Yes, that's right, a Blu-ray set containing Walt Disney Animation Studios' recent shorts is coming! Stitch Kingdom got the news earlier today...
When is it being released? August 18th!
I knew this was coming, because my Disney comrade Tyler Kelson met visual development artist Brittney Lee (who will, alongside visdev artist Lorelay Bove, have a major role in one of Disney Animation's 2018 releases) at a Con a while back, and she told him that a set was in the works...
Naturally, I got super-excited at that hint!
Also, one of Stitch Kingdom's readers got the cover artwork. Looks exactly like the covers for the Pixar Short Films Collections, though those didn't have a character or two taking up a good portion of the main cover... But it's obvious that Frozen Fever is being heavily emphasized, because what better way to sell a collection of shorts than with Frozen characters all over the box?
But look closely at the cover... What do you see?
Second one from the left... That's Lorenzo!
What's Lorenzo?
A Mike Gabriel-directed short film that the studio made in 2004. It was shown at festivals and was attached to the Touchstone film Raising Helen, but it was never released on home media. Lorenzo, along with a few other shorts, were at one point going to be used to make a new Fantasia film, often dubbed Fantasia 2006... But that never happened.
The other shorts in question were Destino, One By One, and The Little Matchgirl. Destino is the posthumous completion of Walt Disney and Salvador Dali's abandoned project, and it's a real marvel. It was eventually released on home media in 2010 on the Fantasia 70th Anniversary Edition. Now, Fantasia/Fantasia 2000 was originally going to be a Diamond Edition, and all of those Fantasia 2006 shorts would've been on the set, a section or disc called "Fantasia World"... But that never happened.
So I can only hope, even though One By One and The Little Match Girl were given home media releases before (the former is on the DVD of The Lion King 2, and the latter is on the 2006 Platinum Edition DVD of The Little Mermaid), that those are also included on the set along with Destino.
What else? Well, if they're going to include those 2003-2006 era shorts, how about the 2000 Mark Henn-directed short John Henry that appears on the Disney compilation VHS/DVD Disney's American Legends? How about Runaway Brain? Or am I asking for too much with that one?
What else?
There's also Chris Williams'Glago's Guest, which was supposed to be attached to Bolt in theaters at one point, but it didn't happen and the short disappeared altogether. Tick Tock Tale was directed by Dean Wellins and was supposedly set to play before Tangled in theaters, but alas that didn't happen either. Those are both rarely seen, I think they were only shown at festivals and that's it.
Then there's also the wonderful Goofy short How To Hook Up Your Home Theater. Outside of being available on iTunes, it hasn't seen a physical release. That 2007 short was attached to National Treasure: Book of Secrets, and that's the only thing I remember from the night I saw that flick... That, and the WALL-E trailer.
So will this be the line-up? I hope so...
Runaway Brain (1995) - *the obligatory me-asking-for-too-much inclusion*
John Henry (2000)
Destino (2003)
Lorenzo (2004)
One By One (2004)
The Little Match Girl (2006)
How To Hook Up Your Home Theater (2007)
Glago's Guest (2008)
Tick Tock Tale (2010)
The Ballad of Nessie (2011)
Tangled Ever After (2012)
Paperman (2012)
Get A Horse! (2013)
Feast (2014)
Frozen Fever (2015)