2012 seems like a popular year for re-releases of classics, as movies such as The Phantom Menace, Titanic, and The Little Mermaid will hit theaters in 3D.

Disney’s The Lion King: 3D has already passed the $90 million mark in the domestic box office, and its success rate has caused Disney to announce the releases of four additional 3D films.

Beauty and the Beast is expected to start off this string of re-releases in January 2012 and will be followed by Finding Nemo, Monster’s Inc., and The Little Mermaid.

“Disney’s a part of our lives, basically [a] part of our childhood, so it’s really nice to […] relive those childhood memories.” Neelima Gadagottu (11) said.

Some students attribute the success of The Lion King: 3D to teenagers who wanted to watch the movies again to remind them of the love they felt for Disney in the past.

When asked why he thought The Lion King: 3D did so well in the box office, Arvind Ramgopal (11) said the reason was that the movie was a classic, and that teens had watched it when they were younger.

Many young adults had watched the movie as children and had gone to see it again to feel the familiar sentiment associated with their childhood.

“After the VCRs have been gone, I feel like Disney’s been gone too […] I felt like this really brought it back, and I think parents felt the same way.” Gabriela Gupta (9) said.

With childhood nostalgia influencing its audience, Disney put forth the idea of remaking four more popular classics in order to take their viewers back into the past. These movies could potentially appeal to a range of generations, from the adults that watched them the first time they came out to the children who want to watch them in 3D.

In a studio press release, Alan Bergman, President of The Walt Disney Studios, said, “We’re thrilled to give audiences of all ages the chance to experience these beloved tales in an exciting new way with 3D – and in the case of younger generations, for the first time on the big screen.”

Disney is not the only company taking advantage of the growing resources in the film industry; both James Cameron, backed by Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox, and Lucasfilm Limited will be releasing 3D remakes of their own classics in 2012.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Titanic tragedy, Cameron’s Titanic will be released in 3D in April 2012, and is competing for recognition with another 3D re-release; The Phantom Menace, by Lucasfilm Limited, will also hit theaters early next year.

Lucasfilm Limited will be putting out The Phantom Menace as the beginning of a re-release series of the Star Wars saga; the movies will be converted into 3D, starting with the prequels and leading up to Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi in 2017.

This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on Oct. 28, 2011.