'Lilo and Stitch' Blurb

[Another Voice]

There’s a tiny, but highly insightful, blurb about ‘Lilo and Stitch’ in the summer preview edition of ‘Entertainment Weekly’. It can be found online at http://www.ew.com/ew/preview/movie/0,6115,231968~1~0~lilostitch,00.html .

The reason why this movie turned out so well can be found in the following quote:

“We were the stealth bomber of Disney animation projects, under the radar,'' says [Dean] DeBlois [one of the film’s directors]. ''We'd go for meetings in California periodically and people would say, 'Did you get fired or something?' Most of them were unaware we were even in production.''

 

[OnWithTheShow]

Hmmmm....Maybe they should move all of Feature Animation to Florida to get it off of Burbank's "radar".

 

[TheLionKing]

Interesting, because I asked one of the animators if working at the Feature Animation studio was any different than in Burbank and he said , "No". I was thinking that having the "suits" so nearby might make the enviroment different, but according to him it didn't. Maybe an animation director would feel differently?

 

[Another Voice]

Mr. Show, if all the post-‘Ice Age’ buzz actually happens you may very well get your wish.

 

[OnWithTheShow]

Bring it on! Florida is the best! Maybe we will get better animated features as well as a more welcoming place for the animators to live.

 

[Safari Steve]

While some of the rank and file may have been unaware, I think it would be totally naive to assume that no one in CA knew/knows much about L&S. Corporate is well aware, even going so far as to temporarily replace Dopey with a large likeness of Stitch on "The Temple"in Burbank. They're almost marketing as much directly to company employees/cast as to the public, on a much larger scale than Tarzan, Atlantis, or even Mulan.

 

[Amor4Pooh]

I was able to go to the studio this past Sunday for the WDAC COnvention, and there were Stitch sightings all over the place. He was at one of the entrance gates, on the water tower (covering up the mouse), and on the Team Disney building with him as the 7th dwarf. Definitely trying to win over the cast member contingent as well as the public. I actually am looking forward to seeing this movie, but I also think the new Dreamworks animated movie is going to give it a run for its money this summeras well, so they really need to promote the h$$$ out of it.

 

[airlarry!]

Captain Steve,

I am sure you are right....but if so, why are they scheduling two 'blockbuster' big feature animation projects in the same year?

That just doesn't make sense. It seems that everytime they space 'em out better, the returns are better, and the excitement level is bigger.

It makes me think that maybe Lilo did kind of sneak up on 'em a bit.

 

[Another Voice]

Obviously the director was making light of the situation, but he wasn’t much off track with his comment. Remember, ‘Lilo’ was in production when Disney Burbank was focused on the two films that were “going to save Disney Feature Animation”: ‘Atlantis’ and ‘Treasure Planet’. Given the standard corporate headquarters mindset, most people really didn’t care about what Florida was doing. Burbank was doing the IMPORTANT movies; Florida just does stuff so the tourists can watch.

Now that ‘Atlantis’ and ‘Treasure’ have both been major disasters and most of the people that didn’t care about ‘Lilo’ have been laid-off, the Florida effort is the only game left. And 'Lilo' was also able to step in when 'Treasure' got into so much trouble. So now people have to pay attention.

 

[Killer Fish]

Another Voice,

What is wrong with Treasure Planet? I have not really heard much about it. It seems though that it is geared towards the same audience as Atlantis and will not have a very wide audience.