DVDizzy Forum

atlanticaunderthesea wrote:Thank you for sharing

But does she have any other pose

Synopsis wrote:After Tink challenges Pixie Hollow's culinary superstars Gelata and the Baking Fairies by referring to the art of baking as "just tinkering with flour," our favorite fairies must use their talents to help Tink in a high-stakes, head-to-head bake off, with the winning cake featured at Queen Clarion's Arrival Day Party.

Sotiris wrote:I've got some bad news. The Rotoscopers are reporting, citing inside sources, that DisneyToon Studios will not be producing any further Disney Fairies features after "Legend of the Never Beast".

After some digging of my own, I found that the 7th Tinker Bell film which was tentatively called "Tinker Academy" and was in active development since February has been indeed cancelled just this month.

It's seems odd they would pull the plug on Disney Fairies features when "Secret of the Wings" performed so well on home video. Perhaps they will reconsider this decision if "The Pirate Fairy" or "Legend of the Never Beast" perform above studio expectations. It would be a very unsatisfying ending to the film series if they stopped with "Legend of the Never Beast" which appears to be a random adventure starring Fawn. While I'm not in favor of having the series run forever, they should end it with a story that takes us full-circle and links the last one back to "Peter Pan". Ideally, it would show Tink finding Peter as a baby and taking him to Never Land.

Steve Hulett wrote:The start of the week, word reached us that there was some ground-shifting at Disney Toon Studios in Glendale, so I motored over to check it out. And it seems the rumors reaching us were true: The curtain seems to be coming down on the Tinker Bell franchise.

"They told us the middle of last week that they won't be making Tinker Bells #7 & #8. It came out of the blue, really. We were working on #7, and production told us it was being shut down. The manager I talked to said sales of DVDs had slowed down and the merchandise wasn't selling as strongly as they wanted.

"The company's giving us two and a half more weeks, and lots of people have taken the time off since there's nothing to work on. After that, they're going to make some final decisions about staff and what happens to everyone. It's crappy, but that's the way it goes in the animation business. Nothing goes on forever."

Tinker Bell #6, still in work, will be completed. The staff now working on Planes is unaffected, but it looks like a lot of the Tink crew won't be kept on.

A Disney staffer told me this morning (October 18th) that Planes 3 is back in story work. So I guess there is a lot of analysis, reflection and revamping going on at Diz Toon Studios.

Steve Hulett wrote:For the moment, they're still working on Tink shorts. But nobody knows how long that will last. Don't know about TV product.

I asked about other franchises in development. (They might be tucked away somewhere, but I haven't seen any.) Nobody I talked to is aware of anything. I observed that it would be a swift idea to have other projects in work, but an artist said to me:

"That's not what Disney Toon Studios is about. We do series franchises. Tinker Bell was one of the franchises."

I still think it's a good idea to be developing other feature ideas, even if Disney Toons assignment is doing cheaper spin-offs. But who knows if they will? Is doing Planes 3,4, and 5 enough?

Steve Hulett wrote:One side of Disney Toon Studios (on Sonora Avenue in the industrial section of Glendale) has a crew of artists working on Planes. [...] But then there is the dwindling Tinkerbell crew on the other side of the big lobby. They are not so happy. As related earlier, the run of Tinkerbell direct-to-video features ends at six, and most of the crew will soon be let go. (Departures range from "a month from now" to "late next Spring.")

Steve Hulett wrote:Disney Toon laid off employees at the end of the year as the Tinkerbell series of features abruptly ended, while throughout the year Disney TVA launched new series and hired more staff.

Steve Hulett wrote:It was my day for going through DisneyToon Studios in Glendale. There's been some changes since the last time I visited. Said various staffers:

We're down to about eighty people in the building. There's one Tinkerbell feature that's finishing up, then that's it for Tink. They were planning to have Tinkerbell get into some neat plot developments in the last one, but the last one's not happening now. The final two Tinkerbells aren't being done now. There are projects in development, but nothing's been greenlit yet. The storyboard artists are working on shorts until we know what the next feature will be. The second Plane's project looks good, but I think management is waiting until it comes out later this year before making decisions about another one.

Steve Hulett wrote:Funny this should be a story in THR, even as Disney employees tell me the series of Tink movies is wrapping up. (Could they be wrong?)

A few years back, Toons people were saying there was going to be nine or ten Tinker Bell features. But then studio head Richard Ross pared the number back, and the total is now up to six. Now the Tinker Bell saga is allegedly ending, and though Disney still is involved in the direct-to-video biz, overall sales are a fraction of what they were in the glory days of video cassettes. If the unoccupied spaces inside DizToon Studios are any indication, the stealth franchise is spinning to its end. And the studio is moving on.

Disney is coy when asked about the future of the Fairies series. The sixth film, Legend of the NeverBeast, is due out next year, but a seventh film was scrapped last fall because of story problems.

Steve Hulett wrote:There's a number of empty cubicles at DTS as work wraps up on the Tinkerbell series and the next Planes theatrical release.

Q: Did you hear anything new about the fate of the Tinker Bell series?

