Finally some high quality animation from Disney…
We have just received word from Buena Vista Home Video that they have scheduled A Bug’s Life for release day and date on VHS and DVD on April 20. “A Bug’s Life” is from the team that produced the phenomenally successful “Toy Story”: Academy Award®-winning director John Lasseter, Disney and PIXAR. Backed by one of Disney’s biggest video campaigns ever, consumers will have a choice of four different “A Bug’s Life” DVD covers, featuring Flik, Heimlich, Dot and Francis. All discs feature identical contents, including both celebrated sets of outtakes from the theatrical release, along with the Academy Award®-winning PIXAR short “Geri’s Game.”. The disc’s suggested retail price will be $34.99.
In an industry first, “A Bug’s Life” will become the first film to be digitally transferred directly from the original computer imagery rather than through the standard film-to-videotape process. Since it was created entirely in a digital format, this process presents the movie with the most pristine images possible. The press release is somewhat unclear however whether the film will be presented in afullscreen or a widescreen version

Also just announced is Buena Vista’s Mighty Joe Young starring Bill Paxton and Charlize Theron, on March 23, day-and-date on VHS and DVD. The film tells the incredible story of zoologist Greg O’Hara who discovers a 15-foot gorilla in a remote area of Africa. Fearsome and dangerous when provoked, the gorilla is tame in the hands of Jill, a 21-year-old orphan who raised him and named him Joe. With Joe’s life threatened by poachers, Greg and Jill move him to an animal preserve in Los Angeles. But when Joe escapes, it’s a race against time for Greg and Jill to capture Joe before the authorities do. Mighty Joe Young will carry a $29.99 suggested retail price.

We just got the missing information from Buena Vista Home Entertainment regarding the aspect ratio of their upcoming DVD release of “A Bug’s Life”. For the first time in Buena Vista’s history, the disc will feature both a letterboxed and a pan&scan transfer of the film, giving the viewer the choice how he wants to watch the movie. The four different covers for the release also seem to relate only to the film’s VHS release and not the DVD version.