Once Upon a Studio (WDAS Short)

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

Confirmation from The Hollywood Reporter at the end of this article that the short will still play in front of Wish on November 22nd: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 235596614/.

[Farerb]

Am I missing something? No one cried while watching House of Mouse, why is this different?

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

Am I missing something? No one cried while watching House of Mouse, why is this different?

Because House of Mouse wasn’t made by Walt Disney Animation Studios.

This was

[Farerb]

The short will be released on Disney+ the following day (a few hours after airing on abc):


https://twitter.com/DisneyStudiosCA/sta ... hRVnQ&s=19

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

The short will be released on Disney+ the following day (a few hours after airing on abc):


https://twitter.com/DisneyStudiosCA/sta ... hRVnQ&s=19

I guess maybe they still plan to play it before Wish so it can be eligible for the Oscars next year.

[Farerb]

Disney UK posted the trailer that says "Streaming on Disney+" in the end:
https://twitter.com/Disney_UK/status/17 ... 2WNlQ&s=19

[Vlad]

Yesss!!! Still excited to see it in theaters too.

[UmbrellaFish]

Mickey and Minnie’s designs and costumes are lifted straight from “Mickey’s Birthday Party.” That short was released in 1942, was it supposed to commemorate the company’s 20th anniversary (one year early)?

[Sotiris]

The short being broadcast on TV first makes it ineligible for Oscar consideration even if it gets a theatrical release afterwards. The only way it would have been eligible with this release window is if it had prior won an award at an Oscar-qualifying festival which it did not.

[UmbrellaFish]

The short being broadcast on TV first makes it ineligible for Oscar consideration even if it gets a theatrical release afterwards. The only way it would have been eligible with this release window is if it had prior won an award at an Oscar-qualifying festival which it did not.

I think it’s still eligible. It’s being shown at the El Capitan before it airs on ABC.

[carolinakid]

Gotta be honest... some posters hyped this film up so much I knew that I’d be bound to be disappointed.... and with what I’ve seen so far....I am.
Two of my favorite characters, Aurora and Philip, look like cheap TV animation.

I’ll DVR it on 10/15 on ABC and see what happens. I only hope Snow White and Cinderella look more like the originals.

[Vlad]

I agree, Aurora and Philip look pretty much the same as in Enchanted Tales, but to be fair, we only saw one brief shot of them. Maybe they'll look better in the final cut.

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

The short being broadcast on TV first makes it ineligible for Oscar consideration even if it gets a theatrical release afterwards. The only way it would have been eligible with this release window is if it had prior won an award at an Oscar-qualifying festival which it did not.

I think it’s still eligible. It’s being shown at the El Capitan before it airs on ABC.

This.

It was also shown at the Annecy Festival in France before being shown at the El Capitan next week and it has a G rating from the MPAA, not a TV-G rating from the TV network broadcasting system.

So, sorry to go against your belief, Sotiris, but it clearly is eligible for Best Animated Feature because of all that, and it will make it in there, especially if it is still in front of Wish this Thanksgiving.

[Sotiris]

I think it’s still eligible. It’s being shown at the El Capitan before it airs on ABC.

You're right. I totally forgot about that.

[Pasta67]

I'm actually very excited for this. Once Upon a Studio is a terrible title that implies yet another cynical, soulless corporate synergy-fest that Disney so often relies on, but enough of "the right people" are working on this that I believe its intentions are genuine and pure. I don't automatically melt from Disney Magic © like I used to, but the attention to detail and reverence for the artists that built the studio is easy to appreciate. The late, great Burny Mattinson plays a significant role. Legendary Richard Sherman (in his mid-90s!) returned to play his piano.

Eric Goldberg directing the hand-drawn animation is fantastic news, but they also assembled Mark Henn, Randy Haycock, Alex Kupershmidt, and Bert Klein with James Baxter, Ruben Aquino, Tony Bancroft, Nik Ranieri, and Will Finn returning as "guest" animators. That's genuine talent. One tidbit from the press release that I really appreciate is that the characters will stay true to the medium of their original appearance. Hand-drawn characters will be hand-drawn (with honest-to-god pencil and paper!). CG characters will be CG. 80% of the cast is hand-drawn.

The press release only mentions actors Jeremy Irons, Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad, Ginnifer Goodwin, Anika Noni Rose, Nathan Lane, Lea Salonga, Jonathan Groff, Jodi Benson, Paige O’Hara, Ariana DeBose, and Bill Farmer, but I hope that's not everyone and that more cast members were able to record some new dialogue. (More Aladdin voices, please!) I'm shocked that Jeremy Irons (Scar) was interested in this. I'm fairly certain this is his first time reprising the role since the original The Lion King in 1994.

What I REALLY admire is the restraint in utilizing only the characters from Walt Disney Animation Studios. No Pixar, no Marvel. No Darth Vader making coffee in the break room. No Homer Simpson getting drunk with Dumbo. In the wrong hands that is EXACTLY what they would have done.

Damn that is one house of mouse looking Ursula my lord. What on earth haha…
I guess Eric Goldberg couldn’t animate every single frame lol. Also the re-used voice work… a bit lazy?

