Disney Premieres Centenary Short ‘Once Upon A Studio’ at Annecy
Disney’s centenary short “Once Upon A Studio” kicked off the Annecy Film Festival today, giving audience members a first glimpse at the studio’s 100th-anniversary cartoon.
Directed by Dan Abraham and Trent Correy, the nine-minute short brings together more than four hundred characters spanning the company’s hand-drawn animation, CGI, and live-action works.
“A Love Letter To Disney Animation”
The cartoon brings together a dazzling mix of characters, who cause gentle chaos around the Roy E. Disney Animation Building on the Disney studio lot.
While almost all of Disney’s iconic characters are featured in the short, the cartoon actually begins with a different Disney Legend. Veteran animator Burny Mattison, who passed away in February, just shy of his 70th anniversary with the studio, kicks off the short by saying “Boy, if these walls could talk”.
With a little bit of Disney magic, that is exactly what the walls do. Mickey and Minnie spring loose from photos on the wall, before bringing an array of characters including Tiana, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Goofy, Merlin, Moana, and Maui to life.
“This is a love letter to the medium, to Disney animation. And really a thank you to anyone in the audience that’s ever connected with a film over the last hundred years,” said director Dan Abraham.
Bringing Back The Stars
To create the milestone cartoon, Disney brought back more than 40 original voice actors. Additionally, legendary Disney animator Eric Goldberg, who was the lead animator on Genie in “Aladdin” and co-director “Pocahontas” returned for the hand-drawn animation in the short. “Raya and the Last Dragon” supervising animator Andrew Feliciano oversaw the CGI.
Disney fans will get a chance to see “Once Upon A Studio” for themselves when the short plays before “Wish” in theaters on November 22.
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon! Also, thanks for reading!