Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The Endless Tink

The L.A. Times interviews the directors of Disney's next c.g. feature -- Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure. (Okay, it's a dvd release, but it's still the next long-form cartoon, out at a retailer near your on October 27th.)

Klay Hall: It started when John Lasseter took over as the chief creative officer for [Walt Disney Feature Animation]. He sat down with myself and the rest of the directors and producers, and we talked about what this whole [Disney Fairies] world could bring to film. We landed on the idea to go with four stories based on the seasons.

Hall: [Tinkerbell's] original inspiration was the Blue Fairy. She went through several forms all the way up through Marc Davis' designs in the early ‘50s for the "Peter Pan" release in 1953. We started there, with the Marc Davis design, the classic Tink. Everyone’s familiar with the iconic figure from the theme parks. She’s on so many products in her little green skirt and pompoms on her shoes and a little bun in her hair. We felt it was important to not only embrace the classic Tink, but to give her a fresh look in these new films ...

The new flick was playing on one of the plasma screens when I strolled through a few days back. There's a couple of big, comical trolls in the movie. When I squinted at them and said "Trolls?", a staffer said.

"They don't want this just to be a little girls' movie, because that's the way the first one skewed. This time their broadening the franchise's appeal to boys with these non-fairy characters."

So here's hoping the trolls do the trick, and eight-year-old boys will put down their game devices and flock to this new installment. Word around Disney Toons is that the series could end up doing way more than five Tinkerbells.

All depends, I guess, on how the dvd sales hold up.

6 comments:

Fairy Hunter said...

Yeah, trolls are going to make me watch it. Riiiight.

So when are they coming out with this other series that's designed for boys Steve? You know, the pirate one you've mentioned a couple times? Fess up. I'm sick of fairies and ready for a little swashbuckling.

Pleeeeaaasse?

Steve Hulett said...

No pirates from Disney Toons.

That's down in Disney TVA. And they haven't announced THAT yet, either, to my knowledge.

Anonymous said...

I've seen clips of this and while it's rendered well, the idea of fairies helping the plants and the little baby birdies and junk is sooooooooooooo cliche. Tinkerbell needs a new agent.

Animated Response said...

Hey Steve,

Wait, I thought I remember you saying something about DisneyToons were making something for boys the way that Tinker Bell was for girls. A few months back. Was that a different project than the pirates one?

I think it was the one you said that you got a look at and thought the company would make bucket loads of cash from it. Remember that one? Is that the same project?

Steve Hulett said...

DisneyToons were making something for boys the way that Tinker Bell was for girls. A few months back. Was that a different project than the pirates one?

Yes.

I think it was the one you said that you got a look at and thought the company would make bucket loads of cash from it. Remember that one? Is that the same project?

No.

Nothing to do with pirates.

The Big Mouse hasn't announced the projects to which I'm alluding (so far as I know.)

Hannah Barbontana said...

Come on Steve,

Just between friends. Tell us what it is. Please?

You big tease, you!

Actually, I'm looking forward to seeing what DisneyToons is doing. Do you have any idea as to when they'll announce it? This year, next year? Or at least how far down the pipeline it is?

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