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Steve Augeri | Former Lead Vocalist of Journey | Epcot Garden Rocks | 2023 | Walt Disney World

[disneytva]

Variety Interviews Ayo Davis, Meredith Roberts And Emily Hart On Disney Television Animation's 40th Anniversary And What To Expect On From The Past, Present And Future

40 years ago, Disney TVA was founded on the heels of challenging outcomes with features “The Fox and the Hound” and “The Black Cauldron.”

Initially, Disney TVA was restricted from using established Disney legacy characters, but nevertheless had huge successes with new shows like “The Wuzzles” and “Adventures of the Gummi Bears,” both of which became popular in syndication. As time went on, DTVA was able to use its limited rights to create shows like “DuckTales” and “TaleSpin,” which featured Disney characters. Today, the slate has evolved to include shows that travel across Disney’s streaming, linear and digital platforms, including Disney+, Disney Channel, Disney Junior and the Disney Parks

Over the 40 years of the studio has collaborated with Walt Disney Imagineering to bring beloved Disney Afternoon characters to the parks as well Mickey And Minnie's Runaway Railway and AquaMouse for the Disney Wish and Disney Treasure cruises from the Disney Cruise & Ships Line as well collaborating with Disney Yellow Two Shoes Team to redesing some heritage characters for the WDW Passholder Magnets.

Disney TVA characters also have gone to the realm of live action. In 2019 Disney Channel brought Kim Possible to the live action world as a Disney Channel Original Movie in 2019. In Spring 2022, Walt Disney Studios brought Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers to a new generation of fans trought a meta-driven live action/animated hybrid film which won an Primetime Emmy Award for Best Feature Film.

In April 2024, it was announced that Kiara from The Lion King II: Simba's Pride created at Disney TVA will make her live action debut on the motion capture/computer animated film "Mufasa The Lion King" with the character being voiced by Blue Ivy Carter. In Fall 2023, it was announced that Blumhouse Television and Atomic Monster where developing a live action reboot of Gargoyles for Disney+.

The future of the studio looks bright as the studio is slated to debut it's 100th show overall "StuGo" in 2025, as well new interations of beloved classics like The Proud Family, Phineas And Ferb, Sofia The First and Darkwing Duck trought revivals,reboots and spin-offs in the coming years with early talks of new interations of TaleSpin, Kim Possible and Recess since Early 2023.

“We have a wildly diverse development slate because we don’t have a house style,” says Meredith Roberts, executive vice president, television animation, Disney Branded Television and CEO of Disney Television Animation “Our styles are creator-driven, so that allows for real support of the artist or creator to fulfill his or her vision. Anything is possible, whether it's CGI. (“Monsters at Work”), hand-drawn 2D (“Big City Greens”,"Primos","Hailey's On It!"), rig-based 2D (“Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur”,"Kiff") and stop-motion (“Mickey Saves Christmas”,"Rhona Who Lives By The River".). Roberts continues, “We really try and solve all the problems and develop it. We look at the scripts and the story arcs. Every project has to have a strategy behind it that will complement the slate and separate it from other things. Each project has a distinct swim lane to attract an audience. And we’ve learned to meet the kids where they are, in terms of streaming and YouTube.”

Co-viewing, the viewership that happens when adults sit down to watch a DTVA show with the kids in their lives, is part of the studio’s secret sauce and long-term strategy. Many of the shows are written with jokes and plot points for both audiences so both groups will return.

“We double down on the kids and family space,” says Roberts. “We’re not just dipping a toe in the water. We’re diving in. I think we’ve seen a lot of churn with the competition, who just don’t have the patience to develop and are for this audience, which is a very specialized kid audience and co-view audience.” ("The Witchverse", "Rhona Who Lives By The River","InterCats","Fantasy Sports") Roberts reflects: “I think one of the things I’m most proud of is how stable Disney TVA has been for the last 40 years despite a lot of outside churn of the animation industry. Many of our crews feel that Disney is their forever home. I think the excitement they have to illustrate and create with this brand has been terrific because it’s harder to be funny and clean. And nowhere are we tearing down people to get that laugh. I think that’s the beauty of a Disney animated show.”

DTVA also sought to meet kids where they are by making their audience — which is made up of the most diverse generation in history — feel seen, with series such as “Elena of Avalor,” which featured Disney’s first Latina princess, and “The Proud Family,” franchise focused on the life of a teenage Black girl.

“We do have an amazing insights team that are constantly in the field, giving us general information about how kids are watching content, what they’re into,” Emily Hart (VP of Current and Development - Disney Junior) says. “Some of those things are evolving, as we know the ways kids consume content is changing. But there are some universal truths about kids, and it’s great to have that reinforced. Kids still like a lot of the same things that we like. So, there’s a combination that we’re always tracking with every new idea, and we do pilot testing. We get to sit down and talk about the content, and we invite our creators in so they can see the kids talking about it because they’re the audience and they’re the truest test of if the story is going to work.”

Ayo Davis, president of the Disney Branded Television and VP of Current and Development at Disney Television Animation says the division is a “driving force” for memorable kids and family entertainment.

“All of us at Disney Branded Television are so proud of the studio’s 40-year legacy as it continues to entertain future generations with shows like ‘Kiff,’ ‘Big City Greens’ and ‘Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 2.0" --- Davis says.

Those creators who come to DTVA often stay for a long time, partnering with the studio on a variety of different projects or expanding on a hit and reimagining it for the next generation of viewers. “The Proud Family” was a standout in 2001 on Disney Channel. Creator and executive producer Bruce W. Smith is now working on the Emmy-winning “The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder,” which is based on the original series. The show follows Penny Proud as she navigates family life and her own childhood.

“Being at Disney TVA has allowed me to realize all my artistic dreams,” says Bruce W. Smith. “As a kid, you always have hopes, thoughts, dreams, ideas and characters that can help lay out those ideas in your head. Disney has allowed me to really tap into my creative instinct, at the end of the day, you have to learn how to trust yourself. Meredith Roberts has been a true shepherd for me in all of this, allowing me to stretch my wings. Because of her belief in me and my ideas, she’s really allowed me to blossom as an artist. All that happened at DTVA.”

“They really seem to be a place that welcomes your ideas,” Dan Povenmire says of Disney TVA. “They want to find people with real strong ideas of the stories they want to tell, and then they let them tell those stories for the most part. They seem to put storytelling and characters over anything. With [‘Phineas and Ferb’], we would write jokes for the kids and the adults in the room because we knew the adults would be there too. We were just careful not to do any double entendres.”

[corndogsonmainst]

Ron On The Go is our new favorite livestreamer. His camera work is brilliant, he streams for long stretches, and his enthusiasm is infectious👑

[rebeccalouisaferguson]

The Saturns, which honor the best in genre entertainment across film and television, are organized by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror. Winners will be announced February 4, 2024 in a ceremony at the LA Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel and will stream live on ElectricNow.

