The Walt Disney Co.'s animated hit "The Lion King" will have a long trailer for the studio's next animated film "Pocahontas" when the movie returns to theaters late next month, a company spokesman said Thursday.
Disney pulled its summer blockbuster, which has already grossed over $260 million, out of theaters late last month in order to rerelease it during the holiday season.Disney officials say such early previews - or "featurette," as the studio calls the 4-minute trailer - are a key part of the company's marketing campaigns for its animated features.
A similar preview for "The Lion King," included in the studio's 1993 live-action film "The Three Musketeers," helped build early interest in the film, Disney spokesman Max Danielson said.
The "Pocahontas" sequence features the title character singing "Colors of the Wind," one of eight original songs included in the movie based on the legendary marriage of early settler Capt. John Smith and Pocahontas, an American Indian girl.
Disney officials are also hoping early exposure of the original music in "Pocahontas" will help boost sales of the soundtrack when the film is released next June. The soundtrack for "The Lion King" topped the pop music charts for weeks last summer, thanks to a No. 1 hit single by Elton John, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight."
For next month's rerelease of "The Lion King," Disney has edited a new trailer that debuts nationwide this weekend. The studio also plans to offer the first 100 moviegoers at each showing a holiday-themed "Lion King" poster.
Although Disney's innovative marketing strategies have been widely praised, entertainment industry trade papers have speculated that the Nov. 18 rerelease of "The Lion King" is designed to divert audiences away from New Line Cinema's animated feature "The Swan Princess," which opens the same day.