Posted: 01/17/2007
From: Kimberly Armour
Email: [email protected]
Subject: NIHM HD!!!!!!!!
Message: I just watched "The Secret of NIMH", again, the other night and decided to start looking for a DVD version. I was disappointed when I saw the aspect ratio, so I started looking around for word of an HD version. In short, I would just like to say that I hope the 16x9 version comes to fruition. Even with all the new animated movies, some of which I like very much, this is by far one of my all time favorites! Jeremy makes me laugh every... single... time! Rock on, Don! Kimberly

Reply: Kimberly, We've just finished the re-mastering of The Secret of NIMH for HD DVD. We're told that the new color master will be made available at full screen 1:1.33 (as it was shot), 1:1.85 letterbox (as it was projected in theaters in 1982)and 16X9 HD for the new high definition systems for home theater. We have done a producer/director commentary and an on-camera interview to go out as extras. Hopefully that will be the case. We believe that the new HD DVD will be available in June/July of this year. Regards.
Reply Posted: 01/22/2007

"We made those early films, Banjo the Woodpile Cat (1979) thru The Pebble and the Penguin (1995) in the full frame, 1:1.33 format. As did Disney up into the nineties. Full screen standard television screens would pretty much represent that format, though there is some loss, very little, on the left and right of the screen. However, a wide screen or letterboxed version or even the new 16X9 format cuts off the image at the top and bottom, losing some of the background and part of the character and effects on closeups of the charcters. The format shown in theaters, a wide screen affect at 1:1.85 does the same, cuts off a portion of the top and the bottom. In fact if the projectionist doesn't find the proper north/south center, the image may have more chopped off one end or the other. On the new mastering of our films we are making sure we do a shot by shot adjustment to make sure no pertinent information is not cut off. So that the Letterboxed, widescreen version will be as accurate as possible to reflect what you saw in the theater (or what was intended for you to see.) .... Actually most of our films were shot 1:1.33, even while we were at Disney 1972-1979. Here's the list of independent product. Banjo the woodpile Cat, The Secret of N.I.M.H., An American Tail, The Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Rock-A-Doodle, A Troll in Central Park, Thumbelina, The Pebble and the Penguin were all shot 1:1.33, we had some of the later films' dupe negatives matted to 1:1.85 format to avoid projection error with the 1:1.85 clip used to adjust the fomat to a wider screen. At Fox, we became digital and we produced Anastasia in CinemaScope 1:2.35 as was Titan A.E.. "