Best Action / Adventure Film

Bullet Train (Sony Pictures) The Equalizer 3 (Sony Pictures) Fast X (Universal Pictures) John Wick: Chapter 4 (Lionsgate Films) Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Paramount Pictures) The Woman King (TriStar Pictures)

Best Film Screenwriting

Avatar: The Way of Water, James Cameron and Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (Walt Disney/Lightstorm) Barbie, Noah Baumbach & Greta Gerwig (Warner Bros. Pictures) The Menu, Seth Reiss & Will Tracy (Searchlight Films) Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Erik Jendresen & Christopher McQuarrie (Paramount Pictures) Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan (Universal Pictures) Pearl, Ti West & Mia Goth (A24)

Best Film Editing

Avatar: The Way of Water, Stephen Rivkin, David Brenner, John Refoua, James Cameron (Walt Disney/Lightstorm) Fast X, Dylan Highsmith, Kelly Matsumoto, Corbin Mehl, Laura Yanovich (Universal Pictures) Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Andrew Buckland, Michael McCusker, Dirk Westervelt (Lucasfilm/Paramount/Disney) John Wick: Chapter 4, Nathan Orloff (Lionsgate Films) Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Eddie Hamilton (Paramount Pictures) Oppenheimer, Jennifer Lane (Universal Pictures)

Best Film Visual / Special Effects

Avatar: The Way of Water, Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, Daniel Barrett (Walt Disney/Lightstorm) The Creator, Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts, Neil Corbould (20th Century Studios) Guardians of the Galaxy-Vol. 3, Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams, Dan Sudick (Marvel/Walt Disney Studios) Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Andrew Whitehurst, Kathy Siegel, Robert Weaver, Alistair Williams (Lucasfilm/Paramount/Disney) Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Alex Wuttke, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland, Neil Corbould (Paramount Pictures) Oppenheimer, Andrew Jackson, Giacomo Mineo, Scott Fisher, Dave Drzewiecki (Universal Pictures)

Best Science Fiction Television Series

Andor (Lucasfilm/Disney+) Foundation (Apple TV+) The Mandalorian (Lucasfilm/Disney+) The Peripheral (Amazon) Silo (Apple TV+) Star Trek: Picard (Paramount+/CBS) Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+/CBS)

Best New Genre Television Series

Andor (Lucasfilm/Disney+) The Ark (Electric Entertainment/Syfy) The Last of Us (HBO/Max) Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power (Amazon) Silo (Apple TV+) The Walking Dead: Dead City (AMC) Wednesday (Netflix)

Best Actress in a Television Series

Caitriona Balfe, Outlander (Starz) Lauren Cohan, The Walking Dead: Dead City (AMC) Emma D’Arcy, House of the Dragon (HBO/Max) Rebecca Ferguson, Silo (Apple TV+) Tatiana Maslany, She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law (Marvel/Disney+) Rose McIver, Ghosts (CBS) Elizabeth Tulloch, Superman & Lois (Warner Bros. Television)

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Looooong post incoming...

THE INCREDIBLES and INCREDIBLES 2 have been on my mind, lately.

Writer-director Brad Bird’s 2004 superhero movie, done up at Pixar in the days they weren’t owned by The Walt Disney Company, was like a formative film for me. Like STAR WARS was for many kids growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s, THE INCREDIBLES was probably that for 12-year-old me, among a couple other movies. (That same year, I was also blown away by SPIDER-MAN 2 and… Umm… I, ROBOT?)

And I’m one of the few weirdos that really, really dug the contested sequel. Well, contested by people online. It did get good critical reception and got an Oscar nom, made a truck ton at the box office, but it’s one of those weird “big” movies that came out, made tons and tons of money, but I hear few talk about it to this day. I feel some other recent Pixar sequels fit that bill as well, like FINDING DORY and TOY STORY 4. These absolutely massive movies that people raced to see, because they love the originals and the characters in them so much, but then seemingly… Forgot about? I think it has a lot to do with just how much stuff comes out now, that it kinda all gets lost in the shuffle. They don’t stick the way TOY STORY 3 did back in 2010, before we got so inundated with lots and lots of stuff oozing out of every pore: TV, streaming, other movies, podcasts, more streaming, etc. etc. Plus, there's that special sauce with the originals that tends to make them hit different than the sequels, no matter how good the sequels may be...

But no matter, I loved INCREDIBLES 2 and still do, even if I think it falls a little bit short of the original. That was a hard act to follow, after all. I did go over some of the few things about the sequel that I thought could’ve been expanded a bit, a few months back… And I’m thinking about them again.

I think the main point of contention with INCREDIBLES 2 was the Screenslaver, and the whole twist being that he was a fictional character, a face that was created by a disgruntled telecommunications company exec who wanted to keep superheroes illegal.

I get it, in a way. Screenslaver looks cool, and that one action sequence with him in the strobe light cage with Elastigirl? I fuckin’ LOVE it. Such a dynamic, well-done action sequence. I guess it made people wish that both Bob and Helen, and the kids and Frozone and maybe those weirdo superheroes like Screech and Reflux, took this guy on. A slender, creepy mask-wearing mind control villain… It's what you expect in a superhero movie, the heroes fighting a rather weird bad guy!

And yet, in a way, I feel like Screenslaver being a mere face. A distraction. Makes INCREDIBLES 2 every bit as subversive as the original. Especially since INCREDIBLES 2 came out in 2018, which was literally a superhero/comic book movie-heavy year. Maybe the heaviest? You had AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, DEADPOOL 2, ANT-MAN AND THE WASP, TEEN TITANS GO! TO THE MOVIES, VENOM, SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE (!), am I missing anything? That year was S-T-A-C-K-E-D.

By contrast, in 2004, THE INCREDIBLES debuted opposite of SPIDER-MAN 2 and HELLBOY… And also BLADE: TRINITY, THE PUNISHER, and CATWOMAN… Much different times. Especially when it was greenlit by Pixar in the year 2000… What was happening in superhero movies that year? X-MEN had come out, and that was after a fairly successful BLADE movie… And years after BATMAN & ROBIN was lambasted and put the Batman movie format to rest for a good while. (Now it’s inescapable. Every few years, a new actor portrays Batman in live-action.)

THE INCREDIBLES stood out in 2004, I feel, not just because of the freedom animation allowed for the superhero concept (which put it above many of the live-action spectacles being made at the time), but also because it rung closer to a ‘60s spy movie than a typical beat-em-up extravaganza. It’s clearly set in a midcentury modern world, a stylized retro futuristic early ‘60s that is informed by the presence of superpowered beings. Or “Supers”, as this franchise has always called them. While there isn’t a wealth of material explaining how world events played out, it’s all implied and hinted at in both films.

By the mid-1960s, American animation had kinda been pigeonholed as an outlet for cheap, reliable kids’ entertainment on Saturday mornings. The closest thing to an American “spy” movie in the animated medium back then was, of all things, a FLINTSTONES movie: 1966’s THE MAN CALLED FLINTSTONE. THE INCREDIBLES almost feels like a lost animated movie made for a slightly older audience circa 1965, but dusted off decades later and done in CGI. That’s a Brad Bird staple. Born in 1957, he loves midcentury modern retrofutures, and just that setting in general. THE IRON GIANT is set in the late 1950s, he had a cancelled take on Will Eisner’s THE SPIRIT that was set around the time it was introduced, his long-gestating RAY GUNN has been described as a 1930s sci-fi noir retrofuture, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE is of course a ‘60s spy show and a series of feature films (Brad’s feels the most ‘60s out of the movies), TOMORROWLAND… Need I say more? Even RATATOUILLE, which doesn’t involve super heroics or gadgets or futuristic technology… It’s literally a movie about cooking! Even that movie has a retro vibe to it. It’s set in the then-present, but it’s timeless in its look and feel.

