Disney Declares that Animated Musicals Are Dead & Cancels Future Films

[Brian Damage]

Is the singing over at Disney?

Think of Jiminy Cricket warbling “When You Wish Upon A Star.” Or Angela Lansbury and her friends toasting “Be Our Guest” from “Beauty and the Beast.”

Well, those days may be a thing of the past. I am told that Disney Animation has put the kibosh on Alan Menken’s planned “The Snow Queen,” from the directors of “Tarzan.”

The reason? “The Princess and the Frog” was a disappointment, insiders say. Even though it was nominated for an Oscar and got pretty good reviews, “P & F” is considered a bust in Toon Town.

According to sources, several things hurt the movie. Not the least of which was the word “Princess” in the title. “It scared off the little boys. Only girls wanted to see it,” says an observer. Without boys, “P & F” was more “Little Mermaid” than “Aladdin.” Even the Randy Newman score wasn’t enough to entice fans of movies like “Transformers” or even “Cars.” (What happened, I often ask, to the Randy Newman who wrote “Sail Away” and “Baltimore”? Remember “Nilsson Sings Newman”?)

With “P & F” taking in just over $100 million domestically, and just about breaking even, Disney animation insiders have more or less decreed ‘no more musicals’ for the foreseeable future. “Snow Queen” isn’t the only animated film to get scratched, but it’s the most visible project since it was more or less announced last fall.

Adding to the Disney drama will be the release — we hope — of “Waking Sleeping Beauty.” A documentary about Disney’s glorious run of animated hits from 1984-1999, and how Pixar changed the drawing game, was shown at film festivals last fall. Screenings begin March 15 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. If “Snow Queen” is really dead, “WSB” will seem all the more poignant.


http://showbiz411.blogs.thr.com/2010...SHOWBIZ+411%29

[PlayOn]

Being a guy, I like Disney cartoons. Not so big on the musical part, but do they have to drop the animation?

[Brian Damage]

Originally Posted by PlayOn

Being a guy, I like Disney cartoons. Not so big on the musical part, but do they have to drop the animation?

I agree with you. I guess they were hoping The Princess & The Frog would pull in Lion King Type Numbers and that never happened.

[comedyfreak]

I thought the songs made the movie slow and a little boring, my 3 year old Nephew thought so too as he wanted to go home, lol. The only Disney song I liked was the Cinderelli song from Cinderella and Baloo's Bear Nesesity(sp).

[Brian Damage]

I think Kids would rather watch CGI Transformers and stuff like that, than hand drawn animation and that to me is very depressing.

[comedyfreak]

They just need to have action scenes kids don't seem to have a long attention span.

[Brian Damage]

Originally Posted by comedyfreak

They just need to have action scenes kids don't seem to have a long attention span.

That's true I guess, but it wasn't that long ago that hand drawn animated movies were guaranteed to be big box office.

[Torgo]

Originally Posted by Brian Damage

I think Kids would rather watch CGI Transformers and stuff like that, than hand drawn animation and that to me is very depressing.

Not all kids, my daughter was bored by Transformers but loves a lot of the hand drawn animated movies(and not just the ones from Disney)

[Tubehead]

my all time favorite Dsiney moive is agoofy moive.i likethe story andthe songs too. its rockn'roll songs too. irecommed checking it out. i do like some of their song. if you don'tlikesongs ireceommed checking out altalis or empirenew groove. they don't have hardly any songs. i also trazan. it does have somesongs but its pretty good. my faorite song would be sword and the stone. i like some of the lion king songs.

[Brian Damage]

Originally Posted by Torgo

Not all kids, my daughter was bored by Transformers but loves a lot of the hand drawn animated movies(and not just the ones from Disney)

That is good to hear, but sadly most kids just don't have a desire to sit through a disney hand drawn film.

[Liza]

I am 27 years old and I LOVE the Disney cartoon musicals. I own all of them on DVD (all of them, but I'm not naming my sources) - and I went to the theater the day Princess & the Frog came out. I really liked it. It's not a perfect movie, but it had some wonderful elements. I think they could have done more, but it was a good movie.

Disney is really it's own worst enemy. They made the same decision with "Prince Caspian." As soon as a movie doesn't blow competition out of the water, they panic and cancel other projects. As a result, they're going to lose a lot of income from wussing out on "Voyage of the Dawn Treader." P&F was a good movie, but it wasn't going to be spectacular. They need to focus on what the problems were with that particular film, not just blame the entire genre. It's a shame.

[Brian Damage]

Originally Posted by Liza

I am 27 years old and I LOVE the Disney cartoon musicals. I own all of them on DVD (all of them, but I'm not naming my sources) - and I went to the theater the day Princess & the Frog came out. I really liked it. It's not a perfect movie, but it had some wonderful elements. I think they could have done more, but it was a good movie.

Disney is really it's own worst enemy. They made the same decision with "Prince Caspian." As soon as a movie doesn't blow competition out of the water, they panic and cancel other projects. As a result, they're going to lose a lot of income from wussing out on "Voyage of the Dawn Treader." P&F was a good movie, but it wasn't going to be spectacular. They need to focus on what the problems were with that particular film, not just blame the entire genre. It's a shame.

well said, I think it is a bit ironic that they make this announcement, just a couple of weeks before the documentary "Waking Sleeping Beauty," hits theaters.

here's a summary....

Walt Disney Pictures has been the leading name in animated filmmaking since the 1930s, but the studio's crown was looking more than a little tarnished in the 1980s after a series of expensive commercial and critical disappointments such as The Fox and the Hound, The Black Cauldron, and The Great Mouse Detective. At that time, a handful of Disney executives were questioning the wisdom of continuing to make animated films, as the company was making more money in live-action movies, theme parks, and television. That changed when Roy Disney -- Walt's nephew and the last figure from the studio's Golden Age management team still on board -- teamed up with newly hired studio executives Michael D. Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg to restore their reputation for both quality and commercial appeal. With the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988, the team sparked a new interest in animation on the big screen, and a string of smash hits that began with The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast launched a new era of both acclaim and box-office success for the company. But those successes didn't come without behind-the-scenes conflict, and Don Hahn, a longtime producer at Disney, offers an inside look at the creative squabbles and battles amongst the management that came during Disney's climb back to the top of Hollywood's mountain in the documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty. Along with behind-the-scenes footage and rare personal artwork created by the studio's animation staff (including some unflattering cartoons of their bosses), the film includes interviews with many key figures of this era in Disney history, and several people who enjoyed greater success after leaving the company, such as Tim Burton and John Lasseter. Waking Sleeping Beauty was an official selection at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

http://www.fandango.com/wakingsleepi...491449/summary

[TJL]

If you look at Disney's filmography, the last time they did a big screen "Musical" type film with songs and production numbers was over a decade ago. Since then Pixar has taken over making hits for Disney, and they make movies that appeal to both boys and girls, and adults.
As much as the PC folk don't want to admit it, the gender stereotypes still exist. Boys don't want to sit through a "girls" movie.

[Marvo301]

I think they should get back to mixing animation with live action. No one ever did that better than Disney. They should go with their strength.

[Torgo]

Originally Posted by Marvo301

I think they should get back to mixing animation with live action. No one ever did that better than Disney. They should go with their strength.

I love those films.