So this was going to be similar to my live blog of the 2013 D23 Expo, where I updated the post as the presentation progressed. However, things got in the way and I missed the whole Disney Animation and Pixar presentation... When I got home, I did a sort-of hasty covering of it all... Right now, the post is updated with extended thoughts on Disney Animation's presentation only, as the Pixar one is currently being written as of this writing.
Below is the live-blog of the expo before I left... After that is the hasty thoughts on the full presentation, and then the full, extended thoughts on Disney Animation's presentation...
PART ONE: THE LIVE-BLOG
11:32 AM EST
Even though the presentation is hours away, WDW News Today spotted these posters in the animation booth at the expo...
Cars 3 and Incredibles 2 posters on the wall at the animation booth #D23Expopic.twitter.com/Yl5mAmCVUc— WDW News Today (@WDWNT) August 14, 2015Nothing really more than just logo reveals, though it's interesting to see that The Incredibles 2 might be using a Roman numeral instead. It makes the new logo look pretty cool, too! So yes... The Incredibles II.
Now check out the order they are in. Cars 3 is first, and then Incredibles II... So I guess Cars 3 is the summer 2018 release? I guess we'll learn later. Lasseter recently said to an auto blog that it could come out in either summer 2018 or summer 2019.
Notice the space between Toy Story 4 and Cars 3? That must be a placeholder for the still-yet-to-be-revealed original that's going to open on 11/22/2017... Or October 2017, if it's Lee Unkrich's Day of the Dead project...
The plot thickens...
UPDATE: 12:02 PM EST
Here's a better pic of the posters...
Living/screaming/dying for this image. Even though it tells us nothing we don't already know. #D23pic.twitter.com/BvgsQHCpb6— Adam Rucker (@adamrucker) August 14, 2015UPDATE: 12:21 PM EST
IS @DisneyAnimation ANNOUNCING A NEW MOVIE THE THEIR PANEL TODAY?!😍😭 GAKANAKSKSLLSSK FUXK pic.twitter.com/DoYtsG3EuA— Ben Orosz (@BenOrosz36) August 14, 2015Yep, that 3/9/2018 Disney Animation film announcement will come today...
UPDATE: 1:36 PM EST
This just in from Pixar...
— Disney•Pixar (@DisneyPixar) August 14, 2015They highlighted the Cars 3 and Incredibles II posters, and the Luxo Jr. image... I still think it's a placeholder for the 11/22/2017 film...
I also love how they highlighted the "Soon" of "Coming Soon", and said it on their twitter. Something's a-brewin'!
UPDATE: 2:10 PM EST
Here's a cool, minimal Finding Dory teaser poster...
— Mint Movie (@MintMovie) August 14, 2015Love the tagline.
UPDATE: 2:30 PM EST
Look what Mr. Unkrich had to say a few minutes ago...
Wandering the show floor at #D23EXPOpic.twitter.com/2l3ihbsjLc— Lee Unkrich (@leeunkrich) August 14, 2015So... 11/22/2017 is Lee Unkrich's untitled Day of the Dead project? Or maybe it's 10/??/2017? Either way, we might've gone a confirmation on what original will be opening between Toy Story 4 and Cars 3!
PART TWO: THE HASTY THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENTATION...
No longer news, but here are my thoughts on what's been revealed!
Walt Disney Animation Studios' next after Moana is Gigantic. Not called Giants anymore (I guess it would've caused a rights issue with the New York Giants?), the reimagining of the Jack and the Beanstalk tale is to be set in Spain during the exploration age. Jack will climb up the beanstalk to meet a lost little girl giant named Inma, and help her find her home. That sounds radically different from the plot synopsis that Bleeding Cool detailed two summers ago... It's no wonder it moved out of the fall 2016 that it seemed to be destined for. It sounds like it was completely reimagined, upside and down...
We'll also see a world of giants above the beanstalk, reports say they all come from different cultures no less! So, some nice world-building. Very welcome, of course. The villains will be known as the Storm Giants, who were in the version BC talked about.
Also, Robert and Kristen-Anderson Lopez are doing the songs. I guess we'll have some tunes stuck in our head after it opens!
No release date was mentioned, but for now, it's pretty obvious that this will be the studio's 3/9/2018 release until something changes on both Disney Animation and Pixar's slates. Which may happen, because... Well... I'll get to that in a minute.
As for updates on the two films we know about - Zootopia and Moana, there were plenty.
The pop singer character Gazelle will be voiced by Shakira, and she'll have a song in the film called "Try Everything". Hope it all amounts to an end credits scene, because I think something like this could date the movie a bit...
Other than that, we get some looks at other characters such as a few otters, a Fennec fox, and an African buffalo who is a police officer. (We can see all of them in the trailer, but since they were part of the display, I guess they are significant characters.)
