Contribute to Our Research |
By Michael - September 14th, 2009 Aaaaaaand we’re done.
The fourth and final day of the D23 Conventio-con-o-rama is a wrap, and I’m still alive. Barely, but still. Apparently full-bore Disney immersion is some magical petri culture that replaces the need for sleep or food. I’m going to need some sort of twelve-step program to bring me back down to civilian life. Good thing I have a full day for Disneyland tomorrow before I must return to reality.
Today was the victory lap for the D23 expo, and the focus was animation. John Lasseter gave the morning’s keynote address, revealing art and details about the upcoming Disney and Pixar animation slates. There were no profound revelations; we got the official announcement and title for Winnie-the-Pooh, the next traditionally animated Disney feature. It was kind of funny watching Lasseter try and persuade the audience the film would be worth their while – “trust me,” he said.
We got a new trailer for Toy Story 3 and a plot rundown for Cars 2; I’m going to have to eat my hat on that because doggoned if they didn’t come up with a good story for the thing. Think North by Northwest on an international scale, with Mater the tow truck as Roger Thornhill. I have to give them credit for coming up with that.
They also showed some artwork, storyboards, and computer tests for Rapunzel. It looks excellent. We also saw another musical number from Princess and the Frog. There was casting information and other small tidbits for each of the upcoming films, which I’ll cover in due course.
Prior to Lasseter’s presentation, author J.B. Kaufman gave an interesting talk about his upcoming book South of the Border With Disney. It isn’t out yet, but everyone should pre-order it as it’s bound to be a fascinating read.
There were just a few more events after that. Actor Don DeFore’s two sons gave an amusing presentation about their dad’s Silver Banjo Barbecue restaurant from Disneyland’s early days. At a later event, a massive range of talent including John Lasseter and Imagineers Bob Weis, Eric Jacobson, Bruce Vaughn and others discussed the various Pixar-derived attractions in Disney theme parks. At a press conference afterwards, Vaughn kind of pwned me by shooting down my question about the Pixar attractions being built in Paris that weren’t mentioned in the presentation. Apparently they haven’t announced anything for Paris yet – despite the fact that construction pics of the project are everywhere online! I cut my losses and neglected to point that out.
A few brief tidbits: Jacobson confirmed that the Flying Carpets of Aladdin will remain in Adventureland, and not converted to the second Dumbo spinner as rumored. I have to say I’m disappointed about that. Almost as disappointed as Tony Baxter is with the current iteration of the Imagination ride at EPCOT; I asked him if it was on anyone’s radar at WDI and he replied cryptically that he didn’t think the pavilion was living up to its potential and that Figment wasn’t being used by Disney as well as he could be. So, at least they’re not satisfied with the status quo.
Anyway, there are plenty of details to come in the days ahead but I just wanted to get a brief overview for your folks and to take this opportunity to thank the folks at D23 for putting on a great event that ran, for the most part, very smoothly. They adapted fairly quickly to major issues, and while there were some cast members on the ground that got overwhelmed, the entire enterprise went astonishingly well for a first pass.
I especially want to thank the good folks at the press relations office, who were extremely helpful throughout and who were very kind to me despite my ranking on the importance scale somewhere between total nobody and complete non-existence. The same thanks go to the talented Imagineers, artists, authors and filmmakers who took time to speak to an addled, sleep-deprived fanboy blogger about their work. Dealing with the fans can’t be easy, and I think it’s fantastic that they’re taking the time to do so. So, off the top of my head, thanks to Tony Baxter, Eric Jacobson, Ed Hobelman, J.B. Kaufman, Ted Thomas, Jeff Kurtti, Jason Surrell, Jon Georges, Chris Beatty, Don Hahn, and the other WDI staff and press office folks whose names I did not catch. Great job, guys!
P.S. If you’re coming to this page because you found a stack of about 10-15 of my business cards lying around, I wasn’t littering or trying some sad viral marketing campaign. I was just very, very tired and apparently a little klutzy.
Related Posts...
By Michael - September 13th, 2009 Oh lordy.
I managed to make it back to the motor lodge, but I’m not sure I can keep my eyes open long enough to say anything intelligible. For those of you planning on coming to D23 next year, I recommend an extensive training regimen and sleep deprivation training. It’s hard core.
