Hand-Drawn Animation Dead at Disney

[DisneyEra]

This is depressing. I mean, if Fantasia 2000, The Emperor's New Groove, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Treasure Planet, Brother Bear, and Home On the Range should of all be hits instead of being a bunch flops. As much as I have to blame the stupid critics and stupid people, I will also blame Dreamworks for ruining Disney's hand drawn movie legacy, despite that I like some of their movies. I would like to see the ghost of Walt Disney rise from the grave (not ice) and confront Michael Eisner (even though he's no longer a CEO), Bob Iger, and John Lasseter for dissing hand drawn animation and maybe destroy Dreamworks. No offense, Shrek. I know, it's ridiculous, but let's say I got that idea from Fiddler on the Roof.

Like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o2gISJYwQU

What I don't understand is how when Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons & Bolt "underpreformed" Disney has nothing to say. But when the 2D Princess & the Frog underpreformed, Oh, it's because it was in 2D & because it had "Princess" in the title! Disney sure looked foolish during that time. Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons & Bolt couldn't hold a candle to what Pixar & Dreamworks were releasing those years, Boxoffice & Oscar wide! Hell, even sequeals to Ice Age were making more money! But it serve's them right! They got nerve to say 2D was the reason P&tF failed at the Boxoffice! What was the reason Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons & Bolt failed? Still no anwser from Disney to this day.

[qindarka]

Chicken Little and Bolt both made more money than TPATF.

Not to mention the fact that TPATF was so hyped up as Disney's return to tradition, there were higher expectations for it.

[DisneyEra]

Chicken Little and Bolt both made more money than TPATF.

Not to mention the fact that TPATF was so hyped up as Disney's return to tradition, there were higher expectations for it.

True, but what does that have to do with the failure of their first CGI films? Those films clearly couldn't compete with what Pixar & Dreamworks were releasing at that time. Did Chicken Little, Robinsons & Bolt make more than Dreamworks Over the Hedge & A Bee Movie? Those are some of Dreamworks weaker films too. So Disney didn't didn't expect their first 3 CGI films to be able to compete against their rivals? Can you imagine a Pixar or Dreamworks film doing those kind of numbers? Oh yeah, Rise of the Guardians! And that's considered the modern CGI flop! And Bolt only grossed $49million more than P&tF worldwide. But P&tF cleary made up for that with merchandise sales.

Oh, and what film was better: Chicken Little or Dreamwork's Shark tale?
Sharktale made more at the BO & even got an Oscar nod for Best Animated film!
You can't get any lower than that Disney, Ouch!

[DisneyJedi]

... I thought it was made clear that Princess and the Frog did MODERATELY well?! I mean, seriously. Stop kicking a dead horse, please!

[DisneyEra]

... I thought it was made clear that Princess and the Frog did MODERATELY well?! I mean, seriously. Stop kicking a dead horse, please!

I hear ya. But people like to blame the death of 2D animation on P&tF & the early 2000 2D films. But you hear nothing about the failure of Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons & Bolt. Compare them to what Pixar & Dreaworks were releasing at the same time, it's embarrassing.

[qindarka]

Meet the Robinsons and Bolt hold up reasonably well if you compare it to at least the Dreamworks films in that period. Personally prefer Bolt to WALL-E as well.

[DisneyEra]

Meet the Robinsons and Bolt hold up reasonably well if you compare it to at least the Dreamworks films in that period. Personally prefer Bolt to WALL-E as well.

In 2007 Meet the Robinsons grossed $169mil worldwide. Dreamwork's Bee Movie grossed $287mil worldwide.
Bee Movie is considered one of Dreamwork's weak films. Dreamwork's Over the Hedge made $336mil in 2006.

In 2008 Bolt made $309mil worldwide. Dreamwork's Kung-Fu Panda made $630mil! Pixar's Wall-E made $521mil. Disney wasn't even close to it's rivals at this point. 3 original films & Disney finished a disappointing 3rd.

In 2005 Chicken Little made $314 worldwide. Dreamwork's Madagascar made $532mil! Robots made $260mil.
Wow, Chicken Little made more than Robots

I wouldn't call this very good. Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons & Bolt are close to Dreamworks weaker films during that period, but nowhere near Dreamwork's franchise films like Madagascar & Kung-Fu Panda. Even Wall-E couldn't outgross Kung-Fu Panda

[qindarka]

Oh, thought we were talking about quality.

Yeah, Disney have had terrible financial performances for their movies up until recently.

However, despite the relatively limp performances of the first 3 CG films, wouldn't the fact that all those CG films by Dreamworks, Pixar and Blue Sky made so much money lend credence to the line of thought that CG films are more profitable. I don't think any studio bar Pixar really garners much brand loyalty, don't thinkthe general audience distinguishes between WDAS's Cg films and those by other studios. So it would be more accurate to compare the performance of TPATF with other studios' CG films and not only Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons and Bolt.

And as previously mentioned, Chicken Little and Bolt did make more money than TPATF and Winnie the Pooh.

It really does seem than franchise films are the only ones to really make megabucks nowadays. Stuff like Madagascar 3 and Ice Age 4 make ludicrous sums and it makes everything else look bad by comparison.

