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Disney To Close Down Animation Studio

Mr. Anderson

Mr. Anderson

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Nov 1, 2001
22,568
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VA
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=599&e=14&u=/nm/entertainment_disney_dc

Wow, this is the end of an era. Coming on the heals of Pixar talking about openning a 2D animation group, Disney is closing theirs down and it looks like most of the animators will be out of jobs.

3D animation is great, but 2D is just as important as an art form - I don't really understand why they're doing this - its not like they haven't been making good movies. And even in Treasure Planet and Lilo and Stitch they used 3D animation in some parts and had the frames redrawn by hand to give it the right look and feel. I would imagine Walt brain is spinning in its cryo tank with this news.

And with no comment or future plans announced by Disney, you have to wonder what's going to happen.

Sad day.....:(

D
 
As I sit here watching Donald Duck on the Disney channel, I also feel Walt would be spinning in his cryo tank-but not too much. My understanding is that Walt was always fond of the latest gadgets, and used them in his movies. But I think he would be unhappy to know a good chunk of the animation staff is getting laid off, especially after making great movies like Lilo and Stitch.

My .02
 
It makes me wonder about Walt's nephew, who called for Eisner's resignation and if this plan to close down things in Florida wasn't part of it.

D
 
The problem with Disney feature animation is that they no longer focus on story. Their goal is to make as much money as possible which is why several of the recent features have been unsatisfying. Pixar, on the other hand spend years developing their stories. Pixar movies are excellent because the stories are good, not because they are 3D. It seems Disney's motivation to close down their 2D studio and only produce 3D animation is because they think 3D=$ when really it's the excellent stories that makes Pixar's features so successful.
 
This is very sad news Mr. Anderson. Indeed Walt Disney would be displeased to see the empire that he created failing. With Walt if was quality that counted, it is just a shame that profit and greed are so prominent in the business community today.
 
the animation industry as a whole is becoming free agent. instead of having people on staff year round, companies just put teams together as the projects commence. the movie ( non-animation) business has operated this way for decades.

it is the end of an era for disney and that is sad. but as much as i have few good things to say about disney, i don't think this is anything more than a genuine response to the rapidly evolving animation business.

for more on this read: Free Agent Nation.
 
i think they have more than one studio...with newer software they use less animators and more rederers. 2-D animation will be around for a long time...


peace.
 
Originally posted by soyaspade
The problem with Disney feature animation is that they no longer focus on story. Their goal is to make as much money as possible which is why several of the recent features have been unsatisfying. Pixar, on the other hand spend years developing their stories. Pixar movies are excellent because the stories are good, not because they are 3D. It seems Disney's motivation to close down their 2D studio and only produce 3D animation is because they think 3D=$ when really it's the excellent stories that makes Pixar's features so successful.
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hey there!!! I knew you said you were digging the site....didn't realize you were gonna start posting. you said what I was gonna say...

except for the fact that this is old news. Also, "A number of animators fired by Disney when it closed its Florida animation studios last year have formed their own company, Legacy Animation Studios, and announced Thursday that they plan to set up shop in Winter Garden, Florida later this month. "

LINK

Thats some real news. Disney is dead folks...nothing to see there...unless its a morbid fascination type deal. it's Stop-motion's turn to rise. :cool: :p
 
Originally posted by soyaspade
The problem with Disney feature animation is that they no longer focus on story. Their goal is to make as much money as possible which is why several of the recent features have been unsatisfying. Pixar, on the other hand spend years developing their stories. Pixar movies are excellent because the stories are good, not because they are 3D. It seems Disney's motivation to close down their 2D studio and only produce 3D animation is because they think 3D=$ when really it's the excellent stories that makes Pixar's features so successful.
Click to expand...

You are absolutely correct, soyaspade. They were entirely focused on churning out one, maybe two animated movies a year, and completely lost focus of what's important: STORY. Without it, you have nothing. I'm sad to see this happen, but they've been asking for it for a long time.
:(
 
i totally agree that the Story is more important then the animation. There are some stellar examples of how bad this can be in the 3D world.

Its sad, like I said, that Disney is finished. But wouldn't it have been better to rethink the problem instead of going ahead and just removing it. It seems as though Disney's helm is only going to be getting themselves in deeper crap if they've lost touch with what they've come to represent as a company.

Ah well :(

teabgs - cool link - glad to see something got salvaged. And I'm sure Pixar will most likely be picking up a few of the animators as well. :D

D
 
Originally posted by Mr. Anderson

But wouldn't it have been better to rethink the problem instead of going ahead and just removing it.
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actually...the problem remains. Roy was the only thing stopping Eisner from killing the traditional stuff YEARS ago. Eisner wanted to shut down the florida location in the 80's, but Roy prevented that....

it's the suits standing over the shoulders of the animators and telling them how to do their job that's the problem.

it's gonna be the same crappy films in a few years...only they'll be CG.
 
Originally posted by teabgs
it's gonna be the same crappy films in a few years...only they'll be CG.
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Final Fantasy comes to mind here. Not Disney - but really bad. ;)

And for Disney trying to compete against Pixar and PDI might be too little too late. You can be sure that marketing their first all CG release will be more than annoying.

I wonder how this will effect the Pixar/Disney distribution deals?

D
 
This is truly stupid. Cell animation was the essence of Disney and now it has crumbled. All they're doing now is cashing in on Miramax and their stupid cruise line business.

However, there has been one artisically brilliant animation feature since Eisner's rein called Destino, and I managed to catch it at the Melbourne Film Festival while I was down there. It's only five or six minutes but it's truly amazing, mainly because of the fact that this was a project started long ago by Walt Disney and Salvador Dalí, and was dug up by none other than Roy.

It'd be good to watch it again but I don't think it's available yet. Anyways here's a link I found about it.
 
Originally posted by B@SS_SHOCK
This is truly stupid. Cell animation was the essence of Disney and now it has crumbled. All they're doing now is cashing in on Miramax and their stupid cruise line business.

However, there has been one artisically brilliant animation feature since Eisner's rein called Destino, and I managed to catch it at the Melbourne Film Festival while I was down there. It's only five or six minutes but it's truly amazing, mainly because of the fact that this was a project started long ago by Walt Disney and Salvador Dalí, and was dug up by none other than Roy.

It'd be good to watch it again but I don't think it's available yet. Anyways here's a link I found about it.
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destino has NOTHING to do with Eisner. Also, many great features came during eisners reign....eisner started a while agop and has been SLOWLY killing disney features.

Also....Destino is a SHORT. Not a feature...it is not even close to long enough to be a feature
 
Here's the Orlando Sentinel link: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...jan10,0,5130337.story?coll=orl-home-headlines

Since Michael Eisner took over, the executives all say the same thing: "If we can't put a turnstile on it, we don't want it."

Lately, they've been trying to lay off all full-time employees at the parks. They had laid off the part-time employees with benefits a year or two ago and immediately placed an advertisement for part-time workers who "may qualify for benefits."

It mentions in the Sentinel story that they've also shut down the 2D operations in Narita and Paris.
 
Apparently Disney needs to get back to basics: kill off at least one parent in the opening scene of every animated film.

Worked for Nemo.
 
Originally posted by teabgs
destino has NOTHING to do with Eisner
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I didn't say he did. It was Roy's little project before he resigned. But I don't believe anything spectacular and innovative in an animated film has come out of Disney since Eisner became CEO in 1984. There was the Lion King which was the biggest grossing animated movie before Pixar came around but there hasn't been anything out of Disney to respark it's reputation since Fantasia.

Well I suppose he's managed to keep Disney afloat but he's truly turned the company into a "rapacious, soul-less company".
 
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