Disney's future animated projects

Do we have a thread for this?

Just wondering, what projects are in the pipeline that we know of? There's Frozen next year, an adaptation of one of Phillip K. Dick's novels, and...then I'm a bit lost. I know Burny Mattinson was working on a Mickey Mouse Film(the first one to actually be in the canon), and that Musker/Clements might have some hand-drawn prospects but that's pretty much all I know.

Did that Discworld thing they were trying fall through?

No. Couldn't get the rights.

All I know is that there is Frozen next year, Big Hero 6, an adaptation of a super obscure Marvel comic (which just got reprinted for some reason) and I believe there are still plans for the King of Elves, and if I'm right it's being written by the writers of horrible bosses, but who knows if that is still going down.

Which was the story by Phillip K Dick? Where did you get the news about that?

Sadly, Disney doesn't announce their upcoming animated films years into the future. The issue with Discworld was that the series was only available to license in a whole package, but Disney just wanted to make Mort, and the entire series was too expensive. We have The Snow Queen (THE AP-PRO-PRI-ATE TI-TLE, THANK YOU VE-RY MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH!!!!!) next year, and hopefully that film directed by Ron and Jon will be greenlit because last I heard, they were still trying to do that. The Mickey Mouse film is pretty much in limbo again. Last I heard, the rumor was false.

And we're sure to have that prerequisite Prep And Landing Christmas special this year too!

edited 5th Dec '12 8:34:33 AM by kyun

The King of Elves is the Phillip K Dick story they were hoping to adapt. Last I heard was that they were still trying to do it, but it's been through development hell and back and now the next 2 film spots have been taken by Frozen (it's so different we might as well call it that) and Big Hero 6. I hope it does come to pass, cause it had some great concept art. (and hopefully it won't be killed by the other tiny forest people movie, Epic, the "fuck peoples dying wishes" company like Newt was by Rio, another movie they made.)

Then again, Rapunzel went through the better part of a decade to become Tangled, so it probably will happen since there are no legal problems I know of.

edited 5th Dec '12 9:11:01 AM by Brokenshell44

OO Oooooh. I had no idea who write the book for King Of The Elves.

Big 6 Heroes? I have no i-de-a what you are talk-ing a bout.

edited 5th Dec '12 10:15:29 AM by kyun

Good thing you don't cause it's called Big Hero 6!

I have this.... seething....... delicious... hatred......... of MARVEL seeping into Disney's animated canon. Like a......... germ spreading into water supply...

Well, I wonder how Dick thinks of Disney being faithful to his work! I'll go look him uhooooo that's a shame.

edited 5th Dec '12 10:23:07 AM by kyun

After nobody being faithful to his work, he'd probably be used to it.

edited 5th Dec '12 10:25:41 AM by Brokenshell44

Well, an author being dead would make it incredibly easy for any studio to get the rights to a book, I'd imagine!

Pity. Disney having gotten the rights to Discworld would have given them exactly one movie of theirs worth watching.

Assuming Executive Meddling weren't involved.

Which it probably would be.

....Assuming you're not a fan of Disney?

If they'd put out something other than goddamn musicals I would be.

edited 5th Dec '12 12:32:49 PM by VeniVidiPony

For a long time, Disney DIDN'T do musicals. Now it's a mixed bag.

The Black Cauldron, Treasure Planet, Atlantis The Lost Empire, Wreck It Ralph, Dinosaur, Lilo And Stitch, Chicken Little, Meet The Robinsons, Bolt, The Emperors New Groove, The Rescuers, The Rescuers Down Under, Robin Hood, The Fox And The Hound, The Sword In The Stone, Bambi, The Great Mouse Detective. Want more?

Those.....arent very good movies.

I hate musicals but I VERY MUCH loved The Princess And The Frog. So dont diss that unless you want Alex!Pinkie and her droogs to show you some ultra violence!

...Just kidding! I do understand you.

edited 5th Dec '12 3:56:12 PM by CocoNatts

More of a hit-and-miss pile. For one thing, Bambi, Wreck It Ralph, The Great Mouse Detective, and a couple of others are there.