Anyway, if you don’t know what happened today I doubt you’ve been paying attention. Parks head Jay Rasulo confirmed that Walt Disney World will indeed be getting its new Fantasyland, and it’s spectacular. I won’t get the images up until I get home, but you can easily find them around and about. Most remarkable is the fact that the plans pretty much mirror those that were leaked a few months ago; who would have guessed that they would have survived the budgeting axe?
The princess attractions we had so many questions about are not rides, but they’re not plain meet-and-greets either. They sound like interactive experiences with a storyline and special effects, and should keep the kiddies entertained. For those of us less princess-inclined, we’ll have a lushly landscaped Fantasyland to look at, with lots of moving water and new buildings.
The “Be Our Guest Restaurant” will feature a lot of interactive elements, but is a completely different project than the original Beauty and the Beast show concept from Paris. More intriguing is the fact that it will operate as a quick-service venue for lunch, and convert to a table service restaurant for dinner. It makes a lot of sense, really, and fills a couple of underserved niches nicely.
We’ll get the “dueling” Dumbo spinners, in an entirely new area themed to that film. Since its construction will necessitate the demolition of Mickey’s Toontown Fair (yay!), that area’s train station will be rethemed to become the Fantasyland Station. The Barnstormer coaster, another Toontown property, will receive circus theming as well. I noted that one of the renderings featured a Casey Jr. Circus Train, and the Imagineers confirmed that it’s something that’s being considered for the area’s second phase. They say that it might not take the exact same form as the matching attraction at Disneyland, but it will hopefully be incorporated in some way.
The new ride based on The Little Mermaid will be built in part on the old 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea foundations. It will feature a facade designed specifically for Florida, but the actual ride will mirror that being planned for California Adventure in 2011.
These major additions are planned for completion by 2012. The Pixie Hollow area is now intended for a phase two opening in 2013. Design on that area is not complete, so there’s a lot to be figured out, but the Imagineers hinted that the final plan might include more attractions.
The other big reveal was the long, long overdue Star Tours 2. Disney is working with Lucasfilm now on updating the attraction, which will debut in 2011. The ride film will be in digital 3-D; they showed a teaser at the presentation that set the ride in a podracing sequence from the prequel trilogy.
Other tidbits include that Imagineers have several ideas for where to relocate Mickey once his Toontown home is bulldozed, and also that plans are underway to update and refresh the One Man’s Dream exhibit at the Hollywood Studios.
The day actually began before the Parks and Resorts presentation, with an early presentation by animation producer Don Hahn. Hahn, who wrote the recent The Alchemy of Animation, had a great lecture about the animation process with plenty of good art. Most notably, he included a slide of concept art from The Snow Queen, a new film now under development at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Hahn is also the producer of Tim Burton’s new stop-motion project Frankenweenie; he confirmed that puppet construction is already underway for the film.
There’s lots more to talk about, and plenty of pictures and art to show, but sleep must come now. After all, D23 waits for no man…
Related Posts...
By Michael - September 12th, 2009 So much to say, so little time to say it. Some brief highlights of the day:
The Studios presentation was massive. They led off with a montage that seemed to last 20 minutes and feature every Disney film from after 1984. Who’d have thought that I’d wind up watching a montage of scenes from Down And Out In Beverly Hills today? Again, it was funny watching the thousands of guests vote their approval for different films via applause.
Lots of clips, and lots of special guests. Robert Zemeckis promoting A Christmas Carol – fail. Sorry, I’ll never be on board for the creepy mocap thing. The trailer was just silly. John Travolta and his family appeared to promote Old Dogs, a truly awful-looking comedy that they’re all in. The audience seemed to eat up the clips, though, so what do I know. It’ll make money, so whether it’s good or not is unimportant.
Tim Burton appeared to speak about his forthcoming Alice in Wonderland, for which a trailer was shown. He and Dick Cook also confirmed that Burton would be directing a new stop-motion animated film based upon his early short Frankenweenie. At a later press conference, producer Don Hahn confirmed that the film, like the original 1980s short, would be in black and white. It was amusing to see Burton on stage, as he seems such a shy but funny guy.
