Christmas Carol vs. Frog Princess
Two Disney Films Compete For Christmas 2009 Theatrical Release
Jul 24, 2007
It was Bob Hoskins who spilled the beans.
In an interview with Empire Online, the British character actor (Unleashed, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) revealed that he had been approached by Robert Zemeckis to appear in a motion-capture version of A Christmas Carol.
"(Robert Zemeckis is) going to make A Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey," Hoskins said on July 4th. "He wants me to play Mr Fezziwig (Ebenezer Scrooge's scatter-brained but philanthropic mentor). He's doing in that way he did Polar Express. You stand in a box with that funny suit on and it reads everything you do . . . Am I going to do it? Of course I am!"
Sharp-eyed observers noted that Zemeckis had put together ImageMoversDigital, a motion-capture studio for the Walt Disney Company, last February. Of course they wondered if this edition (the 56th version, but who’s counting?) of the Christmas chestnut would be ImageMovers’ first project for the Mouse House.
Well wonder no more. According to Jim Hill Media, Disney has ‘fessed up and admitted that Hoskins was right, and that Zemeckis is adapting Scrooge’s Christmas conversion for the silver screen (and most likely quietly reminding Mr. Hoskins of the mantra “Loose lips sink ships). But wait: it gets better.
Zemeckis actually wrote the new script with Jim Carrey in mind for Ebenezer Scrooge. Not only that, Carrey will also take on the three roles of the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Christmas Yet-to-Come (regularly shortened to Christmas Future). Zemeckis is also hoping to line up Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump) as Bob Cratchit, Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future) as Marley’s Ghost, and . . . wait for it . . . Michael J. Fox as Tiny Tim. Keep in mind that these actors are still on Zemeckis’s wish list and haven’t been confirmed as part of the picture.
Taking a cue from DreamWorks Animation, Zemeckis is doing his A Christmas Carol in Disney Digital 3-D.
Unfortunately, there are a few problems with this project. Certain Disney executives are worried about Fox, wondering if his well-publicized battle with Parkinson’s Disease will hinder his ability to perform Tiny Tim.
Secondly, there are some serious reservations about Carrey’s willingness to do voice work. In 2004, he bailed on DreamWorks Animation’s Over the Hedge because he didn’t like the fact that he couldn’t interact with any other actors during the voice-recording process. Bruce Willis ended up voicing Carrey’s character for the 2006 movie.
However, Jim Carrey has reportedly been doing a great job doing voice work for Fox/Blue Sky’s Horton Hears a Who, in which he plays the title character. That bit of news should mollify skittish Disney suits. Fox’s CGI adaptation of the classic Dr. Seuss book, which also features the voice of Steve Carell, comes out March 14, 2008.
The third problem is the fact that Zemeckis wants to release this movie during the winter of 2009, the same time that Walt Disney Animation Studio wants to bring out Ron Clement and John Musker’s The Princess and the Frog. As you may be aware, a lot is riding on this flick, since it’s supposed to bring about a second “animation renaissance” for the Mouse House. Needless to say, Disney’s animators aren’t happy about a possible competitor stealing their thunder, especially since A Christmas Carol is also coming out under the Disney banner.
Since accepted wisdom dictates that a studio releasing two similar movies at the same time is a recipe for disaster, this means that one of these two flicks will get bumped to make way for the other. Which will get moved? Hill is thinking that The Princess and the Frog will get moved to the Spring of 2010, since A Christmas Carol is more suitable for the holiday season, natch. I have to say I agree with that guess, and for the same reasons. The Princess and the Frog is supposed to be set during Mardi Gras in New Orleans, which makes a spring release more likely. If that’s the case, that could mean the Disney animators won’t be happy with Zemeckis taking their coveted release date the way he did.
There’s already bad blood brewing between Zemeckis and Pixar over Brad Bird’s infamous "Our Quality Assurance Guarantee: 100% Genuine Animation! No motion capture or any other performance shortcuts were used in the production of this film" quote at the end of Ratatouille. If Disney animators take Pixar’s side (many animators don’t consider mo-cap real animation anyway), that could make ImageMoversDigital very unpopular among Disney conglomerates.
Zemeckis and ImageMoversDigital will start production of A Christmas Carol in the spring of 2008.
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