The Disney subject.

JBoskma · Oct 2004

I'm hearing all sorts of mouths, saying that Disney animation is pretty near it's end. Their last movie 'Home on the Range' could not be called a succes, and Brother Bear was far from the greatness of Aladdin and Lion King as well. Seeing Disney is bringing out 'special edtion dvds' of pretty much all their movies, doesn't comfort me either. The Pixar contract has ended, and it looks that people these days like 3d animated cartoons better then the original 2d ones. I must admit that most of the 3D characters look a lot funnier, and ofcourse you can do way more spectacular things with 3D then with traditional 2d animation. What are your thoughts on all this? Should Disney start producing it's own 3D animation movies, or atleast stop making the characters even simpler. If I compare the characters and backgrounds in Brother Bear with for instance the ones created in Aladdin, there is a huge difference between the level of color and detail. For me Disney still is my favorite form of Art in America, so it would be a pretty big shock if their studios closed.

Frank · Oct 2004

Well, Disney closed their 2D studio last year, didn't they? And Pixar has been snapping up a bunch of the 2D guys that were let go, I heard. Looks like the big D is abandoning 2D for 3D, while Pixar is more interested in telling a good story regardless of medium. Says a lot about both.

Frank the Avenger

tpe · Oct 2004

I really hope you are not right, i am still a disney fan. I see what you mean about the quality of the graphics but dont agree entirely, it is really difficult getting a decent stretch in 3d and 2d still allows more imagination through than 3d because all you have to do is draw your idea instead of make special rig that allows your character to distort the ways possible in 2d. But whatever i have difficulty imagining that disney is dead, it is such a monalith i think that if it is in its demise it will take a while to go (hopefully anyway)

.

tpe

JBoskma · Oct 2004

Frank are you sure about that? So no more traditional 2d animation?! You gotta be kidding me. When is the next flight to hollywood. I'm going to have a word with them Disney guys...
I just bought the Aladdin special edition trillogy box. I never saw the King of Thiefs which is the third movie in the Aladdin trilogy, done by the Disney television studios (which seems not to be at the level of the film department). Anyway I Loved the movie and new songs. Allthough the new songs were not composed by Alan Menken they were GREAT, lot's of swing in em. I can't believe there isn't coming any new stuff from them. This is rediculous! What about the themeparks? will those be sticking with the old and current parades? Man this can't be...

adam · Oct 2004

JBoskma: I was on a tour of one of their studios in February and the guy giving me the tour said Home on the Range was their last animation film produced in the classical manner - with everything else to be done digitally. I agree with you, this is a travesty. One that seems, unfortunately, to be inevitable.

thnom · Oct 2004

I heard home on the range was the last of the tradition. The disney grandson was fighting for keep it though, not sure how that panned out.

Brother Bear was a very moving story, and wone that I enjoyed, with yet another musical masterpiece from Phil Collins. Is it a major difference? I'd say so, but it gives the artist more freedom, and you can create that traditional 2d feel with 3d if you wanted. It's just a master of taste. I hope Pixar continue to make great films, and I will probably always watch their films regardless of distributor. Pixar has a name now, they don't need that "Disney" branding they need for A bug's Life.

More competition is taking place, with Dreamworks creating more 3d movies, and to my mind the winner so far with Ice-Age.

ElysiumGX · Oct 2004

I liked Brother Bear. If Disney is moving to where the money is, that explains their goal clearly. I think Pixar should attempt to create a mostly 2D film. A project like that would definately prove storyline and characters are more important than the medium.

jzero · Oct 2004

Remember that Disney Animation was in a similar trough in the 1980s, before Little Mermaid. They may get their stuff together again, but it'll probably be a while. Seems to me like a case of too much old-style thinking in the managing and creative pipeline, people doing it the same old way, which is now the wrong way. Someone will come along eventually and whip things back into shape. But it might be a while.

/jzero

JBoskma · Oct 2004

Adam, with classical do you mean 2d (instead of 3d), or using an animation board and pencil? I think I heard something about Disney going Wacom/Cintiq, but keep on the 2D side.. Can anyone confirm this then? Keeping 2D animation, but having the whole animation, clean up and coloring done in a digital way. If this is the case then my worries are gone

Allthough I'll mostly miss that traditional way of working.

KDR_11k · Oct 2004

Let's see the upside to this: If Disney dies Mickey Mouse will become public domain and noone will make Congress extend the copyright duration to prevent MM from expiring for some time.

Sage · Oct 2004

I'm sorry to say this but there was a special either on the radio or PBS explaining why Disney was stopping the creation of 2D films... I didn't bother listening to it though. I think they just want to cut down on costs. Apparently it's "cheaper" to produce a 3D film than a 2D film. The sad part of creating 2D on the computer is that you lose some of the magic from old fashion drawing. At least that's what I think. Disney might still do 2D films but just outsource the work to artists in India or Japan since that would save them a ton of money. Later.

Alex

nutsy · Oct 2004

Dig around here:
http://www.savedisney.com/
and:
www.animationnation.com

Lots of info floating around.
I'd get into how Michael Eisener is a halfwit, and all that good stuff, but you should find all that info in the 2 links.
edit*
Disney's foray into the world of 3d
http://movies.msn.com/movies/FamilyFilms/ChickenLittle

JBoskma · Oct 2004

Thanks for the Link Nutsy, cool to see you've joined the new boards as well. I've signed up for the save disney foundation, but I doubt this thing will work. Oh well

Edit: And allthough it looks great, I doubt we are waiting for a second Pixar..

Scott Ruggels · Oct 2004

The Director of Chicken Little is a good, funny Director, when given his head, but how much control he actually has is up inthe air. Mark Dindall was the director for "The Emperor's New Groove" which was Disney's last "funny" film, and also "Cats Don't Dance" for the late lamented Turner Feature Animation.

All the talk on Animationnation is true. Disney has quit Traditional 2D, for various reasons, among them being cost, but it was aparnet that even when Eisner and Goldman and Katzenberg took over, that Eisner and Goldman wanted to shut down the Animation division early, but "stayed their hand", when The Lion King made an Ass load of money, but it was always their intention to de-emphasize, marginalize, and eventually shut down 2D. The thing that apparently galled themm is that, unlike 3D, once the script was written two to three years before the release date, the script was nearly set in stone, leaving the Execs no room to add things, to "piss on the project" and make it their own. Also keeping people on payroll for two years. I expect Disney's 3D effort to crater, for precisely the same reasons that their 2D films did, mostly because of executive interference, adherence to the "Disney Formula", at the expense of drama or a good solid story, and eventual lack of support from the Business arm. Disney is done..

Scott

Steve Schulze · Oct 2004

They've sold all of their animation desks, most of which went to Pixar, oddly.

The Disney subject.

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