I now alot of you guys don't like Jim Hill but he has some information on "Mickey's Philharmagic". He recently attended Disney's stockholder meeting at Hartford, Conn. During Eisner's presentation some "test CGI footage" was shown.
Here's what Jim reported:
Disney's CEO obviously wanted to get the word out that his company is not ceding the CGI turf to Pixar or Dreamworks/PDI. Eisner's message was clear, The Mouse -- in spite of any setbacks the studio may have recently experienced with its traditionally animated fare -- still intends to be the top dog in Toontown.
In an effort to nail home this point, Eisner then pulled out a piece of test animation for a project that will reportedly feature a 3D CGI Mickey Mouse. This clip -- which was about a minute long -- showed a computer generated Mickey exiting his house on a very stormy day. An off-screen Minnie admonished Mickey to take along her umbrella. As soon as he steps outside, the Mickster is buffeted by strong winds. So he quickly opens Minnie's umbrella and is immediately embarrassed to see that it's a girlie floral print. Then a strong gust of wind lifts Mickey and the umbrella up into the air, pasting the Mouse against the second floor of the house. Mickey talks through a window to an off-screen barking Pluto ("Hey! A little help here?") before another gust sends him careening off into the sky.
Albeit brief, this CGI Mickey footage was still quite impressive. And Disney's animators had obviously put a lot of time in and/or sparred no expense when it came to the production of this test footage. (EX: The exterior of the Mouse's house was an exact copy of the one theme park visitors encounter when visiting Mickey's Toontown at Disneyland. Plus Disney had also recruited the very same performers who provide voices for the characters -- Wayne Allwine for Mickey, Russie Taylor for Minnie and Bill Farmer for Pluto -- to do the vocals for this test footage.)
So when's this CGI version of Mickey supposed to make his big screen debut? Initially, movie-goers will only be able to see this computer animated Mouse while vacationing in Orlando. This CGI Mickster is supposed to star in "Mickey's Philharmagic," a new 3D movie attraction that will premiere at WDW's Magic Kingdom in the Fall of 2003 ... before this multi-media show pops up at all the other Disney theme parks worldwide sometime between 2004 - 2005.
If anyone want's to read Jim's full report about the stockholder's meeting it can be found on Harry Knowles' aint-it-cool-news.com website.
Here's what Jim reported:
Disney's CEO obviously wanted to get the word out that his company is not ceding the CGI turf to Pixar or Dreamworks/PDI. Eisner's message was clear, The Mouse -- in spite of any setbacks the studio may have recently experienced with its traditionally animated fare -- still intends to be the top dog in Toontown.
In an effort to nail home this point, Eisner then pulled out a piece of test animation for a project that will reportedly feature a 3D CGI Mickey Mouse. This clip -- which was about a minute long -- showed a computer generated Mickey exiting his house on a very stormy day. An off-screen Minnie admonished Mickey to take along her umbrella. As soon as he steps outside, the Mickster is buffeted by strong winds. So he quickly opens Minnie's umbrella and is immediately embarrassed to see that it's a girlie floral print. Then a strong gust of wind lifts Mickey and the umbrella up into the air, pasting the Mouse against the second floor of the house. Mickey talks through a window to an off-screen barking Pluto ("Hey! A little help here?") before another gust sends him careening off into the sky.
Albeit brief, this CGI Mickey footage was still quite impressive. And Disney's animators had obviously put a lot of time in and/or sparred no expense when it came to the production of this test footage. (EX: The exterior of the Mouse's house was an exact copy of the one theme park visitors encounter when visiting Mickey's Toontown at Disneyland. Plus Disney had also recruited the very same performers who provide voices for the characters -- Wayne Allwine for Mickey, Russie Taylor for Minnie and Bill Farmer for Pluto -- to do the vocals for this test footage.)
So when's this CGI version of Mickey supposed to make his big screen debut? Initially, movie-goers will only be able to see this computer animated Mouse while vacationing in Orlando. This CGI Mickster is supposed to star in "Mickey's Philharmagic," a new 3D movie attraction that will premiere at WDW's Magic Kingdom in the Fall of 2003 ... before this multi-media show pops up at all the other Disney theme parks worldwide sometime between 2004 - 2005.
If anyone want's to read Jim's full report about the stockholder's meeting it can be found on Harry Knowles' aint-it-cool-news.com website.