Anyways, THE INCREDIBLES plays as much James Bond as it does, say, Batman. You have the whole Nomanisan Island lair, close-quarters fights with armed men, Michael Giacchino’s score, it’s a just-right mix. The first INCREDIBLES has a rather conventional bad guy in Syndrome. An evil guy in an eye-catching suit, with all these various man-made powers, as opposed to other Supers’ natural-born powers. INCREDIBLES 2’s villain is merely an average woman, roughly in her 30s? 40s? She has no powers, she’s just a master manipulator, almost a filmmaker in that regard. I mean she’s an artist and a designer, that’s made perfectly clear the minute you see her, so it makes sense that she could pull off this elaborate show. Mysterio in SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME - which was released a year after INCREDIBLES 2 - needed drones and such to do that. That the Screenslaver is merely a brainwashed pizza delivery guy is part of her brilliance.

So, that’s what makes INCREDIBLES 2 stick out from the other superhero movies circa 2018. A year where the majority of the villains were clear-cut, like a big purple alien guy who wipes out half the universe… and here’s INCREDIBLES 2 with a very crafty woman who essentially puts on a big show. And that in the second half, it’s her and her use of mind control technology that are the big obstacle for the Supers. Not a creature or a conventional superhero bad guy. I think it works, honestly. Like, what’s a different kind of challenge? What if all the good guys got brainwashed, leaving a few… Namely the KIDS, to fend for themselves? That’s a very cool idea, honestly. But again, I get why detractors wanted the shadowy mind control guy instead. Part of me would love to see that version of INCREDIBLES 2, too, if it ever existed. According to interviews w/ the filmmakers, Screenslaver was a late addition to the plot. INCREDIBLES 2 was supposed to come out in summer 2019, but Disney had pushed it up a year, which apparently affected a lot of the decision-making. For some, it shows.

Maybe if INCREDIBLES 2 came out in 2008 instead of 2018, and had the same exact villain twist… In a world where other Disney Animation and Pixar movies with twist villains didn’t yet exist (i.e. Hans, Callaghan, Bellwether, Ernesto), it’d be received differently? I do not know. But that’s why it all works for me. I can tune out the succession of “twist villain” movies, and take INCREDIBLES 2 on its own merits.

In my previous piece on INCREDIBLES 2, I did kind of find fault with its rather rushed third act and how the film doesn’t really bite into the meatier political aspect it kind of teases. The whole idea of a society being dependent on superheroes, rather than getting up and helping pitch in to make the world a better place. (Not dissimilar to TOMORROWLAND’s message.) It’s really all just there to serve Evelyn’s character, which I’m totally fine with… It works in that context. But on the other hand, I feel like this could’ve gone further and explored the whole idea of superheroes being - to quote Jenny Nicholson in her review of JOKER - a “band-aid solution” to crime. And it being a PG-rated mass-market Disney release is no reason to keep me from speculating about this version of INCREDIBLES 2.

I get that Brad Bird probably just wanted to keep it simple and streamlined, and that the “who needs Supers anyways” idea is just a device for Evelyn, not there to make a larger statement. I do believe all art is political, even these movies, but how far the creators want to go with the politics is another story. Ultimately, Evelyn’s methods of getting her way are wrong, but she has points… What if a better society could be created that didn’t depend on superpowered beings having to clobber criminals or threats to save the day?

Clearly the world of THE INCREDIBLES needs superheroes, though, because you have things like mole men with massive drill-mobiles cutting through cities like they’re nothing. But I feel that in a world where we are hyperaware of the system’s flaws and how it’s mostly a failure by design and pretty much creates crime (I’m getting political here, heads up), INCREDIBLES 2 could’ve possibly said something about that. Instead of having superheroes, a stand in for the police when the police themselves or the military can’t handle the threat, what’s causing all the crime in New Urbem and Municiberg in the first place? What systemic inequalities are happening? How progressive is this world because of the presence of superheroes/cool tech? Why are there are robberies? What’s the poverty rate? Etc. etc.

And you may be thinking, this is just an animated family movie, it doesn’t have to be that deep… But I disagree. Plenty of family films, and good stories in general, don’t shy away from this kind of stuff. Art is not made in a vacuum. A lot of actual real-life kids LIVE these sorts of things, too.

But even PG-13 Marvel movies, probably because they’re released by Disney - and Disney tries to play moderate when it comes to political stuff (though they are still too far left for dinguses who yell “WOKE” at everything), don’t really go that far either.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR chips at whether there should be government regulation of superheroes or not, until it settles for being a story about two friends turning against each other over a family death… and then a few MCU movies later, none of that matters - the superheroes are ultimately needed to stop the big purple guy in space… THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER asks why, in a post-Blip world, a universe where half of all the living beings just ceased to be… Why are there still such inequalities on Earth, after Thanos’ snap and subsequent revival of everyone who was unalived? It’s all the catalyst for the Flagsmashers, and leader Karli herself. She was so nuanced as an antagonist, and you also had this ersatz Captain America guy who straight up murdered a person in cold blood. I was loving where it was all going, until a few episodes in, they just made Karli a straight-up murderer. All that nuance is flattened, and the final episode is just another big fight scene. Outside of Sam Wilson’s speech at the end, what really changed on MCU’s Earth? What did this Disney+ series have to say, really? Other than bringing up those very real problems we face in the U.S. and around the world?

I think INCREDIBLES 2 is just more interested in being about its characters first, which, again. Is fine. I don’t think less of the movie because of that. The first INCREDIBLES was about the family dynamic first and foremost, too, and not the spectacle. I don’t require Brad Bird to share all of his political views with me. I appreciate that the movie even posits the question to begin with, it’s ultimately why I’ve been thinking about it! Maybe Bird sees that world as simpler because it’s one where superheroes have been around since at least the turn of the 20th century, and things are different because of that.

This is probably why some people get a very Ayn Randian reading out of THE INCREDIBLES, when I think Bird’s conceit was merely “the villain is someone who uses technology to be a pretend-superhero”. It’s all there to inform Syndrome’s character, not necessarily to declare to the audience that people without powers CAN’T be superheroes. Syndrome kills several Supers so he can enact his plan and make everyone into Supers, because he’s big mad at Mr. Incredible, and that’s why he fails. He could’ve just grown up to make super technology to make other people super, not kill a bunch of them. Heck, if he had turned out better, he could’ve singlehandedly ended the outlawing of Supers… And not natural-born Supers… Imagine THAT movie…

The original movie, I feel, just doesn’t necessarily make a case for whether people born without superpowers can be Super. This dichotomy is just there to make the villain what he is, and hint at what he could’ve been instead of a villain. Sure, the Parr family and Frozone saving the day at the end upholds this apparent status quo, but I don’t think Bird was thinking about it like that. He had denied the Ayn Rand comparisons as far back as the release of the first movie.

