Above The Title...

We've talked about animation quite a lot here. About the actual character animation and even the importance of animated backgrounds...


But what about the importance of the Marquee? Or as some would call it...

"The Title Card"

This little piece of art sets the tone for the short you're about to see. In about two seconds an artist has to convey what is going to happen in the short you're about to watch.


So take a look at these and see if you feel that they're successful at it...













































Nice...

Whatayathink?

Developing...

I've been getting a good amount of e-mails today asking about an article over at Ain't It Cool News about upcoming Disney films and franchises...

The post doesn't mention much but states the obvious. I will tell you what I know in relation to what the person said and what I can reveal. I have some sources in Burbank and not all of them are loosed lips but they tend to drop hints from time to time. Some of the Bothans there are in the know and all of what I know, which can't be revealed.

The source says that...

TRON the sequel/reboot will be in 3D.

This is a very good possibility since many projects at the Mouse will be 3-D by 2010, but first they have to come up with an acceptable and budgetable(read: not too expensive) script. That hasn't happened yet. Well see if by late summer something will be ready for approval.

There will be a CARS 2.

Ok, again this is highly possible but is not guaranteed. There are story people inside Pixar working on this as we speak. But no film will come out if a proper script doesn't come to the attention of John Lasseter. He loves these characters and wants them to be shepherded properly. Another thing is the dates seem about right... figure if one comes out it will be around 2012, which is coincidentally when the new Cars Land area opens up in DCA. This will make a great promotion for the park, but remember that at Pixar the first rule of film: STORY IS GOD. No story... no film. Time will tell. At least we'll have a new Cars short to tide us over until the movie... oops. Scratch that. Repeat after me: "You didn't hear about a Cars short, did you?".

National Treasure 3 is planned.

Actually, from what the Bothans tell me a National Treasure 4 is being planned... maybe even a fifth. The Suits inside Team Disney in Burbank couldn't be happier with the way this one is progressing. Nick Cage enjoys doing it and if they find a good idea to work with this series could go on for a while.

Pirates 4 is planned.

Well, yes. But as for the scope and scale of the story? We'll have to see. The writers are a little preoccupied right now with a period piece know as a " Western ". Some of you may have heard of it? I've heard that they have several ideas for the series, but that it will only involve Jack Sparrow and perhaps Barbosa. Will and Elizabeth will not return. As for the Fountain of Youth plot element? Not known, really. The ideas for the film are in an embryonic state and don't expect anything concrete to be penned down until the beginning of next year at the earliest.

Oh and don't ask about the "Jungle Cruise" film right now. I'm still trying to persuade my friends at TDB to get me a copy of the script and, sigh... I better shut up right here.

The article's header mentions 2011 as an important year for Disney. Now where have I heard that before? Lots more will be coming to Blue Sky Disney in the near future regarding this very transformative year for the Mouse... Stay tuned.

Well, that's all I know/or can say about these projects...

Hope that clears up the fog just a bit for you...

Batting 500...

It's hard to believe it, but this is the 500th post I've made to this little blog since November 2006 when I started it on a whim. Some have been better than others but I've enjoyed posting everyone of them... warts and all.

I want to thank everyone that comes hear to hear my opinions and the rumors and news we post... I never thought I'd get many people who would want to look at my rantings so I'm a little overwhelmed.

We've hopefully got some surprises and big(for me, at least) announcements in the coming months. 2008 is shaping up to be quite a year.

Adam Sandler Is A Gumball... I mean Goofball...

Some of the first pics of Adam Sandler in Walt Disney Pictures "Bedtime Stories" are up on the web over at JFX...

Take a looksie.

Hat Tip to Ain't It Cool News.

Final Wall-E One Sheet...

The final one sheet poster for Wall-E is out...

Endearing little bugger isn't he?

Hat Tip to Ain't It Cool News.

Legend Larson Leaves...

On this day...

Twenty-two years ago, Eric Larson retires from the Walt Disney Company. One of Walt's original "Nine Old Men"... he leaves the studio after creating an amazing amount of beautiful work. His last work was as an advisor on "The Great Mouse Detective", which set about the beginning of the second Golden Age of Disney animation. It's fitting that this was his swan song; breathing new life into something he helped create. Still, the halls of the Animation Building are a little more lonely after this day...

Pixar's Nine Lives...

We all know Pixar has an impressive batting average...

