A question that pops up among people I meet:
"So if Disney wants to resuscitate hand-drawn features, why are they doing another Winnie the Pooh project?..."
That's an easy one.
As I've mentioned before, Disney Merchandising really, really wants a new Pooh feature to goose Winnie merchandise and DVD sales. Diz Co. (according to my corporate spies and stoolies) sells a lot of the old WtP theatrical product but very little of the teevee versions. So the House of Mouse wants a new feature to grease the sales pipeline.
(And Mr. Lasseter, I'm informed, thought new big-screen adventures for the A. A. Milne characters was a good idea.)
But the Wise Old Movie Producer gave me the best explanation of why Disney is making a new epic about the 100-Acre Wood.
"You don't get it, Steve. It's all about selling stuff. People think Cars wasn't so hot? The worst Pixar movie? Well, screw that. It sold jillions of toy cars. The studios want to make money, they don't give a sh*t how they do it.
"So what if Walt Disney Animation Studio is turning into Filmation? The features are there to move merchandise. The Princess and the Frog is moving lots of Princess dolls. Even if it doesn't sell a lot of movie tickets, there's always the toys.
"Disney Merchandising should pay for the new Winnie the Pooh feature. They're the ones who'll be making most of the money from this picture ..."
The Wise Old Movie Producer. A classical cynic.
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10 comments:
DId anyone else notice the BEVY of Consumer Products credits on Princess and the Frog? That's what's driving this boat. I expect their credits to rise to near the top very shortly.
Nothing wrong with a good toy to SUPPORT a movie. But Disney very rarely makes good toys for their movies, so what gives?
How sad.
I loved the first 2 Pooh movies, but pretty much hate all the rest of the glut. Tigger, so charming in "The Blustery Day", is the most annoying. If the new Pooh movie has the charm of the first two, and if Disney doesn't get lazy with generic charmless animation, as it did with PatF, then the new Pooh film will be a true revival. But I doubt that'll happen. Have you ever seen the cheap lame-ass Pooh ride at Walt Disney World? And then seen the Hunny Hunt ride at Tokyo Disneyland? My god, talk about night and day. The difference is that the suits decided that we Americans are suckers, are Pooh-mad, so why put any "plussing" in a Stateside ride? Whereas the Tokyo engineers put some quality and effort into THEIR ride. Suffice it to say,Disney will cut corners any way it can, and I'll bet it'll go the cheap route with the new Pooh feature.
Like it or not, merchandise is ALWAYS a part of the equation in animation. It is never not a factor. When a studio spends, they demand return, and it never matters from where. If they don't get it in box office, or with vault-like status, they will get it some other way. They own the material forever, and you can guarantee that the material will find its way into the marketplace somehow, someday. That's just how a sausage factory works.
PATF will make them a tidy sum over the long haul, no problem. Their bets are all hedged. They're a corporation, and the house always wins.
"Their bets are all hedged. They're a corporation, and the house always wins."
The House always wins, but the divsions often lose. That's unfortunately what's happening there.
I'll be curious to see how they convey the marketing message that "this isn't like those umpteen Disneytoons Pooh movies that nobody went to see." Should be interesting.
Well, as I read somewhere before these Movies are nothing but very long commercials to sell the toys. Apparently it's very true though.
Can't believe how sad this is. It's almost embarrasing to work in this business.
So, why then should one care about the story at all? Just take some stupid idea and turn it into an animated movie, put some silly songs in it, add a lot of bright and shiny colors and that should sell the toys, shouldn't it?!
I think Walt or any of the old guys would probably be turnig in their graves if they knew how boring animation has become.
Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against selling those toys. But making an animated movie that takes so much time and work mainly to sell toys is just pathetic.
Well, as I read somewhere before these Movies are nothing but very long commercials to sell the toys. Apparently it's very true though.
Apparently Disney didnt get the memo for Bolt merchandising...
Disney keeps spiraling down into oblivion...
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_So, why then should one care about the story at all? Just take some stupid idea and turn it into an animated movie, put some silly songs in it, add a lot of bright and shiny colors and that should sell the toys, shouldn't it?!
Well, that describes every single animated movie I've ever worked on in town. Must be true.
Would it ever occur to anyone here that after years of degrading the original Pooh films with cheaper versions, the studio decided to return to what worked and make a quality production? That's what the artists making it have in mind. And does this "Wise Old Movie Producer" even have a relevant connection to the studio? Solid reporting Hulett.
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