To celebrate Disney’s 100th Anniversary, Disney has announced that the feature film that started it all, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” will be coming to Disney+ in a beautiful 4K restoration on Monday 16th October 2023.  The restored version will also be released on physical media to purchase later this week.

This restored version of the 1937 classic is the result of the combined efforts of the Walt Disney Studios Restoration and Preservation team, working closely with key artists from Walt Disney Animation Studios, the same team who recently worked together on the critically-acclaimed restoration of Walt Disney’s 1950 animated classic, “Cinderella.”

Disney Animation artists Michael Giaimo (production designer for the upcoming animated musical adventure “Wish,” as well as “Frozen” and “Frozen 2”) and animator/director Eric Goldberg (head of hand-drawn animation for Disney Animation’s newest short, “Once Upon A Studio,” director, “Pocahontas,” “Fantasia/2000”) were honored to re-team with their colleagues at Walt Disney Studios on the project.

Eric Goldberg said in a statement about the release:

“The opportunity to help restore Snow White was both an honor and a challenge. As the very first Walt Disney feature, Mike Giaimo and I felt we owed a debt to history to get it looking as beautiful, and as accurate to the original colors, as we could. The muted palette and the delicate watercolor backgrounds evoke the illustrated fairy tales that Walt so loved, and the story and characters continue to resonate to this day. I hope our work inspires future generations of animation artists to fully appreciate the masterful talent and care that has gone into this landmark film.”

Kevin Schaeffer, director of Restoration for Walt Disney Studios, added:

“We are incredibly excited to go back to Walt’s original negative and use current state of the art technology to restore this stunning classic to its original beauty.”

Here’s an image comparing the two versions:

“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” stands as one of the greatest triumphs in animation history, as the first full-length cel animated feature in the history of motion pictures. The film was recognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences with a special honorary Oscar  – one large Oscar accompanied by seven smaller ones – which was presented to Walt Disney by Shirley Temple. The film is the highest-ranked animated feature on the American Film Institute’s “100 Years…100 Movies” list, and was inducted into the National Film Registry in the registry’s inaugural year, 1989.

Are you looking forward to watching the newly restored version of Disney’s very first animated film?  Let us know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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