The likelier reading of this film, and some of Bird’s other films such as RATATOUILLE and TOMORROWLAND, is informed by Bird’s career trajectory. He was mentored by Milt Kahl, of all people! One of the greatest animators, one of Walt’s Nine Old Men… He was mentored by him as a teenager! But most of Bird’s career, as noted by Mark Mayerson, was a long series of denied opportunities. His aforementioned SPIRIT movie didn’t take off in the ‘80s because who during that period - a time when SECRET OF NIMH came and went, and when features like TWICE UPON A TIME couldn’t get an audience - wanted to sink money into an animated action movie of that caliber? RAY GUNN didn’t go through in the 1990s at Turner Animation, and Warner Bros. dumped THE IRON GIANT in the late summer of 1999 with an ineffective marketing campaign that caused it to flop at the box office.

Because IRON GIANT did so badly, Bird took his toys and left Warner Bros. He headed to Pixar with his superhero movie concept, and he got in despite those who didn’t quite want him around. John Lasseter was not fond of an outsider coming in with this very different pitch for a movie. Up until that point, Pixar was literally what I like to call “Team TOY STORY”. John Lasseter, TOY STORY’s director, also directed A BUG’S LIFE and TOY STORY 2. Pete Docter and Andrew Stanton, where instrumental in TOY STORY 1 & 2, directed MONSTERS, INC. and FINDING NEMO respectively. Lee Unkrich, an editor on TOY STORY, co-directed on TOY STORY 2, MONSTERS, INC. and FINDING NEMO. Lasseter fired Jorgen Klubien off of his CARS, which was in the works at the time, and took it over. Tight-knit building. Bird was an outsider, and Lasseter wasn’t thrilled about that. But luckily, Steve Jobs staved him off and also kept Michael Eisner’s doubts about THE INCREDIBLES at bay. Bird got to make his rather outre superhero movie at Pixar in spite of Lasseter, Eisner, etc…. And it was a big hit and an Oscar winner. Lasseter was singing a different tune after that.

Future directors didn’t have Jobs’ protection, though, which meant that Lasseter could fire them more easily… And he did… Brenda Chapman, Bob Peterson, etc.

So then after THE INCREDIBLES, Brad Bird really wanted to get a live-action adaptation of the novel 1906 off the ground, but that didn’t go anywhere. He took over RATATOUILLE at Pixar, made a big hit out of that, and then tried to pursue other endeavors. His MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movie (GHOST PROTOCOL in 2011) did very well, but then after that, he made TOMORROWLAND and it bombed… And then took on an INCREDIBLES sequel. He is just now starting to get his cooler ideas off the ground, as his RAY GUNN is finally in production at Lasseter’s Skydance Animation. Funny how that works, right? The guy is over 60 years old and is just getting started.

If anything, his movies are more about that. He’s a guy with really cool, game-changing ideas for animated movies in an industry that isn’t interested in that… So… The INCREDIBLES movies being about superheroes who want to help people but not being allowed to by the system, RATATOUILLE being about an animal that doesn’t belong in a kitchen wanting to cook for people, GHOST PROTOCOL being about spies still trying to do the right thing and save the world after their unit has been shut down by the system, TOMORROWLAND being about people not subverting the system by pitching in to make the world a better place and also being barred from the utopia - by, again, the system - where they can make that happen… Yeah, it’s very clear that Bird’s movies are just him venting about his own hangups via fantastical concepts, not trying to espouse some sort of Ayn Randian ideology. How the hell do you get “if you’re naturally talented, you should hoard those gifts from the rest of society” out of THAT?

I think that’s what it is, and that’s what informs the world of THE INCREDIBLES. It’s simply an Earth where superheroes exist, and the system makes them illegal instead of finding other ways to correct accidents that have happened whenever they are around. Just outright ban them from doing what they do, instead. I mean, governments in real life ban all kinds of people for various reasons, strip away their rights, dehumanize them, criminalize them, etc… Sometimes mere circumstances, such as poverty, are viewed as personal failure and inherently criminal. There’s a level of relatability with superheroes for some people because of that. The late Kevin Conroy, for example, used his role as Batman in the 1992 animated series an outlet for his struggles as a gay man. X-Men stories, and the early 2000s X-MEN movies, are either interpreted as that or ARE largely about that.

But even then, Bird’s world still posits some interesting questions that it doesn’t fully answer. It’s busier focusing on the characters. This is more an observation, as I’m not trying to dock the original or the second movie any points… I just wonder why, in the sequel, the world the movies are set in was so quick to legalize Supers after everything that has happened. All it took was saving a boat and that was it? Not the defeat of Syndrome’s final Omnidroid? Not the other good deeds before that? I feel like that portion in the final third of the movie was strangely very rushed.

The thing is, before I wrap this up (phew), we only have two canonical movies in this series, and a handful of comedic/gag-based shorts. The world of the INCREDIBLES is wide and ripe for exploring, I’d argue, but Brad Bird’s not getting any younger and he should pursue the projects he really wants to make. Again, RAY GUNN, his Western, his horror movie, his musical, etc. Pixar honored him by not having someone else throw together a second INCREDIBLES sometime in the late 2000s/early 2010s. Like, Disney could’ve forced Pixar to make one without him anyways, but no. They waited. And if there’s a third one to be made, or a prequel set during the “Golden Age”, they’ll likely wait for him to be available and willing to do it. Or if he gives it his blessing and leaves it to another director… Like Pixar did with TOY STORY 4 and INSIDE OUT 2, and almost did with FINDING DORY. I wonder if he was gonna do the same with INCREDIBLES 2, had TOMORROWLAND done great and he went straight for a sequel to that.

I’d like to see more of that universe, but it needn’t be forced out of the filmmakers at Pixar. Maybe the little we know of it is what kind of stokes our imaginations when it comes to this series? Look at something like STAR WARS now… There’s a ton of movies and shows and expanded universe stuff, which arguably dilutes the magic of its universe... THE INCREDIBLES isn’t that big wide despite the original movie almost being 20 years old. THE INCREDIBLES doesn’t need to be that huge, but I would like to see a little bit more of that world. Maybe another movie - be it INCREDIBLES 3 or a prequel called SUPERS or something - or a Disney+ series, but not the behemoth something like STAR WARS or the MCU have become.

I feel it’s worth playing around in a little bit more. I’m also biased, because I love the movies, particularly the first one.

[demifiendrsa]

The Walt Disney Company will acquire a $1.5 billion equity stake in Epic Games, and the two will collaborate on an all-new Disney games and entertainment universe connected to Fortnite that aims to expand the reach of Disney stories and experiences.