Jerry Bruckheimer was there to tout Prince of Persia, the clip for which didn’t help to give any sense of the film’s quality aside from its overwhelming load of visual effects and explosion porn. If you like fire and swords, you’ll be good to go. Nicholas Cage was there to present a clip for his upcoming film The Sorcerers Apprentice, which actually seemed pretty intriguing. Cage is a self-proclaimed Fantasia fan, and pitched the idea of the film himself.
The Muppets section of the presentation began with the characters on film interacting with studio head Dick Cook, and concluded with dozens of the Muppets riding onto the stage aboard a replica of Disneyland’s Mark Twain while singing a medley of songs. It was awesome. It’s no secret that I’ve always loved the Muppets, so it’s great to see them getting some respect. Their bit was funny, too. Cook announced that a new Muppet film, amusingly titled The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made, is finally on its way.
There was a preview for the next Disneynature feature, Oceans, which looks fantastic. We also got the same teaser for TRON: Legacy that we’ve all watched a thousand times already.
Then Miley Cyrus came out and sang. Heh.
More exciting was the final look forward to future releases; there was the first-ever concept art for Andrew Stanton’s John Carter of Mars, which looked incredible. There was an official announcement of The Lone Ranger, which will star Johnny Depp as Tonto, and there was some discussion of the upcoming release agreement with Dreamworks which will bring Steven Spielberg to Disney at last.
One of the most exciting announcements for me was that Disney and Pixar have partnered with director Guillermo del Toro to found an entirely new animation label called “Disney Double Dare You” (silly name, but whatever). The goal of this label is to create animated features that focus on spookier content, inspired by del Toro’s childhood love for such scary Disney concoctions like Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. He felt that Disney had lost that edge over the years, and the willingness to be truly scary in a family-friendly way, and he wants to bring that back. He’ll try his hand by directing the label’s first feature, Troll Hunters.
Of course, by now you’ve all heard how the presentation concluded. Cook bit the audience farewell, and as people started rushing for the exits he remarked that he might have forgotten something. Then the score from Pirates of the Caribbean started up, and a cloud parted on the main projection screen to reveal the title Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides. The audience freaked out, naturally, and then a familiar silhouette appeared on a wrecked mast that appeared out of the mist. It was a nice bit of theater that worked the crowd into a frenzy, as Johnny Depp emerged in full pirate costume to trade some drunken banter with Dick Cook. It was by far the biggest announcement of the show, and it left people buzzing.
Other highlights of the day: Jason Surrell’s hilarious Haunted Mansion discussion, which featured lots of talk about the recent Magic Kingdom upgrades. Another Disney author, Jeff Kurtti, led a series of discussions with composers of Disney theme park music. This was a really exciting panel, since it included such notable composers as Bruce Broughton and the brilliant Michael Giacchino. I was ecstatic to see Giacchino there, as he’s usually my favorite film composer working today. His score for Ratatouille is superb, as was his work on The Incredibles. I spoke to Kurtti afterwards, and he was a really nice guy who seems to really get where the fans are coming from. You have to love that.
Don Hahn hosted a showing of Disney rarities; these were little-seen Disney shorts ranging from World War II training films to more recent fare. We got to see some of the films planned for the aborted third Fantasia project, including Lebo M’s One By One. Destino made a welcome appearance, and at last – at last! – I finally got to see Lorenzo. And yeah, it was pretty much as great as I expected. At a press conference afterward, Hahn said that Disney CEO Bob Iger is a fan of this sort of thing, so he really hopes that these rarely-seen shorts will make it onto Fantasia’s DVD re-release next year.
Then it was upstairs to a panel discussion about the upcoming documentary Walt and El Grupo; director Ted Thomas (son of Disney animator Frank Thomas) and author J.B. Kaufman (noted Disney historian and author of the forthcoming South of the Border with Disney) spoke about Walt’s goodwill trip to South America in 1941 and the films it spawned. They also showed clips from the new documentary. I spoke to the guys afterward and, as expected, they were great. Your civic duty now as a Progress City reader is to write, call or email your local theaters and try to get them to schedule a showing of Walt and El Grupo. Do it!
