Thursday, May 13, 2010

Three Dee Diz

Visiting the hat building this morning, I got a taste of fresh Disney product ...

The flat-screen monitors in the lobby hallway have a big chunk of unfinished animation (and by unfinished, I mean that there's no lighting,texturing, or finaling.) Upstairs an animator said:

"We're working fifty-hour weeks, but it'd be nice to know what we're doing next.

"I think the picture is pretty good. It's a lot like a Broadway musical, like the features from the early nineties. Songs are good ..."

I have no idea about the overall quality of the feature, but from the finaled shots I've seen on first-floor computer screens, the art direction is gorgeous.

Downstairs in the big, first-floor theater, Diz Co. was showing the 3-D version Beauty and the Beast to employees. I snuck in the back with polarized glasses and stood against a wall taking it in.

The Three Dee works like gangbusters. Subtle, compelling, it doesn't look like some kind of cheesy add-on technology at all. (Hand-drawn dimensional features can be effective.) The entire picture is done, but won't be released until 2011.

16 comments:

Sotiris said...

I've heard Disney is doing a CGI movie called "Reboot Ralph" slated for 2013. Is this the reworked "Joe Jump" or something completely new?

Anonymous said...

Any word on when the re-release of Beauty and the Beast will be? I heard spring, but with Winnie The Pooh now being released in the spring will it be bumped back again?

Anonymous said...

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118019322.html?categoryid=1050&cs=1

Reboot Ralph info

Floyd Norman said...

I'll admit I was impressed by the 3D "Beauty and the Beast."

Having said that, I'm still lukewarm to the 3D onslaught currently going down in the movie community. I'd rather make good movies, but naturally, Hollywood wants a short cut to big bucks.

Anonymous said...

So according to that Variety article, Pooh is slated to go head-to-head against the latest Harry Potter?

And we all know that Tangled is going against the latest Twilight...

Why are they doing this? What's the reasoning behind it?

Anonymous said...

Tangled is going up against Harry Potter, not Twilight

Sotiris said...

"Why are they doing this? What's the reasoning behind it?"

To claim WDAS as unprofitable and shut it down.

Salvador said...

"To declare WDAS as unprofitable and shut it down"

Is this even a remote possibility?

Anonymous said...

I certainly hope not. I just don't see how even the most asinine executive would have the guts, or the heart, to want to do that.

I know it's not the most impressive studio at the moment... but to ever have it shut down would definitely be a bummer.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps they will merge the studio with Pixar...

Anonymous said...

I believe Disney has lost their minds. no faith in their animated films anymore.

Anonymous said...

It's the myth of kids-vs.-blockbuster Counterprogramming, to create a "variety" of "competition"--Dear gods, why do studios still believe in that ancient superstition of their ancestors??

(Y'see, it was important to have a Disney film in December because kids just wouldn't go to see an action film like Avatar...Nah, they'd never dare go within a hundred miles of it!)

Anonymous said...

If they shut disney animation down and move it to Pixar then bye bye union benefits for al those people who will move up north. Does Pixar have a pension plan? Would Dreamworks be the only real feature game left in in town? At least people always seem to be employed and happy over their. Right?

Anonymous said...

All it takes is one film to hit to get them back on track.

Personally, from what Ive seen of Tangled, that could very well be the film.

Anonymous said...

It doesn't really matter if Tangled turns out to be a good film. What matters is the box office earnings.

And being released between MegaMind and the latest Harry Potter movie will definately crush any of its box office potental.

I don't wanna be a pessimist but I speculate we'll be having another Princess and the Frog situation.

But of course, Disney won't blame the release date or the marketing stategies but the fairytale musical genre.~sigh~

When will they learn?

Anonymous said...

Scaling down is not a bad idea if it would allow the leadership to focus on one successful film at a time. Maybe that is where it lands. it would be a real shame to see them move it all north but they have done some major animation decisions with their studios in the past.

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