'Beauty and the Beast' 3D Theatrical Release Postoned Indefinitely

The much hyped re-release of Beauty and the Beast in Disney Digital 3-D, which has previously been scheduled for February 12, 2010, has been dropped from the 2010 schedule, a Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures PR confirmed to thedisneyblog.com today.

No official reason has been given for the indefinite postponement, however, thedisneyblog.com speculates that "the Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3-D double feature could certainly have done better at the box office. New Walt Disney Studios chairman Rich Ross is making a lot of changes to Disney's film slate (mostly good), and may have been of the opinion that 'Beauty‘ in 3-D would not draw in audiences and axed the release, even though Disney already spent millions on the 3-D conversion process. It's very doubtful that there were any technical problems; those who've seen portions of the re-mastered film have been surprised and pleased by what they saw."

To read the full report on thedisneyblog.com, click here.

The film is scheduled to be released on Blu-ray this fall. There is no word as to whether or not this release too will be postponed, indefinitely or otherwise.

The 1991 Disney animated classic film, Beauty and the Beast, was adapted into a stage musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and a book by Linda Woolverton in 1994. Seven new songs were written for the stage musical. Beauty ran on Broadway for 5,464 performances between 1994 and 2007, becoming Broadway's sixth-longest running production in history. The musical has grossed more than $1.4 billion worldwide and played in thirteen countries and 115 cities.