The evening ended with a screening of the 1959 classic The Shaggy Dog. Ubiquitous Disney child star Tommy Kirk was on hand to graciously answer a few questions, and it was good to see him get a little public credit for the work he did for the studio all those years ago.
So, another wild day. And it all starts up again in a few hours. Pictures and more details will come later, along with more official pics and releases from Disney. Until then…
Related Posts...
By Michael - September 11th, 2009 Well, last night I’d written you a nice, rambling summary of my first day at D23. Then my accursed computer ate it. So, my witty musings will have to be cobbled back together later. Needless to say, it was quite a shindig. Bob Iger kicked things off well – he’s really quite good at working a crowd. Funny, too. There were legendary Imagineers, Tony Baxter being nice enough to endure the ramblings of a starstruck fanboy (me), and an amazing musical performance by Dick Sherman. The screening of the boys: the sherman brothers’ story was striking; the movie is really superb and everyone reading this should see it at the first possible opportunity.
There was also the first 30 minutes of Princess and the Frog; much more on that later.
So, all good so far. Check my twitter feed for some select pictures that I posted last night, including the massive Carsland model and the excellent-looking Mystic Manor. Lots to do today, so away I go…
Related Posts...
By Michael - September 8th, 2009 
At a time tomorrow morning that can only be described as “stupid o’clock”, I’ll be jetting out of dear old Raleigh-Durham for the west coast and the D23 Expo-fest Conventioncon-o-rama. When Disney first announced D23, I was cautiously optimistic; fans have really been burned time and again by Disney in recent years, and it was impossible to know which way this new enterprise would go. Thankfully, they seem to have the right people in charge of the operation and the company has committed to providing some real value to members. I didn’t expect, though, just how big their inaugural fan expo would be.
Good lord. I had assumed that the schedule of the Expo would be filled with some items of real interest, and a lot of fluff of the Jonas Brothers or pin trading variety which I could skip. Not so. Aside from the keynote speeches from luminaries such as Disney CEO Bob Iger, Pixar head John Lasseter or – shudder – parks chief Jay Rasulo, there are a heap of small presentations, panels and screenings of interest. The company’s major business units will all be represented in individual pavilions, from Parks & Resorts to the Disney Studios to ABC to Consumer Products. The Disney Archives will have an exhibit of significant artifacts on hand; they’re also selling a snazzy catalog of the “Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives.” You can find the entire schedule at the D23 site, where you can also download the official guidebook to the Expo.
The Disney Legends awards ceremony will take place on the first day of the Expo and there will no doubt be other Disney luminaries in attendance – Tommy Kirk will be there! But what about Moochie?!
It’s been really difficult, though, to figure out my schedule. I think that the D23 folks, although they’ve done a great job overall in setting this thing up, made some critical mistakes with scheduling conflicts. The first day of the Expo sees a half-hour conflict between Disney Records producer (and sooper-genius) Randy Thornton’s bound-to-be brilliant panel about the music of the Haunted Mansion and the unmissable “Afternoon with Imagineering Legends”. How to choose? Of course the difficulty is compounded by not knowing how much queuing will be required for these events, or how overwhelming the crowds will be.
Other key conflicts: Andreas Deja’s panel on Mickey Mouse overlaps with the unmissable panel on Disney theme park music with also overlaps with the critically awesome TRON presentation. Grr. How to choose between Don Hahn and Imagineers? Between The Princess and the Frog and The Hall of Presidents? Between Prep and Landing and Lost Chords? Between the Muppets and “The Science of Imagineering”? Good lord.
Anyway, I’ll figure it out. And using only the power of caffeine and my own moxie. I’ll also – shudder again – be Twittering throughout.
Hopefully it’ll be a good show and we’ll get some concrete news on forthcoming projects for the parks. I have also (somehow) been press credentialed, so if any of you readers work for Disney and would like to talk on or off the record about anything or just chat, drop me an email and let me know.
Is anyone else going to this? I’ll see you there…
Related Posts...
|
The Progress City Primer
 From the Progress City archives comes this collection of 33 tall tales and true from Disney history. Available in paperback, hardback, and ebook formats. |
Recent Comments