Press release

The Walt Disney Company and Epic Games will collaborate on an all-new games and entertainment universe that will further expand the reach of beloved Disney stories and experiences. Disney will also invest $1.5 billion to acquire an equity stake in Epic Games alongside the multiyear project. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

In addition to being a world-class games experience and interoperating with Fortnite, the new persistent universe will offer a multitude of opportunities for consumers to play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar and more. Players, gamers and fans will be able to create their own stories and experiences, express their fandom in a distinctly Disney way, and share content with each other in ways that they love. This will all be powered by Unreal Engine.

“Our exciting new relationship with Epic Games will bring together Disney’s beloved brands and franchises with the hugely popular Fortnite in a transformational new games and entertainment universe,” said Robert A. Iger, Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company. “This marks Disney’s biggest entry ever into the world of games and offers significant opportunities for growth and expansion. We can’t wait for fans to experience the Disney stories and worlds they love in groundbreaking new ways.”

“Disney was one of the first companies to believe in the potential of bringing their worlds together with ours in Fortnite, and they use Unreal Engine across their portfolio,” said Tim Sweeney, CEO and Founder, Epic Games. “Now we’re collaborating on something entirely new to build a persistent, open and interoperable ecosystem that will bring together the Disney and Fortnite communities.”

“This will enable us to bring together our incredible collection of stories and experiences from across the company for a broad audience in ways we have only dreamed of before,” said Josh D’Amaro, Chairman, Disney Experiences. “Epic Games’ industry-leading technology and Fortnite’s open ecosystem will help us reach consumers where they are so they can engage with Disney in the ways that are most relevant to them.”

Deepening the Epic Games & Disney Relationship

Disney and Epic Games have engaged hundreds of millions of players through Fortnite content integrations, season collaborations, in-game activations, and live events, including the Marvel Nexus War with Galactus, which drew more than 15.3 million concurrent players.

Unreal Engine is used to produce assets and content across the Disney portfolio including in the development of video games like Kingdom Hearts 3 and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor; in cinematic editing and animation for film and streaming; and in the creation of more than 15 Disney Parks attractions like Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

This all builds on Epic Games’ participation in the 2017 Disney Accelerator program, which seeks to impact the future of technology and entertainment.

Games Industry Growth & Disney Games Success

The digital world is growing and evolving with more than 3 billion video game players worldwide who want to move safely and seamlessly between the worlds they love, unleash their own creativity, and experience great gameplay.

Disney’s games business continues to deliver strong results since it shifted to a licensing business model in 2016. Disney is a leading games licensor working with best-in-class developers and publishers, including on the best-selling superhero game of all-time, Marvel’s Spider-Man. Licensed games from Disney garnered more than 150 award nominations, wins and other accolades in 2023, including multiple Game of the Year nominations for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Disney mobile games have 1.5 billion global installs, and to date, nine Disney games franchises have each grossed more than $1 billion in sales. In the U.S., the world’s largest games market, licensed titles from Disney regularly hit the annual top-10 best-sellers list.

Announcement video

[rabbitcruiser]

Movie Theatre Day 

Movie Theatre Day is celebrated on April 23 each year. This holiday celebrates movie theaters and the thrills they bring into our lives. Today, movie theaters are more than relaxation centers, they also offer a great avenue to have romantic dates, meet new faces, and hang out with friends or family members after a hard day’s work. Much more, some movies now premiere first at the theaters before they are released to other channels for sales and streaming. This underlines the influence and importance of movie theaters today. Sadly, with the advent of the internet and the proliferation of streaming networks, movie theaters now face extinction and low patronage.

History of Movie Theatre Day

A movie theater (also sometimes called a cinema) describes a place where people go to see movies on a big screen. For over a century, movie theaters have served as a favorite spot to unwind, meet new people, and enjoy quality entertainment. On June 19, 1905, the first common type of public motion picture theater in the U.S. opened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Harry Davis and John Harris — owners of the movie theater — named their cinema Nickelodeon. The name was derived from the words ‘nickel,’ the price of admission into the movie theater, and ‘θέατρο’ or ‘odeon,’ the Greek word for ‘theater.’ Previously, there had been several attempts by different individuals, groups, and companies to bring relaxing entertainment to people in the form of motion pictures in a film theater. Due to the limited technology available in those days, Nickelodeon’s first films were short films (only about 15 to 20 minutes long) shown as flickering shadows displayed on white sheets. While they may appear ridiculous today, they were a scientific breakthrough back then, and the films were largely successful. As they grew in popularity, more theaters multiplied across the country, heralding what became the cinematic industry.

Subsequently, color and sound films arrived in the 1920s. As the technologies improved, so did the size, architecture, clientele, location, ownership, and the types of amenities movie patrons enjoyed. Such were picture palaces, drive-in theaters, optimized movie formats, and large multiplexes and megaplexes (theaters with more than 10 screens). With these innovations came popcorn — a favorite cinema snack — and other concessions like candy and soft drinks. Today, cinemas have facilities like air conditioning, comfy cinema chairs, restaurants, arcades, and exquisitely decorated interiors to attract customers and enhance the viewing experience.

Movie Theatre Day timeline

1905 The Birth of Nickelodeon

Harry Davis and John Harris establish the Nickelodeon theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1925 Popcorn Arrives in Theaters

Movie theater owners introduce the electric popcorn machine to cinema patrons.

1937 Adding Colors to Films

Walt Disney produces the first animated full-length color film, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

1950s The Era of the C.G.I. and V.F.X.

Producers employ computer-generated imagery (C.G.I.) techniques and visual effects (V.F.X.) to create fantastical settings, impossible creatures, and jaw-dropping effects in movies.

Movie Theatre Day FAQs

What is World Theatre Day?

World Theatre Day is sponsored by the International Theatre Institute (ITI) each year. The day is celebrated by ITI Centers, ITI Cooperating Members, theater professionals, theater organizations, theater schools, and theater lovers across the world on March 27 every year.

What is the oldest movie theater?

The oldest continuously operating cinema theater is the Washington Iowa State Theatre in Washington, Iowa which opened on May 14, 1897, and has been in continuous operation for over 125 years!

What was the first movie in a theater?

As of 1905, the Nickelodeon theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was the first to show short films like “Poor but Honest” and “The Baffled Burglar” all day long.

Movie Theatre Day Activities

Visit a movie theater

Go on a movie date

Involve your family

Celebrate this day by visiting a cinema closest to you to see a movie or two. This is a great way to support local movie theaters and keep them in business.

If you’re not the outdoorsy type, you could go out with a friend or romantic interest. Buy some snacks and drinks along for a better movie date experience!

Find out if your local cinema is showing a family movie. Go out with your family and have a fun night out at the cinema!

5 Interesting Facts About Movie Theaters

Americans’ daily spending at the movies

Half a dollar for a movie ticket

No smelly feet in the theater, please

A movie theater in the White House

The world's first drive-in movie theater

Americans spend about $26.6million a day at movie theaters and they spend even more before and after a movie.

A movie theater ticket cost 50 cents in 1956.

It was once illegal to remove your shoes if you had smelly feet while in a theater in Winnetka, Illinois.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the President who got permission to build a movie theater and swimming pool in the White House.

The world’s first drive-in movie theater was built on June 6, 1933, near Camden, New Jersey.

