Hand-Drawn Animation Dead at Disney

[JTurner]

Honestly, I think this could look fantastic.

[Sotiris]

A few years ago, Warners greenlit an R-rated animated comedy from Hotel Transylvania filmmaker Genndy Tartakovsky called Fixed , about a dog’s wild last night before being neutered. The project, a co-production of Warners’ New Line and Sony Pictures, was finished last year, with a voice cast including Adam Devine and Kathryn Hahn. But Warners has decided not to release it. Instead, it has given the movie back to Sony, which is now trying to sell it to a streamer or another distributor. Without a buyer, Fixed will probably meet the same fate as Batgirl or Coyote vs. ACME.

Source: https://puck.news/newsletter_content/wh ... emotion-2/

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

God… DAMMIT.

Man, at least The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie got an American studio to distribute in the U.S. with Ketchup Entertainment.

But come on, man.

WB really is becoming worse than Disney and is more anti-art than how they feel Disney is.

[UmbrellaFish]

I don’t have interest in that movie, but I hope it finds a buyer. I really hate this trend of shelving completed films for write-offs.

[DisneyJedi]

Honestly, WB and (especially) Zaslav can kindly F off.

[Sotiris]

Q: Do you worry that the rise of CGI means the end of the hand drawn era?

Andreas Deja: I wish I could say Disney will do something fully hand drawn again. I wish I could say it’s in the process, it’s coming out next year! It isn’t. But still, hand drawn animation continues to be big in Europe right now, and I myself have decided to stay with it. So rather than staying with Disney after 30 years and doing work on these CG films, I realized I have nothing to add. It didn't call me; that medium doesn't need me. So I just started to do my own projects because I still have stuff to express in this medium. Whatever the medium though, it’s always about story and characters. That’s the most important thing, to tell a good story. And that’s what I hope will stay.

Source: https://the-talks.com/interview/andreas-deja/

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

Yeah. Sorry. I’m gonna have to go against the odds on this one.

You do know that this interview was made in 2020/2021. Right? Otherwise the caption under the image wouldn’t say “Andreas Deja's new film Mushka is in production, to be finished at the end of 2021.” 2021, NOT 2024, Sotiris.

Besides, things may have very well changed since this interview since it was likely done before he came on board for Once Upon A Studio.

Also, for what it’s worth, while waiting in line for signings at the Pixar/Disney Animation booth, I spoke to an attendee who said he works for The Walt Disney Company and he said that Tiana will be hand-drawn animated. And when I asked if he really meant that and not “3D animation that looks like 2D like Wish, Far From The Tree, Feast, and Paperman,” he said “no, it’s actually gonna be fully 2D/hand-drawn animated.”

He said he was trying to make his way up The Walt Disney Company to work at Walt Disney Animation Studios as a promise of a dying wish he made to his mother before she passed away and that he’s fighting for animation to be better treated at Disney, even the old style of classic traditional hand-drawn animation as well.

We’ll find out in 4 hours.

This is who that TWDC worker is, BTW: https://www.instagram.com/brandontreakl ... BjaHE4OQ==.

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

Well, thanks to The Wrap’s Drew Taylor, we now seem to have our answer on what the animation style of the Disney+ Tiana series will be.



But I guess we should have seen this coming since it would be speculated to not be fully hand-drawn last year.



Then again, Tiana could have been the one supposed project Jennifer Lee teased as “further exploration into how hand-drawn animation works alongside CG animation, noting one of her filmmakers is already at work on such a project” which may as well be Tiana: https://ew.com/movies/disney-100-year-a ... -a-studio/.

Well, I guess we can’t really judge until we see what the footage looks like, and if the way it’s executed is like X-Men ‘97 and PaperMan rather than Wish or Feast. But I can’t lie when I say I’m a little bummed out about this choice, though now we know why Eric Goldberg at D23 in 2022 said Tiana’s animation style was under wraps at the time.

