Once Upon a Studio
Once Upon a Studio | |
---|---|
File:Once Upon a Studio Poster.jpeg
Promotional poster
|
|
Directed by | <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
|
Produced by | Yvett Merino Bradford Simonsen |
Written by | <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
|
Starring | Chris Diamantopoulos Kaitlyn Robrock |
Music by | Dave Metzger |
Cinematography | John Hasbrook (layout) Daniel Rice (lighting) |
Edited by | Michael Louis Hill |
Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
Release dates
|
<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> |
Running time
|
9 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Once Upon a Studio is a 2023 American live-action/animated fantasy comedy crossover short film written and directed by Dan Abraham and Trent Correy, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures.[2] In the film, Disney characters come to life from pictures hanging on the walls of the Roy E. Disney Animation Building following the end of a usual work day. Made in honor of the studio's centennial on October 16, 2023, the short film was described as a "love letter" to Walt Disney Animation Studios by Correy and Abraham.[3] The short's art style combines computer graphics, traditional animation and live-action, and features characters from almost all of the studio's works made up to that point, including all sixty-two feature films, numerous short films, and certain Disney films featuring animation produced by the studio such as Mary Poppins and Pete's Dragon.[4] The film is dedicated to Burny Mattinson, who appeared in the short and died eight months before its release.[5]
Once Upon a Studio premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 11, 2023, and had its first public showing on ABC on October 15, 2023, as part of The Wonderful World of Disney: Disney's 100th Anniversary Celebration, hosted by Kelly Ripa, along with the television premiere of Encanto. The short film was added to Disney+ and Hulu on October 16, 2023, and also aired that day on Disney Channel, as part of Once Upon A Monday Movie Marathon, FX, FXM and Freeform. The film will also be shown theatrically with Wish on November 22, 2023.
Contents
Plot
At Walt Disney Animation Studios, its employees are leaving the Roy E. Disney Animation building after their usual workday. An intern talks with Burny Mattinson about the studio's 100th anniversary that day, and in response, he muses that he wishes the walls of the studio – on which various pictures and production cels hang – could talk.
Once everyone is gone, Mickey Mouse springs to life from a production cel from Mickey's Birthday Party, and calls Tinker Bell to help him similarly make the other pictures of animated characters come alive. Mickey, assisted by Minnie, then goes around the studio to guide everyone towards the front entrance, where everyone plans to take a group photo. While everyone is getting ready, Mickey looks up at a photograph of Walt Disney and, in a private moment, somberly thanks him.
Everyone soon takes their place outside. However, things backfire when Goofy, who was instructed to set the camera, falls off the ladder he is on, breaking the camera. Everyone starts to leave in disappointment that the picture will not be taken, but just then, Alan-a-Dale plays a rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star" on his lute. As other characters start joining in with music and singing, the brooms from Fantasia sweep up Goofy's camera, Fix-It Felix, Jr. fixes the camera, Hercules puts the ladder back in position, and the Fairy Godmother uses her magic to help Goofy up the ladder while setting the camera up for the photo. Soon, spurred by Jiminy Cricket, everyone sings the end of the song. Tinker Bell then uses her wand to cut the scene to the group photo, and the film ends with a tagline "To all who have imagined with us, laughed with us, and dreamed with us, Thank You."
