Friday, August 06, 2010

Mouse Development

Earlier today, while I was out goggling at the historic landmarks of old Philadelphia, the intertubes coughed up the identities of the directors of Disney's next hand-drawn animation.

... [T]wo more projects have been given the development go-ahead: one CGI, and one hand-drawn. The hand-drawn one is based on a pitch by Ron Clements and Jon Musker (directors of The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, Treasure Planet and The Princess and the Frog). Honor has this to say about it:

And while details are slim, this project is being described as unlike any project that these two directors have done before and takes Disney into territory it hasn’t really explored. This will be no princess movie.

We'll see how long it takes Blue Sky Disney, Filmonic or some other fanboy sites to come up with the subject and title ....

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

And while details are slim, this project is being described as unlike any project that these two directors have done before and takes Disney into territory it hasn’t really explored. This will be no princess movie.

Pumping up the "Don't be afraid if it's different!" angle ahead of time?
Sure sounds like Scaredy Cat to me.

Anonymous said...

Its not Scaredy Cat.

Its a name and idea no one outside the animation building knows. Its nowhere on the internet. Its being closely guarded.

And its pretty cool.

Hugh Hogwarts said...

Um, Steve...

All that information about Ron and John was in the original Blue Sky Disney article last week that mentioned Elves was being directed by Williams.

Nathan Birnbaum said...

Something unlike anything Disney has done before?

Nudity and an R rating perhaps?

Anonymous said...

Disney's done nudity and and R rating. Just not in the animation department (well, the R part, anyway).

Animated Response said...

I hope that it's something that will have an edge to it. I know they say it's different, but I don't know exactly how different they mean. I mean, it could be a fairy tale told from the point of view of the villain, to which I'd say, eh. I hope it has nothing to do with fantasy.

Perhaps an epic science fiction film? Or a horror story?

Steve Hulett said...

Um, Steve...

All that information about Ron and John was in the original Blue Sky Disney article last week that mentioned Elves was being directed by Williams.


Sure. But I've been sort of out of the loop in a hotel room.

But yeah, the new hand-drawn feature could be a whole different thing, since the source material IS different.

But people outside the Hat Building do know what it is. Because I'm way outside the building, in Philly. And I've been informed.

Sheriff Woody said...

Yeah, but that is because you have been in the building.

;P

meg said...

I only hope it will be a movie with an hero and an heroine and also a villain and it will be with human characters, not animals! Not a princess movie but a movie with human characters... Ron and John are great to do movie with human characters, the great mistake for Princess and the Frog was that Tiana is frog for the most of the movie... so I hope next movie will be different...

Urban Legend said...

How about we all take a stab at figuring out what the SOURCE material is?

Book?

Film?

Myth?

Newspaper article?

What's your guess since it's supposed to be soooo different from what WDAS has done before?

Anonymous said...

Here's a better idea:

Let's let this be until it's ready to announce.

Anonymous said...

I'm all for an animal film - as long as it's as good as The Lion King, probably the best of the Silver Age films. But a story as good as that doesn't come along every day.

So hmmm...whatever could this new film be about?

An animated version of the book A Wrinkle In Time?

Or an animated version of one of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels?

Or here's an idea: a movie based on Scott McCloud's classic independent comic "Zot!" That would be AWESOME. That comic NEEDS to be put on the big screen. It has all the right elements for a successful adventure film for all ages. It's hard to describe, but to me it has well-blended flavorings of The Wizard of Oz, The Rocketeer, The Absent-Minded Professor, Back To The Future, and Tomorrowland. If Disney hasn't optioned it yet for a film, it should. It's a natural.

Hmm...how about a full-length movie starring...brace yourselves...hang onto your hats...MICKEY MOUSE. Not just Mickey Mouse, but Mickey in his best incarnation: as the button-eyed, playful, lovable, mischievous little scrapper he was, well, not in the beginning (he was a real jerk in Steamboat Willie), but as the iconic heroic Everymouse he became a little later. Man I would SO go to a movie like that. Especially if it were even a little bit like Runaway Brain...

Anonymous said...

"takes Disney into territory it hasn’t really explored."


We'll see.

Um, remember this is Disney we're talking about here folks, so don't get your hopes up for too much of a radical departure . (so, no , it won't be anything like "An animated version of the book A Wrinkle In Time? Or an animated version of one of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels? Or a movie based on Scott McCloud's classic independent comic "Zot!" )

When the Mouse House talks about "exploring new territory" it's probably thinking in terms of something like : "hey I know: Let's do Treasure Island ... but IN SPACE ! That's different. ('cause it's set in SPACE , see ?")

Anonymous said...

An example of new territory for Disney would happen to be Japan:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintar%C5%8D

The Japanese folktale of Kintaro seems to have a happy ending, so I guess Disney may be adapting this.

Anonymous said...

Chris Williams directing again?!
Let’s wait for a new "Toy Story + Inspector Gadget" plagiarism, and horrible "Dumbo-train" songs.

Anonymous said...

You said:

"Sure. But I've been sort of out of the loop in a hotel room."

When have you been "in" the loop. Great posting with so much insight. What exactly do you do?

Anonymous said...

Hey, be nice. Steve has a real job helping animators, this is a nice service he provides on the side. No need to be snarky.

Anonymous said...

I bet this is the film that's "exploring new territory":http://www.who.is/whois/collegepartymonster.org/

The jig is up!

Puzzled said...

What is a college party monster? This sounds like a bad fraternity movie?

Puzzled said...

What is a college party monster? This sounds like a bad fraternity movie?

Anonymous said...
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