Disney Documentaries (The Boys, El Grupo, Waking Sleeping Beauty) Get DVD Release Date

November 30, 2010 will see the release of all three critically acclaimed documentaries which offer insights into historical periods of The Walt Disney Company rarely seen by those outside of it.

The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story is an intimate journey through the lives of Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman, the astoundingly prolific, Academy Award®-winning songwriting team that defined family musical entertainment for five decades with unforgettable songs like “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocous” from Mary Poppins, “I Wanna Be Like You” from The Jungle Book and the most translated song ever written “It’s a Small World (After All)” from the Disneyland attraction.  The feature-length documentary, conceived, produced and directed by two of the songwriters’ sons, take audiences behind the scenes of the Hollywood magic factory and offers a rate glimpse of a unique creative process at work.  It also explores a deep and longstanding rift that has kept the brothers personally estranged throughout much of their unparalleled professional partnership.

Bonus features include:

• Why They’re “The Boys”
• Disney Studios in the ’60s
• Casting Mary Poppins
• Theme Parks – A look at their theme park music songbook and how they went about composing a song for a ride
• Roy Williams – A Disney Animator and also famous for being on the original Mickey Mouse Club, we learn through his artwork some of the stories of what it was like to work in the Animation Building in the 1960’s
• Bob’s Art:  A look at Bob Sherman’s other passion, his artwork
• Celebration:  Testimonials from celebrities and Hollywood legends
• Sherman Brother’s Jukebox:  A collection of Sherman Brothers songs and the stories behind them including: “Tall Paul”, “Chim Chim Cher-ee”, “Feed the Birds”, “There’s A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow”, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”, and more

Now available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

---

Walt & El Grupo: For ten weeks in 1941, Walt Disney, his wife Lilly, and sixteen colleagues from his studio visited nations in Latin America to gather story material for a series of films with South American themes.  The feature documentary film Walt & El Grupo uses this framing device to explore inter-American relations, provide a rare glimpse into the artists who were part of the magic of Disney’s “golden age” and give an unprecedented look at the 39 year-old Walt Disney during one of the most challenging times of his entire life.

Bonus features include:

• Audio Commentary – Director Theodore Thomas and Historian J.B. Kaufman
• Photos In Motion – How the photos literally came to life
• From The Director’s Cut – 3 different segments taking you deeper into the story
• Saludos Amigos – Original theatrical version
• Original Theatrical Trailers: Saludos Amigos (1942); The Three Caballeros (1944)

Now available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

---

Waking Sleeping Beauty: By the mid-1980s, the fabled animation studios of Walt Disney had fallen on hard times. The artists were polarized between newcomers hungry to innovate and old timers not yet ready to relinquish control. These conditions produced a series of box-office flops and pessimistic forecasts – maybe the best days of animation were over. Maybe the public didn’t care. Only a miracle or a magic spell could produce a happy ending. Waking Sleeping Beauty is no fairy tale. It’s the true story of how Disney regained its magic with a staggering output of hits – “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “The Lion King,” and more – over a 10-year period.

Bonus features include:

• Why Wake Sleeping Beauty? – Overview featurette
• Untold Bedtime Stories – Deleted scenes from the feature
• The Sailor, the Mountain Climber, the Artist and the Poet – Celebrating Roy Disney, Frank Wells, Joe Ranft, and Howard Ashman
• Studio Tours – Randy’s tours, Roger Rabbit studio, Oliver studio, and the tour we shot at ARL
• A Reunion – Rob Minkoff and Kirk Wise
• Walt – What would Walt do AND compare Walt’s era and this era
• 3 webisode shorts
• Gallery – Photos, caricatures, and art from the era

Now available for pre-order on Amazon.com.