Why We Love Movie Theatre Day

Celebrating history

A day to relax

Supporting local businesses

The movie theater industry has come a long way, evolving and adjusting to meet the needs and demands of its customers. This day is an amazing opportunity to celebrate the cinema industry and its historic innovations.

Cinemas offer a relaxing and thrilling experience like no other. On this day, we can kick our feet up and enjoy a true cinema experience, guilt-free!

Today, the cinema industry is under threat by streaming services. Movie Theatre Day offers a great opportunity to support the threatened industry and its dedicated employees.

Source

[lindensea]

With all the talks about the WGA strikes, there's been a lot of confusion about where animation stands in this. Let's clear some stuff up! WGA is a writer's strike. Now, you might say, animation has writers too and YES it does. And you might be seeing posts saying that animation isn't unionized. But see, that's where things get tricky! Animation isn't a monolith.

SOME of animation IS unionized, and the biggest union by far is The Animation Guild (TAG), based in LA area (although it's been branching out). Click the link to see which studios are a part of TAG! Writers in TAG studios are covered under TAG, not WGA. That's why when writers strike, there are usually articles about animated productions still chugging away. Well that, and the fact that some studios ARE non-union, which means they also aren't WGA (and should also be striking tbh).

If a studio is unionized, does that mean everyone in the studio is covered in said union?? NO, it does not. Once again, using TAG as the example, since that's what I'm familiar with, TAG just covers creative employees. That's your writers, background painters, vis dev artists, animators, riggers, modelers, technical directors, executive producers, directors, etc etc etc). And that's just for the ones that work in-studio, because it gets even more complicated, but we'll get there in a second.

So what about the people who work in unionized studios but still aren't covered in the union? Well, that would be production (but also post-production and prob more I'm forgetting). Production is the organizational side of animation. Line producers, production managers, production coordinators, production assistants/secretaries, script coordinators/writers' assistants, etc. They keep everything from falling apart and make sure everything is happening that should happen. They're vital to every studio, but since they're not artists, they're not part of the union. There's been a movement to unionize, and TAG has been talking about this for years, but it's slow moving. There are a few studios whose production (or post-production!) staff have unionized in the past couple years, but it's really rare. Walt Disney Animation Studios' production staff has been working hard on this this year! Please support them.

To make things more complicated, union studios can farm out animation to overseas/foreign/partner studios, and these studios are almost always non-union. Union studios will write, develop, design all the art in house, and board the episodes (although in-house boarding has become increasingly optional in this pipeline) and send it all over to their much lesser paid, non-union "partners." This is pretty much the norm for American animated TV shows. It's been on the rise for feature films though, especially those released on streaming platforms.

But wait, there's more! What I just described is feature and tv animation in America. But VFX/animation used in live action productions, and gaming studios are, once again, whole other beasts that maybe someone else can talk about. My understanding is that those industries are even less unionized than tv/feature. And then there's non-US studios, although at least in Canada unions have been picking up steam lately

There's also the case of companies owning both union and non-union studios and thus causing more confusion. For example Walt Disney Animation Studios (Disney's feature studios, which makes things like Encanto and Frozen and Strange World almost completely in-house ) is union. Disney Television Animation is union (The Owl House, Gravity Falls, Amphibia, etc) is union but they send their shows to be animated by usually non-union studios. Pixar is non-union. 20th Century Animation is union. Marvel Studios is union, but that's specifically things like What If, not the animation in their live action movies. Walt Disney Studios, the live action feature division farms out their cg/VFX to mainly non-union studios. This is where things like The Lion King remake come from. This makes blanket statements like "Disney artists are non-union" kind of useless. Disney isn't one entity, and even though they're the worst example, that's how animation is becoming. A bunch of really different studios under one umbrella organization.

What I'm getting at here is that the animation industry is waaaaay more complicated than netizens make it seem. And netizens have a Lot of uneducated opinions which are very confidently stated as fact, which spread like wildfire. Please fact check! Look up a few articles. Fact check me even! You don't know who I am! If you genuinely want to help a cause, learning about it is the first step.

[misguided-madness]

As somebody who grew up in Southern California, one of my favorite places in the world is Disneyland, the original park that Walt built. When I was young, I wanted to be an animator and work for Disney. As the crazy kid that was in advanced placement art all through junior high and high school taking college level art classes and such, It was one of my dreams. I was also one of those kids that believed in the magic of Disney and in fairy tales. Something that every Child that falls in love with Disney gets to experience, but as an LGBT kid I didn’t get those reflections in those Disney movies or even in society until recent years. LGBT characters have not been so main stream. Yes, we’ve come a long way since then, and I am a believer that change does come sometimes slow, but that’s how you change hearts as an advocate and activist for the LGBT community for all of my life and running an LGBT organization for 20 years, I’ve learned it takes one heart at a time I can remember moments when I saw the fairytales reflected with me as a reflection they were little tiny things you know the way Jafar from Aladdin seems way too gay and too obsessed with Aladdin I’m just saying, Captain Hook, or how Clocksworth was such a prissy little queen and Lefou was clearly obsessed with Gaston! Heck to this day, I still think Maleficent might a lesbian and all those princes, well little girls were not the only ones crushing on them! Although Disney didn’t directly have the characters in films that reflected me completely. They did reflect the stories of people that were different and how different was good, I mean the first time I was a little boy about three or four years old I remember meeting Mickey for the first time, Mickey hugged me just like every other kid. I’m proud to be different and part of LGBT community, I even still believe in fairytales , even through my current frustrating and sad ending of my long marriage. I know my story is is not over, there’s a happy ending for me, it hasn’t turned me away from being proud or wanting the the prince that loves me and is out there waiting for me. My fairytale isn’t over, I just meet the wrong prince. Ok you get what I’m saying. So, this past June Disney had the first ever official pride night at Disneyland, there have been pride events in the past at Disneyland, but they were not sponsored directly from Disney. I’ve been to a couple of those. But this magical night was the official endorsement of sorts that everybody deserves that Disney fairytale. There was lots of coverage, boycotts, and such and don’t get me started on everything that’s going on in Florida and Disney World. I’m just talking about Disneyland. I watched lots of videos about this special night at Disneyland and secretly would’ve loved to have been there. It just seemed so magical. Well this year being it’s 100th anniversary I wanted to visit the park doesn’t look as though I’ll be able to do that part. I find myself watching some great videos on YouTube, which brings me to my point. The video that I have attached to this post. It’s truly the most beautiful coverage of this event. It’s about 15 minutes long. You should definitely watch it. It warmed my heart in a way that wasn’t because of its content but because of the message that they provided in their coverage, how can anyone hate love, we are so divided in this world right now. It’s heartbreaking, It was nice to see something that showed that as I’ve always said, we are no different we all bleed the same. We all love the same, we all want the same things, we all are living our own fairytales, and we all want our prince or princess, our heroes, our villains or our magical friends. You know that happy ending! So take few minutes, watch it, I guarantee you it’ll warm your heart as it did mine, after you watch it I’d love to hear your comments, and let’s not get political or mean, just live your fairytale, tell me that special, Disney magic or Disney moment that you cherish in your heart, I’d love to read it!