The Naysayers were out predicting doom and gloom for the Lamp with the release of "Ratatouille" last summer. Funny, I don't hear them predicting the same with this summer's "Wall-E" release. Perhaps they got burned when the box office results came in and this time they're holding their "see, I told ya Disney paid too much" until they finally have a bona fied dud on their hands. Until then they'll bide the time hiding under rocks looking for the slightest sign that Pixar isn't perfect.

Sigh...

Of course they're only human, but so far Lasseter and his motley crew of directors, animators and story people have been found to have a uncanny ability to connect with humanity. They seem to have taken the torch passed by Walt himself and the Disney animators of the late 80's/early 90's and ran with it. The irony of this situation is that now they're trying to pass the torch back... a little, by infusing the Mouse with a little light from the Lamp. We'll find our first taste of that during Thanksgiving this fall when "Bolt" comes out. Until then we'll have to wait and watch what becomes of Andrew Stanton's final animated film for this decade. All the buzz I've heard about this film is to be expected...

Really, really good. Great even by most who've seen pieces of Pixar's ninth film.

I've talked to several people that have seen footage and even large chunks of it and they can't seem to pile on enough praise. There doesn't seem to be any fear of doom and box office disaster like last year. It looks like Pixar will go forward ending another year with another hit. Well find out soon enough but as of now it the Lamp's nine lives seem not only safe, but successful. Very, very successful...

I guess the negative Nabobs will have to wait and hope "Up" goes down next year. Don't hold your breath on that one.

The Three Mickeys...

"I'm Mickey Mouse. You know? I hope you've heard of me... I hope?" - Mickey Mouse in The Pointer(1939)

Most people probably know who the mouse is. He's been in the public eye sometime now, but most people don't know much more than that. For instance, most don't know the voice.

The voice?

Or voices I guess would be better to say. The men who lent their voice to the little mouse that built a company. Oh, I'm sure some of you... quite a lot of you would be able to figure out the first one that did the voices. It's been drummed in our heads in all the company's media chronologies of Mickey.

That first falsetto voice was of course, Walt Disney. But who was the second? A few Disney Geek/Fans would get that, but how about the third? Not many I'd bet...

When Walt began doing the Mickey Mouse cartoons they were silent. It was the third cartoon he created "Steamboat Willie" that brought about sound in a cartoon, but it wasn't until "The Karnival Kid" that Mickey finally had a voice. Walt provided it since he was so intimately involved in those early works and it was one less person he'd have to pay. Not to mention that the personality of the Mouse would evolve into a variation on the man himself. Walt did the character's voice all the way up into the mid 40's. By 1946 Walt's growing empire was taking up a great deal of his time and he didn't have enough to continue doing those famous vocals.

Enter James "Jimmy" MacDonald. A drummer and sound effects artist that worked for Disney. He got called in to talk to Walt one day and was asked if he knew how to do Mickey's voice. He did it for Walt and well... Disney had a new live-action/animated film coming out the next year called "Fun & Fancy Free". It was Mickey Mouse's second feature(the first being "Fantasia") and had a segment in it called "Mickey & the Beanstalk". This was to be Jim MacDonald's debut as Mickey Mouse and no one noticed. A year later, in 1948, the first Mickey cartoon short featuring MacDonald "Mickey's Down Under" comes out. He continued to do the voice until he retired from doing the voice in 1977...

That's when Wayne Allwine, ironically another sound effects editor and a foley artist for Disney takes over for Jim as the voice of Mickey on "The New Mickey Mouse Club". Wayne then makes his first appearance as Mickey in the 1983 featurette "Mickey's Christmas Carol"(which was the last time Clarence Nash voiced Donald, btw). He's done the role for everything from video games to television shows ever since. Another strange twist is that Allwine is married to Russi Taylor, who happens to be the voice of Minnie Mouse.

And a fourth voice? Well, Wayne has done Mickey longer than Walt or Jimmy and he's still going strong so there are no plans to replace him anytime soon(Hopefully if Eric Goldberg's new short gets greenlit we'll see Wayne do the voice for Mickey in his first teaming with Donald and Goofy in decades). But eventually there will be a fourth voice... probably someone in the sound department on the Lot. That'd be a nice way to continue the tradition of the three Mickeys...

Indy & Co...

A new poster for "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is out for all to see...

