The Making Of ...

... (and selling of) the next big-budget animated feature Zootopia.

... “With the sloth scene, we spent a long time editing it. When we got it to our animators”—here [co-director Byron] Howard finishes [co-director Rich] Moore’s sentence—

“They made it longer. They came back to us and were like, ‘No, it’s not nearly long enough.’” Moore: “‘No, we need more time; to really milk it; we need more time.’” Howard: “We started to freak out a little bit. Especially that scene where—“

Here, Howard rather ably imitates the sloth slowly beginning to smile at the punch line to Nick’s joke. “Darrin [Butters], the guy who animated it, kept coming back and kept adding footage, adding footage, and it became so long.”

Howard: “We call it ‘the animation creep.’ The timing of it was so great, and much longer than we had planned for, but we kind of knew something magic had happened.” Moore: “It’s damn near immaculate; it’s almost scientific. There’s a point where timing comedy goes from artistic to science! A frame can make or break a laugh.”...

Thus far, Zootopia has received solid reviews and a strong launch overseas, but big entertainment conglomerates can't rest on their laurels. ESPN isn't the powerhouse it used to be, so the selling of other parts of the empire has to continue unabated.

Star Wars is so ... December and January. Zootopia springs on us March 4th.