Moana sounds even more amazing with the updates we got earlier today. The music will be done by Opetaia Foa'i (Oceanic musician and founder of the group Te Vaka) and Lin-Mauel Miranda (who did the Broadway musical In The Heights), and will be arranged by Mark Mancina (which we all knew beforehand, for those who don't know he did the score for Tarzan)... It's good that Disney Animation is making sure this project feels Oceanic. So far we know The Rock (who is half-Samoan) is voicing Maui, we still don't know who is voicing the titular heroine. (It seems like it's keeping that title, too.)
We got more details on Maui himself. He was born a human, but was raised by gods, so he finds himself trying to please both sides. Variety reported that the footage they showed of Maui introducing himself to Moana was "blending animation and CGI"... Does that mean "traditional" animation and CGI?? The ocean itself, as said before, is a character of its own, no different from the Magic Carpet in Aladdin.
Also, this epic piece of concept art someone snapped a photo of...
Yes, I'm super-excited! I mean I already was, but now... I'm even more excited!
Now, as for Emeryville...
A new Good Dinosaur image showcasing father T-rex butch and his children, Ramsey and Nash...
The footage shown was what was shown before, and it moved some to tears. Not surprising...
Finding Dory footage showed some plot points, and we also learned that Ed O'Neill will be voicing the octopus Hank, who was revealed during the Cannes Film Festival Pixar presentation. He'll be missing a tentacle...
Interesting that the first image from Finding Dory is a shot of the marine biology institute and not a lush ocean setting, but it looks great, obviously. Kaitlin Olsen's whale shark character will be named Destiny. I recall seeing concept art of the character in the background of the Pixar tour introduction that was attached to the Fathom Event screenings of Inside Out. (I went to one of those screenings, yes.)
Now onto... And this is a big deal right here... The film that Pixar will release in the fall of 2017...
Yes, it is Lee Unkrich's Day of the Dead project! It's called Coco...
What's it about? A 12-year-old named Miguel who, as Variety puts it, "sets off a chain of events that change his family and explores their history." Comic Book Resources add that the events are tied to an ancient mystery, and that Miguel is a "spirited" boy who lives in rural Mexico. Why Coco as the title? In Latin folklore, "coco" usually refers to a negative, Bogeyman-esque spirit. Interesting! Given that this is a Day of the Dead story, I expect the film to go down some considerably dark paths...
Thankfully the plot isn't too similar to the other recent animated Day of the Dead film The Book of Life. Remember those posters from earlier? They filled in the Luxo, Jr. one with this...
— ErikDavis (@ErikDavis) August 15, 2015Love the title, love the idea, and I love the fact that it's opening in fall 2017... Though I still reckon that the 11/22/2017 release date will be changed to October something, 2017. Why release a Day of the Dead-themed film after Day of the Dead, you know?
Nothing beyond that. No details on Cars 3 or The Incredibles II, or whatever Mark Andrews is cooking up. More thoughts to follow! (Including additional Toy Story 4 thoughts, as more details were revealed during the presentation, ones I'm a bit iffy about...)
PART THREE: FULL THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENTATION...
Now with more time to breathe in the news, I've decided to do some extended thoughts on both presentations. Here's my full take on the Walt Disney Animation Studios details, starting with Zootopia...
Most of the details revealed during the presentation were ones I've heard of before, from its themes to the way the animals will act and behave. Footage was shown, some of it being new (such as Nick Wilde meeting Judy Hopps in an ice cream shoppe), some of it being stuff that was shown before (the DMV scene with sloths)...
The artwork shown, however, was stunning. I've gushed over the concept before and how they've built a whole city for these different mammals, and having the neighborhoods be themed after the habitats, but...
That's Bunny Burrow. Those building designs are something else. They could've gone for just regular buildings, but they really went the extra mile. A scene where Judy chases a rodent through Little Rodentia is interesting because it plays with the size and scale of the buildings animals of different sizes inhabit. As I had said before, the differences between these animals and how they behave will make for some great story-driven gags and whatnot.
The vehicles also look really cool. Hope they remain that way in the finished film...
Tundra Town looks like something out a Christmas fantasy film or something. Love the architecture and design.
Of course we also got retro posters of the locations. The Rainforest District really catches my eye, as it looks really futuristic. Almost kind of reminds me of a Roger Dean painting in a way... This film is just going to be major-league eye candy!
Now here are some faces, two of which we can see in the teaser.
