"The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "Finding Nemo" and "Monsters Inc." to be re-released in 3-D

By Scott Edward

(CBS) Proving that box office success is the ultimate barometer in Hollywood, Disney is poised to re-release a handful of its classic animated features back into theaters in 3-D over the next two years, and it's all due to the very successful run "The Lion King 3D" enjoyed during its two weeks in theaters nationwide.

The 1994 animated tale - re-formatted for digital 3-D projection - was tops at the box office for its entire two-week run. The studio estimates the film is expected to cross the $80 million mark domestically today and even more revenue is expected now that the 3-D Blu-ray DVD has hit store shelves.

Banking on the same audience reaction, Walt Disney Studios announced Tuesday limited theatrical engagements for four of its classic films for the first time in 3-D. "Beauty and the Beast" will roar back into theaters starting Jan. 13, 2012, Pixar's "Finding Nemo" on Sept. 14, 2012, "Monsters, Inc." on Jan. 18, 2013, and then, finally, "The Little Mermaid" on Sept. 13, 2013.

Collectively, those four films have earned almost $2 billion at the box office and hundreds of millions more in home video rentals and sales over the years. But with today's modern viewing technology and an entire generation that has quite possibly never seen any of those films on the big screen, Disney believes the time is right to re-introduce these classics to movie-going audiences.

From a business standpoint, it certainly looks to be a guaranteed home-run. According to Des Moines, Iowa-based industry-leader Deep Media Studios, the cost of frame-by-frame conversion from 2-D to 3-D for a full-length feature film starts around $1.5 million. The cost to convert The Lion King was approximately $9.6 million - an amount which will ultimately prove to be a small fraction of what the film earns in theatrical and DVD sales.

Tell us: Will you see these Disney movies in 3-D?