WALL-E (2008) Original Theatrical Version FYC Awards Screener DVD Preservation (+ 1080p Reconstruction) (Released)

WALL-E happens to be one of Pixar’s films where it would be altered for its home media release alongside Ratatouille, Cars 2 and Incredibles 2. The only difference that was reported was the closing Pixar logo, where originally, the logo plays out normal, whereas on home media releases, a special variant originally made for the film’s second teaser trailer where WALL-E replaces Luxo Jr.'s bulb was included. Though I am here to prove that it does exist.

So a long time ago, I saw a video of a clean rip of Pixar’s 25th Anniversary variant that was only shown on theatrical prints of Cars 2 and the guy who uploaded it stated he got this from the screener Blu-ray of that film, it does make me wonder, what if Ratatouille and WALL-E had their theatrical versions included on their screeners too? So I decided to buy both of them to make sure, though only WALL-E wins the guess, since Ratatouille’s screener uses the home video version.

I originally uploaded the closing logos of this, and now just thinking about it, why not I preserve the whole version here? Especially since there aren’t any watermarks in this screener anyway. So I decided to do an ISO rip of the screener, and along with it, do an MKV remux for ease of access. And just for fun, I did a 1080p reconstruction, just for anyone who didn’t like the closing Pixar logo variant that was added on home media releases. I should mention that the reconstruction includes the Presto short as well, just to add more to the theatrical experience, and especially since the short is already on the original Disney Blu-ray release anyway.

The MKV remux originally had the DD 5.1 audio with the EX flag added since it strangely doesn’t have it, but it doesn’t seem to work for me, though I did everything I can to make sure it detects the EX flag when using exme.exe, so I decided to leave it there just in case.

Sources from the reconstruction:

• Criterion BD (since it has a better bitrate overall than Disney’s official BD)
• UK BD (for the Presto short)
• Cars 2 UK BD (for closing Pixar logo)
• Toy Story UK BD (for audio of closing logos)
• The Tale of Despereaux BD remux by ABEL (for closing MPAA card)

For the audio included in this reconstruction:

• English (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 ES Matrix)
• English (Audio Description; DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 ES Matrix)
• English (Audio Description; Isolated; FLAC 1.0) (sourced from the DTS Access disc of the film)

…and for the subs (also found in the remux):

• English SDH (R1 US DVD; TheVeryYes’s ISO rip)
• Closed Captions (R1 US DVD; TheVeryYes’s ISO rip)

As always, make sure to PM me if you want this preservation.

Good idea!

However, the Pixar end logo wasn’t a change made just for home media releases. I once saw eBay caps of a 35mm reels set (someone was asking $10k USD for, ridiculous you say) and one of the sellers pics had a shot from the Wall-E variant and then the MPAA G rating card. I also recall another eBay CA listing for a Spanish localized/dubbed 35mm print and that had the Pixar variant along with a scratchy BVI up front.

It sounds like the films director originally wanted to use this variant since the teaser had it, but some memos were ignored by higher ups and did not make the cut on premiere, but got added to later prints when new filmouts were made.

Spaceblackknight said:

Good idea!

However, the Pixar end logo wasn’t a change made just for home media releases. I once saw eBay caps of a 35mm reels set (someone was asking $10k USD for, ridiculous you say) and one of the sellers pics had a shot from the Wall-E variant and then the MPAA G rating card. I also recall another eBay CA listing for a Spanish localized/dubbed 35mm print and that had the Pixar variant along with a scratchy BVI up front.

It sounds like the films director originally wanted to use this variant since the teaser had it, but some memos were ignored by higher ups and did not make the cut on premiere, but got added to later prints when new filmouts were made.

Interesting.

It wasn’t the first time Disney/Pixar did small changes mid-theatrical run. Toy Story 2 as you may know had a very tight production schedule from nearly losing most of the original files and the Pixar team scrambling to finish it all just a month before release. The first run 35mm prints of Toy Story 2 from Nov 19th 1999 only had standard credits and not the intended “bloopers” ones, which were added to all later US prints and some of the foreign dubbed/localized ones.

And as for the alternate “globe” footage during Buzz’s speech, that was definitely first seen on the foreign dubbed/localized 35mm prints, some of which only had the standard end credits retranslated, and made it’s way to the PAL DVDs. The UK/AUS and foreign subbed 35mm prints still used the 2nd US version, since those were often refurbished 35mm US prints with a ratings card/BVI reel badly spliced on and the MPAA cards often hacked out.

Monsters Inc. was also basically the same situation as TS2, standard end credits on the premiere theatrical run and bloopers credits on the later/foreign ones. However, Monsters had two versions with differently framed shots, VFX and object rendering (the “piss” snow cone being a notable example), the Nov 2001 theatrical version and the December 2001 “company ending” version. The Nov 2001 theatrical version, the basis of many widescreen and HD/4k versions, has a few shots that are differently composed and framed along with others having different/unfinished renders of objects and standard ending credits. The December 2001 “company end” version, also seen on most VHS and 4x3 DVD versions, has several shots that are reframed and recomped with different renders for objects and backgrounds, in addition to a new end credits that has bloopers and cast doing the musical number “Put That Thing Back Where It Came From or So Help Me”.

In addition, it’s foreign dubbed/localized version on 35mm and some PAL DVDs also have alternate shots not on the English versions, with some characters doing only gestures instead of lines to reduce rerendering lip sync.