New Disney Traditional Animated Feature In The Works

[TheBlueHombre]

I saw this article on the web this morning from Reuters. It's good news.


Disney gives traditional animation another shot
By Sheigh Crabtree
Reuters
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Walt Disney Studios has reunited with the directors of its box office disaster "Treasure Planet" as part of a plan to get back into the decidedly unfashionable business of traditional animation.

The new project, "Frog Princess," will put a female spin on the classic fairy tale, according to sources.

It will be overseen by John Musker and Ron Clements, who left the studio shortly after "Treasure Planet" bombed at the end of 2002, grossing just $38 million domestically.

In their heyday at Disney, they demonstrated their ability to spin a popular tale around a female protagonist with 1989's "The Little Mermaid." They also worked on such traditionally animated Disney musicals as "Aladdin" and "Hercules."

But traditional animation no longer draws the crowd, thanks in part the innovative computer-animation purveyed by Pixar Animation Studios, which Disney now owns. Pixar principals Ed Catmull and John Lasseter, who now run Disney's feature animation operations, are interested in exploring Disney's pioneering 2-D tradition.

One of Lasseter's first initiatives following Disney's acquisition of Pixar this year was to woo Musker and Clements back into the fold.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

[cpdavison]

There was a pretty funny post about the anticpated "2D resurgence" over at ANIMAZING's satirical blog (http://tooningin.blogspot.com/2006/07/2d-resurgence-whets-producers.html). Here's a taste:

"The Cowboy Princess". It's a musical about a russian princess who hides out in the old west and pretends to be a boy.
It's got everything: great musical numbers, funny sidekicks, and a climax that takes place on train tracks inside an abandoned mine.
There can't be any of that 'gun fighting' and 'whiskey drinking', and the Natives are college educated or pretty much non-existent in our version of the old west, but the musical numbers are to die for.
We have Bill Engvall and Ron White as horses.
And because it's animation, we had to get some magic in there, so we have Andrea Martin as the Water Witch of the Western Wood. She's 'spook'-tacular!
Girls like princesses, and boys like cowboys, so a princess acting like a cowboy will enchant both demographics!"

[Debbie]

After seeing all the ads for the current crop of interchangeable CGI pictures about fuzzy little animals, this could be just what the animated feature needs, a return to storytelling, as opposed to weightless animal comedies. Here's hoping that Disney can pull it off...

[JPox]

I glad that they are starting a traditional feature right away!
I hope they consider making "Fraidy Cat" eventually!

[JDWeil]

It'll take at least three years to get this finished. I'm not holding my breath but I will keep my fingers crossed.