[DisneyEra]

Oh, thought we were talking about quality.

Yeah, Disney have had terrible financial performances for their movies up until recently.

However, despite the relatively limp performances of the first 3 CG films, wouldn't the fact that all those CG films by Dreamworks, Pixar and Blue Sky made so much money lend credence to the line of thought that CG films are more profitable. I don't think any studio bar Pixar really garners much brand loyalty, don't thinkthe general audience distinguishes between WDAS's Cg films and those by other studios. So it would be more accurate to compare the performance of TPATF with other studios' CG films and not only Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons and Bolt.

And as previously mentioned, Chicken Little and Bolt did make more money than TPATF and Winnie the Pooh.

It really does seem than franchise films are the only ones to really make megabucks nowadays. Stuff like Madagascar 3 and Ice Age 4 make ludicrous sums and it makes everything else look bad by comparison.

Funny you mention Franchise films making megabucks nowadays: Monsters University, Despicable Me 2 & Cloudy with a chance of meatballs 2 anyone

I still think it's unfair to blame the death of 2D animation on P&tF. Why when 2D fails, studio's abandon it? Disney with Princess & the Frog, Fox with Titan AE & Dreamworks with Sinbad. So they didn't make over half a billion $$$ at the Boxoffice! Even Walt himself saw some of his 2D films flop. He could of gave up on 2D animated films & focus more on his Parks & TV series, but he didn't. Then again Walt didn't judge his films on Boxoffice numbers.

[estefan]

Actually, Treasure Planet's failure was what led to Disney abandoning hand-drawn animation. They haven't made any official announcement in the Lasseter era.

For a bit of shameless self-promotion here, I wrote an article recently for the web-magazine I write for, discussing the situation of hand-drawn animation at Disney and elsewhere. Be warned: it's an optimistic article.

[TsWade2]

Actually, Treasure Planet's failure was what led to Disney abandoning hand-drawn animation. They haven't made any official announcement in the Lasseter era.

For a bit of shameless self-promotion here, I wrote an article recently for the web-magazine I write for, discussing the situation of hand-drawn animation at Disney and elsewhere. Be warned: it's an optimistic article.

Wow! That's a great article.

[Sotiris]

Disney, you have no shame. I'm willing to bet that most of them will be hand-drawn artists.

Yesterday TAG and the IATSE got some specifics from Disney Labor Relations. Walt Disney Animation Studios (a.k.a. Disney Feature) will be laying off nine veteran animators/artists, some of whom have been at the House of Mouse for decades. I haven't talked to the artists getting pink slips, but this lay off has got to be wrenching. To be separated from a studio where you've spent a huge part of your working life is never easy.[...]

And other veterans are being called into meetings to discuss pay cuts and/or buyouts. Not pretty. Morale among some veterans has been bad for a while. And the dust hasn't fully floated back to earth ..

Source: http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/ ... yoffs.html

[SWillie!]

Oh, man. It's got to be somber around the studio. That really sucks.

[DisneyAnimation88]

The amount of lay-offs right through the company this week is pretty disgusting. I've seen long-serving cast members at the parks say this week that their employment was terminated by letter and no one at Disney is picking up the phone to speak to them in person. It's bad enough losing your job, to be treated so disrespectfully and without any kind of courtesy is horrible.

[SWillie!]

The amount of lay-offs right through the company this week is pretty disgusting. I've seen long-serving cast members at the parks say this week that their employment was terminated by letter and no one at Disney is picking up the phone to speak to them in person. It's bad enough losing your job, to be treated so disrespectfully and without any kind of courtesy is horrible.

Yeah, that's disappointing. I've dealt with some of that - the not being able to contact someone. With such a big operation, things like that unfortunately become a matter of going in circles trying to find the "right" person to speak to.

[SWillie!]

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/break ... 81043.html

The layoffs include Nik Ranieri, Ruben Aquino, Alex Kupershmidt, Frans Vischer, Russ Edmonds, Brian Ferguson, Jamie Lopez and Dan Tanaka.

This sucks.

[Kyle]

^ They updated to say Alex Kupershmidt has not been layed off.

Not that this doesnt still suck. Of course the usual suspects will talk doomsday about never having hand drawn back again, I still say it'll be back, just not any time soon.

[Super Aurora]

Speaking of layoffs from disney, I been informed from people close to the industry that numerous Marvel employees are being laid off too.

[DisneyJedi]

Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse after the whole LucasArts and Junction Point fiascos. Is this it then? Is hand drawn truly done? And what of the whole intern thing (whatever it was) going on there later?

[Sotiris]

I'm really frustrated about this.

All of them veteran hand-drawn artists. Why am I not surprised? Is this how Disney treats their top talent? Is this the thanks they get for defining a whole era in animation?

After this, do people still believe that 2D animation is not dead at Disney? Where's the legacy? Where's the sense of tradition? Who's going to pass the baton to the new generation of 2D animators? Are there going to be new 2D animators at Disney? How long will it be before Disney lays off the handful of 2D animators left? Who's going to animate the rumored hybrid projects at Disney? Will there even be any at this point?

Is this what Lasseter promised? Is this how he would be bringing hand-drawn animation back?