For toooo long, the only way to see THE SONG OF THE SOUTH has been with fan collected 16mm prints, and with fuzzy copies of the Japanese Laser Disc. Now it seems Disney is finally warming up to the film. Personally, I want a theatrical rerelease. However, I'm still concerned that perhaps Disney may pull some of the same digital hijinks that the pulled on the Pecos Bill sequence in MAKE MINE MUSIC, where they change things for political correctness. BOOOOOO!!! And we finally hear some movement on ROGER RABBIT II and JOHN HENRY, two projects I'm about to add to my "I WANT MORE INFO ON" list.
They get a lot of inside info on upcoming releases, and they had a few interesting, albeit vague things to tell me: First, and most exciting to me, is that Song of the South, one of my all-time favorite Disney films, is finally being considered for release on video. It took a while because they were worried about the racial issues of the film because of all the politically correct b.s. that we have to deal with in this day and age. But the NAACP has said that they understand the era the film was made in, and that its content should not keep it from being seen by today's children and film fans. I've been told that the video will even have an all-new introduction by the great James Earl Jones, explaining the racially sensitive nature of the film, and how it was only a result of the era in which it was written.
Secondly, preliminary work has in fact begun on the second Roger Rabbit movie, but details are hazy. Rumors say that it will be a prequel to the first full-length film, and take place primarily in Toon Town, but my sources couldn't say for sure if this was true.
And last of all, the have begun concept work on the animated feature John Henry, which will follow Tarzan and Fantasia 2000 in the hand-drawn feature department.
Roland of Gilead.
