Bolt

Post by **ShyViolet** » June 14th, 2007, 7:03 pm

IMDB confirms director and title change, but doesn't get rid of "From the Creator of Lilo and Stitch"??

(Or the original "desert/nevada plot

)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0397892/

Post by **Ben** » June 15th, 2007, 7:48 am

I like the allusions to "Firehouse Dog" and "Roadside Romeo".

Is there actually a <I>point</I> to making "Bolt"?

Post by **ShyViolet** » June 16th, 2007, 1:30 am

How some non-animation media view the changes: This was from a recent BusinessWeek story: (via TAG blog)

Right he is. Because even if Ratatouille doesn't come out of the gate with some super-duper opening weekend, and folks say that Iger and company got snookered in the Pixar deal, it doesn't matter. Sure, the Pixar deal was pricey, but it was worth it. Disney all but reinvented itself with the deal. Top Pixar creative font John Lasseter has remade Disney's stumbling animated studio, replacing the director for the upcoming American Dog and jumping in to overhaul the recent Meet the Robinsons.

I'm not saying the Pixar deal wasn't worth it, but I think it's a little early to say whether or not Lassetter "has remade Disney's stumbling animation studio." The only film so far "under Lassetter" to come out was Meet the Robinsons....much of it done under the previous regime.

You can find the full story here:

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnf ... 934582.htm

Post by **ShyViolet** » June 16th, 2007, 10:08 pm

TAG blog comments on the Businessweek story here (comments section: Warning: language)

http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/ ... ce-by.html

So funny, animators are outraged at this guy's ignorance (he apparently thinks some of Pixar's successes were because of having "showtunes") I wonder if any of them also know that Ronald Grover has written a ton of articles on Disney for the last 15 years, including the book The Disney Touch.

THAT gives you a good idea of just how "knowledgeable" so-called "media experts" are of animation. Even the ones who write books and are "supposed to know."

Ronald Grover makes James Stewart look like an insider....

Post by **ShyViolet** » June 16th, 2007, 10:17 pm

Also here:

http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/ ... media.html

Post by **Daniel** » June 18th, 2007, 4:18 am

Your talking to yourself again, Vi.

Also, it might be a good idea to merge this with the other AD thread, and rename it Bolt. (Still not fond of that name.

)

American Dog

Post by **Ben** » June 18th, 2007, 7:52 am

Done. Thanks Dan.

Post by **ShyViolet** » June 18th, 2007, 7:13 pm

Finally, the threads have joined!!

Post by **Daniel** » June 18th, 2007, 11:09 pm

Yes, now you can stop asking!!

Btw, great article, Ben! Completly agreed with it!

Post by **ShyViolet** » June 18th, 2007, 11:36 pm

What Dan said.

Post by **Ben** » June 19th, 2007, 8:08 am

Thanks guys!

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » June 19th, 2007, 7:06 pm

Jeroen wrote:Such a shame Chris sanders is replaced,
I loved what he did with Lilo & Stitch.

John Lasetter is overcancelling stuff in my humble opinion.

Ya know,

the more I hear about Lasetter, the more I'm convinced that he's like so many people in Hollywood.

He's been so successful that he doesn't realize that he can be wrong!

Maybe it's just me, but over the last 20 years I've heard of one animation savior after another. First, it was Ralph Baksi. Later, Don Bluth. Then, for about 10 seconds, John Kricfalusi. Now, I'm hearing the newly anointed savior is John Lasetter?!?

This guy is NOT Walt Disney. Nobody today is! Nobody's had the depth of ideas, intelligence, luck, and patience to execute ideas like Walt Disney did. Nobody gives things time anymore to turn over money! It's like make the money right away or within the next year on home video, or forgot about it and shut down the animation production facility. So far, all I've heard of Lasetter from rumors and official news is that he's more of the same dreck that plagued the last incarnation of Disney studios except for this time he's got his little artist hat. Like the fact that he has a hat on will excuse the familiar executive behavior. Artists, it seems, are their own worst enemies...

