First the bad news: Yes, the rumors you’ve heard are true. Chris Sanders — the man who wrote & directed “Lilo & Stitch,” Disney’s traditionally animated smash from the summer of 2002 — was forced off of his follow-up project, “American Dog.” Which was originally supposed to be WDFA’s big release for 2008.
Now the worse news: Given what a huge talent Chris is, how highly this man is thought of by the rest of the crew at Disney Feature Animation … Sanders being pulled off of his own picture this past Wednesday — coupled with those 166 staffers that were laid off last Friday — has caused morale to sink to an all-time low at WDFA .
Which I know isn’t exactly the hopeful sort of story that people like to read around Christmas. So how’s about this: What if I were to tell you the real reason that John Lasseter & Ed Catmull pulled Chris Sanders off of “American Dog” ?
But before I can do that … You first have to take a few steps back … I mean w-a-a-a-y back. Take in the view from a thousand feet back.
I mean, sure. From six inches away, Sanders being forced off of the film that he himself wrote, featuring characters that Chris helped create …. That seems like a real tragedy. A true injustice.
Copyright 2005 Disney Enterprises
But — from where Ed & John are sitting — there are bigger problems to deal with right now besides the fate of one piddly little animated feature. Like what the hell sort of movies should Disney Feature Animation be making these days anyway?
Pixar? They do CG well. Very, very well, in fact. And — for a while there — that Emeryville-based operation pretty much had a lock on the whole computer animation field. But now Pixar faces increasing competition in the CG arena. I mean, it’s not just DreamWorks Animation that’s turning out popular computed animated movies anymore. There’s also Blue Sky Studios & Sony Animation & Warners & Nickelodeon … As well as Disney Feature Animation.
You see, that’s the really tough part of the situation that Catmull & Lasseter now find themselves in. These guys are running two animation studios that are — in effect — in direct competition with one another. Think about it. If Pixar’s making CG films and WDFA is also producing computer animated features, doesn’t that basically mean that these two studios are now competing for the same customers? That they’re both lusting after the same dollars?
That doesn’t seem like a very smart business plan to me. Competing directly with yourself.
Wouldn’t it be smarter (in the long run, anyway) to create a way that consumers could differentiate between these animation studios? So that they’d know to associate a certain sort of film with Pixar and an entirely different type of production with Walt Disney Feature Animation?
Well, that’s the way that Catmull & Lasseter are thinking these days. Which is why they’ve begun applying the brakes over at WDFA. Shifting that animation studio’s production schedule over from a one-new-film-every-year routine to a slower paced one-new-film-every-18-months production schedule. So that they can then buy themselves a little more time before the next Disney Feature Animation production after “Meet the Robinsons” is due to hit the screen.
Now — as to the real reason that Ed & John pulled Chris off of “American Dog” … Sanders deliberately designed that film to be a CG feature. And Catmull & Lasseter … Well, they don’t really want Disney Feature Animation to be in the computer animation business as of 2008.
Copyright 2005 Disney Enterprises
“Wait a minute …, ” you sputter. “You don’t mean … You can’t mean …”
Yep. Following the release of “Meet the Robinsons,” Ed & John would like WDFA to go back into the traditional animation business. Full-time. With their battle plan being that — from here on in — Pixar would do all of the CG features while Disney Feature Animation would then become a strictly traditional operation.
Obviously, this is a pretty bold plan. One that (given the $100-million-plus that WDFA spent over the past three years to retrain that studio’s staff as well as to change Disney Feature Animation into a start-of-the-art CG operation) Bob Iger reportedly hasn’t entirely embraced yet. The way that I hear it, Disney’s new CEO wants to see how well “Enchanted” does at the box office next November as well as how the story reels for “The Frog Princess” turn out before he officially commits to Catmull & Lasseter’s new scheme.
So again … When you take in the view from a thousand feet back … And you realize that animated features are like ocean liners. In that they both take years to build & then launch … If Disney Feature Animation really is going to get back into the traditional animation business … Well, that means that — at some point — WDFA actually has to stop working on those CG-only projects that it already has in its development pipeline.
It was just the luck of the draw that Chris Sanders’ “American Dog” wound up being the film that was about to be greenlit, that was officially about to be put into production when Ed & John decided “Let’s not do this anymore.”
Oh, sure. There’ll be some talk now about about assigning a new director & story team to “American Dog.” But the very first thing that Catmull & Lasseter will be asking these folks to do is re-imagine this film as a traditionally animated feature.
Copyright 2005 Disney Enterprises
And remember how Ed & John reportedly had a conversation with Glen Keane earlier this year about possibly doing “Rapunzel” as a traditionally animated feature? And how that master animator supposedly told the new ubermeisters of WDFA that he wanted to stick with CG? Well, I would imagine that — after the first of the year — Catmull, Lasseter & Keane are going to have another conversation. And if Glen knows what’s good for him, he’ll quickly agree to turn “Rapunzel” into a traditionally animated feature.
So — yes — while I am sorry to see the Chris Sanders version of “American Dog” being put to sleep (Based on the concept paintings, story sketches and test animation sequences that I’ve already seen for this film, it looked like it was going to a very cute little picture) … The very idea that the Sleeping Beauty that is traditional animation at Walt Disney Studios may soon be awakening from her three-year-long snooze … Not just for an occasional feature or a handful of shorts … But for now and for always … That’s one hell of a Christmas present, don’t you think?
So while you may be feeling sorry for Chris Sanders & all of the other folks who were working on his version of “American Dog,” please keep your eye on the bigger picture here. That — because John Lasseter & Ed Catmull finally had the courage to hit the brakes and say: “We’re heading in the wrong direction. Let’s turn around” … We may now see the return of full-blown full-time traditional animation at Walt Disney Studios years ahead of schedule.
Again, I want to stress here that this is NOT a done deal. Iger still needs a lot of convincing. And a lot of people within the company are going to be furious when this agenda is finally revealed. Given the sheer waste that’s going to be involved here.
I mean, just think of the deliberately-designed-to-be-CG WDFA projects like “Joe Jump” that are now going to have to be junked. Swept away as WDFA moves as quickly as possible to return to its traditional animation roots.
But — in the long run — don’t you think that the cost & the pain involved here will be worth it?
Your thoughts?