There’s a Mickey Mouse cartoon scheduled for a world debut at the Annecy Animation Festival on June 11. Disney animation is playing coy saying only that the never-before-seen Walt Disney Animation Studios short will feature Walt Disney’s voice as Mickey Mouse. It is said to… Read More »Mysterious Mickey Mouse Cartoon To Feature Walt Disney’s Voice
Although Wreck-it Ralph has his home in the ‘classic’ Fix-it Felix Jr. video game, most of the movie takes place in a more modern video game – Sugar Rush. The detail that went into creating this world is pretty impressive, and is the subject of… Read More »Wreck-it Ralph: Sugar Rush Featurette
Disney Animation has released one more clip from Wreck-It Ralph as the movie is set to debut in theaters everywhere tomorrow. This one features Fix-it Felix Jr as he encounters Sergeant Calhoun for the first time and setting off one of the movie’s sub-plots: Reviewers… Read More »Disney’s Wreck-it Ralph in Theaters Today
John Frost wrote up a nice article a little while ago about the failed WDAS project “My Peoples” and how it was set to be animated in the Orlando animation department…until they closed the Orlando animation department. It never transferred over to CA, many Orlando animators left Disney all together, and after a ton of other set backs…the project was canned.
For those of you unfamiliar, the story was very short, it was about how three small kids and a ghost brought together a couple in the Appalachia area of the USA in the 1940’s. The thought process was taken from Walt’s head, for every big and grandiose film, you include a low-budget and simply sweet film to even things out (Bambi is to Tarzan and Dumbo is to My Peoples). After much deliberation and “fighting” between Barry Cook (the creator of the story and idea), Michael Eisner (the then CEO), and Thomas Schumacher (the then president of WDAS) over budget issues and such, the plan would be this: the couple would be done in hand-drawn animation while the rest of the characters were done, in the style of folk art, in CGI. It saved money and gave the film a distinct look. Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, Charles Durning, and more had already signed on to voice for the film and they had also already begun to write the bluegrass music for the film (which was supposed to evoke that sense of classic Appalachia).
Back in 2010 we heard about Disney putting the brakes on production of the modern update of a Norwegian legend, The Snow Queen. But a few months ago work slowly began again on the project, this time with a new name – Frozen. Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel are set to voice the lead roles. Robert Lopez and Kristin Anderson Lopez will pen the music. You might recall their names from Broadway’s Avenue Q and Book of Morman, but Disney fans will know their work on the Finding Nemo Musical at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Disney recently confirmed that the story would be inspired by the beauty of Norway, even if not being specific about the location or time. But it makes me wonder, why don’t they commit to Norway as the setting. EPCOT would then have an excuse to upgrade the Norway pavilion which has long been without a sponsorship commitment.
Read More »Could Walt Disney Animation Studios ‘Frozen’ Save Norway Pavilion at EPCOT
As I suspected, Disney has a whole series of Olympics themed marketing previews for Wreck-it Ralph. Yesterday was wrestling, today its Gymnastics. This one is also hosted by Jane Lynch and Jack McBrayer and it lists the headliner voice talent for the film: Plot Synopsis:… Read More »Second Olympics Themed Trailer for Wreck-It-Ralph
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS) made it official that “Paperman,” a new short film combining the best of the computer-generated and hand-drawn animation worlds, will make its theatrical debut in front of “Wreck-It Ralph,” Disney’s next animated feature that opens nationwide on Nov. 2, 2012.… Read More »Disney short “Paperman” to hit Theaters with Wreck-It Ralph
After a brief flurry of concept art in February, Disney Animation has been awfully quiet about Wreck-It Ralph. But they’re out today with a poster for the movie and rumor is the trailer will debut with The Avengers. I suspect they’re aiming at a crowd… Read More »Wreck-It Ralph Poster Released