Hand-Drawn Animation Dead at Disney

[2Disney4Ever]

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/03/disneys- ... gical.html

This is why a future of 2D Features at Disney is just not likely. They're making a killing with their established franchises. They predict a $2.2 Billion worldwide gross for Star Wars TFA. They are pulling in so much $$$ they can do a write-off of $130 million for the flop Tomorrowland & no effect they're bottom line.

That's the sort of thing I fear most about Disney acquiring all these other franchises. The idea that they get so caught up in owning Star Wars and Marvel that they lose sight of what I think truly defined the studio and made it so magical: their legacy in the art of hand-drawn animation. It's what makes Disney "Disney" in my eyes. Even if they think their magic of animation is still there in CGI, I still think it's not the true art of Disney and just a perversion of what really made them what they were as an animation studio.

I wouldn't mind their ownership of Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and The Muppets if they still remembered that they are, first and foremost, a studio built on animation, and unlike Pixar, one rooted in the style of 2D animation as opposed to the 3D works of their secondary CG-built animation studio. That's how I wish it would be. But instead, I see today's Disney as a studio with an identity crisis.

[disneyprincess11]

I think Disney's obsession with buying franchises is waaaaay more dangerous than CGI Disney

[2Disney4Ever]

I think Disney's obsession with buying franchises is waaaaay more dangerous than CGI Disney

Next I suppose Disney will buy their old rival Warner Bros., and as a result buy the rights to Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera, and Marvel's own rival DC Comics. That would be insanity, wouldn't it?

[DisneyFan09]

I think Disney's obsession with buying franchises is waaaaay more dangerous than CGI Disney

Sighs. Unfortunately.

[estefan]

Next I suppose Disney will buy their old rival Warner Bros., and as a result buy the rights to Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera, and Marvel's own rival DC Comics. That would be insanity, wouldn't it?

And unlikely. Since all of those properties are owned by Time Warner, which is also a pretty massive media corporation. Lucasfilm, Marvel, Pixar, The Muppets, ABC, Miramax and all of the other companies they've acquired over the years weren't owned by mega-corporations when Disney bought them.

[unprincess]

wouldnt that be against the law? theyd almost become a monopoly...

I wish theyd at least sell off the rest of their rights to the Fantastic Four and X-men to Fox so that fans can finally get animation and toys of those characters since Disney wont do anything with them.

[Sotiris]

Veteran animator, Ron Campbell, talks about how animation has changed throughout the years.

Q: How has animation changed since you started?

Ron Campbell: Being an animator isn't easy. It wasn't easy then and it isn't easy now. What it is now I can't describe. In my career, all animation was done by hand. An animator now must sit down in front of a computer. I've never sat down in front of a computer to animate. It's utterly different now. Hand-drawn animation can do things no computer can do. Computer animation can do things no human can ever do.

Source: http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2015 ... tor_w.html

[Sotiris]

There's a new 2D-animated Indonesian film coming out on August 20th called "Battle of Sarabaya" which Disney is actually helping distribute. You can watch the trailer in English, here.

[Sotiris]

Again with this "Walt would have chosen CG" excuse.

Buck had arrived at Disney just as hand-drawn animation was being replaced by computer-generated imagery (CGI). The artform hasn't changed, he says – it's still all about the story. He remembers the release of the CGI trailblazer, Toy Story, in 1995 (he was working on Pocahontas at the time) and his excitement to see it. "But yet again, they were telling a great story, just with new toys." But the possibilities it offered, he says, had even the oldest veterans exercised: two of Walt Disney's original 'nine old men' were still at the studio and they were just as excited, he says. But then again, "Walt himself was always pushing to do new and innovative things."

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/fi ... -let-it-go

[DisneyFan09]

That statement isn't exactly bogus. Walt would've most likely support and encourage CGI animation. But I'll highly doubt he would've scrapped hand drawn animation entirely! While it's understandable why the current generation of Disney artists will always have the "What would Walt do"-mantra, they shouldn't turn back on what's always defined Disney in the first place.

