This year’s Annecy Intl. Animation Festival (held in Annecy, France) gave many fans of classic Disney animation a special treat as attendees of the event received an early screening of Disney’s upcoming animated short Once Upon A Studio.
The animated short is meant to commemorate 100 years of the Wild Disney Company and shows the vast array of classic worlds, characters and stories the studio has brought into existence.Â
The short was co-directed by veteran Disney animators Dan Abraham and Trent Correy. Abraham described the project as “a love letter to the medium, to Disney animation, and really a thank you to anyone in the audience that’s ever connected with a film over the last hundred years“.
The short begins with Disney veteran animator Burny Mattinson (who had sadly passed away earlier this year). The animator says “Boy, if these walls could talk” to which Mickey and Minnie come to life from pictures hanging on the walls.
Soon hundreds of Disney characters begin to appear, showing the vast array of stories, worlds and adventures the studio has brought over the past century.
The short is said to be a combination of hand-drawn animation and CGI with animator Eric Goldberg handling the hand-drawn segments while animator Andrew Feliciano oversaw the CGI parts of the short.
More than 40 actors were said to have been brought in to reprise many of their voiceover roles. Hopefully, it won’t just be mainstream films and include many other underrated films like Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Meet the Robinsons and The Great Mouse Detective. These films deserve a shout-out in this epic animation reunion as well.Â
The short is said to be making its official debut at the beginning of Disney’s 2023 Thanksgiving release Wish, on November 22nd. Many of Disney’s recent films have premiered with a short film at the beginning, with some being well-made and others being passable. This one may be worth the price of admission alone. True Disney fanatics are sure to get their fix with this lovely tribute.Â
What do you think? Are you looking forward to seeing this short on the big screen this November?
Sources: Variety, WDWNT
Pirates & Princesses (PNP) is an independent, opinionated fan-powered news blog that covers Disney and Universal Theme Parks, Themed Entertainment and related Pop Culture from a consumer's point of view. Opinions expressed by our contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of PNP, its editors, affiliates, sponsors or advertisers. PNP is an unofficial news source and has no connection to The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal or any other company that we may cover.