Surprisingly, I don't have a problem with either of these things. Aside from the "legacy" mascots (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, etc.), I personally don't want any character speaking unless it's their original actor. It would feel strange for a short honoring a 100-year legacy to simply shrug and say "let's just use our 2023 soundalikes for everyone". Is it lazy to reuse the audio they already have? Perhaps. But would the greater effort of recasting everyone really result in more enjoyment? Not for me. It makes me happy hearing Sterling Holloway and Bobby Driscoll and whoever else. Instead of asking "Isn't it a bit lazy to recycle their stock audio?", I think we should be asking "Aren't the gags from the short a bit lazy if they make recycling their stock audio so easy in the first place?"

In regards to Ursula, it's been confirmed that Ruben Aquino, animation supervisor for the character in the original film, came out of his 2013 retirement to reprise his role here. Ursula may look a bit rusty, sure, but honestly I'd rather she look a bit "off-model" with the original animator than look "on-model" with someone else. For a short meant to celebrate the legacy of the studio and its artists, I'd rather prioritize the return of veteran talent than ensuring every character looks perfect at all times.

[Kyle]

With all these guest animators, I'm surprised they didn't get Glen Keane in there.

Also, at risk of revoking my Disney fan card, what was the recycled audio? Was it the "make it blue" bits? I was never a big fan of Cinderella so that would explain why I'm not sure.

Or was it the iconic Goofy yell? Because to me, you have to put that in there somewhere. Or was it something else entirely? I wont count Robin williams, which we havent heard, because its still new to the public audio.

[UmbrellaFish]

With all these guest animators, I'm surprised they didn't get Glen Keane in there.

Also, at risk of revoking my Disney fan card, what was the recycled audio? Was it the "make it blue" bits? I was never a big fan of Cinderella so that would explain why I'm not sure.

Or was it the iconic Goofy yell? Because to me, you have to put that in there somewhere. Or was it something else entirely? I wont count Robin williams, which we havent heard, because its still new to the public audio.

It was both! “Make it blue, make it pink” from Sleeping Beauty and that’s 100% the classic Goofy yell.

I’m also team “reuse the original VOs” (with proper permissions of course). The original voices are a big part of why I love these characters.

I hope they managed to sneak in some of Mickey and Minnie’s old voice actors, too. That might be really hard to do, though. But I would love Wayne and Russi’s voices to have a part in this.

[Pasta67]

Thus far, the recycled audio clips have been for Walt-era characters like Peter Pan, Pooh, and the Good Fairies. I'm sure at least some of the characters will feature their modern soundalikes, but I hope (at least for the 90s renaissance films onward) they had the good sense to pick their speaking cast according to whose original actor was still available.

According to the press release, the Goofy yell was newly recorded by Bill Farmer. “My biggest memory of working with Bill was when we recorded the moment where Goofy falls off the ladder and he has to do the classic Goofy scream,” says [director Dan] Abraham. “He warned us that it was going to be loud and, by gosh, it was loud.”

[D82]

I'm surprised they chose to premiere the short on TV. Doing it in theaters with Wish made more sense to me. I wonder if this was Disney's plan all along. This might be the reason they never totally confirmed it would play in theaters before Wish.

Regarding the animation, it's true that some characters are a bit off-model, but this is not the only project where this has happened. I wonder if 2D animators are a bit out of practice since they don't have much to do nowadays or if they weren't given enough time or resources to do a better job. Anyway, the animation still looks considerably better than that of the DTV sequels to me.

I’m also team “reuse the original VOs” (with proper permissions of course). The original voices are a big part of why I love these characters.

Me too. I prefer that to using soundalikes.

The short will be released on Disney+ the following day (a few hours after airing on abc):
https://twitter.com/DisneyStudiosCA/sta ... hRVnQ&s=19

Disney UK posted the trailer that says "Streaming on Disney+" in the end:
https://twitter.com/Disney_UK/status/17 ... 2WNlQ&s=19

That first link is from Disney Canada and the second one from Disney UK. Perhaps it'll be released on Disney+ just internationally since ABC is only available in the US. I guess it'll arrive to Disney+ domestically too eventually, but maybe not the following day. Though, perhaps it will but they don't want to announce it yet, because they want people to watch it on ABC first.

By the way, what do you guys think the sneak peeks at upcoming Disney projects mentioned in the press release will be? Could we get a first look at Snow White, for example, or will they just be about the films still left to be released this year like Wish or The Marvels?

Beginning at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Sunday, October 15, The Wonderful World of Disney: Disney’s 100th Anniversary Celebration! will kick off with an episode of America’s Funniest Home Videos, followed by a lineup that includes exclusive moments featuring Ripa and sneak peeks of upcoming Disney projects. The special program will include the broadcast premieres of both Once Upon a Studio and the Academy Award®-winning film Encanto.

Source: https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/once-u ... -of-magic/

I think it’s still eligible. It’s being shown at the El Capitan before it airs on ABC.

You're right. I totally forgot about that.

I think airing on ABC might hurt it's awards chances, though.

By the way, do you know if John Musker's short is eligible for the Oscars this year, Sotiris? I know it premiered at Annecy, but does it have to be screened in some theaters as well? I think that short might have a bigger chance at a nomination than Once Upon a Studio.

[Mooky]

Instagram user theycallmeobsessed "fixed" the stills from the short and made the characters appear more on-model. Scroll left for before-and-after comparisons.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cxg0BmcvYBC ... FlYzFmZQ==