Friday, July 30, 2010

Visit to Bento Box

A quick trip to Bento Box (a new signatory studio in Burbank) brought this from a story artist.

"The Bob's Burger panel at Comic-Con went real well. The room was full, and when we ran part of the pilot, the laughs were constant ..."

Meaning there was a lot of yuks in the hall. The artists working on the series think upcoming episodes are funny, a good sign. There are people who don't like the look of it, but my view is: If the comedy works, it plays on Fox. (Anybody think The Simpsons or Family Guy are designed in the high falutin' Disney manner? I think not. Has this hurt their ratings? Don't think so.)

Another staffer informed me that studio management is pitching the studio to Fox and other fine conglomerates as a production facility. The thinking is they will land some upcoming series. I'm guessing we'll find out soon enough ...

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Steve,

Is one of the new Disney films King of the Elves? Directed by Chris Williams???

I just saw this over at Blue Sky Disney.

If true, the Elves are ALIVE! Yes!!!

Anonymous said...

"Elves" is sitting on the shelf now.

Anonymonkey said...

Not anymore it ain't. The article is true. Williams is now in charge of the project.

Hannah Barbontana said...

What's that about Ron and John are the ones doing the new hand drawn film? What is it with Disney, does none of their young talent want to do hand drawn? Do they have to rely on these guys for all their 2D work?

Too bad about Chris Buck's project. It sounded good. At least the article talks about them ramping up development which means more jobs, hopefully.

Anonymous said...

If Elves is still on, may I suggest that the Disney creatives and artists visit Mississippi to get ideas on actual trees and plant life that exist there now...like KUDZU...and not something from the Amazon or Wonderland. Just a suggestion....

Anonymous said...

I wonder what the Dean Wellins project is? That one there wasn't as much detail except that it's CG.

Steve Hulett said...

Yes, now that Blue Sky has broken it, I will confirm that Elves is back in development. I've talked to artists working on it.

See? I do occasionally cough a tid bit up. It just has to see the light of day someplace else first.

Anonymous said...

@Steve Hulett: Could you please tell us whether "The King of the Elves" is now being developed as a CGI flick or a 2D one?

King Louie said...

It's a CG flick. Read the article before you ask questions it answers.

Anonymous said...

So sorry to bother you King Louie

King Louie said...

No bother, but I'm not trying to be rude, please don't try and be lazy. What does it take, a click?

Why ask questions about the article when you can actually read the article? Hmmm?

Anonymous said...

There was no link to the article, and I've never heard of Bluesky Disney. Plus, these comments are off topic anyway. So shoot me. Whatever.

Anonymous said...

Never heard of Google, I take it?

http://blueskydisney.blogspot.com/2010/07/rebirth-to-rebirth-2.html

Lazy, sigh.

Anonymous said...

Why the hell is this conversation taking place here instead of a post about...Disney?! Don't the fanboys get enough Disney news in the ten thousand posts that are made about the place?

As for Bento...hope they have the capabilities to house enough people for a full-on series...it's a small building in Burbank.

Steve Hulett said...

I go with the flow ...

Open Forum Friday, after all.

Hugh Hogwarts said...

What about the other movies that Blue Sky mentioned, Steve?

Is that hand-drawn animated film you were mentioning being done by Ron and John?

Anonymous said...

Do you know if Neighbors From Hell is getting picked up for a second season?

Anonymous said...

King of the Elves + Chris Williams = amazing!!!!!!!

I cannot wait for this.

Anonymous said...

Seems like King Louie demands his subjects to work: First click, then Google...what next? Read throroughly?

Sammy's Got Shades said...

I noticed the article said there is another Lanny and Wayne short. Is this an actual short or another tv special? Steve???

Arthur Decoailis said...

I think someone from the Hat Building called Steve and told him to SHUDDAUP!!!

Anonymous said...

All the above comments about Bento Box are very thought provoking.

Steve Hulett said...

I know which director is developing the next hand-drawn property, I know the property's name and subject matter, and

I'm keeping my mouth shut until somebody else gives the game away.

Nobody has phoned me. No severed horse heads have appeared on my pillow. (Happy now?)

Anonymous said...

Bento Box is boring.

Disney is interesting.

Sorry.

Urban Legend said...

Agreed. Especially hearing that KOTE is alive and moving forward.

What say the artist about the new take on the story, Steve?

Anonymous said...

We love it. It's in very capable hands.

Anonymous said...

Re: "Bento Box is boring." Agreed. They probably won't be around much longer. it's just funny that there are 26 comments about Disney in the Bento Box column. It's all good.

Luv Luv

Assumptioneer said...

Well, at least all the projects that were in that Blue Sky Disney post sound good. Much better than dragging out Princesses again. I wish Ed and John luck. Who knows, maybe someday I'll be able to go back over there and not fear getting let go.

Anonymous said...

"Ed and John" don't need any more luck. It's the employees of WDFA that need it. Along with a lot more leash from Ed and John.

Anonymous said...

We'll get more leash if Tangled is a hit. If it flops (I doubt it will) you can get very used to the leash...

My prediction is 40 mil opening weekend, good legs, and a 180mil domestic run. 400 mil worldwide.

Anonymous said...

"My prediction is 40 mil opening weekend, good legs, and a 180mil domestic run. 400 mil worldwide"

So you're hoping it just barely breaks even?

All kidding aside I happen to agree with a suggestion made on another topic that Tangled being successful is a double edged sword for DFA. It'll prove tht a princess/fairytale can be a hit again - IF done in CG - and will help nail the 2D coffin closed.

Of course, if it flops it won't be of much help either.

And why are they still letting John and Ron develop anything? Isn't 3 flops in a row enough...?

Conscientious Objector said...

"And why are they still letting John and Ron develop anything? Isn't 3 flops in a row enough...?"

You're kidding right? These guys provide the most consistent revenue stream Disney has.

And as for 3 flops in a row? The first film under their tenur was Bolt, the second was Frog. Can you count? And neither film has been a flop, they've been disappointments because of not making enough.

Meet the Robinsons wasn't theirs, although Lasseter had a hand in the final stages when it was about seventy-five percent done.

From all I've heard, Tangled is quite good and Pooh, actually is well developed and entertaining. What WDAS is doing now, if far better than a decade ago when the management was all out hostile to the artists.

Anonymous said...

Conscientious Objector:

You're confusing "Ron and John" with "John and Ed."

Anonymous said...

As a side note, if you look at the actual production of Tangled alone and not Rapunzel, it came in on time and under budget.

Anonymous said...

- As a side note, if you look at the actual production of Tangled alone and not Rapunzel, it came in on time and under budget.


Hard to applaud that when so much time and money was wasted.

Anonymous said...

Well, assuming that the above did mean John and Ron then they did have 3 flops in a row: Hercules, Treasure Planet and Frog.

Now you could argue that John and Ed have had quite few flops at Disney too. Unless you want to excuse everything that's been done until now there with some "that was in production before they came along" excuse

Anonymous said...

Quite a few???

They've done TWO movies since being there and the third will be out this November.

And I don't blame them for the projects greenlit by the former leaders of WDFA. They were glittering jewels of ignorance and showed it.

Anonymous said...

Is Bento Box producing "Tangled?"

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