Guess it wasn’t talked about again at this year’s D23 because they knew if they said Tiana wasn’t hand-drawn, they’d be booed on stage and really feel hated for betraying the fans.

I’m sorry, everyone.

I’m sorry, Sotiris, Fareb, Kyle, JTurner, DisneyFan09, DisneyJedi, PatchOfBlue, Aviator, Disney’s Divinity, Thumper_93, Patricier21, and robster16.

I failed you all. I let you all down. And I couldn’t help you win. I was so hopeful that things would change. But I was wrong. No matter what I believed in, I was so wrong.

Who’s to say that even if The Animation Guild strikes starting tomorrow and shuts all of everything down that they’ll change Disney’s minds and make the series hand-drawn fully? That may also be a long-shot and there’s the possibility that Disney could use this strike to cancel Tiana as a middle finger to the guild, just like WB used the 2 strikes last year to cancel Coyote Vs. ACME and recently cancelled Fixed ahead of the negotiations with The Animation Guild.

And who’s to say even The Animation Guild would want to force Hollywood to bring hand-drawn animation back when they today congratulated SAG-AFTRA on getting a deal with an AI firm for voice replications after a hypocritical strike against AI last year.

I guess this is the end. No matter how hard we try, it’s not coming back. Unless a miracle from the sky can make things happen, hand-drawn animation will never come back to Disney, not even once more before this decade ends.



It’s over.

[DisneyJedi]

No need to apologize, D23. It’s not your fault those pinheads at WDAS won’t commit to a full length fully hand-drawn feature or a long form hand-drawn series.

I’m just so damn tired of mainstream Disney (and to a wider extent, all of Hollywood) force-feeding us mostly CGI films. It’s always, “Standard CGI Movie”, this or “Standard CGI Movie” that. Like, give us some damn variety, you dipsticks! Give the 2D animators still working with you something MEANINGFUL to do with their jobs. Don’t just have them work on shorts or provide stupid skeleton work for your CGI movies.

[Sotiris]

A new Halloween Time at Disneyland commercial features some 2D animation.

https://x.com/wesisrad/status/1824451388790763525

[JTurner]

A new Halloween Time at Disneyland commercial features some 2D animation.

https://x.com/wesisrad/status/1824451388790763525

Interesting. Very interesting.

Also, regarding Tiana... we don't quite know what kind of look it will be. The statement "hybrid" is subject to interpretation. It could mean 2D drawn hand characters and 3D backgrounds. We'll just have to wait and see.

But on the other hand, giving up hope on Disney isn't healthy IMO. But neither is obsessing over them. Just be neutral, and keep this in mind: Disney has changed its mind before. And if they want to, they can. True, it doesn't seem likely right NOW, and I unfortunately don't know anymore than you guys do, but the best thing you CAN do is to support 2D animation. If it becomes a major trend again then studios will want to follow suit. Yes, even Disney.

Here are your options for supporting 2D animation this year:

The Day The Earth Blew Up — Just got a distributor. Release date TBA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOCxYnFAUNo Kensuke's Kingdom — To be released this October.
The Lord of the RIngs — War of the Rohirrim — This December.

AND NEXT YEAR:
Light of the World — Summer

2026:
Aang — The Last Airbender.

All 2D. All hitting theaters. You want 2D animation back? Support these movies. It's simple.

[JTurner]

https://24flix.com/2024/08/light-of-the ... ohns-eyes/

Here is an article about Light of the World. Interesting fact: this film only cost $20 million to make. We won't know the end results of it until later. This further blows holes in the argument that handdrawn animation is "too expensive."

Here are some other examples:

The Glassworker's budget? $32 million.
Kenichi's Kingdom's budget? $12 million (10 million Euros if you wanna be more accurate.)

So there you have it. The issue is not that it's more expensive; it's overspending. And CEOs being too afraid of having another failure.

