The start of the week, word reached us that there was some ground-shifting at Disney Toon Studios in Glendale, so I motored over to check it out ....
And it seems the rumors reaching us were true: The curtain seems to be coming down on Tinker Bell franchise.
"They told us the middle of last week that they won't be making Tinker Bells #7 & #8. It came out of the blue, really. We were working on #7, and production told us it was being shut down. The manager I talked to said sales of DVDs had slowed down and the merchandise wasn't selling as strongly as they wanted. ...
"The company's giving us two and a half more weeks, and lots of people have taken the time off since there's nothing to work on. After that, they're going to make some final decisions about staff and what happens to everyone. ... It's crappy, but that's the way it goes in the animation business. Nothing goes on forever." ...
Tinker Bell #6, still in work, will be completed. The staff now working on Planes is unaffected, but it looks like a lot of the Tink crew won't be kept on.
Add On: A Disney staffer told me this morning (October 18th) that Planes 3 is back in story work. So I guess there is a lot of analysis, reflection and revamping going on at Diz Toon Studios.
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6 comments:
So will the studio only focus on talking vehicle movies from now on or will they start a new spin-off series to replace the Tinkerbell one?
That's unfortunate. The Tinker Bell films were pretty decent.
Are they still planning on making more Tinker Bell shorts and TV specials?
For the moment, they're still working on Tink shorts. But nobody knows how long that will last. Don't know about TV product.
I asked about other franchises in development. (They might be tucked away somewhere, but I haven't seen any.) Nobody I talked to is aware of anything. I observed that it would be a swift idea to have other projects in work, but an artist said to me:
"That's not what Disney Toon Studios is about. We do series franchises. Tinker bell was one of the franchises."
I still think it's a good idea to be developing other feature ideas, even if Disney Toons assignment is doing cheaper spin-offs. But who knows if they will? Is doing Planes 3,4, and 5 enough?
I read somewhere that the new Tinkerbell movie "The Pirate Fairy" is doing pretty well.
Tinkerbell series are way better than the movie 'Planes'. I really hope that after "The Pirate Fairy", Disney Toon Studios would reconsider its decision. The ratings of "The Pirate Fairy" in IMDB is also way better than "Planes". It would really be a pity to watch Tinkerbell's series go away.
I love the Tinker Bell movies. It's a humongous shame they're not going to go on. They just got started. It's so funny and great! They are so much better than the Plane movies. Besides, Planes is popular probably because it's the following of Cars. And Cars wasn't the greatest. Tinker Bell is the one that should be continuing. They're so fun to watch and plus, The Pirate Fairy just went up in ratings, so it shouldn't close yet! I would hate for the Tinker Bell series to just disappear just after they've come into our lives. So much better than most movies I've seen. I can re-watch them over and over and still have the same laugh. I'd say they're even better than some Disney Princess movies. Just saying, Tinker Bell series should not go away. Not yet at least. Give it more of a chance to rise up.
No way!!!! Tinker bell is the Icon and the Soul of Walt Disney company.
It just can't go away just like that. Yes Tinker bell is a lot better than planes. And about the latest movie that was Tinker Bell and the pirate fairy: it truly is better than planes and plus the new movie Tinker bell and the Legend of the Never beast. I think it will win an oscar. As for the conclusion: Disney Toon studios will somehow get out from the hole. I belive in them.
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