the digitalbits.com had this to say:

We've got some interesting details for you today on Disney's forthcoming The Lion King: Platinum Edition DVD (street date 10/7). Some of this is already known, but there are a few new details here that have been leaked to us, which is why this is in The Rumor Mill. The disc, which has been in production for well over a year now, will include new interviews with Elton John and Tim Rice. You'll get a look at several deleted scenes, in the form of original storyboards, which were never fully completed. The discs' animated menus reportedly feature both new traditional cell and CG animation. The character of Zazu hosts the menus on Disc One, for example, and explains what you'll find on the disc. Using the latest digital technology, the filmmakers have apparently restored and "added more detail" to the image, to bring more clarity and vibrancy to the film. In addition, a special Enhanced Home Theater sound mix has been created for the first time on this DVD release, that is specially designed to "envelop the listener in the sound" and enhance the emotional impact of the film. You will be able to choose to view either the original theatrical version of the film or the new special edition version (with the new musical number, Morning Report, created by the original filmmakers). And, for BOTH versions of the film, you will be able to choose to listen to either the original theatrical audio, or the new Enhanced Home Theater mix.

I do like having choices.

Man, I really can't wait to have this is my hands.

Agreed. That is a nice touch.

Looks like it will be another great DVD. I have had it preordered for a while now...

This looks to be a GIANT seller this holiday season I bet. It looks great .

SWEET!

MATT

Well, not so much with Disney. I take this announcement as most likely bad news. You see, they as of yet have not discovered the process of seemless branching. The Beauty and the Beast DVD had three versions of that film, including a regular and "special edition" with one extra scene. Rather than just making that additional scene available via seemless branching (like Artisan has done twice now for T2), they just transferred the whole movie onto one disc three times. The result was a semi-horrible picture quality. I sincerely hope that they've figured out how to do this right this time, but I have an uneasy feeling that they just slapped the same movie on the DVD twice again and our PQ will suffer as a result. We'll see...

I agree with the above, Beauty and the Beast had horrible (IMO) image quality no doubt due to all the 'choices' they crammed onto the disc. I can only hope that does not happen with Lion King.

I thought the BatB transfer looked just fine if a little bright. And as far as I hve heard, they did use branching and alternate angles. There was a review I read that said "Despite what you hear there are not 3 seperate 90 minutes tracks on the disc..".. maybe DVDfile..?

Man, am I ever going to have a post that you don't contradict?

From IGN:
Beauty and the Beast still is one of the richest and most vibrant of the modern Disney films featuring excellent character designs, beautiful use of color, and great animation. That's part of the reason why this DVD disappoints so much. Disney crammed three versions of the film on to one DVD disc, and as a result the picture quality really suffers due to some bad compression artifacts that really tarnish the image. These artifacts appear in all three versions of the film, and could have easily been avoided if they made this a three or four-disc set.
Outside of last year's Snow White and next year's The Lion King, this is easily one of the biggest titles in Disney's catalog, yet they really screwed up the DVD by not giving each version of the film room to breathe. The worst thing about this is that we'll have to wait another ten years for the chance at the perfect Beauty and the Beast.

From DVDfile:
What a stuffed little disc! Featuring not one but three different versions of the film - the original theatrical cut, the IMAX special edition, and an early "work in progress" - in some ways Beauty and the Beast represents both the best and the worst of what the DVD format has to offer. Indeed, it's great to be able to access, without interruption, three different full-length versions of a single film. However, due to the extensive changes made to the IMAX upgrade and an almost completely different "Work in Progress" version, this disc cannot not fully exploit the seamless branching capabilities of the format; instead, each version of the film is encoded in its entirety as a separate "title" save for some minimal branching cues. Thus, over four hours of material is squeezed onto a single dual-layer disc, plus extras, two audio tracks each, and a commentary.

Given so much to compress in so little a space, let me lead off this review by saying the presentation thus suffers from perhaps too much of a good thing. In my only real qualm with these transfers - all presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen - are noticeable compression artifacts due to the limited bit budget, with some solid backgrounds revealing blockiness, and more "jaggies" and motion artifacts than I'm used to seeing on a Disney title. The theatrical version also seems to get the short stick, revealing a somewhat lower bitrate throughout and more noticeable artifacting. Which is a shame, of course, because in all other respects, these transfers are outstanding.

