(Annecy) Bringing together all the Disney heroes in a short film, a fairy tale for Christmas paying homage to the lucky star of Pinocchio and others… Mickey’s studio wants to pull out all the stops for its centenary, despite a wave of layoffs which hit.
Symbolic anniversary requires, he was represented in force at the 47th Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
In addition to a screening of the next Pixar, Elementary, or a masterclass from its star designer Eric Goldberg (Aladdin, Pocahontas), Disney has unveiled first images of its traditional end-of-year film, Wish, Asha and the lucky star.
We discover Asha, 17, asked to become the apprentice of King Magnifico, able to grant the wishes of his subjects.
Disappointed by the sovereign-magician, misunderstood by her grandfather (100 years old) and her mother, she leaves her house and begins to sing… Before making a wish by which a ball of energy in the shape of a star appears named Star. On contact with it, plants and animals begin to speak… and sing.
“Wish will be released in cinemas” and “won’t be coming to Disney” anytime soon because these films are made for theaters, especially this one, in cinemascope”, rejoiced with AFP its creator, Jennifer Lee, also creative director of Disney Animation Studios.
“We wondered how to pay homage to 100 years of stories while refreshing and renewing them”, explained the one who wanted to write an “original fairy tale”, not adapted from a book.
The “Star” character kind of represents everything Disney has been. It is hope, wonder, joy. It doesn’t make your dreams come true for you but it’s there to remind you that you can persevere,” she added.
The tribute also goes through the original graphics (3D mixed with 2D) of this film inspired by Sleeping Beauty, hitherto only tested by Disney in short films, at a time when the competition is innovating, such as Sony with Spider- Man: Across the Spider-verse.
But, on Friday, the real star of Annecy was the short film Once upon a studio, which will precede Wish in theaters and was greeted with a standing ovation.
Produced over two years, this “love letter” mixing 2D and 3D brings back some 500 Disney heroes, from Donald to Elsa via Stitch or the Genie from Aladdin.
For this long-term project, “99% of the desires we had have been granted, it’s unheard of,” Dan Abraham, one of its creators, told AFP. “So many people at the studio came up to us and said, ‘I have to be in,’ it was really great.”
The Disney group is not, however, going through the happiest period in its history: in search of profitability for its digital distribution platforms, including Disney, which lost subscribers for the first time at the end of 2022, the firm announced this winter the dismissal of 7000 people.
If she finds the way to the big screen, especially with Elementary, she also continues to expand her online content.
Pixar will thus deliver on Disney its very first long-format television series, Win or Lose, on the mixed softball team of a college, of which an episode of about twenty minutes was screened Friday in Annecy.
The big-eared studio also continues to advocate diversity, in Wish as in its next children’s series Disney Junior Ariel, which features a little black mermaid.