By William Kallay

At a special press event on August 7 at The Highlands club in Hollywood, Buena Vista Home Entertainment announced it will be releasing two classic Disney animated titles on DVD: “The Lion King”: and “Sleeping Beauty.” Each title will be a two-disc Special Edition set loaded with special bonus features, including an “All-New 5.1 Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix” for “The Lion King.” Both “King” and “Beauty” will feature 3D menus, enhanced picture and sound and will be THX-Certified.

Walt Disney’s 1959 version of “Sleeping Beauty,” scheduled for DVD release on September 9, follows in the footsteps of Disney’s DVD release of “Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs.” The film has been digitally enhanced, frame-by-frame. According to Disney, the Super Technirama 70 widescreen film will look better than it did in 1959.

The film was the most expensive animated feature produced at the time. At a cost of $6 million, “Beauty” took six years to make and featured the voice of Mary Costa as Princess Aurora. She was also present at the press event. Costa reminisces on the DVD about her experience working on the film.

The DVD two disc set will feature both widescreen and pan-and-scan versions of the feature, 5.1 Dolby Digital sound, “Once Upon A Dream: The Making Of Sleeping Beauty” documentary, the Oscar-winning CinemaScope short, “Grand Canyon,” the “Rescue Aurora” game, a widescreen versus pan-and-scan comparison, original story reels and a number of additional features.

Don Hahn, who produced “The Lion King” film, was on-hand to reminisce about the production of the film. Hardly anyone within the studio could‘ve predicted it would become a hit. In fact, it was referred to as “Bambi In Africa” during production. Ultimately, “The Lion King” went on to become the highest grossing animated film of all-time, a record that held until this year’s release of “Finding Nemo.” The success of the film carried over into a best selling video release and Broadway show.

The DVD, scheduled for release on October 7, will feature both the original theatrical version of the film, a DVD version of the feature with a newly animated song called “Morning Report,” a “Virtual Safari” with characters Timon and Pumba, games for the family, a new music video on “The Circle of Life” song, deleted scenes, and much more.

Members of the press were given a glimpse at what the discs will look like. Each disc carries in Disney’s high quality standards of picture, sound and bonus features.