Universal to release the picture in America, Walt Disney and Samuel Goldwyn both waived the rights they held with the MPAA to the title "The Snow Queen." The film entered the Vancouver International Film Festival on 3 August 1959 and Universal ran the picture at the San Francisco International Film Festival in November 1959. The film's general release was initially planned for the 1959 holidays. However, Columbia's animated feature 1001 Arabian Nights was scheduled for a December release. Therefore, its wide release started in the United States on 20 November 1959. In Washington, D.C. in April 1960, Idaho Democratic Senator Frank Church hosted an invitational screening of the film at the Motion Picture Association headquarters in Washington D.C, attended by the Ambassador of Denmark. There the film was applauded for its literary appeal to the city's many Danish residents and because its animation techniques resembled those used by Disney. With many adaptations following the release, the 1959 version is the definitive version for the 1960s audience. Many boomers from America remember the festive TV season featuring The Snow Queen. VHS Release In 1985, Jim Terry produced an English dub that was released by Celebrity Home Entertainment in 1993. The theme song for the dub was provided by Bullets. The main characters Gerda and Kai's names were changed to Yvette and John. In 1998, there was a second international release that was restored and re-voiced by the company of Oleg Vidov. In the 1990s, Jove Films restored the film and created a new English soundtrack for it, featuring the voices of Kathleen Turner, Mickey Rooney, Kirsten Dunst and Laura San Giacomo. It was shown on television in 1995 as part of the "Mikhail Baryshnikov's Stories from My Childhood series, and was later released on video and DVD in 1999. French and Spanish soundtracks were added for the DVD version, with the French soundtrack featuring Catherine Deneuve and the Spanish track featuring Beatriz Aguirre. Following criticism of the non-inclusion of the Russian soundtrack on the DVD, Jove Films also released a DVD of the film containing the original Russian soundtrack with English subtitles sometime in 2006. Home media release Wendros (Sweden) - VHS - Pal - Snödrottningen (with Swedish audio) Films by Jove, April 27, 1999 (R0, NTSC) – version restored by Films by Jove in the 1990s. Contains English, French and Spanish soundtracks (not Russian), no subtitles. Included films: The Snow