We may not have learned too many new things about this picture, but what we saw was quite epic. There are a few things that were revealed - such as Shakira voicing a dancing gazelle named... Gazelle and having a song in the movie, along with parodies of real-life things: Vanity Fur, Gnusweek, etc. - that I'm not too, too fond of, but it doesn't matter. I love the concept, I love the plot, the character designs are great, the world is really cool, and it looks like it'll be a visual wowser through and through. Plus you've got Byron Howard and Rich Moore directing! Bring it on!
Next up, Moana!
Being the next big epic musical from the studio, it's no surprise that this was what arguably made the real splash yesterday...
First off, the music will be done by Opetaia Foa'i and Lin-Manuel Miranda, arranged by Tarzan composer Mark Mancina. Mancina is a perfect fit for the film given how his score really fit the lush African jungles of Tarzan, and it should fit Oceania and the film's mystical underworlds perfectly. Foa'i is an Oceanic musician, so that adds much-needed authenticity to the film. I like that Disney is not whitewashing it, as we know that The Rock - who is of Samoan descent - is voicing demigod Maui. Miranda is another Broadway-type, and I was kind of hoping this musical wouldn't go to sweeping Frozen-levels, because not every Disney musical needs to be like that. However, it seems like they'll mix in more than a fair amount of Oceanic-type music.
Visually, it won't be Feast in movie form, as I've been told by A113 Animation writer Munir, but they showed a sequence of Maui's tattoos moving... And they'll be in done in 2D!
Her full CG design isn't too bad and looks close to those sketches, hopefully the animation itself has that 2D underbelly that the recent Disney Animation films have. The eyes are a bit on the Tangled/Frozen side, but Disney's used similar character design from film to film in the past, so no big deal.
We also got a full CG render of Moana's chief father Tui...
No CG render of Maui, unfortunately, but here's concept art of him...
Many people noted that Maui's magical tattoos are actually animated and move, and the magical hook is akin to Thor's Mjonir. As I said earlier, he's a human-born that's been raised by gods, and is something of a middle-man trying to please the two sides.
That's stunning. That's all I'm going to say about that artwork...
Two animal friends, as we've known for a while, will accompany Moana and Maui on their epic journey. First is her pet pig Pua, who has a very cool design...
... And there's rooster Hei Hei, who has been described as cranky. Certainly looks it, too! According to the reports, this fowl is a stowaway!
Here is Moana and her grandmother, who encourages her exploring while the father says no to it...
A better look the lava witch. Stunning, stunning, stunning!
Moana and the ocean, which is a character itself. A sequence shown to the crowd showcased the ocean waves on the shore divide to show an infant Moana a seashell. The water moves away from her as he walks deeper into it, making sure she's safe. It can also interact with her and others, as evidenced in this piece of concept art below...
That is all based on research. During the time of the film's setting, 2,000 years ago, the Oceanic people saw the water as a person or friend.
Lastly, a lovely aerial view of her home village...
Yes, it looks and sounds amazing. Dream team Ron Clements and John Musker directing? Check. A great Oceanic setting and story? Check. Supernatural elements and creatures and demigods? Double check. What more can you ask for?
Now, lastly for Disney Animation, Gigantic...
First off... I'm not a fan of the adjective titles for Disney Animation's reimagined fairy tales. Tangled was a title I never, never liked. One of the reported testing titles, The Secret Tower, I think, is far better though still not great. Frozen works better as a title, given that Anna's heart does indeed get frozen, there's lots of snow, and Elsa is the Snow Queen. That one doesn't bother me too much, this one? Why not The Beanstalk or World of Giants or something like that?
A title is a title, though...
Anyways, I love the new story they have come up with. A world of giants is definitely a nice twist on a classic fairy tale, though we knew long beforehand that this story would involve multiple giants and not just one. We all know the classic Jack and the Beanstalk story and how the giant is bad, but this is great because Disney could've very well made a straight adaptation and called it a day, but they didn't. Plus, a world of giants from - as multiple sources said - different cultures would make for some really cool world-building. It's always exciting when Disney creates their own worlds, whether they are Wreck-It Ralph's video game worlds or the almost steampunk-like future we saw in Treasure Planet or Meet The Robinsons' optimistic take on the future, this is what I think Disney Animation should tackle more and more...
The story also seems like a nice change of pace. I kind of hope that Jack doesn't have a love interest in any way, because not every Disney fairy tale adaptation or musical needs to be a love story. The story of Jack helping a lost 11-year-old little girl giant whilst dealing with evil 'Storm Giants' is fine enough. Two years ago, Bleeding Cool revealed lots of details on Gigantic, back when it was known as Giants. The title Giants was teased by Honor Hunter of Blue Sky Disney back in June 2013, so that must've been the actual title of the film for a long while. Why they didn't stick with it? Well, I suggested earlier that it could've caused a rights issue.
