Let’s Get Dangerous! Teaser brings back the full Darkwing Cast
Premiering Monday, October 19th on Disney XD, this latest episode of DuckTales brings back many of the old favorites from Darkwing Duck’s roster. If you pay close attention you can catch glimpses of Quackerjack, Megavolt, The Liquidator, Bushroot, Taurus Bulba, Gosalyn, and even a few of our old favorites such as Gizmoduck.
It’s unclear what city this episode takes place in, but it looks a lot like Darkwing’s old city, Saint Canard. And it seems that Zan Owlson, the former CEO of Glomgold Industries, is now the mayor.
Get excited to see these new design twists on old favorites, as we get to see more of them in this new installment of Darkwing Duck in DuckTales.
Purple Socks and Fantasy Van Halen — Episode 1: ONWARD
Join Animation Force Creator and Executive Editor Christopher, and Managing Editor Courtney, as they discuss the latest Pixar film, Onward! Check out the podcast right here, and contribute to the conversation by reaching out to us on Twitter (@scribeandscribb, @animation_force) or by commenting on the video on YouTube. And stay tuned for more podcasts and video content coming soon!
Toy Story 4 First Teaser, With A New Character
The first teaser trailer for Toy Story 4 just dropped, and it truly is a teaser. There’s not much told about the film, other than the obvious reintroduction of all the main characters. However, there’s a new face here. The character looks like a craft made out of a spork, pipe cleaners and some googly eyes.
Toy Story 4 is set to come out June 21, 2019 in US theaters. It’s being directed by Josh Cooley, who previously directed the short, Riley’s First Date?, and has been a storyboard artist on Up, and Cars 2. Toy Story 4 will be Cooley’s directorial debut for feature films.
Disney is live-streaming 24 hours of Mickey Mouse shorts in honor of Mickey’s 90th Birthday today (Nov. 7, 2018).
As a huge fan of these shorts, I’ll definitely be tuning in (though not for all 24 hours!). Who else will be watching today?
- Courtney ( @harmonicacave )
Update:
The Disney Channel Youtube channel is still streaming Mickey Mouse shorts 24 hours a day (as of Sunday, Nov. 11) if you go to the Youtube channel itself.
(via animationforce)
The Disney*Pixar Championship Bracket
Recently, there has been hot debate over which film would win it all in a Disney*Pixar bracket. On Twitter especially, people have been arguing energetically over who has the best bracket.
Over the next several days, Animation Force hopes to put the debate to rest with our own competition that you can participate in on Twitter (@ Animation_Force).
Join in the championship by voting for the film you want to see win it all!
The series will culminate in a Disney*Pixar Final Four.
You can also play along with your own bracket, filling out who you want to win, or who you predict will win the competition. The rules and everything you need are here.
Together we can determine once and for all who would win in a massive contest between the films of Disney and Pixar!
Disney to Develop Monsters Inc., High School Musical, Marvel and Star Wars Television Shows
In addition to the announcement of a future Rian Johnson-directed Star Wars film trilogy upon the completion of Episode IX, Disney chairman-CEO Bob Iger announced several future projects for the company, Variety reports. Johnson is the director of this year’s Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi.
The live-action Star Wars TV series is slated for Disney’s announced streaming service, which means the show will arrive no sooner than 2019.
While there is little information so far on the Marvel or High School Musical shows in development, I will not hesitate to assume the Monsters Inc. adaptation will be animated, possibly continuing the “CG-film turned 2D-animated show” trend established lately by Tangled the Series and brand new Big Hero 6 shows.
Whatever the style of animation, this announcement may be a good step towards giving the people what we really want: an Incredibles prequel series. (OK, maybe that’s just me!)
- Courtney ( harmonicacave )
Experience Pixar’s Coco In VR
Pixar’s Coco comes to theaters this November, but you’ll soon be able to explore the world of Coco yourself in virtual reality. Coco VR is coming to the Oculus Rift November 15, and to Gear VR November 22, the day of the film’s theatrical release.
The VR experience is also described as a social experience. According to the trailer and Disney, you’ll be able to explore the world of Coco with friends through Facebook Connect. The video shows two friends hanging out together in the virtual world as skeletons. There aren’t many details to explain how deep or extensive the VR experience is, but the idea of exploring the worlds of our favorite films has long been hoped for. Coco VR could lead to many more VR film experiences.
