For years, studio heads have been saying it’s all about story, not technique. That notion will be put to the test as Walt Disney Feature Animation makes a historic return to hand-drawn animation. Rumors of a 2D rebirth at the studio that have been floating around for months were confirmed Thursday by Ed Catmull, president of Pixar and Disney Walt Feature Animation, as he spoke at the Mouse House’s 2007 Investor Conference. It was also announced that Toy Story 3 is on track for a 2009 release, but John Lasseter won’t be at the helm.
Catmull and Pixar’s chief creative officer, John Lasseter, took over the Feature Animation unit when Disney acquired Pixar last year. Since then, there have been a number of shake-ups including the layoffs of some 300 artist and a restructuring of the slate of animated projects coming down the pipeline. The removal of director Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch) from his CG-animated American Dog suggested that the new bosses didn’t want the Disney and Pixar operations competing in the 3D field, but Catmull says Disney’s productions will include both hand-drawn and CG works.
Explaining the changes at the Magical Kingdom, Catmull said, “At Disney, you have these remarkable artists who were there, but in all candor were were not kneaded together in the right way. At the heart of it there has to be a director and the director has to have a vision.”
American Dog is now being helmed by veteran Disney story artist Chris Williams and is slated for release in 2008. It may be immediately followed by The Frog Princess, Disney Feature Animation’s first 2D theatrical release since the poorly received 2004 effort Home on the Range. Frog is being developed by Ron Clements and John Musker, the team behind Aladdin and Treasure Planet.
The presentation to investors included clips from American Dog and other upcoming films including the next release, Ratatouille, as well as Meet the Robinsons, Wall-E and Toy Story 3.
For the third Toy Story installment, Lasseter is handing directorial duties over to Lee Unkrich, who served as co-director on Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo. The script is being written by Michael Arndt, who was recently nominated for an Oscar for penning Fox Searchlight’s Little Miss Sunshine, his first produced screenplay.
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