It appears to be a "fake" teaser one, not an official on and certainly not the films final poster that should be coming to theaters in a month or so.

Man with the Hat, May 22... Man with the Hat, May 22... Man with the Hat, May 22... Man with the Hat, May 22... Man with the Hat, May 22... Man with the Hat, May 22... Man with the Hat, May 22... Man with the Hat, May 22... Man with the Hat, May 22...

I'm counting the days. No, no. I'm counting the minutes. No, no. I'm counting the seconds. No, no... well, you get the idea.

Of Pencil, Pen & Paper...

The reasons hand drawn animation will never go away...

Glen Keane


Andreas Deja



Mark Henn


Eric Goldberg

David Pruiksma

Duncan Marjoribanks and James Baxter

Dawson and Olivia from "The Great Mouse Detective", Artist: unknown

Academy Awards All Around...

It was a very good night for the Mouse...

The Walt Disney Company's Miramax Film division's "No Country for Old Men" took home the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor. Can't really disagree with them... I loved the film. It and "American Gangster" are tied as my favorite of the year. Joel and Ethan Coen are very talented writers and directors. Javier Bardem was amazing as a ruthless killer that felt no empathy and spread death in his wake.

Pixar keeps racking up awards as well with "Ratatouille" taking home the Oscar for Best Animated Film... I was a little surprised at this since there had been a build up about "Persepolis" over the past few months as being the David which would defeat the Remy-Goliath. Once the awards season happened and Brad Bird's film kept winning awards that began to dissipate until it culminated last night. Bird gave an exceptional acceptance speech for an exceptional film.

Congratulations go out to all Mickey's employees and everyone else that took home Oscar gold...

Mr. Reality Distortion Field Blows Out Candles...

I figured as long as we were celebrating birthdays we might as well congratulate Disney's largest shareholder on turning 53.

Happy Birthday Steve Jobs! Looking forward to all those top secret items the Apple CEO discussed at the last Disney Board Meeting...

Nuff said.

Snow White And The Seven Oscars...

On this day...

Seventy years ago, Walt Disney received a special Academy Award in innovation for the creation of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". Many more awards obviously followed...

I Think, Therefore Iger...

We've talked a lot about the "Extreme Makeover" that is coming to DCA... today in Variety there is an article entitled "Extreme Makeover: Mouse Edition" by Peter Bart that is about the Walt Disney Company and how it's run so differently today under Bob Iger than it was just a couple years ago under Michael Eisner.

Interesting read. Give it a looksie...

Rumanimations...

Walt Disney Pictures fiftieth animated feature is very close to getting approved and moving forward into story...

Animated fans will be glad to know that it's hand drawn. So unless the schedule gets changed and it's bumped or delayed we'll likely see Walt Disney Animation Studios big release after "Rapuzel" be a return to 2-D.

This won't a return to drawn animation exslusively, though. We know Lasseter is letting the directors determine the medium of their films so there are a couple CG ones in the pipeline, but it's good to know there is still room for pencils at the Hat Building! In 2011 animated fans will get to see another Disney masterpiece from what my Bothans are saying.

2011? There's that year again. It keeps popping up. I'm starting to wonder...

Happy Birthday, Mr. President...

I know those words draw to mind an image of Marilyn Monroe singing to a slightly blushing JFK, but this post is to celebrate George Washington's birthday. Walt Disney understood the importance of knowing our heritage and it's why he had such an enthusiasm for American history. It's also why he was able to educate people about things like "Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln" and didn't turn it into a list of dates and numbers boring everyone.

The first president of our nation was born on February 22, 1732 in Virginia and grew up to lead our nation through it's own birth and help establish many of the precedence that we still use today(an example is when each president says: "So help me god" while being sworn in). He was a tall man for his time(over 6 feet) and a towering presence over the men he led. It's impossible to picture the country we now live in even being here were it not for the great sacrifices he made for America during the Revolutionary War, his Presidency and even afterward. Washington was out surveying his property one morning near the beginning of winter when it started to snow, which then turned to sleeting rain. He wasn't prepared for it and continued about his journey around his farm. When he returned later that evening to Mount Vernon he didn't bother to change his wet clothes and unfortunately became very sick with a bad cold. It developed into a severe pneumonia. The medical doctors of the day were not so blessed as the ones we now have(leeches were used to try to heal him) and he passed away on December 14, 1799.

We are all better today because of him...