From DVDTalk (a more positive review):VIDEO: Remarkably, Disney has attempted to fit all three full-length versions (the special edition, theatrical cut and work-in-progress edition, all in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen) on disc one. While seamless branching does not seem to be used, I certainly guess that some method (which seems as if it would have to be rather complex) was used to try and compress all three versions (over four hours, plus other odds/ends such as animated menus) onto the same DVD and have the result be as nice looking as it is here.

As for all three versions of the picture, they all do manage to boast very good - if not flawless - picture quality...

Both the special edition and theatrical versions of the film offered fine image quality, although the added details of the Special Edition boasted mildly richer visual experience. Sharpness and detail were quite pleasant on all three versions of the picture, as well.

Still, some flaws with all three versions should be discussed. While nothing very irritating or even particularly noticable, there were some artifacts visible in a few scenes, which may be related to the space concerns. On a positive note, there were no print flaws to be seen, nor any instances of edge enhancement.

Colors looked spectacular, and were certainly the highlight of the image quality. The film's warm, vivid color palette was beautifully rendered, with no smearing or other faults. While not quite flawless overall, I still felt that all three transfers (especially the new special edition version) offered a lovely presentation of this wonderfully animated film.

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My impression is that the transfer is too soft, too much EE and some compression artifact. It certainly doesn't "pop" off the screen like Snow White or some of the new Disney films do. It's not too terrible, but for a Disney fan like myself it's really disappointing that it doesn't look better, especially considering they could have used seemless branching and increased the video bit rate.

Will this new audio be just a 5.1 track and the original be a 2.0 track or will it be like the original is 5.1 and the new one would be like a dts track.

My impression is that there are two seperate, different 5.1 mixes (like on the Stop Making Sense disc) where one is the theatrical mix and one is a more dynamic mix for home systems. I would strongly doubt that there is a DTS track as there is so much else to fit on disc 1 and they have been shying away from DTS tracks recently (although the new Jungle Book 2 disc does have one).

Yes, it will be. It will be a good season for Disney, I assume that they will also be releasing Finding Nemo before Christmas.

In the Disney Release Schedule thread it lists November 4th as the date for Finding Nemo. Sure hope that is accurate.

Wow, big holiday season, can't wait.

Hehe.. well.. I'm pretty sure at least the first half is the same track, I remember checking it out and both the Original and Extra Crispy version were on the same title untl the new song came in.. I'll check again tonight cause now it's bothering me.. it just doesn't make sense to have it on there 3 times when only a small portion of the movie is different.

Well, they didn't encode the film 3 times. Title numbers mean nothing - check out your Abyss or T2UE DVDs - even though seamless branching is used, they play different titles.

As for Beauty and the Beast, the start of the film was encoded once, and the second half of the film after the layer change was encoded twice (including the extra scene and minus the extra scene).

They couldn't use true seamless branching for the extended scene as they chose to show the work-in-progress sections using a second angle in the film. Seamless branching is an extension of the technology used to implement multiple angles and cannot be used if multiple angles are being used. So they decided to make the branching point the layer change.

I'm not really defending this decision - it still means half-as-much data was needlessly included on the disc. If I remember correctly the first rumblings and rumours about the set were that it would be 3 discs. This is how they should of released the discs, I suppose cost considerations made them opt for the 2 disc format. Ideally Disc one would be the film(s) with seamless branching (and game I suppose), disc 2 would be the work-in-progress edition (with additional supplements - how about the original 1991 Making Of?) and disc 3 would have been the same as the current second disc.

hey there are going to be two releases of this, a collector's box set and a normal two disc...

Anybody know the contents of the collector's box set??

Celebrate Disney's crowning achievement-The Lion King-now in a dazzling special edition with an all-new song, "Morning Report", and a restoration befitting the king of all animated movies! Enjoy the Academy Award-winning music (Best Music, Original Score, 1994; Best Music, Song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight"), lush animation, and the epic story of Simba, the feisty lion cub who revels in the carefree lifestyle of "Hakuna Matata" until he realizes his destiny in the "Circle of Life". And now, in the Special Edition DVD, there is more to be seen than has ever been seen with 2 versions of the film, all-new animation created exclusively for DVD, a Virtual Safari in 5.1 surround sound, and journeys that take you behind the scenes. You'll see, hear, and feel why The Lion King continues to rule hearts and entertain the entire family.

Includes:
2-Disc Set
5 Exclusive Character Portrait Drawings
The Lion King Special Edtion Book

So thats what is in the box set, 5 Character portrait Drawings and a Book??

That's correct. I'll be buying the SE instead, as I could care less about the drawings and book.

ditto