Disney kills 'Newt,' postpones 'Beauty and the Beast 3D'

By Sarah Sluis

Newt has been dead for months now, but the Pixar project was officially taken off Disney's slate in an

announcement today. The movie was to center on the last two newts left on Earth, who predictably hate each other (but of course are meant for each other). It looks like the project was pushed out by the sequels of Cars and Monsters, Inc., as well as the original project The Bear and the Bow. R.I.P., Newt.

The other announcement was the indefinite postponement of the 3D re-release of Beauty and the Beast in theatres. If Disney took the pulse of the market correctly, this move could have implications for other 3D re-releases. The official word is that Beauty and the Beast would have to release in a crowded market, but there's also the possibility that Disney doesn't want to orchestrate a re-release without an upcoming tie-in or sequel to spread out marketing costs and add revenue.

By comparison, the Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D re-release in fall 2009 made $30 million. Once you take the estimated conversion cost of $15 million per film as well as marketing costs into account, it doesn't seem as though the re-release could have made much of a profit. But because the re-release renewed interest in the Toy Story franchise and the upcoming Toy Story 3, profitability of the theatrical re-release might not have mattered in the grand scheme of things.

In order to make money off the re-release of Beauty and the Beast in 3D, Disney had planned on parents buying the exact same thing (possibly in 3D) for their Blu-rays--a much tougher task. For now, they plan to release the 20th anniversary version of Beauty and the Beast not in 3D, but 2D--despite the fact that a 3D version exists! The 3D home market is expected to take off this year, but so far movies like Clash of the Titans, which just made a huge splash on DVD and Blu-ray, have not been released in 3D. The holiday season is traditionally a time for plenty of DVD/Blu-ray releases and home electronics purchases, so this will be the season that reveals whether 3D films hit the home market--or not.

The postponement shows that Disney feels consumers aren't ready to buy 3D movies (which require newer, capable televisions as well as a Blu-ray player) and that it will be difficult to get consumers to buy tickets to an older title. For now, we'll just have to wait to see that famous ballroom dancing scene pop out on a big screen.