Anyways, what Bleeding Cool unveiled seems to be the story we won't be getting. This earlier iteration of Giants had a love triangle between Jack, upper-class Angelina, and the noble Marco. The humans also had made a pact with the Storm Giants in the past: Work for them, and get protection from threats. Inma in this version was a tomboy warrior who wanted to be seen with respect. There were lots of themes of class and whatnot, and it seems like that may or may not be in this new iteration of the film. If not, then that's the usual for animated films. Big changes are always made during development, and it's no shock that it was reported that the film was possibly going to be Disney Animation's fall 2016 release at one point. We had also heard rumors of the film hitting the wall, reports of the story just not coming together... Maybe that did happen, and maybe it got this rewrite that it probably needed.
So, I'll be content if they have indeed written the love story out and the whole thing with the humans already knowing the giants. I would like for a mysterious first act that's close to the tale, and then boom, no evil giant, but a world of giants - good and bad!
It's especially refreshing considering that Disney adapted this tale three times before in animation, and all of them played it straight. The first was the Laugh-O-Gram short Walt made in 1922, then there was the black-and-white take on it starring Mickey called Giantland, released in 1933. Finally, of course, there's the one almost everyone knows: The Legend of Happy Valley segment from the 1947 package feature Fun & Fancy Free, often billed as Mickey and the Beanstalk.
This adaptation, for a roughly 30-minute featurette (though, like Bongo, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and The Wind in the Willows, it began life as a feature-length project), is a favorite of mine. The introduction with the harp being stolen and Happy Valley being borderline post-apocalyptic is good stuff, and it gets particularly unsettling when Donald Duck starts going nuts. The growth of the beanstalk and what ensues is all great, and then of course, you think the giant is going to be like the more menacing Disney villains but you get this big, bubbly, bouncy goofball. It's a great little short subject, so Disney already did the tale right in short film form.
It continues Disney's new tradition of writing original stories based on ideas and elements from the original fairy tales. That way, they have versions they can truly be their own things whilst not seeming like watered down versions of the originals. (I don't have a problem with Disney's other adaptations, by the by.) Walt and crew mostly worked off of the main structures of the original tales (something like The Jungle Book, though not a fairy tale, is an exception), whereas the studio now is pretty much writing their own stories.
Gigantic also brings back songwriting team Robert and Kristen-Anderson Lopez. This is both exciting and a little worrisome. The Lopezes are super-talented, the musical numbers they did for Winnie the Pooh are great, and if you take away all the hype for a second, the best Frozen songs are really, really good. As sick and tired as I am of 'Let It Go', I still find it to be a strong song. Me being sick of it has more to do with everyone just not shutting up about it and the rest of the movie. I also really love 'Frozen Heart' as well. If the Gigantic soundtrack is without dubious lyrics about being gassy and tinkling in the woods, or anything of the sort, I'll be alright. Last thing a Disney animated film needs is 2-year-old level humor like that. Just write damn good songs that advance the story...
I'm okay with this one going a more Broadway route, though since the story is set in Spain, I would really like to see a Spanish influence on the musical numbers more so than anything. That would be different, and I think that's what Walt Disney Animation Studios should be doing with each new picture... Trying something new. Forget trying to match 'Let It Go' and the like, do something new.
Gigantic sounds like it has lots of potential, and hopefully the story will stick to the core ideas we were told yesterday: Jack finds a lost girl giant, helps her get home, and there's evil Storm Giants. No love story or anything else, I love it the way it is.
As for the release date... It's obviously going to be March 9, 2018. This is exactly what happened two years ago at the 2013 D23 Expo. Honor Hunter told us before then that Zootopia was expected to be the company's spring 2016 release. Zootopia was officially unveiled by Disney during that expo, but they didn't say what the release date was until... Last October. They waited, because why date it and put extra pressure on the crew while development is still going on? Wait till it's all solid and set in stone.
Of course, as we all know, Nathan Greno is directing. Dorothy Kim, producer of the fantastic short Get A Horse!, will produce. I guess Byron Howard won't jump over to this project after completing Zootopia, going against what the Kenosha News story on Greno said back in March. Maybe they made a mistake?
Gigantic sounds like another winner in the making...
As for other release dates...
If I were to guess Disney Animation's slate right now, I'd say...
Gigantic - 3/9/2018
Wreck-It Ralph 2 - 11/21/2018
Untitled Dean Wellins - TBD Q2 2019
Frozen 2 - 11/27/2019
I think this will happen, should Pixar's Coco not open on 11/22/2017. In that case...
Gigantic - 11/27/2018
Untitled Dean Wellins - 6/15/2018
Wreck-It Ralph 2 - 11/21/2018
Frozen 2 - 11/27/2019
Some predictions for now. Will change them eventually...
Pixar extended thoughts coming soon...