Why did they remove the clouds?

[TheLionPrince]

The 2003 DVD version

The 2011 Blu-Ray version

If you noticed on the Blu-Ray Diamond Edition version, the retreating clouds forming Mufasa's ghost are gone when Simba is running towards it. They were there in the original 1994 version released in theaters, Laserdisc, VHS, and the 2003 Platinum Edition VHS/DVD. Along with George Lucas, Disney is notorious for making changes to their classic films when it is re-issued to the public. While this change isn't that major of a deal as Greedo shooting at Han first in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, why was this change (or should I say deletion) even necessary?

[Ninaroja]

Hmmm, I have no idea why they would do that

I'm just back from seeing TLK on the big screen - honestly can't remember if the clouds were there or not. One change I did notice was that the transition from Simba flopping onto the dust to Rafiki's tree happened sooner, probably as an edit to avoid the whole "sex in the clouds" debacle...

[Elton John]

Wait, did disney suddenly do a tlk re-release on the big screen? Nina tell me!

[Ninaroja]

Wait, did disney suddenly do a tlk re-release on the big screen? Nina tell me!

Don't think so - the cinema Company I worked for up until last Tuesday have been doing "Disney in December" every weekend this month. Week 1 Jungle Book, week 2 Beauty and the Beast, last week Frozen and this weekend TLK. My friends and I went this afternoon I think it's just a one-off.

[Elton John]

i'd love another tlk theatrical re-release.

[Ninaroja]

This is the second time I've been - the first being the 2011 3D remaster - I'm sure there'll be another at some point, TLK has been re-released multiple times

[Captain Cupcake]

I believe it was stated somewhere that it was an error made in the remastering process for the blu-ray. They didn't purposely remove it.

[TheLionPrince]

I believe it was stated somewhere that it was an error made in the remastering process for the blu-ray. They didn't purposely remove it.

I do know the copy used on the Blu-Ray/DVD edition was transferred from the copy for the theatrical 3D release, and the computer imagery was done on files from the CAPS program which are outdated by today's standards so I'm sure the Blu-Ray team tried to restore them as much as possible. Nevertheless, I am trying to find a reliable source to explain this, and I found this source, an interview with the stereoscopic supervisor Robert Neuman and another one, and a roundtable interview with Don Hahn, Roger Allers, and Rob Minkoff:

Were you ever tempted to pull a "George Lucas" and "improve" parts of The Lion King prior to this new release?

Roger Allers: No, I think we knew to leave well enough alone. I did some color correcting, though, on a few scenes that I was never happy with.

[Captain Cupcake]

I'm curious to know if they rectified the problem with the re-issue of the blu-ray release from a few months back:

[SimbasGuard]

I had always assumed that they must have thought that clouds pulling away from the screen would not look right in 3D