It's understandable why the animators are constantly trying to be politically correct, sugarcoat the conflict and not being that outspoken about it. And rather praising the possibilites of CGI. But it's still dimwitted to do so. Especially at the expense of hand drawn!

[Semaj]

Who could those "Nine Old Men" be? The four that were still alive at the time were long retired.

There WERE a few veteran storymen working at Disney during that same time period, one of whom was Joe Grant. Having been there when the studio made Snow White, Grant was an odd one among the older artists, in that even in his 80s going-on 90s, he expressed open enthusiasm for newer and modern things.

As to what Walt would've done regarding CGI, "Two Guys Named Joe" talks about an interesting debate Grant had with Andres Deja about that subject.

[Mooky]

I just got back from seeing Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet... Individual segments are gorgeous both visually and narrative-wise, but the wraparound story is all over the place (a bad mixture of sometimes being too infantile, or too quasi-intellectual, or too heavy), with that clunky-looking cel-shaded CGI. I'd still recommend it though, even if only for a rare chance to see hand-drawn animation on the big screen.

[JTurner]

There's a new 2D-animated Indonesian film coming out on August 20th called "Battle of Sarabaya" which Disney is actually helping distribute.

Interesting. So Disney themselves are currently not motivated to make another animated feature using the traditional format and yet they're willing to distribute this animated movie?

Hmmm….

[Kyle]

Not directly Disney related but thought these were worth sharing.

Nickelodeon is reportedly working on an avengers influenced movie staring the most iconic 90s nicktoons. I'd imagine this has a good chance of being hand drawn based on what their saying here. Keep in mind this isn't confirmed.
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film ... 18725.html


Also, Richard william latest project looks to be some of the most detailed rendered hand drawn animation Ive seen to date.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G78qA9oreNE

[sunhuntin]

huh, i always though doug was disney. a quick google says both nick and disney owned him. fascinating.

i like the idea behind it, but no clue how well it will do. something i will likely check out for nostalgia sake. dont know if i like that ren and stimpy are shown, given the adult content of the show. would rather see the angry beavers, catdog or cow and chicken [are they even nick?! i cant remember]

[Kyle]

Cow and Chicken were cartoon network.

And there was about of much innuendo in that as ren and stimpy I'd say. (I'm strictly talking about the shows run on nick by the way, not adult party cartoon)

As for Doug, most fans despise the Disney version. (I didn't hate it, even if it wasn't as good)

[estefan]

The Nickelodeon cross-over movie was first "reported" by the Tracking Board, which is notorious for their false stories and clickbait articles. Jerry Beck, who has close ties with Nickelodeon, has already revealed it's not true.

huh, i always though doug was disney. a quick google says both nick and disney owned him. fascinating.

Apparently, how it works is Nickelodeon still owns the rights to the original series. But Disney owns the rights to Brand Spanking New Doug and any future usage of the character. So if Nickelodeon became interested in reviving Doug, they would actually have to talk to Disney about getting it made. So not too dissimilar to the Star Wars deal. Fox will always own the rights to the first Star Wars movie, but Disney owns everything else with the Star Wars name (yes, even the Holiday Special).

[Kyle]

Where has he commented on it, I haven't been able to find anything.

[estefan]

He says the story is not true here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1613467 ... 663966372/

[2Disney4Ever]

I should have known today's Nickelodeon wouldn't be cool enough for something like that. They get props for the new SpongeBob movie being mostly hand-drawn, but there's no denying that Nick is no longer the same great children's network that it was in the 90's.

However, if this is true, then it seems that they are considering the idea of reviving some of their classic shows like Rugrats and Hey Arnold! for the current generation: http://myfox8.com/2015/09/06/rugrats-an ... o-the-air/

Or course with the kind of reputation people today have for reviving older beloved franchises and how they go about doing it, that can either turn out to be a good thing or a bad thing (glares at Disney for wanting their DuckTales reboot to be CGI and for putting today's Mickey Mouse cartoons in the hands of cheap hacks who don't know what good 2D drawing looks like ).