[djmartin999]

BIG NEWS reported in the Sunday Express (national paper) in the UK - according to a film review, Home On The Range is supposedly the LAST animated 2D film Disney will EVER make!!!!!

This is terrible!! I know that some of the more recent animated films have had smaller budgets, but surely they shudn't just stop making them altogether?? This is where the magic began - they cannot just decide to end it just like that - I couldn't believe it when I read it!!

It is true that Disney have been having more success with computer-generated films such as Finding Nemo & Toy Story, but i think that the 2D animated films should still stay - perhaps the late 90s were one of those "dark ages" in Disney films (apparently so in the early 80s) but then they boosted the budget and they had a "Renaissance" which helped bring the Disney reputation back to high (such classics as "The Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin & The Lion King did this).

If ANYBODY knows ANY information regarding this, can you please post it here??

[bumble]

I don't have any info, but I believe you are right about them not doing regular animation any more. I think it stinks if they realy dont make tham any more.

[MerlinMatt]

The reality is that hand-drawn full length movies are VERY expensive and with the rapid evolution of computer-gen animated features, the hand drawn ones just don't get the same ticket receipts, regardless of the story.

I'm afraid that it might be becoming a lost art....

[phayes93]

You know, they DID close the working animation studio at Disney-MGM Studios. It would be sad if Disney stopped releasing hand-drawn animation movies. When I read things like this, however, I'm reminded of something Sean Connery/James Bond once said:
"Never Say Never Again."

[noahsark45331]

Originally Posted by MerlinMatt

I'm afraid that it might be becoming a lost art....

That is the sad part, and I'm afraid you are right.

[downsouthtigger]

Well everyone has stated everything I am going to say, so why say it right??
Ah when do I not voice my opinion??
Computers are the new thing and hey they get things done. I mean geez, Shrek and anything Pixar, has blown Disney's hand drawn stuff away.
Disney has been goofin with the idea for a while, I mean look at Philharmagic. Sometimes when I'm watching that I hardly notice it's all computer.
I just find it odd though, with the sudden jump to cgs, why haven't I heard about any new animated features?? I hear little about the incredibles, and even less about cars.
To be honest with the closing and stopping of hand drawn animated films, it makes me worry about animated films in general.
I didn't really think about it until the middle of the post. All anouncements from disney have been live action except for what pixar is making. Could disney really just pull out of the animated movie business altogether?? Tell me someone knows of some project they are working on, and not just some crappy direct to video crap!

[tinkerbell]

ok gotta get my 2 cents in here. what is done with pen and paper is real art. When I walk through and see the art work for sell and wish so hard I could afford even the cheapest smallest piece. I see real art, just as if looking at the Mona Lisa. you know in the last scene of COP .. where Grand dad says "any body can do that voice automated stuff, Rover speak" .. well when it comes to cgs .. there ya go ..anybody can do that. but to pure your heart and soul in to a hand drawn picture .. its more then a drawing.. dern I am tired ..this makes no sense I guess

[MrDisneyfan1]

We'll yet it happened twice in one day. Mr. Walt Disney rolled over. First someone said there should be a month at Disney World for adults only...no kids, and now this. The foundation that created this empire (well that was Walt, but Walt was the original cartoonist) is going away...maybe.

What is to come next...no more actually themed rides, but instead rooms and rooms of simulator rides...I hope not.
DEN

[dementia]

I wrote an article about this for a magazine I occasionally contribute to. Very sad time for traditional animation. Here's a few little bits and pieces of information the last days of Disney hand drawn animated movies:

The last hand drawn animated movie to gross more than 100 million dollars in the US was Tarzan. Before that you have to go back to the Lion King. Lilo and Stitch came pretty close, but didn't quite make it. Compared to the success of the CGI movies, the comparison just isn't good.

There was one last traditionally animated film that Disney animators were in the middle of working while they were fired, "A Few Good Ghosts." Studio bosses weren't happy with how it was progressing so they just cut it.

If you're looking for one movie to place blame to go ahead and point to Treasure Planet. The movie cost quite a bit and was a complete and utter failure in the box office and even in home video. At a cost of $180 million (including $40 million for advertising), and a worldwide gross of $101 million, this is Disney's biggest financial loss.

The last hope is the group of Disney animators that were let go. A number of them started their own company called Legacy Animation Studios, with the goal of carrying on Walt's legacy of handdrawn animation.

So there you go. I don't forsee hand drawn films gone forever, but I think you're looking at a good 6 or 7 years before we see another.

[tragic312]

i love the hand drawn movies. they display such talented artists that don't get the recognition they deserve. CGI movies are great because it was done by computer. it's amazing what technology can do these days. i'm sure anyone with a mouse and a keyboard can draw up a character. but it takes true talent to draw a character by hand.
why stop hand drawn movies because CGI movies pull in more money? i don't think Mr. Walt Disney started his company to look for money; i think he started it to entertain. he left a major mark on the animation world and in the world in general. why change things because of money? that goes to show how greedy some people can be.
i think what the Walt Disney Company needs is more ideas for hand drawn movies, more stories. they are so talented and creative that i can't see them having difficulty coming up with the story for their next movie.

[chapter1]

Hi all,

Is The Three Musketeers considered an animated motion picture? :)

[tinkerbell]

Originally Posted by chapter1

Hi all,

Is The Three Musketeers considered an animated motion picture? :)

I think it is even though it went straight to DVD.

[dementia]

Originally Posted by chapter1

Is The Three Musketeers considered an animated motion picture? :)

For the past decade or two Disney has had two seperate animation studios. One in Orlando that handled the theatrical movies like Tarzan, Lilo and Stitch, Home on the Range, etc. that would spend years animating movies and had very high budgets to make the best looking movies possible. Then there was a second studio that I believe was in Australia that would work on the direct to video films and sequels like the Three Musketeers. So while technically the Three Musketeers is an animated motion picture, it wasn't made by the motion picture studio and doesn't have really quality look of one. I wouldn't consider it anything but a good direct to video release.

[Jeff O.]

This week, animator Floyd Norman has written an article about why he wishes that Disney had released THE THREE MUSKETEERS theatrically -- beyond the brief public screening the movie did have.

SPOILER WARNING -- The last paragraph in the article (the thirteenth paragraph) discusses the ending of the movie.

The column can be found here.

[JM0318]

For some reason this does not surprise me. I know that you have to continue to go forward to stay in business, but considering that the way they got in business in the first place... I agree that Walt is not only turning in his grave.. He is doing a continual spin at this point.ºoºJudy