Steve Hulett: There are several shorts attached to each long-form feature. Unless I've misheard (always a possibility) the Tinks have a definite end-date.

Steve Hulett wrote:It wasn't long ago that Disney direct-to-video animated features were major profit drivers. But that was then. Which explains, in part, why the Tinkerbell series has wrapped, the second Planes movie went out as a theatrical, and Disney Toon studios have had sizable layoffs over the past several months.

Steve Hulett wrote:A Disney Toons Studio employee told me today that there's a new round of layoffs at the Mouse's direct-to-video division in Glendale. Disney Toons went through a round of layoffs a few months ago. Then, the Tinkerbell movies ended and staff got reduced. Now it looks though there is more belt tightening going on.

Things are getting leaner at the House of Mouse once again. This time it’s DisneyToon Studios that is handing out pink slips. About 17 of the 60 full-time employees at the primarily direct-to-video animation group have been laid off, with some occurring last week and the rest to leave during the next month. [...] No reason was given at the brisk meeting last week for the latest cuts at DTS, but I’m told the suspicion is threefold. First, with DTS’ Tinkerbell franchise effectively discontinued earlier this year, when a group of employees was let go, and its core market of home video a sliver of itself in recent years, there’s just no need for such a fully stocked group.

Q: Do you have any upcoming projects?

Joel McNeely: Yes. I’m finishing the last of the Tinker Bell movies. I shouldn’t say I’m finishing; I’m starting it now. This will be the last movie in that series. So, they’re closing the story with the sixth movie. I’ll work on that over the summer and we’ll record that in October.

Q: Can you tell us something about what we can expect musically for this one?

Joel McNeely: Well, you can expect something very different than the other Tinker Bell movies. That’s our goal. It’s a movie that’s different from the others so I’m going to try and do something completely different and unexpected. Hopefully, when you hear the score you won’t be able to even believe it’s by me.

Q: What do you have coming up next, film music wise?

Joel McNeely: I’m doing the very last of the Tinker Bell movies. The story is ending with the sixth movie and so I’ll be jumping into that pretty much around now! We’ll be recording in October.

Steve Hulett wrote:Even as DisneyToon Studios cancels plans for more Tinkerbells and lays artists off, Warners keeps making direct-to-video features.

Steve Hulett wrote:During the last half of 2014, most of the office spaces emptied out as Disney's home video business model was put on ice, projects were cancelled, and several waves of layoffs emptied out the Glendale studio. [...] DisneyToon Studios is also occupied by Disney Educational and the DisneyToon shorts program, which is (last time I checked) still in business. But newer Direct-To-Video features? Not so much.

Steve Hulett wrote:Diz Co. appears to be re-thinking their Toons unit. [...] Multiple waves of Toons layoffs soon followed, and today "Pixar South" houses feature employees who have been moved out of the Hat Building on Riverside while it's remodeled. So. Will Disney Toons Studios rise from its current mound of ashes? Your guess is as good as mine.

Q: What's going on with Disneytoon studios?

Steve Hulett: DisneyToon Studios, as of now, is pretty well kaput. The building on Sonora is very nice, with a Pixaresque lobby, but the space is being used for units of Walt Diseny Animation Studios. When Planes II under-performed, layoffs at Toon started happening in earnest. Most everybody under the Toons banner is gone.

Q: I didn't realize things were so bad at Disneytoon. So, they have no new projects in development at all? Is it possible they're going to shut it down?

Steve Hulett: I don't think the division is shut down, but I don't know of much active development going on. But I get around so little.

Q: What about DisneyToon Studios? Don't they have anything in the works?

Steve Hulett: The place still has a few employees at its Glendale studio. But for the most part, staff is laid off, pre-production work is minimal, and the building now houses Walt Disney Animation Studios employees, a few surviving Toonsters, and Disney Educational.

We just received a written statement from a DisneyToon spokesperson: “Disneytoon Studios’ filmmakers are actively developing multiple projects, which will be announced at a later date.”

Q: Are you allowed to say if there is another Tinker Bell movie anytime soon or not? I heard there will be no more.

Craig Gerber: No more Tink movies for now. On the bright side, several talented people who worked on those now work on Elena of Avalor!

Q: Oh no. I mean I'm excited for Elena anyway but after Fawn focus I was hoping for other starring fairies.

Craig Gerber: One of the 1st things I did in animation was develop potential movie storylines for Tink's friends to star in.

Q: Will there be more Tinkerbell movies in the future? We need more.

Craig Gerber: Sadly, they are no longer making Tinker Bell movies. But Tink's loss was Elena's gain w/ 4 key crew members coming from Tink.

atlanticaunderthesea wrote:It's silly, but this news has really, really upset me.

I've supported this series from the beginning, and to see it just get cancelled over having a real series ending is upsetting and disappointing.

Why bother to give them a D23 presentation if they we're planning this?

I can't believe how upset I am at this news.

Disney's Divinity wrote:While I wouldn't say they were great films, they weren't irredeemably awful (like most Disney sequels/spin-offs) either.