" video was reduced about six 
  months later to $30.
  
    But today that video makes Disney officials wince.  "No one ever went back 
  to the original negative and struck a new print," said Miller.  "So it was a 
  dupe of an old dupe.  There's no way to compare its dull, muted colors to the 
  restored print.  The techniques in video are so advanced today.  The '85 
  video is a relic."
  
    A relic perhaps, but a "Pinocchio" video is sufficiently rare to go for as 
  much as $350, according to Steele.  If you can find one.
  
    Norman Shearer, owner of New York's Video Oyster, which specializes in 
  finding and selling rare and out of print tapes, said, "I'm selling 
  'Pinocchio' (tapes) for $200 a shot.  I've sold about 50 of them."
  
    "Seven years ago, before 'Pinocchio' was taken off the market, there was 
  smaller video penetration and the sell-through market wasn't really born," 
  Shearer explained.  "So there were never a lot of copies on the market to 
  begin with, unlike 'Fantasia,' which they shipped 13.8 million copies of, and 
  which will *never* be collectible."
  
    While Disney officials won't comment, the word is that the restored 
  "Pinocchio" is going to be rereleased on a video at Christmas.  Consequently, 
  the price for a video has fallen to about $80.
  
    But first there's the theatrical reissue.  Disney's rerelease of "101 
  Dalmatians" last year grossed an amazing $61 million.  Compared with its 
  previous rerelease in 1985, when it grossed $33 million, this success 
  illustrates the moviegoing public's increased interest in animation.  "Beauty 
  and the Beast" -- which along with its boxoffice success earned a best 
  picture Oscar nomination -- only encouraged that appetite.
  
    "Pinocchio," looking and sounding better than ever, may give those 
  dalmatians a run for their money.
  

    So how has "Pinocchio" been doing at the box office since its release?? 
    What I had heard is that it only brought in around $3 million in ticket
    sales and was causing Disney exec's to re-think their policy regarding
    releasing the animated features on videotape.  Is there any truth to
    this??
    
    - Skip

    
    As of last weekend, after two weeks in release, "Pinocchio" had grossed
    over $12.5 million in sales.  Not bad for a 50+ year old film already
    released on video.  By comparison, a movie such as "The Player", which
    has been out for 13 weeks, has grossed under $19 million.
    
    - David
    

    The restored version of Pinocchio will be released on video on 
    March 23, 1993. This was announced in the Disney Store newsletter for
    Disney credit card holders. 
    
    Linda

    My wife gave me a Pinocchio video for our 19th Wedding Anniversary
    yesterday.
    
    Jeesh, now I feel bad....all she got were 19 white roses and dinner.
    
    Mike

    Mike,
    
    I got Pinocchio for my 40th birthday, from my husband!
    
    
    M-L (who says we need to grow up???)

    My 40th birthday *and* 20th wedding anniversary
    are coming up this year. Let's hope I get so lucky!
    
    :^)
    
    Jodi-