(To be fair, even the Nine Old Men were horrible studio managers. They could barely keep Disney afloat and none of the films they produced after Jungle Book -- without Walt -- were anywhere near one-quarter as good as the the Disney classics from the 1940s and 1950s. Seriously, the bulk of 1960s and 1970s Disney feature animation were a joke!)

I hear so much of this egotistical cr@p coming out of Hollywood that I just have to turn off my ears to the Infotainment shows (Entertainment Tonight) and channel (E!) and just laugh.

Disney animation has not been reborn. Heck, feature animation in the US outside of CGI is still dead! Until, the next fully (or mostly) hand-drawn picture made in the U.S. is over half complete in ink-and-paint, I won't believe it. Enchanted just doesn't count as the rebirth of Disney animation.

Post by **ShyViolet** » June 19th, 2007, 7:19 pm

What I don't get is why John didn't just leave Chris alone to make his film.
I just don't understand what could have been so "wrong" with it. Sure, we don't know the whole story, but as of now we know a whole lot more about Bolt, which is the film Lassetter apparently decided was "better" than Chris' American Dog. How could he decide in favor of a tired retread of a DTV film?

I know I've doubted Lassetter's vision in the past, but I will admit that he's a more than competent filmmaker to say the very least. He MUST know that there's something wrong here.

Ben was exactly right in the last sentence of the article. Come 2008, you think Ed and John are going to be appearing in trailer spots cheerleading THIS film, or WALL-E? I'd wager the latter.

*********************************************

Also, some months ago when we first heard of the changes, Kevin Koch wrote this on AN: (he refers to the original Sanders story)

Kevin
Microphone Jonez, the plot of American Dog I heard a few months ago couldn't have been more different than Cars. It was a sprawling story that drew from several different genres -- not at all the simple, Doc Hollywood story of Cars.

Sanders' version sounds like it could have been amazing....WHY WHY WHY??

As for the inevitable DVD to come, I very much doubt we'll be seeing anything of Chris' original ideas on it. I could be wrong, but that's my feeling. Even if Bolt is a big success, I doubt anyone at Disney OR Pixar wants the audience to know that this started out as a whole other film until the director was kicked off his own project.

Who knows, since Bolt is so completely different, , with different characters, story, look, and title: maybe someday Chris WILL make HIS American Dog....at DreamWorks.

Post by **Daniel** » June 20th, 2007, 3:40 am

ShyViolet wrote:What I don't get is why John didn't just leave Chris alone to make his film.

Well, that's the thing, I don't think were suppose "get" anything. Things didn't work out, and now its different. Not a bad thing, and certanly not unusual.

ShyViolet wrote:How could he decide in favor of a tired retread of a DTV film?

That has me puzzled, too. So far it sounds way to similar to 101-2, but I'm hoping there's a big difference when more info is revealed.

ShyViolet wrote:He MUST know that there's something wrong here.

And that's why I'm thinking their holding back crucial details.

ShyViolet wrote:As for the inevitable DVD to come, I very much doubt we'll be seeing anything of Chris' original ideas on it.

Willaims yes, Sanders no.

ShyViolet wrote:Even if Bolt is a big success, I doubt anyone at Disney OR Pixar wants the audience to know that this started out as a whole other film until the director was kicked off his own project.

Would any studio, really? This has been done many time before, and with most cases, its never acknowleged. To much 'face' value.

Post by **Ben** » June 20th, 2007, 8:47 am

Emperor's New Groove showed next to nothing of the Kingdom Of The Sun project. And The Sweatbox has disappeared from view.

Even though it paints certain people in a not so flattering light, I would have suspected that we would have seen much more of that film had Kingdom Of The Sun come out and been massive.

"Look, this is how we go through pain to create greatness", blah, blah, blah...