[DisneyFan09]

I’m sorry, Sotiris, Fareb, Kyle, JTurner, DisneyFan09, DisneyJedi, PatchOfBlue, Aviator, Disney’s Divinity, Thumper_93, Patricier21, and robster16.

I failed you all. I let you all down. And I couldn’t help you win. I was so hopeful that things would change. But I was wrong. No matter what I believed in, I was so wrong.

Don`t worry, no need to apologize. You did nothing wrong, so you`re forgiven

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

I’m sorry, Sotiris, Fareb, Kyle, JTurner, DisneyFan09, DisneyJedi, PatchOfBlue, Aviator, Disney’s Divinity, Thumper_93, Patricier21, and robster16.

I failed you all. I let you all down. And I couldn’t help you win. I was so hopeful that things would change. But I was wrong. No matter what I believed in, I was so wrong.

Don`t worry, no need to apologize. You did nothing wrong, so you`re forgiven

I don’t feel like I deserve forgiveness.

A new Halloween Time at Disneyland commercial features some 2D animation.

https://x.com/wesisrad/status/1824451388790763525

Interesting. Very interesting.

Also, regarding Tiana... we don't quite know what kind of look it will be. The statement "hybrid" is subject to interpretation. It could mean 2D drawn hand characters and 3D backgrounds. We'll just have to wait and see.

But on the other hand, giving up hope on Disney isn't healthy IMO. But neither is obsessing over them. Just be neutral, and keep this in mind: Disney has changed its mind before. And if they want to, they can. True, it doesn't seem likely right NOW, and I unfortunately don't know anymore than you guys do, but the best thing you CAN do is to support 2D animation. If it becomes a major trend again then studios will want to follow suit. Yes, even Disney.

Here are your options for supporting 2D animation this year:

The Day The Earth Blew Up — Just got a distributor. Release date TBA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOCxYnFAUNo Kensuke's Kingdom — To be released this October.
The Lord of the RIngs — War of the Rohirrim — This December.

AND NEXT YEAR:
Light of the World — Summer

2026:
Aang — The Last Airbender.

All 2D. All hitting theaters. You want 2D animation back? Support these movies. It's simple.

You’re right, Turner. Tiana could have 2D hand-drawn characters with 3D backgrounds or it could look like the blend of hand-drawn and computer animation that Paperman had, but this time in color. But like you said we’ll have to wait and see.

And I already plan on seeing them and I’ll make sure they’re hits. I just hope more and more people do that and that it’s not just a small group of people like me doing that. I’d be naive if I didn’t say that we need to make sure more people do that.

[JTurner]

If it helps, I did find a video with Jennifer Lee being interviewed about that question. She did say, "Never say never." That said, she also doesn't reveal anything that we don't already know, but... take it as is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrPMZ_BJJ9E

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

More hand-drawn animation from Disney revealed as Donald Duck will be this week’s guest on Hot Ones: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-8j-Ify ... B3YzJyMm01.

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

Got a new Hot Ones this week, this time with a certain Disney character celebrating his 90th birthday this year. I’m talkin’ about the one & only Donald Duck. Here he is (w/ some back-up from Mickey Mouse, complete in his hand-drawn animated form, courtesy of Walt Disney Animation Studios: https://youtu.be/kQse2ml5UXY?si=lR2gm-EpZikClb69.

[Sotiris]

Pleasantly surprised by the animation in this one. Despite looking a bit too digital, it's more expressive and on-model than other recent efforts like DIY Duck.

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

Pleasantly surprised by the animation in this one. Despite looking a bit too digital, it's more expressive and on-model than other recent efforts like DIY Duck.

If only Disney could put this kind effort and quality of animation into the upcoming Tiana series for Disney+…

[UmbrellaFish]

So cute! Thank you for sharing, D23ExpoVisitor25!

I thought this was a really creative way to showcase the classic humor of the character, to honor his history, but also to bring him into the 21st century.

I think Bambi’s going to crush it btw.