Isn't Philip K.Dick the most screen-adapted of SF writers? I know he was still alive at least when Blade Runner was in production (and, while he did have issues with the script, he was more or less okay with it). Let's see...there was Blade Runner, Total Recall, Paycheck, Minority Report, and now King of Elves...

@Coco Natts I will dispute you on that! Or at least, be a bit more specific on the quality(bar the ones I haven't seen)

Atlantis: The Lost Empire(Nice Concept, Adventurous), Dinosaur(Bland but enjoyable to me), Lilo & Stitch(Pretty Good), Chicken Little(Bottom of the Bucket, Boring), Bolt(Bland but still alright), The Emperor's New Groove(Really Funny), Robin Hood(Okay), The Fox and the Hound(Dark but Heartwarming) , The Sword in the Stone(Whimsically educational), Bambi(Somewhat slow, but pretty awesome, especially the second half), The Great Mouse Detective(Tons of fun, perhaps the most underrated Disney animated film).

@Veni Vidi So you dislike musicals or the over saturation? But I guess if you dislike musicals, then much of Disney's definitive fare won't appeal to you, but hey the ones off the beaten path can be awesome too.

What you guys hate musicals!??! Okay to be fair, I used to hate them as well(tended to screw up the flow of a movie in my opinion). Not to say I didn't like some of the songs, but they could get a bit saturated

edited 5th Dec '12 7:17:26 PM by blueflame724

Personally, I don't hate musicals exactly, but I do I dislike the sameness and predictability of a lot of them.

King of Elves is one of those movies I'm really looking forward too, and have been since conception. It's Concept art is driving that want further.

According to That Other Wiki, the release order of the movies in development are:

• Frozen - 2013
• Untitled Movie - 2014
• The King Of Elves - ????
• Big Hero 6 - ????
• Untitled Mickey Mouse Movie - (Search For Mickey Mouse? Epic Mickey: The Movie?)

Looking up Big Hero 6. I think it's going to be Disney's love letter to both Superhero films and Japanese Media (Samurai/Ninja films, Super Sentai, Kaijuu, a few references to Anime/Manga etc.). Just like how Kung Fu Panda was Dreamworks love letter to Jackie Chan / Bruce Lee martial arts films.

edited 7th Dec '12 6:51:06 PM by PippingFool

"Those.....arent very good movies."

... you are SO PARTICULAR!

Any rate, the only reason I would look forward to the superhero movie is if Disney actually tried to make their own "anime movie" of sorts and actually stayed true to the culture, like they did with Mulan, only culturally accurate. Anime is a niche market here, so that would be a huge welcome surprise to me, just like how Wreck It Ralph showed Disney could be video game nerds and do the research. But then, I am not familiar with Big Hero 6, so I can't base it on that.

edited 6th Dec '12 9:05:13 AM by kyun

It all depends on who's making the movie. Richard Moore knew his retro vidya games, and since whoever pitched Big Hero must have known it existed, it's not a stretch that they are familiar with Japanese nerd culture archtypes (anime, kaiju, mecha, magic girl, etc)

edited 6th Dec '12 8:46:28 AM by Brokenshell44

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that Disney doing Big Hero 6 is not because they thought it was a great concept on its own, but because they're trying to appeal to the Anime-loving market (as proven by all the Moe stuff they put in Wreck-It Ralph) and realized (after buying Marvel) that they now owned just such a team of characters to exploit. I wouldn't be surprised if they were redesigned for the film (with the new version then introduced in the comics as well.)

Big question: we all know how the fact that Anime characters do not look Asian *at all* is because the influence Disney cartoons had on the great manga pioneer, Osamu Tezuka, right? So, for this film, which direction do you think they'll go: big eyes or small ones?

I hope big eyes. Disney's most popular characters have big eyes, unless they're dotted like Winnie-the-Pooh, and wide eyes gives the character more life and expression.