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This film was re-released in IMAX and other large format theaters on January 1, 2002. The following changes were made to the film for this release:

• The "In Association with Silver Screen Partners IV" credit is replaced with "The Special Edition Of--" on the opening title sequence. The 2002 Platinum Edition DVD omits this credit and the Walt Disney Pictures Presents credit stays on screen.
• The 2002 Platinum Edition DVD omits the Beast's "stutter" ("You wan-wanna stay in the tower?").
• The animation in some of the scenes went back through the clean-up animation department a second time, to correct problems such as wavering lines and missing details, which, while not very noticeable during a traditional 35mm showing of the film, would have been discomforting on a much large IMAX screen. Small details, such as the blood in Beast's wound after his fight with the wolves, were also added.
• At the end of the "Something There" sequence, the background has been changed from Belle and Beast in front of the fireplace to an empty hallway, and a bit of the character animation has also been altered in this shot.
• Six minutes of new footage was added between the songs "Something There" and "Beauty and the Beast," most of which is made up of a new musical sequence, "Human Again." This song was written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken for the original version of the film, but cut for continuity purposes. After Alan Menken altered the song to make it work for the Broadway stage version of Beauty and the Beast, the song was worked back into the film.
• During the "Human Again" song sequence, the household objects clean up the Beast's castle, which necessitated having the background artists go back and digitally re-paint the backgrounds for the castle scenes that followed so that the castle was clean.
• The animation for Cogsworth's line to the Beast after Belle is freed ("Yes-yes-yes, but...why?") was completely re-done, as the directors never liked how the animation looked in the original version.
• New sound effects are added to the shot where Belle and Phillippe leave the castle to find Maurice, which are supposed to suggest that the Beast trashes his room in anguish (and also so that the backgrounds from this point on would not have to be repainted).
• The ending credits are longer to necessitate the addition of an additional passage of score music, the version of the 'Transformation' theme that was cut out of the original film, to the end of the film.

In the post-2010 releases, the original 1990 Walt Disney Pictures opening and closing logo were replaced by the current 2006 Walt Disney Pictures opening and closing logo and also have the 2007 Steamboat Willie-inspired Walt Disney Animation Studios logo as an extra opening and closing logo. These changes were also made in the 3D re-release.

The post-2010 releases reinstated "The Special Edition Of--" on the opening title sequence for its "Special Extended Edition" ("Special Edition") option and The "In Association with Silver Screen Partners IV" credit for its "Original Theatrical Release" and "Work-In-Progress Edition" options and reinstated the Beast's stutter in all versions of the film and removed the new added sound effects from the shot where Belle and Phillippe leave the castle to find Maurice in the "Original Theatrical Release", "Work-In-Progress Edition", Sing-Along mode options, and the 3D Edition, but aside from darkening the new color scheme, retains the original animation of the footage from the end of "Something There" until Belle's release from the castle (this includes the retention of Cogsworth's original animation in his conversation with the Beast after Belle is freed) and the original end credits sequence and retained the animation changes made to the Platinum Edition. The 3D Blu-Ray disc included in the 2010 release, however, in addition to also reinstating the Beast's stutter, undid almost all of the animation changes (aside from retaining the re-timed sparkling of the rose at the beginning of the movie, though, oddly, the animation changes to its flash just beforehand are undone, as well as a repainted background in the scene of Belle requesting her book back from Gaston when he takes it from her), including fixing a continuity error that inexplicably originated in the 2002 IMAX reissue (during the "Gaston" song, Gaston's chair disappears during one shot), and shows a color scheme more accurate to the "Original Theatrical Release".

When the movie was released on DVD in October 2002, it offered three versions of the film: The "Special Edition" (the 2002 IMAX re-release), the "Work-In-Progress Edition" (with Belle in the "Be Our Guest" sequence; the original work-in-progress cut featured Maurice in this sequence), and the "Original Theatrical Release". The "Work-In-Progress Edition" and the "Original Theatrical Release" are both actually identical to the 2002 IMAX/"Special Edition" re-release, except that it retains the original animation of the footage from the end of "Something There" until Belle's release from the castle (this includes the retention of Cogsworth's original animation in his conversation with the Beast after Belle is freed) and the original end credits sequence. All of the other edits that were made to the 2002 IMAX re-release (the cleaned-up animation, no stuttering Beast, etc.) are also present in this version.