Cinderella 4K Coming To Disney+ On August 25 In Newly Restored Quality

This Friday August 25th, Disney+ will debut an all-new restoration of Walt Disney’s 1950 animated classic Cinderella as part of honoring Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney100 celebrations. This will mark the first time the film will be available to stream in 4K.

The last time Cinderella received a restoration treatment, many details became lost in muddled, more muted and drastic coloration changes with very little left of line-work that was originally given for specific artistic purposes. The 2012 Diamond Edition was considered Disney’s worst animated release due to the downgrade in visual quality of the film. The 2019 Signature Edition DVD was no better.

However, things appear differently for this newest restoration, as it took the Walt Disney Studios Restoration and Preservation team years of work, collaborating with many others.

“Working with our restoration team along with internal technical experts, outside vendors (like Mike Underwood at Picture Shop Hollywood) and advisors from Walt Disney Animation Studios, we were able to make this 1950 classic look and sound better than ever,” said Kevin Schaeffer, director of Restoration for Walt Disney Studios. “We began the process by pulling the original nitrate negative from the Library of Congress, and scanning the successive exposure color records in 4K. We then did a cleaning pass to remove dirt and as many artifacts as possible. The current available restoration tools allowed us to produce a sharper and higher quality image than previous efforts. To make sure we didn’t lose any of the detail or artistic choices of the filmmakers, we turned to Disney Animation legends and authorities, including Michael Giaimo and Eric Goldberg.”

A dream come true. ✨

A stunning new restoration of the animated classic, Cinderella, is coming to #DisneyPlus on August 25 during #WorldPrincessWeek! #Disney100 pic.twitter.com/LJZYF6SmB7

— Disney+ (@DisneyPlus) July 12, 2023

The input from seasoned Disney artists and animation experts like Giaimo and Goldberg proved to be a winning combination. Others included working with special projects and 2D animation producer for Walt Disney Animation Studios Dorothy McKim. Another included digital imaging manager for Disney Animation Bob Bagley. With this team, they were able to restore and preserve the rich colors, contrast, and accuracy of the original cels and artwork.

Michael Giaimi, who is a production designer for the 2023 Disney animated film Wish and previously worked on both Frozen films and the Pocahontas film, said, “It was an honor to work on this restoration with Eric, and to really celebrate the original intent and classic Disney aesthetic of those great artists who worked with Walt, notably the great Mary Blair, and to get that right level of depth and saturation.”

Eric Goldberg, who’s done work for Richard Williams and Disney animation since the late 1970s and early 1990s, added, “Working with Mike to restore this film was really a labor of love. We both really love the film, and felt strongly that we had to preserve it. Viewers watching this restoration will see more clarity, but they will also see more subtlety. They’ll see differences in color from shot to shot, and discover how one color works with another. Mike and I knew what the film was supposed to look like, and it took a lot just getting back to Cinderella having dusty blonde hair and a silver dress. I’m proud that the Studio felt it was important to get this restoration right, and trusted a handful of us to do that.”

The 4K edition of Cinderella was first released on March 28th of this year for the members of Disney Movie Club and was just recently made available for the public on August 1st on Blu-ray, which you can find on Amazon and wherever else you prefer.

You can watch a short review of the 4K remastered edition in this video. He shares comparison clips from the 2012 edition to the 2023 edition:

So, what do you think of the 2023 restoration of Cinderella? Are you disappointed? Or were you impressed with the amount of details they were able to return to as closely as possible? Are you looking forward to future restoration projects after seeing how they did the restoration on Cinderella? Let us know in the comments below!

Source: DisneyPlus News