Cast
- Burny Mattinson as himself[1]
- Renika Williams as a Disney intern
- Walt Disney (only seen on a picture)
Voices
<templatestyles src="Div col/styles.css"/>
- Scott Adsit as Baymax
- Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck
- Awkwafina as Sisu
- Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde
- Kristen Bell as Anna[6]
- Jodi Benson as Ariel[7]
- Robby Benson as Beast
- Ravi Cabot-Conyers as Antonio Madrigal
- Griffen Campbell as Pinocchio
- Auliʻi Cravalho as Moana[8]
- Jim Cummings as Baloo and Winnie the Pooh
- Ariana DeBose as Asha[6]
- Chris Diamantopoulos as Mickey Mouse[9]
- Richard Epcar as Little John
- Bill Farmer as Goofy and Pluto[6]
- Keith Ferguson as Prince Charming
- Santino Fontana as Hans[8]
- Josh Gad as Olaf[10]
- Ginnifer Goodwin as Judy Hopps[6]
- Jonathan Groff as Kristoff[6]
- Jennifer Hale as Cinderella
- Jess Harnell as Scuttle
- Tom Hulce as Quasimodo
- Jeremy Irons as Scar[6]
- Dwayne Johnson as Maui[11]
- Bob Joles as Cogsworth
- Judy Kuhn as Pocahontas
- Nathan Lane as Timon[6]
- Luke Lowe as Flounder
- Idina Menzel as Elsa[6]
- Jim Meskimen as Eeyore and Merlin
- Piotr Michael as Iago
- Mandy Moore as Rapunzel
- Paige O'Hara as Belle[6]
- Raymond S. Persi as Flash
- Ian R'Mante as Thumper
- John C. Reilly as Wreck-It Ralph
- Phoenix Reisser as Mowgli
- Kaitlyn Robrock as Minnie Mouse[8]
- Anika Noni Rose as Tiana[6]
- Lea Salonga[6] as Mulan[5]
- Lee Slobotkin as Peter Pan
- Natalie Babbitt Taylor as Snow White
- Josh Robert Thompson as Grumpy
- Kelly Marie Tran as Raya
- Alan Tudyk as the Mad Hatter[12]
- Scott Weinger as Aladdin
- Richard White as Gaston
- Harland Williams as Carl
- Daniel Wolfe as Robin Hood
- James Woods as Hades
- Michael-Leon Wooley as Louis
Archival recordings
The following in this section are credited for their archive recordings:
<templatestyles src="Div col/styles.css"/>
- Stan Alexander as Flower
- Stephen J. Anderson as Bowler Hat Guy[13][14]
- Bill Baucom as Trusty
- Peter Behn as Thumper
- Eric Blore as Mr. Toad
- Pat Carroll as Ursula
- Charlie Callas as Elliott
- Bobby Driscoll as Peter Pan[8]
- Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket[15]
- Verna Felton as Flora[8]
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jim Hawkins
- Robert Guillaume as Rafiki
- Sterling Holloway as Cheshire Cat, Kaa, and Winnie the Pooh[8]
- Billy Joel as Dodger
- Charles Judels as Stromboli
- Barbara Luddy as Merryweather[8]
- James MacDonald as Jaq and Gus
- Bob Newhart as Bernard
- Clarence Nash as Donald Duck
- Adam Ryen as Cody
- Chris Sanders as Stitch
- Sarah Silverman as Vanellope von Schweetz
- David Spade as Kuzco
- Mark Walton as Rhino
- Frank Welker as Abu and Joanna
- Robin Williams as Genie[10]
- Alan Young as Scrooge McDuck
Production
Development
Once Upon a Studio was created spontaneously in preparation for The Walt Disney Company's centennial in October 2023;[1] directors Trent Correy and Dan Abraham discussed ideas during their free time for approximately eight months.[16] The duo called the film a "love letter" to Walt Disney Animation Studios as well as "a thank you to anyone in the audience that's ever connected with a film over the last hundred years".[1][3]
The short film includes more than 500 characters[17] from the studio's feature and short films, up unto the upcoming film, Wish (2023), and vocals from more than 40 voice actors.[1] This includes the Genie's dialogue which was sourced from previously unused audio recorded by Robin Williams according to Josh Gad, the voice of Olaf, under acceptance from the Williams' estate.[10] Once Upon a Studio combines traditional animation, computer animation, and live-action.[1]
Animation
Eric Goldberg served as the head of hand-drawn animation, while Andrew Feliciano worked as head of computer animation.[6] Among the hand-drawn animators recruited for the short were current Disney animators Mark Henn, Randy Haycock, Alex Kupershmidt, and Bert Klein also provided animation for the short, as did former Disney animators James Baxter, Ruben Aquino, Tony Bancroft, Nik Ranieri, and Will Finn; the animators worked both on characters they have previously animated in addition to other classic characters; Baxter requested the directors to work on characters from Bambi (1942), having been a fan of the film while growing up.[6] Goldberg recruited CG animators in the studio who also had experience in hand-drawn animation.[6] Hand-drawn apprentices were also hired to provide animation for the short.[6] The characters were animated in a way that replicated their original films' art style.[18]
Almost 80% of the short's animation is hand-drawn.[6] By the directors' insistence, the hand-drawn animation was done with ink and paper, which Goldberg approved of.[6] Goldberg made the scenes entirely hand-drawn, after which Feliciano would create CG animation that would match the hand-drawn characters' movement.[6] He also personally animated the scene where Mickey approaches a photo of Walt Disney, as he was interested in the scene due to its emotional tone, as well as the Genie, which he originally animated in Aladdin (1992), and characters originally drawn by Ward Kimball.[6]
CG animators had to rebuild the character models for CGI characters created prior to Tangled (2010) due to updates made to animation technology made over the years, with rigging and rendering being reworked so that they could be used with modern technology.[6] The CG animators worked closely with the hand-drawn team, with Goldberg and Feliciano, a fan of Aladdin since childhood, inspecting the short to determine whether a scene would be led by a hand-drawn or CG character, after which they would evaluate whether a hand-drawn or CG character should be animated first in the scene.[6] Animators with experience in hand-drawn and CG animation, such as Tyler Pacana and Anthony DeRosa, worked on scenes combining both formats; Pacana used a technique named "2D puppetry" to help rig the final photo shot.[6]
Music
Dave Metzger composed the score for the short,[6] which was composed so that it would feel reminiscent of each character's debut appearance.[12] The scene in which Mickey approaches a Walt Disney photo features the song "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins (1964), which was chosen due to being Disney's favorite.[6] As they discussed the idea with executive music producer Matt Walker, he suggested bringing in song co-writer Richard M. Sherman to perform a new rendition of the song.[6] Sherman recorded the song in August 22, at Disney's original office and using the same piano the Sherman Brothers used to perform the song for Disney.[6] "When You Wish Upon a Star" from Pinocchio (1940) was sung by the cast in the finale.