[mccraecook99]

Happy 100th Anniversary,Disney! 🏰 💫 ✨

Yesterday,100 years ago,Walt Disney and his brother,Roy launched a animation studio on October 16th,1923,after experimenting with a few projects,Walt had a dream that eventually all started with a mouse named Mickey,who became a cultural phenomenon thanks to Steamboat Willie when it was released on 1928 and was followed by other Disney cartoon icons such as Donald Duck and Goofy,then later would go on to create the world’s first fully animated feature,Snow White and The Seven Dwarves in 1937,which it’s success kickstarted Walt Disney Animation Studio as the true forefather of animated features and Walt and later,his studio after his death in 1966, would go on create so many timeless animated feature films all the way to this day with memorable classics like Pinocchio,Fantasia,Dumbo,Bambi,Cinderella,Alice In Wonderland,Peter Pan,101 Dalmations,The Jungle Book,The Little Mermaid,Beauty and The Beast,Aladdin,The Lion King,Mulan,Tarzan,Lilo and Stitch and modern ones like The Princess and The Frog,Tangled,Wreck-It-Ralph,Frozen,Big Hero 6,Zootopia,Moana,and Encanto,Disney would also experiment with movies combining both live-action and animation like the controversial Song of The South(1946) and Mary Poppins(1964) and even he begin to make the jump to live-action films started with Treasure Island(1950),which the company had also continued to this day. 

After Walt’s death in 1966,his company would grow to become not one of the biggest film companies in Hollywood,but the best in media with theme parks(such as Disneyland,the happiest place of earth that Walt opened in 1955 and Walt Disney World,which opened in theme parks),having several subsidiaries like Pixar(the studio that godfathered computer-animation thanks to Toy Story and created so many memorable computer-animated flicks like Monster’s Inc,Finding Nemo,The Incredibles,Cars,Ratatouille,Wall-E,Up,Inside Out,Coco,Soul,Luca,and Turning Red) and Marvel Studios(home of the Marvel Cinematic Universe),streaming services(Disney+ and Hulu),and television(ABC and Disney Channel). 

Despite Disney having been it’s up’s and downs in the entertainment industry recently(mostly due to it’s hit-or-miss trend of live-action remakes of their beloved animated films that was started by their live-action department thanks to Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland and Bob Chapek nearly bringing the company down to the ground during his short tenure as CEO from 2020-2022),they are still a beloved entertainment company who gives us magical storytelling(both animated and live-action),iconic and beloved characters(such as Mickey Mouse,Donald Duck,Goofy,Snow White,Buzz Lightyear,Jack Sparrow,Mary Poppins,Stitch,Elsa,Rapunzel,Cinderella,Ariel,Maleficent,Wreck-It-Ralph,and Moana),amazing theme parks and live stage shows,and great quality content(including Walt Disney Animation Studios,Pixar,Marvel Studios,Star Wars stuff,and Disney’s television animation unit,famous for giving us animated shows on the Disney Channel,Disney+,and Disney Junior). 

The new recent Walt Disney Animation Studios,Once Upon A Studio I’ve watched yesterday on ABC was truely a love-letter to the magical legacy that Walt Disney started 100 years ago and very happy seeing all of the Disney animated characters I’ve grown up with over the years getting together for a huge group photo really warms my heart and I really loved the emotional scene where Mickey thanks his old buddy,Walt for starting this 100-year old legacy that the studio continued to this day. 

Happy 100 Years of Wonder,Disney! Thank you for continuing Walt Disney’s magical legacy he brought to the studio that started out with a mouse 100 years ago and still continuing to make people’s dreams come true to this day and still keep moving forward to explore new ideas and try new things. ✨💫🏰

[animationarticles]

Disney Welcomes Bluey to Parks, Cruises, and Theaters in a Global Expansion

Disney has unveiled plans to bring the beloved animated series Bluey to its iconic destinations, including Disneyland Resort in California, Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, and Disney Cruise Line. Starting in January 2025, families aboard Disney cruises departing from Australia and New Zealand will enjoy special Bluey experiences, such as interactive meet-and-greets with Bluey and her sister, Bingo, and a clue-filled adventure culminating in a lively dance party.

“Bluey has captured the hearts of families worldwide, and we’re excited to bring her story to life in new ways,” said Josh D’Amaro, Chairman of Disney Experiences. “We look forward to creating unforgettable memories for our youngest guests and their families with Bluey at our parks and on our cruises.”

Ludo Studio, the producers of Bluey, expressed equal enthusiasm. “It’s a beautiful day for a boat ride! We’re thrilled that Bluey and Bingo will be joining Disney Cruises, bringing Bluey’s charm to families at sea,” the studio shared.

Collaborating with BBC Studios and Disney, Ludo Studio is developing unique activations for these experiences. More details on meeting Bluey and her family at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort will be revealed in 2024.

Nicki Sheard, CEO of BBC Studios, Brands, and Licensing, highlighted the significance of this milestone. “Bringing the Heeler family to Disney Parks and Cruises marks the perfect conclusion to an extraordinary year for Bluey,” Sheard said. “We are dedicated to delivering exceptional experiences for fans and can’t wait to welcome families next year.”

This announcement coincides with Disney’s expanded partnership with BBC Studios, which includes acquiring global theatrical rights for a Bluey film. The movie, produced by Ludo Studio in collaboration with BBC Studios, is set for a 2027 release under the Disney banner. After its theatrical run, the film will stream on Disney+ and air on ABC Kids and ABC iview in Australia.

[samsdisneydiary]

Epcot Forever Limited Time Fireworks 2023

[disneytva]

Slam Dunk! Disney, ESPN and the NBA Team Up to Present Dunk the Halls – the First Real-Time, Animated NBA Game: San Antonio Spurs vs. New York Knicks on Christmas Day

Disney, ESPN and the NBA are teaming up to present Dunk the Halls – the first real-time animated NBA game using Sony’s Beyond Sports technology – on Christmas Day, Wednesday, December 25, at noon ET when the New York Knicks – led by Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns – host the San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama and Chris Paul. Dunk the Halls will be presented on ESPN2, Disney+ and ESPN+. The special alt-cast marks the first animated presentation of an NBA game and the first NBA game to stream on Disney+.

The setting

The virtual, live re-creation of the Spurs vs. Knicks game will be set on iconic “Main Street, USA” in Magic Kingdom® Park as the teams play while Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy and Chip and Dale cheer them on. Shots of “Main Street, USA” and other famous landmarks within Magic Kingdom® Park will be regularly shown, including Cinderella’s Castle.

The story

The storyline behind the Dunk the Halls presentation begins with Mickey’s Christmas wish to Santa Claus to bring the NBA players to “Main Street, USA” at Magic Kingdom® Park at Walt Disney World Resort to play the first animated NBA game on Christmas Day.

The first-of-its-kind technology

Each Spurs and Knicks player will appear as a motion-enabled, animated player for the special Christmas matchup. Through state-of-the-art real-time visualization technology enabled by Sony’s Beyond Sports, combined with Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations’ optical tracking, fans watching Dunk the Halls will see every three-pointer, dunk, layup, pass and more from the real-life Spurs vs. Knicks game at Madison Square Garden in New York as it happens.

