Tinker Bell to offer BD Live
UPDATE: DVD premiere will include game on Blu-ray
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 5/28/2008
MAY 28 | Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment will launch DVD premiere Tinker Bell on Oct. 28 as one of the studio’s early Web-enabled BD Live Blu-ray titles, following Sleeping Beauty, which bows with BD Live on Oct. 7.
Disney's DVD premiere movie will be released on standard DVD as well as Blu-ray.
Tinker Bell’s BD Live enhancements revolve around a ‘Tinker Trainer Game,’ in which players accrue ‘Movie Reward Points’ that can be redeemed for online themed wallpapers and virtual jewelry.
Tinker Bell, which will be released on standard DVD and Blu-ray, was announced in 2006 as part of a multi-product initiative starring the studio’s signature Disney Fairies. The made-for-DVD project originally was slated to feature Brittany Murphy as the voice of Tinker Bell, but she is no longer working on the project.
“As the creative aspect changed, everything else was subject to change too,” Tinker Bell producer Jeannine Roussel told VB.
Actress/voiceover talent Mae Whitman now voices the title character.
Going forward, Disney promises further fairy-themed products bowing across its various divisions, including three additional made-for-DVD Tinker Bell films.
Tinker Bell will follow Peter Pan’s feisty buddy as she grows up in Pixie Hollow, where she doesn’t want to embrace her magical talents at first. Her fairy friends, voiced by America Ferrera, Kristen Chenoweth, Lucy Liu and Raven-Symoné, encourage Tinker Bell to be true to her abilities.
Tinker Bell follows Peter Pan's fairy friend as she comes to terms with her magical abilities.
Other star voices include Anjelica Huston and Jesse McCartney.
Other bonus features on both the standard DVD and Blu-ray versions include a game, a making-of featurette and deleted scenes.
Tinker Bell will be priced at $29.99 on DVD and $34.99 on Blu-ray. Prebook date is Sept. 16.
According to Roussel, a second Tinker Bell installment is in production, a third installment is in preproduction and a fourth is in development.
Tinker Bell merchandise also will roll out from other company divisions, including Disney Consumer Products, Disney Interactive Studios, Disney On Ice, Parks and Resorts and Disney Online.
Laurence Lerman contributed
