Disney and Swan Lake?

[Disney Duster]

Yea disneyprincess11, that's not a reboot, but it is kinda creepy.

And yes JeanGreyForever, maybe Disney wouldn't do Swan Lake as classically as we wish, with how they're making films these days.

[JeanGreyForever]

Yea disneyprincess11, that's not a reboot, but it is kinda creepy.

And yes JeanGreyForever, maybe Disney wouldn't do Swan Lake as classically as we wish, with how they're making films these days.

I would be open to Musker and Clements revisiting Swan Lake though. It'll have been about 30 years since The Little Mermaid came out, so perhaps they might be interested in it again. Out of the current crop of directors at Disney, they are the ones who I would trust most with a classical fairytale.

[Wonderlicious]

The little Greek gazebo seems interesting; perhaps this was set in Greece? Probably not though. The first picture of it seems far more upbeat and honestly almost like a tourist attraction with the boat behind it. The second one seems more like what I would.

Do remember that neo-classical architecture and features have abounded throughout Western architecture since the Renaissance. In any case, it does look a lot like the "Pastoral Symphony" segment from Fantasia.

I like the look of some of the artwork, but I'm not particularly upset that Disney has never made a version of Swan Lake. Despite my interest in folklore and fantasy, it has never struck me as a particularly gripping story. I also don't think a version of Swan Lake could work without Tchaikovsky's music given how connected it is to the story (just one of the reasons why The Swan Princess was a bit of a clunker); equally the music is as old as the story, as the story was practically created for the ballet.

[Sotiris]

Out of the current crop of directors at Disney, they are the ones who I would trust most with a classical fairytale.

Ditto. They might be leaving Disney though. Ron Clements said that Moana might be their last feature.

"We're not sure if this will be our last one," he says during lunch at the company cafeteria. "They take so long and there are a lot of young directors coming up. The bulk of the work is down the line, so we'll see."

Source: http://siouxcityjournal.com/entertainme ... 104b7.html

[JeanGreyForever]

The little Greek gazebo seems interesting; perhaps this was set in Greece? Probably not though. The first picture of it seems far more upbeat and honestly almost like a tourist attraction with the boat behind it. The second one seems more like what I would.

Do remember that neo-classical architecture and features have abounded throughout Western architecture since the Renaissance. In any case, it does look a lot like the "Pastoral Symphony" segment from Fantasia.

I like the look of some of the artwork, but I'm not particularly upset that Disney has never made a version of Swan Lake. Despite my interest in folklore and fantasy, it has never struck me as a particularly gripping story. I also don't think a version of Swan Lake could work without Tchaikovsky's music given how connected it is to the story (just one of the reasons why The Swan Princess was a bit of a clunker); equally the music is as old as the story, as the story was practically created for the ballet.

That does make more sense. In the 90s Disney seemed to like giving their heroines their own gardens (Jasmine with the fountain, Meg in the garden, Mulan with her backyard) so I suppose this little section on the Lake would have been Odette's abode with a neoclassical distinctive flair.

Swan Lake has always been one of my favorite fairytales, between the various animated versions and the original ballet, so I would love to see Disney's spin on it, especially if it followed in the vein of Sleeping Beauty

Out of the current crop of directors at Disney, they are the ones who I would trust most with a classical fairytale.

Ditto. They might be leaving Disney though. Ron Clements said that Moana might be their last feature.

"We're not sure if this will be our last one," he says during lunch at the company cafeteria. "They take so long and there are a lot of young directors coming up. The bulk of the work is down the line, so we'll see."

Source: http://siouxcityjournal.com/entertainme ... 104b7.html

That's upsetting to hear but not completely surprising. I wonder if it's because they realized that Disney won't let them step back to 2D animation anytime soon.

[Disney's Divinity]

Ditto. They might be leaving Disney though. Ron Clements said that Moana might be their last feature.

That wouldn't surprise me, sadly. Even if it had nothing to do with Lasseter or the direction of the studio, they might just want to retire anyway considering their ages. But I'd love to see them do Swan Lake as their final feature.

[disneyprincess11]

Not surprised that Moana might be their last movie. I was just thinking about this, the other day. They have been at Disney for a very long time and they aren't getting any younger. You might as well go with a bang.

[jazzflower92]

Not surprised that Moana might be their last movie. I was just thinking about this, the other day. They have been at Disney for a very long time and they aren't getting any younger. You might as well go with a bang.