More production highlights:

At halftime of the Spurs vs. Knicks game, the Disney characters, led by Mickey Mouse, will compete in a special slam dunk contest;

Santa’s Elves will operate the cameras for the game while Santa himself will operate ESPN’s “SkyCam” during the game;

The Disney characters will deliver pregame and halftime speeches to the players and decorate a large Christmas tree during the game;

Fans will also get to find out if it will snow on “Main Street, USA” and see how many churros Goofy can eat.

[ameeradil94]

Christmas Eve at Magic Kingdom - Crowd Levels, Christmas Parade & More - Walt Disney World

Join us today on this Walt Disney World Live Stream as we enjoy Christmas Eve at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World! We'll show you the crowd levels, we'll ride some rides, and we'll watch the Magic Kingdom Christmas Parade called the Once Upon a Christmastime Parade. We hope you enjoy the stream!

Full Video

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Animation Face-Offs

I find it amusing that the first real major animated movie box office show-off is occurring some 35 years after the one that arguably started it all...

November 18, 1988... Walt Disney Feature Animation's celebrity-loaded modern musical OLIVER & COMPANY from first-time director George Scribner, and Universal's release of the Steven Spielberg/George Lucas-produced ex-Disney director Don Bluth adventure THE LAND BEFORE TIME...

This wasn't the first time two animated pictures opened next to each other.

In fall 1982, Hanna-Barbera's HEIDI'S SONG opened opposite a Looney Tunes clipshow anthology movie called 1001 RABBIT TALES. Combined, they made $5m at the domestic box office... Not great times to open an animated feature that wasn't Disney, and not that their distributors probably even cared at the time anyways.

Sometimes, there are around two animated features a month. It's not uncommon for two studios to share. Off the top of my head, you had - in November 2010 - MEGAMIND at the beginning of the month, and TANGLED before Thanksgiving. In the early summer of 2013, MONSTERS UNIVERSITY only opened about a few weeks before DESPICABLE ME 2. TROLLS and MOANA shared November 2016. Again, just random examples off the top of my head.

But usually, they're spaced out... TROLLS BAND TOGETHER and WISH are five days apart...

TROLLS 3 is projected to take in around $20-25m this weekend, which is significantly less than what TROLLS took in back in 2016, but still alright for this kind of movie. WISH is set to out-open it, with over $50m for the 5-day Thanksgiving weekend stretch. For a $200m-costing movie, it's going to need all the legs in the world to get by. TROLLS 3 will need to pull some good weight too to more than double its much more modest $95m budget. (Wild to think that $95m seems *low*... There was a time when a DreamWorks/PDI movie cost $75m... And for a good while, roughly $135m!)

I'm curious to see how each film affects one another. Families aren't made of money, and there's gotta be a kind of adult pull to really make big bucks, and I'm not sure if either of these films have that. Plus you have stuff like WONKA right around the corner... Thankfully no Marvel, Star Wars, or Avatar movie to counter with. Although, PUSS IN BOOTS Dos last year, woooooow. That cat held his own against the blue cat aliens.

But yeah, if you think about it... This is a rare head-to-head race.

One could argue we saw this in late winter of 2021 when Warner Bros. released their live-action TOM & JERRY, and then Disney Animation had RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON out a week later. But that was before vaccines got out for all age groups (they were distributed to the elderly first, I - who was 28 at the time - couldn't get my first shot until April.), and the films had simultaneous streaming debuts, so I don't really count that. Plus, Cinemark theaters refused to show RAYA over a disagreement on who got most of the earnings. (That would've been my return trip to the movies after a year-long hiatus, my return ended up being A QUIET PLACE: PART II two months later.)

It's funny how TROLLS 3 is Universal and WISH is Disney... Just like how LAND BEFORE TIME was Universal, and OLIVER was Disney.

The Disney-Universal race was successful for both. OLIVER took home $53m domestically (the $71m figure you often see comes from the film's 1996 re-release), LAND BEFORE TIME took home $48m. Worldwide is up the air, because Disney never released OLIVER's numbers, Universal reported that LAND made around $84m. Winner is unknown, but it was always assumed to be LAND. Maybe because dinosaurs are more Universal than a modern-day New York comedy? Who knows!

Perhaps greatly inspired by that double-whammy of animated hits, MGM/United Artists wanted to try that for themselves. Don Bluth split with Spielberg and Lucas due to creative disagreements during production of both LAND BEFORE TIME and his other Spielberg collab AN AMERICAN TAIL, and set up ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN with the lion. MGM/UA released ALL DOGS the same day as THE LITTLE MERMAID...

Bluth's movie got left to sink by the Ron Clements and John Musker-directed musical sleeper hit... It wasn't even close. $27m domestic vs. $84m domestic, and in addition that, MERMAID's worldwide figures put it at roughly $183m. (Again, in 1989-90, without the 1997 re-release counted.) ALL DOG's worldwide total is unknown.

This didn't entirely scare distributors away from trying again.

The fall of 1990 was originally set to see another Bluth vs. Disney face-off. If plans had held, MGM-Pathe would've released Bluth's ROCK-A-DOODLE on the same day as Disney's sequel THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER. MGM-Pathe ran into financial and legal problems, putting Bluth's film in limbo for a bit...

Instead, Warner Bros. went toe to toe with Disney, releasing an animated feature that wasn't a Looney Tunes clipshow: THE NUTCRACKER PRINCE... Suffice to say, it barely scrounged up $1m domestically, and Disney's sequel had troubles of its own, stalling at $29m domestically, $47m worldwide.

Two films fled from the autumn of 1991, as BEAUTY AND THE BEAST looked to not be a repeat of RESCUERS DOWN UNDER, but a repeat of LITTLE MERMAID and OLIVER's successes... 20th Century Fox - who had FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST - and The Samuel Goldwyn Company - who picked up ROCK-A-DOODLE - chickened, literally in the latter's case...

Only Universal had the guts to take on the beast... By releasing AN AMERICAN TAIL: FIEVEL GOES WEST the same day. The Don Bluth-less sequel made only $22m domestically, while BEAUTY AND THE BEAST made... $145m in North America alone, and blew up with $331m around the world...

After FERNGULLY and ROCK-A-DOODLE wisely fled from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, they duked it out in April 1992. DOODLE opened the first weekend of the month, with FERNGULLY following. FERNGULLY won with $24m domestically, DOODLE struggled with $11m. (It's worth noting that DOODLE first came out in the UK in August of 1991.)

Universal initially thought they'd have WE'RE BACK! A DINOSAUR'S STORY ready to compete with ALADDIN, but they likely realized that that was not a great idea... WE'RE BACK! opened over a full year after ALADDIN and still flopped hard. It opened nearby BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM, which also made a paltry amount.

From there on out, things were typically spaced out. Sometimes the smaller efforts opened close to each other.

And now here we are, Thanksgiving week of 2023... We have trolls vs. wishing stars. Universal vs. Disney. It'll be fun to watch, but I hope the two film crews of both get to put food on their tables once more.