In 2010 we’ll get to see our favourites from Disney’s classic Beauty and the Beast in 3 dimensions. Belle, The Beast, and the magical silverware are all going to be beautifully remade with modern CGI.

The remake is being done by the 1991 feature’s original producer Don Hahn and directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale. They will be using the film’s original data, stored on computer, to release the Disney digital 3D release.

The makeover was announced at 3DX: 3D Film and Entertainment Technology Festival Singapore by Mark Zoradi, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group. The movie will be the eleventh 3D feature to be released by Disney in the next two years.

It is expected that it will take 10 months to re-render the film. The process will take place at Walt Disney Feature Animation’s render farms.

''By going back to the original animation files, which have been carefully archived for 17 years, and using the separate background, effects and character animation elements, we're able to come up with a fun and unique 3-D experience for existing and new fans of the film,'' said Hahn.

Some of the other digital 3D features to be released for 2009 include Jonas Brothers 3-D Concert Movie, which will be released on February 27; Disney/Pixar’s Up on May 29; Jerry Bruckheimer Films/Disney’s G-Force coming July 24; a re-release (similar to the one discussed in this article) in Disney Digital 3-D of Disney/Pixar’s 1995 Toy Story feature on October 2; and Robert Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol on November 6 staring Jim Carrey’s voice in several roles.

2010 will see the Disney studio release a Digital 3-D version of Toy Story 2; Tim Burton’s animated Alice in Wonderland, with Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter; Toy Story 3 by Disney/Pixar; Rapunzel, and Touchstone Pictures’ Step Up 3.

Disney Digital 3-D is essentially Disney’s brand of animated three-dimensional movies which use digital projection. It is a stereoscopic 3D projection technology which allows two images projected on the screen to be combined into one with the aid of special glasses, and allow for the illusion of true three-dimensionality, as opposed to the flat representation of 3-D on classical screens. The technology is picking up steam, and although the only 1,400 out of 30,000 screens in the U.S. and about 700 theaters abroad are equipped to show 3-D films, the transition is eventually going to happen worldwide.

''In sound, we've gone from vinyl, to 8-track, to cassette, to CD, to digital,'' DreamWorks Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg said, commenting upon the evolution of cinematic media. ''The flat screen movies of today are the equivalent of vinyl record.'' He added that ''In five to seven years, all movies will be made in 3D.''