Disney's upcoming animated slate
BY THOMAS CHAU
08/19/02 AT 1:00 A.M.
BURBANK (Cinema Confidential) -- Olivier at Animated-Movies.com sent us the following e-mail regarding several animated projects in development over at Disney:
A spy from Animated Movies got to visit different sections of the Disney Feature Animation Studio in California a few days ago. Here are some tidbits that you might be interested in:
The third installment of Fantasia is now being referred to as THE MUSIC PROJECT. One of the segments will feature The Little Mermaid's Sebastian the crab making music with other crabs and seasnails. The style of THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL is typical Disney... Mike Gabriel (The Rescuers Down Under, Pocahontas) will direct another segment about the U.S.A.
A first poster for FRAIDY CAT was created and spoofs Hitchcock’s Vertigo with a cat falling down a spiral hole. The design is reminiscent of Tim Burton and thriller movies from the '50s. Very black & white and stylized.
Good news is, overall it seems like Disney is investing more in 2D than one would think, and not going the all-CG road. They even announced a couple of weeks ago that they planned to develop a new pitch (ANTONIUS) into a traditionally animated project, the first since BEARS was announced a several years ago. Talking of Disney's 2004 feature, it has been renamed MOMENTS. Animation on this project is reportedly gorgeous!
The Mouse House’s 2003 movie HOME ON THE RANGE is now in post-production. Overall the characters look old, the backgrounds ugly, and the movie’s merchandising even worse. When that guy (overweight version of Kronk with moustaches and brown and orange clothes) is away, the farm turns into a Broadway set from the 30s, and cows launch in Busby Berkeley-inspired dance routines. Moderately exciting though.
Some 3D work was started on MY PEOPLES (you can bet Disney will get a more PC title for that one by the time it’s ready for release!), and everything else is traditionally animated. The characters are toys made of shirt buttons, plates, pens, thimbles, threads... Very elaborate backgrounds, and beautiful human characters. One scene involves a little girl in a car who realizes that the toys are alive.
Disney conducted tests with 2D characters and 3D backgrounds as well as live contemporary backgrounds (like Dinosaur) for GNOMEO AND JULIET. The movie takes place in a garden, and is a cross between Tim Burton's Hollyood Chewing Gum commercial and Jeunet’s Amelie. The garden gnomes come to life and do pink flamingo races, etc.
Other projects in early development include a movie starring ugly elves but great backgrounds, another one about Indian Americans, and a starring vehicle for Peter Pan’s Tinker Bell; she would live in her own universe, inside mushrooms, with a tribe of fairies just like her: Fashion Fairy, the Black Fairy... Supposedly Disney is already thinking of a sequel and TV series spin-off. The characters have the typical Disney look (pin-ups from the 50s look) but are not very elaborate (Tink is the best-looking fairy by far).
In the cheap’quels department, MULAN 2 will feature two of the female characters that had a cameo during the "Honor to Us All" segment. Mushu now has his own big chair in the middle of the ancesters' tumbs, and two of them are fanning him with leaves. Mickey's THE THREE MUSKETEERS will feature the famous mouse along with Donald, Goofy and Minnie; the style is very cartoony and childish. And to end on a positive note, there is apparently no plan of a SNOW WHITE sequel!
BY THOMAS CHAU
08/19/02 AT 1:00 A.M.
BURBANK (Cinema Confidential) -- Olivier at Animated-Movies.com sent us the following e-mail regarding several animated projects in development over at Disney:
A spy from Animated Movies got to visit different sections of the Disney Feature Animation Studio in California a few days ago. Here are some tidbits that you might be interested in:
The third installment of Fantasia is now being referred to as THE MUSIC PROJECT. One of the segments will feature The Little Mermaid's Sebastian the crab making music with other crabs and seasnails. The style of THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL is typical Disney... Mike Gabriel (The Rescuers Down Under, Pocahontas) will direct another segment about the U.S.A.
A first poster for FRAIDY CAT was created and spoofs Hitchcock’s Vertigo with a cat falling down a spiral hole. The design is reminiscent of Tim Burton and thriller movies from the '50s. Very black & white and stylized.
Good news is, overall it seems like Disney is investing more in 2D than one would think, and not going the all-CG road. They even announced a couple of weeks ago that they planned to develop a new pitch (ANTONIUS) into a traditionally animated project, the first since BEARS was announced a several years ago. Talking of Disney's 2004 feature, it has been renamed MOMENTS. Animation on this project is reportedly gorgeous!
The Mouse House’s 2003 movie HOME ON THE RANGE is now in post-production. Overall the characters look old, the backgrounds ugly, and the movie’s merchandising even worse. When that guy (overweight version of Kronk with moustaches and brown and orange clothes) is away, the farm turns into a Broadway set from the 30s, and cows launch in Busby Berkeley-inspired dance routines. Moderately exciting though.
Some 3D work was started on MY PEOPLES (you can bet Disney will get a more PC title for that one by the time it’s ready for release!), and everything else is traditionally animated. The characters are toys made of shirt buttons, plates, pens, thimbles, threads... Very elaborate backgrounds, and beautiful human characters. One scene involves a little girl in a car who realizes that the toys are alive.
Disney conducted tests with 2D characters and 3D backgrounds as well as live contemporary backgrounds (like Dinosaur) for GNOMEO AND JULIET. The movie takes place in a garden, and is a cross between Tim Burton's Hollyood Chewing Gum commercial and Jeunet’s Amelie. The garden gnomes come to life and do pink flamingo races, etc.
Other projects in early development include a movie starring ugly elves but great backgrounds, another one about Indian Americans, and a starring vehicle for Peter Pan’s Tinker Bell; she would live in her own universe, inside mushrooms, with a tribe of fairies just like her: Fashion Fairy, the Black Fairy... Supposedly Disney is already thinking of a sequel and TV series spin-off. The characters have the typical Disney look (pin-ups from the 50s look) but are not very elaborate (Tink is the best-looking fairy by far).
In the cheap’quels department, MULAN 2 will feature two of the female characters that had a cameo during the "Honor to Us All" segment. Mushu now has his own big chair in the middle of the ancesters' tumbs, and two of them are fanning him with leaves. Mickey's THE THREE MUSKETEERS will feature the famous mouse along with Donald, Goofy and Minnie; the style is very cartoony and childish. And to end on a positive note, there is apparently no plan of a SNOW WHITE sequel!