And they are again going to do a movie about the ocean, it's kind of a full circle thing.

[Wonderlicious]

Regarding Musker and Clements leaving Disney, do remember that they are both 62 this year. Obviously retirement age does tend to be higher in the entertainment industry than most professions, but if they were to leave in late 2016/early 2017, they would have roughly been at Disney for a good forty years in total and working as directors for over thirty of them (The Great Mouse Detective probably having started production in late 1984/early 1985). Most of the Nine Old Men were at Disney for a comparatively long time. Also, has anybody actually got a quote about them wishing they had made Swan Lake, or is it just people's wishful thinking coming into play? In any case, it would be great if they made another film at Disney (even just a short or a featurette), but if they choose to retire (and are not "pushed" as many a conspiracist might claim), then I would simply wish them a happy retirement.

[D82]

Musker and Clements are my favourite team of Disney directors. The Little Mermaid and Aladdin are in my top 3 animated films, and I like the rest of their films too. They have their own style, their films have a high level of quality in every production aspect, like animation or character design, and I usually care more about the characters in their films than in other Disney films.

I knew they weren’t going to direct forever, but it’s sad to hear that Moana might be their last film. I hope they do at least one more film after it, but if they want to retire, they have every right to do so. They’ve had a long and successful career. They’ve directed more films than any other living director at Disney, and have continued directing under the new management while others didn’t, so they can be very proud of all they have accomplished.

As for us, if they don’t make another film, we still have Moana to look forward to.

Also, has anybody actually got a quote about them wishing they had made Swan Lake, or is it just people's wishful thinking coming into play?

If I remember it correctly, they were offered to direct Swan Lake, among other projects, after the release of The Little Mermaid, but they chose Aladdin because Swan Lake was too similar to The Little Mermaid in their opinion, and they wanted to do something different. But I don’t know if they have stated that they would’ve liked to direct it.

[The Disneynerd]

A PRINCESS MOVIE THAT WAS SCRAPPED??? NOOOOO

Concept art I did for a Disney film that was never made. So fun to work in charcoal again. And messy as Hell. In a good way

Concept art via Mike Gabriels Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/p/CqeKmlpP7eM/
It makes me think of Andersens "Wild Swans" but these look like owls. He used the hashtag disney princess so no doubt it would be the next big fairytale adaption from disney. I wonder which fairytale it would be and why it was cancelled

[UmbrellaFish]

The Wild Swans is one of my favorite fairy tales. There are different versions of it, sometimes the brothers are turned into ravens or ducks. I’ve never heard of owls, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a version was floating out there.

[Mooky]

A PRINCESS MOVIE THAT WAS SCRAPPED??? NOOOOO

He used the hashtag disney princess so no doubt it would be the next big fairytale adaption from disney.

I'm not so sure about that -- he used a bunch of other random Disney tags (like #disneyparks and #disneystore), probably so the post would gain more traction. The drawing does have a fairytale-quality but it's not certain it would have been a princess, or even a fairytale film.

Lovely drawing regardless and thanks for posting it.

EDIT: Well I feel foolish now after Sotiris confirmed it was for Swan Lake.

[Sotiris]

That concept art by Mike Gabriel posted by The Disneynerd wasn't for The Wild Swans, but for The Swan Lake. You can find more info about it, here. Mike Gabriel posted a second piece artwork from that cancelled feature, here.

[Farerb]

I really wish Disney could have made that film back then, then we would have ended up with a superior adaptation than what we got.

[Disney's Divinity]

I hope they still eventually make a version of one of the various fairy tales that use swans as a main feature. Even if it was something they put away at one time like this, they could come back around--much like TLM and B&tB were both looked at by Walt at one time before being shelved and coming back decades later.

[Disney Duster]

Right, Divinity!

But why do those swans look like owls? I don't remember owls in Swan Lake.

[robster16]

The villain in Swan Lake, Rothbart, is usually depicted in the ballet as a giant owl...

[Farerb]

I remember that I had a Swan Lake story book and Rothbart indeed used to disguise himself as an owl to spy on Odette.

[DisneyFan09]

I really wish Disney could have made that film back then, then we would have ended up with a superior adaptation than what we got.

Sorry, but I have to disagree. I love Richard Rich`s version of The Swan Princess and I think it deserves to be seen as a valid adaptation.