Since there have been several requests now I have to tell you that right now I’m not taking further donations since all the projects are fully funded and I don’t just want to take money without a certain purpose to use it right now.

That might not be what you wanted to hear, but as mentioned before I can’t just release these scans for everyone for certain reasons. But keep your eyes open for further projects. If there’s another one coming up of course you can also get access to the previous titles as well. And maybe I’ll also find a way which makes it possible to give the existing ones a wider release as well someday.

Actually it has been available to those who were involved for almost a year now, but I can’t put a release on sites like the spleen for certain reasons. Some people know the reasons and I guess they agree it makes sense to limit the release. It’s for the same reason why “Mulan” needed to be limited and probably “The Lion King” as well.

I’m really sorry and I don’t want to draw to much attention to the exact reason, so I can’t explain it here. But I guess those who know it will agree that the limitation makes sense and maybe another print will turn up some day which can also be released for everyone then.

Donors now got a first sample from the scanner. Please check your PMs if you haven’t already.

Here are some screenshots - please note that this won’t be the final grading, it’s just to get a first impression:

Polyester and Dolby Digital sounds like a re-issue and not an original 1989 print.

You mean this one?

Just like the rest of the film the Blu-ray is terribly over-saturated, but the left bird looks blue and the next one green to me in both versions:

EDIT: Just recognized what you meant: They’re switching places in the next shot. But that’s a goof, not a restoration error. 😉

Long story short: It’s hard to compare trailers to how the actual film looks. I’ve seen trailers of “The Little Mermaid” projected and they looked totally different to the actual film. The 1990-trailer looked very greyish and the 1998-trailer also had a low saturation, so Ariel’s hair looked even pink in some parts. But both look nothing like full prints from either release.

The problem that came with this 1998-print was that reels 1 and 5 seem to be made from a new master, because credits had to be changed while they just used the 1990-negatives for reels 2-4. Those look less detailed and also less saturated compared to the fist and last reel.

More saturation definitely wouldn’t have done any favor to the scan. I admit it has some weaknesses when it comes to red-tones (especially Ariel’s hair), but boosting the saturation wouldn’t have helped here. More saturation would’ve made the skin-tones look like sunburned. Hopefully that problem will be gone in future scans like “The Lion King” due to the scanner’s new light-source.

Here are screenshots of the scenes that I photographed for the first post and how they look on the release-version:

Just to let everyone know: The scanner got the print on Wednesday and will hopefully be able to scan it soon.

I’ll try to keep as much of the image as possible, but I don’t know yet if it’s going to be 1.66:1 as on „The Little Mermaid“ or something wider like the 1.75:1 on „Mulan“. 😉

The print is still here, but if everything goes to plan it‘ll be sent to the scanner next week.

ccateni said:

movies8414 said:

Is it too late to donate for a copy?

No, I think he will still accept them.
You have to pm him first though.

I already sent movies8414 a PM, but didn’t get an answer yet. 😉

ccateni said:

B.T.W. Will you do a color restore or correction on the 35mm restoration after you release the original restoration?

What exactly do you mean? Of course I’ll do a grading on the scan before it gets released. Otherwise it’ll look pale and grey or maybe it has a strange tint. 😉
Or did you mean previews from the raw scan when you said “original restoration”? Don’t know yet whether I’ll be creating previews or if donors will have to wait a little longer until the graded version is finished like I did with my previous projects. First it has to be scanned anyway. 😄

And after some more donations this is now officially fully funded.
Thanks again to everyone who helped! 😃

The print will be sent to the scanner later this month.

Received some more donations from several users - thanks again!
Only 16,- € more before the target is reached. 😃

And also thanks to qnorsten! 😉

Donation coming in from littlebono, thanks! 😃

Also received a donation from triadne. Thank you very much! 😃

Donation received from bslatky - thanks again! 😃

The title is in German. There’s also a small part in the credits where the voice-actors are listed, but the rest of the credits is in English.

Celebrating the theatrical release of Disney’s Live-action-remake I proudly announce my upcoming project: A 35 mm-print of “The Lion King” from the initial release in 1994 which will be scanned soon. The English theatrical mixes from the Laserdisc will of course also be added.

I’ve seen it projected a few weeks ago and it’s in fantastic condition. It’s really clean and I only recognized two splices while watching, but it seems like there were only 1 or 2 frames missing (if any). And since it’s a 1994-print it of course also includes the original waterfalls and crocodile-teeth, the “SEX / SFX”-scene and the collapsing Mufasa-cloud.

The plan is to get it scanned and also giving it a little cleaning with Isopropyl before it’s sent. The total cost for scanning and shipping is around 215,- €, the cost for storage and buying the print were already covered. Anyone who wants to help covering the cost to preserve this classic just send me a PM for further detail.

Target reached:

215 / 215,- € (fully funded)

List of generous donors:

• nirbateman
• RooBee
• bslatky
• triadne
• littlebono
• qnorsten
• Avatar_Emil_Borg
• Behodar
• ccateni
• MattMahdi
• pleasehello
• MrBrown

Photos from the projection:

“Older 1.33:1 master” meaning SD or is it already HD?

Received another donation, thanks!
Funds are now up to 333,- €, leaving us 132,- € more before the target is reached.

Donation received from StreetRat - thanks again! 😃

Received a donation from pleasehello - thanks!
And a small addition to the question what’s the point of this preservation - here’s a good example:

35 mm:

Blu-ray:

HDTV:

The 35 mm-print is the only version where the candle in Mulan’s hand “makes sense” since the background is dark and the candle is the only light-source in this scene. The Blu-ray and the HDTV look like there’s also more light and the candle is technically useless.

Donation received from Falcon - thanks again! 😃

A quick update: The film has been scanned even though the funding-goal is still not reached (actually we’re just a little over the half of it). Donors will be getting a v1-encode shortly, so keep an eye on your PMs. Thanks to everyone who’s donated so far!

For everyone else who wants to participate there’s still the opportunity to help funding the remaining amount.

Some screenshots from the film:

There was only one bigger splice where frames were missing, the rest is in sync with the official BD. There’s a bit of dirt left on the film and also a few thin lines on the very right (also some green lines in very few scenes) as can be seen on the screenshots above, but nothing to worry about.

Received another donation - thanks! 😉

Donation received from asterisk8 - thanks again!