You’ll find signs like this all over the Disney lot.
Photo by Jeff Lange
“No lookie-loos.” In Disney speak, this means: “Employees only.” Translation: If you’re a guest and/or a visitor on the lot, you really shouldn’t be nosing around. Peering in through any open conference room doors. Trying to find out what the Mouse is actually up to these days.
Mind you, once Ed Catmull officially becomes president of Disney Feature Animation, this “No lookie loos” rule may start extending to studio staffers as well. Given how frustrated the co-founder of Pixar is supposedly becoming with Disney employees’ seeming inability to keep a secret.
According to industry observers, Catmull is growing increasingly concerned with the amount of confidential information that is regularly relayed to WDFA animators, artists & executives … only to turn up on the Web that very same day.
This may explain that edict that Ed’s office handed down a few weeks back. Which severely restricted the number of WDFA employees that are now allowed to come up to Emeryville, CA. to tour the Pixar campus. Reportedly the reasoning behind this restriction was that the powers-that-are-about-to-be wanted to prevent Disney Studio employees from revealing much of anything about the projects that Pixar currently has in the works for after “Ratatouille.”
Catmull’s increased concern about security is allegedly already having an impact in Burbank. As they wander the halls of the Sorcerer Mickey building, many studio vets have been noticing a lot more locked doors & closed conference rooms. With WDFA’s senior staffers becoming increasingly cagey about admitting who is actually working on what projects these days (I mean, why are execs playing it so close to the vest about Brenda Chapman’s new role on “Meet the Robinsons”? If I had the celebrated story supervisor of “The Little Mermaid” & “The Lion King” coming in to help overhaul the second act of this still-somewhat-troubled animated feature, I’d be shouting that news from the roof tops.)
Speaking of “Meet the Robinsons” … Given that the film’s teaser trailer turned up in front of “The Wild” AND on Starz Kids & Family AND on the Web … A lot of people are already talking about this Stephen Anderson film. Which is why I thought that it might be fun this morning to share a few image captures that Nancy did yesterday of this new Disney animated feature.
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This is Lewis. Obstensively the star of this upcoming Walt Disney Pictures release. Though — to be honest — I don’t know if his mouth is hanging agape because A) he’s just been forced to wear A Carmen Miranda-type tutti-fruit hat …
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… B) Lewis doesn’t like the way that the film’s villain, the Bowler Hat Guy, is leering at him …
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… Or C) Lewis is somewhat startled to discover that the Robinson family has a pet giant squid, which serves as the doorman at their palatial estate.
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As we already discussed in Friday’s article, the MacGuffin that actually drives the plot of “Meet the Robinsons” is Lewis’ greatest invention, the memory scanner. You can see a shot of this device in the above image capture.
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But it’s this image capture that actually gives you some indication of how special “Meet the Robinsons” is going to be. That you’re really going to have to pay attention if you want to get all of this picture’s in-jokes and references.
“What’s so significant about this particular photo?,” you ask. Well, take a closer look at the name of Lewis’ school. “Joyce Williams Elementary.” Which is a somewhat sly tribute to William Joyce, the author of the book that “Meet the Robinsons” is based on, “A Day with Wilbur Robinson.”
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Of course, the gag from the “Meet the Robinsons” teaser trailer that most Disneyana fans are talking about is Todayland. Where it appears that Lewis has traveled so far into the future that some of the Magic Kingdom’s most popular attractions now seem positively pedestrian.
So what did you folks think of the “Meet the Robinsons” teaser trailer? Did it actually whet your appetite for this 2007 Walt Disney Pictures release? Or did this trailer — as the initial “Cars” teaser did for many animation fans — make you somewhat concerned about this film’s commercial prospects?
Your thoughts?