A Brief History of Disney and Studio Ghibli
While writing this post on Animation Force, I came across much information about how Disney became a partner with Studio Ghibli. Here is a brief recap of my research.
Disney’s home video and theatrical distribution rights to most Ghibli films were established in 1996, thanks to a deal made with Studio Ghibli’s financial partner, Tokuma Publishing. The Disney-Tokuma deal included “worldwide” rights for film and video distribution — including in Japan, but not in the rest of Asia.
The expectation was that Disney would dub films into English without removing even a frame of the animations or altering the story, a major issue faced for imports to the U.S. previously. Companies would buy films and alter music, scenes or even entire sequences of the purchased films while converting them to another language. Perhaps the worst offender was Warriors of the Wind, a 1985 butchering of Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind by New World Pictures, which cut more than 23 minutes out of the film and most sense out of the story.
It is possible that the expiration of New World Pictures’ rights to Nausicaä in 1995 directly led to Disney’s deal in 1996 (although you may also speculate that it was a deal by Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki to make money for Tokuma, since he was indebted to the company.) According to Nausicaa.net, Disney was the only company whose bid for film rights included the condition that nothing but the language would be altered in the film.
“With Disney’s commitment to maintain the quality of the original titles, there will be no changes to music and sequences in foreign language versions.”
Disney’s limited world rights also extended to theatrical releases for Princess Mononoke, and the deal garnered additional rights to certain live action films also produced by Tokuma. Disney later negotiated DVD rights for the films, but they could never gain access to Grave of the Fireflies (1988), because the film was produced by a different publisher (Shinchosha, who published the film’s original novel).
Disney was not finished negotiating, however. In 2000, Disney agreed to pay 10 percent of the production costs for future Ghibli films, and Tokuma would offer Disney American distribution rights as the films were made. My Neighbors the Yamadas was the first film up for bid, but Disney passed to 2001’s Spirited Away instead, working with John Lasseter himself to dub the film to English in time for a 2003 Best Animated Feature Academy Award win.
Disney went on to dub Spirited Away, My Neighbors the Yamadas, Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind, Only Yesterday, Porco Rosso, Pom Poko, Whisper of the Heart, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo, The Secret World of Arrietty and The Wind Rises before the end of their partnership. You can find more details on the Disney-Studio Ghibli timeline in this comprehensive article.
- Courtney ( @harmonicacave )
Tangled Before Ever After, Disney Releases 5 Minute Sneak Peak
Tangled: The Series is just around the corner! The series kicks off with the Disney Channel original movie Tangled Before Ever After, Friday, March 10 at 8 pm ET. The new movie will serve as the pilot for Tangled: The Series, which will continue on March 24 at 7:30 ET.
With the release date this Friday, Disney has released the first five minutes of Tangled Before Ever After. It gives a glimpse of the world, the character designs, some of the set up, and this new, beautiful 2D animation style the show exhibits.
The intro mirrors the Tangled film with narration at the beginning, and then quickly gets into the action of another horse chase scene. Our friends are all here, with Rapunzel, Eugene, Maximus and Pascal making early appearances, and the rest to follow in the series.
Can’t get enough Tangled before Friday? Check out our previous post about some promos and trailers here, and learn more about the announcement of Tangled: The Series season 2 already in the works. Or check out our tag for Tangled on Animation Force.
Anyone else getting excited for the new series? We sure are.
First look at the all new Disney XD DuckTales!
DuckTales premieres this summer on Disney XD, but for now we’ve got this sweet new trailer featuring the all new voice cast, and a Disney Afternoon intro-worthy compilation of action from the upcoming series.
Previously we reported on the new DuckTales with a behind-the-scenes look at the new voice cast. The cast includes:
- David Tennant as Scrooge McDuck
- Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck
- Danny Pudi as Huey
- Ben Schwartz as Dewey
- Bobby Moynihan as Louie
- Kate Micucci as Webby
- Beck Bennett as Launchpad McQuack
- Toks Olagundoye as Mrs. Beakley
This is the best look at DuckTales we’ve seen so far, and it’s apparent that Disney is putting a lot of effort into the series. Good things are coming our way in 2017.