Release
Once Upon a Studio premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival during the opening day celebration on June 11, 2023.[3] It was also screened for attendees at the Walt Disney Studios panel at Destination D23 on September 10, 2023, where everyone did an ovation victory dance, and as the BFI main attraction of the BFI London Film Festival celebration on October 14, 2023.[19][20] It had its first public showing on ABC on October 15, 2023 (as part of The Wonderful World of Disney: Disney's 100th Anniversary Celebration, hosted by Kelly Ripa), before streaming on October 16, 2023 on Disney+ and Hulu, and aired on the exact same date on Disney Channel (as part of Once Upon A Monday Movie Marathon), Disney Junior, FX, FXM, and Freeform. It will also screen in theaters with Wish on November 22, 2023 and hold screenings in Los Angeles to qualify for the Best Animated Short Film shortlist for the 96th Academy Awards.[16][21][22][23]
See also
- Once Upon a Mouse, a 1981 animated featurette produced to commemorate Disney's 24th feature-length animated film
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ The making of the emotional ‘Once Upon a Studio’ Disney short - Attractions Magazine
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 'Once Upon a Studio' Trailer Celebrates 100 Years of Disney Magic|Collider
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 6.18 6.19 6.20 6.21 6.22 6.23 6.24 6.25 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Justin J. Smith on X: "@stevehatguy Happy to see you credited friend! Have to ask, do you have any cool tidbits reprising your role for this? Record anything that didn’t make the final cut?"
- ↑ Stephen Anderson on X: "Thanks, @JJSmithian! No, they used an old recording of mine so I never stepped into the booth for this one 😊"
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Disney Reunites Iconic Characters for Short Film 'Once Upon a Studio' - CBR
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ BFI London Film Festival 2023 lineup announced
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ ONCE UPON A STUDIO - WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS (PDF)
- ↑ When Mickey Met Moana — Inside the Making of Disney’s 100th Anniversary Short ‘Once Upon a Studio’ - IndieWire
External links
- Once Upon a Studio at IMDbLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Official trailer on YouTube
Script error: The function "top" does not exist.
[{{fullurl:{{{2}}}|offset={{{1}}}&limit=1&action=history}} {{{3}}}]
Script error: The function "bottom" does not exist.
- Articles with short description
- Use American English from December 2021
- Articles with invalid date parameter in template
- All Wikipedia articles written in American English
- Use mdy dates from July 2023
- Pages with broken file links
- 2023 films
- English-language films
- 2023 3D films
- 2023 short films
- 2023 comedy films
- 2023 animated films
- 2023 computer-animated films
- 2020s American animated films
- 2020s animated short films
- 2020s English-language films
- 2020s Disney animated short films
- American 3D films
- American computer-animated films
- American animated short films
- American crossover films
- Comedy crossover films
- Metafictional works
- Animated comedy films
- Animated crossover films
- 3D animated short films
- Mickey Mouse short films
- Donald Duck short films
- Goofy (Disney) short films
- Pluto (Disney) short films
- Chip 'n' Dale films
- Frozen (franchise) shorts
- Films based on real people
- Animation based on real people
- Films about films
- Films about actors
- Films about animation
- Films about Disney
- Animated films about magic
- Films set in 2023
- Films set in Burbank, California
- Films set in studio lots
- Short films with live action and animation
- Films with archival recordings
- Walt Disney Pictures short films
- Centennial anniversaries