Disney, Zemeckis join forces
Monster House director will make motion capture movies for Mouse
By signing motion capture director Robert Zemeckis, the Walt Disney Company looks to corner the market in North American animation. But will this be a good thing?
(Source: jimhillmedia.com)
So, as of yesterday, director Robert Zemeckis will put together a company that will produce motion capture movies for the Walt Disney Company. With that move, Disney now has arguably the biggest names in cel animation (Walt Disney Feature Animation), CGI (Pixar) anime (its distribution deal with Studio Ghibli) and now motion capture. Barring any executive stupidity (or the return of Michael Eisner), the Walt Disney Company is now poised to be the leading name in animation for many years to come.
So what does it all mean, and is it really a good thing for Disney animation? Leaving aside the whole issue of whether mocap is really animation, it has certainly proved itself as a profitable medium: 2 out of the 3 Oscar-nominated movies this year (Monster House, Happy Feet) are mocap.
The Mouse House also hopes that they can get Zemeckis and John Lasseter together and see if the creative sparks fly. They even have a possible project in mind: Disney recaptured the rights to Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars series, and they'd like to develop it with Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-E) as director.
Certainly, having a director like Zemeckis under contract is pretty much a coup for any studio. Sure Monster House barely made back its costs in theatres but an Oscar nomination forgives a lot. Besides, Zemeckis' previous mocap flick, Polar Express, did gonzo box office and he has a track record which includes Forrest Gump, the Back to the Future trilogy and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? And don't forget the upcoming Beowulf.
But some people have expressed concerns that this new acquisition will crowd out Walt Disney Feature Animation. When Pixar rules CGI, and Zemeckis' as-yet-unnamed company has mocap, what can WDFA do but old school cel animation? And since cel is (according to conventional wisdom) slowly going the way of the VCR, what's the point?
Keep in mind that cel animation would be dead at Disney right now if it weren't for John Lasseter. The Mouse House had officially closed the department before Iger bought Pixar and put Lasseter in charge of both Pixar and WDFA. Lasseter is a huge fan of classic Disney movies so, whatever happens, he will do what he can to make sure cel is still an integral part of Disney.
One theory is that WDFA will stay with cel animation, but that those movies will be more "event" flicks. Namely, they will come out once every 2 or 3 years, have more traditional storylines, and will be marketed to those parents (and grandparents) who love and remember the Golden Age of Disney Animation. Certainly the three animated movies on Disney's "to do" list have traditional storylines: the partly live-action Enchanted, The Frog Princess and Rapunzel.
Some would argue that there are too many princess plots in there, but princesses have always been good for the Mouse House: Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella are animation classics and the Disney Princesses line has made billions of dollars for the company.
The more sinister side to all of this reshuffling (at least for Disney employees) is that, if there are a lot fewer movies coming out of WDFA (and at a slower pace), that may mean that some 400 animators may get pink-slipped, around 2/3 of the current roster. Of course, many of them may end up getting reshuffled into Pixar or Zemeckis' new company.
Of course this all depends on how those three films do at the box office. Enchanted looks like classic "chick flick" fodder, which will get women (and possibly their daughters) in theatres but may alienate the guys. The Frog Princess looks like a lot more fun, especially with its Jazz Age spin.
Unfortunately, Rapunzel may never get off the ground: the storyboards look amazing but director Glen Keane envisioned a CG project while rumour has it that Lasseter is pushing for it to be cel. That's creating friction between the two men which may doom the movie.
Either way, you can be sure that there will be interesting times ahead for the Walt Disney Company, no matter what happens.
