Disney’s The Lion King will release into theaters this year in a new 3D format for the very first time on September 16th. The film was a childhood favorite of mine, and every time I hear “The Circle of Life,” I get goosebumps. Needless to say, I look forward to viewing the film on the big screen, something I may have done when I was little but can’t recall. However, I do wonder how a film from the ’90s will hold up, animation wise, and how a 3D conversion of it will fare on the big screen.

Today, Disney sent over some images showing just what the conversion process entails, including adding notes of depth and then using filters to key in on what will be in the foreground, background, and everywhere in between. The process is a lot more difficult than this, but it gives us a great idea of what the process entails on a basic, easy to understand level. Hit the jump to view those images, including a description of what we are looking at, a discussion with the stereographer Robert Neuman about the procedure itself, and my impressions of the scenes they showed before Cars 2.

First, let’s get to the good stuff. Disney sent over two scenes that show off the process. The first is of Pride Rock and the second is of Scar. The basic process is taking a finished image, adding a layer and marking depth details, and then using a layering system to key on those depth markings in the image to tell the computer where to place the image. Here are those images [click to enlarge]:

Here are the captions Disney sent over as well, explaining the images in more detail:

1. The original film image.

2. The 3D Depth Map created by Robert Neuman, the 3D Stereographer on the film. Positive numbers refer to the amount of pixels the image will come out of the screen and negative numbers refer to the amount of pixels the image will go deeper into the screen, creating the 3D depth.

3. Grey Scale – The final image in the computer representation of depth. Darker images will be furthest away, and lighter images will be closer to the viewer.”

As for how it looks on the big screen, it was quite impressive. I won’t claim that everything looked silky smooth, as some of the animation did show its age. However, let me back up a bit. Ahead of the Cars 2 screening, we were treated to the opening scene of The Lion King 3D which entails the entire “Circle of Life” song that ends in the title card. So, nearly four minutes of footage. The brightness and the clarity were great, and there are scenes that seemed tailor-made for 3D in retrospect. We have plenty of creatures walking towards the screen, and numerous opportunities to show off different depths, including a shot of ants climbing on a branch with zebras crossing in the background.

As I mentioned, though, there are some problems and they seem to be inherent in the original animation. With the clarity turned up and the 3D enhancement, some sequences will simply not hold up that well. This can be seen during a flight scene, which has a few hitches that is apparent when compared to the silky-smooth CG animation we are use to now. Remember, this is hand-drawn animation. Despite those few nagging remarks, I will be the first to admit that I am fully on board with the theatrical 3D release from Disney. The film is one of those rare moments where the story, animation, music, and voice acting are in perfect harmony, and it is part of the golden age of animated musicals in the late ’80s and early ’90s that was such a large part of my life and many other in my age group.

I look forward to seeing the film in a crowded theater, screaming babies or not. I also love the fact that a lot of parents will be introducing their children to the film in the theatrical format, and what better way to enjoy this masterpiece? For those wanting to know more about the film, we will be covering Disney’s upcoming D23 Expo in Anaheim on August 19th-21st where they will be screening the finished film in 3D. Before I let you go, below you can find the discussion Disney provided us with in which The Lion King 3D stereographer Robert Neuman expounds on what he does and how he does it. The home video versions, which do include a non-3D Blu-ray format, will release on October 4th, 2011 and are available for pre-order now.