• Mulan 
• Fantasia 2000
• Dinosaurs
• Tarzan 
• Treasure Planet
• Atlantis
• Kingdom of the sun
• Roger rabbit sequel
• Timber

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  Disney's Mulan official site
  Mulan Unnoficial Site (maintained by me)

Mulan is Disney's first animation feature to explore the Eastern world. The film is based on a Chinese folk tale set in Pre-Tang China (before 200 BC), at a time when the Emperor is calling upon villages to fight Nomad invaders. It tells the story of a young peasant girl, Mulan, who intercepts a drift notice meant for her father and decides to go in his place, in the disguise of a man. When Mulan decides to take her father's place, her ancestors summon up a dragon, Mushu, to help her fight in the battle. While serving, she is recognized as a courageous soldier and offered a government post. She turns down the position in favor of going home and living a peaceful life with her family. After she returns home, she changes back into her lady's clothes and totally shocks her fellow soldiers, who didn't know she was a woman during all that time on the battlefield.

This is the first feature to be produced entirely in the Florida animation studio and is being directed by Barry Cook and Tony Bancroft. Other crew members include Rita Hsiao (screenplay), Chris Sanders (story), Pam Coats (producer), Robert S. Garber (Associate Producer), Hans Bacher (Production Designer) and Ric Sluiter (Art Supervisor).

Supervising Animator Mark Henn, who helped to bring to life a trio of Disney's most memorable heroines (Ariel, Belle and Jasmine) will supervise the lead character Mulan. Ruben Aquino (Ursula, Maurice, Adult Simba, Powhatan), has also relocated to Disney's Animation facility at the Disney-MGM Studios to play a key role in the production. Tom Bancroft is the supervising animator for Mushu, while Barry Temple (Flounder, Belle) works on The Emperor and a character named Crickey. Other supervising animators for the film include Alex Kupershmidt, Pres Romanillos (Shan-Yu), Broose Johnson, Aaron Blaise, Jeffrey Varab, and Joe Haider.

Originally, Stephen Schwartz ("Godspell", "Pippin" "Pocahontas") was announced as the composer-lyricist for the project. Schwartz wrote a few songs for "Mulan", but due to Stephen Schwartz involvement with Dreamworks SKG, he was replaced as the composer and lyricist. New numbers were written by lyricist David Zippel ("City of Angels") and composer Matthew Wilder. At this point Kathy Bennet is the Music Editor. Rachel Portman ("Emma") is working in the Original Score.

The songs included in the film are "Honor To Us All" (sung by Fa li, Granny Fa and Mulan), "Mulan's Reflection" (performed by Lea Salonga), "I'll Make a Man Out of You" (Capt. Li Shang, Mulan, and ensemble) and "Girl Worth Fighting For" (Yao, Ling and Chien Po)."Trust me babe", which was to be sung by Mushu, was cut in January 1997 and Eddie Murphy never recorded it. They all have a tinge of a chinese theme to them. So far, six other songs have also been cut from the show since Summer of '95. They include "Destiny," and "China Doll".

Mulan Lea Salonga (Miss Saigon), who played Jasmine´s singing voice in "Aladdin", has signed on to provide the singing voice. Ming-Na Wen's (The Joy Luck Club) plays the speaking voice. Mulan looks a bit like Pocahontas, but her features are more rounded. While it is impossible to tell what part of Asia she is from (she doesn't have a classic Great wall of china girl look), she is clearly from Southeast Asia. The coloring schemes aren't completed either. Hans Bacher and Ric Sluiter (Artistic Coordinator and Art director) are still playing around with colors. When Mulan is being prepared to meet the matchmaker she has a classic geisha look, with a loose kimono and a big chignon. But obviously through most of the film she dresses like a man. She is very much a human girl, who's only real power is that she does not accept her lot in life. She refuses to be married off and be a baby factory. She is rather short and athletic. Mulan sidekicks are Mushu, Crickey and Khan.

Mushu, the comedic dragon, is voiced by Eddie Murphy. He is an incense burner, who when prompted comes to life as a eighteen inch tall dragon. As Mulan points out, "My ancestors sent a green lizard to protect me?". Mushu provides comic relief, and his design is very cartoony, with big bulging eyes, a large tail and a very slim constitution. Crickey is a good luck charm that Mulan's Grandmother uses and that helps Mushu and Mulan save China. He looks a lot like a 'standard' cricket. Kahn, Mulan's trusty horse, can communicate with Mushu and Crickey, but does not speak chinese. There's also Mulan's puppy dog, Little Brother, that doesn't appear a lot in the film but is apparently a scene-stealer.

Captain Li Shang will have the speaking voice of B. D. Wong (M. Butterfly, Jurassic Park, Executive Decision) and the singing voice of Donny Osmond (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat). Recently, the studio has been working on some romance in the film between Mulan and him. Towards the end, a kiss is being worked in.

Other cast members include Ching Valdes-Aran, James Shigita (The General), Pat Morita (The Emperor), Gedde Wattanbe (Ling), Harvey Firestein (Yao), James Hong (Chi Fu), Miguel Ferrer (Shan-Yu), June Foray (Granny Fa), George Takei (1st ancestor) and Jerry Tondo (Chien Po). Mulan´s Parents are voiced by Soon-Teck Oh (Fa Zhou) and Freda Foh Shen (Fa Li) (both of Stephen Sondheim "Pacific Overtures"). There is a really nice musical number, where Mulan beats out all the other guys in the training camp to get an arrow from the top of a pole, and beats everybody else in training with weapons, with a little help from Mushu squirming around in her clothes. There are a couple of bumbling boys in the army for comic relief.

The CGI scenes that will blow everyone away this time will be the avalanche sequence when the troops meet the evil Shan-Yu.

In January 1997, 5% of the film was already in color. Rough and clean-up animation is scheduled to be completed by the end of 1997. Currently, Mulan is scheduled for a summer 1998 release. Disney is pushing back the trailer release so it will come out with Robert Redford's The Horse Whisperer during the holiday season. This trailer will be directed toward older audiences.

The overall look of the film varies. So far there are a lot of oranges and reds, very dark for the most part. The backgrounds will look very water-colory, with colors being soft and blending into each other. On the same note, the characters themselves will look somewhat flat in keeping with the tradition of chinese art. For instance, if a character is wearing a piece of clothing the transition between the clothing and the character's flesh might be one line.

From Tim´s Disney page: The animation is beautiful; much more detailed and 'site-specific' than anything done in the past. The head animators spent a few weeks in China last year photographing and sketching the countryside for references. I saw some very dramatic storyboards, including Mulan being chased on horseback down a steep snow-covered mountain by a pack of Huns.

This is what you can already see at Disney's Animation Studio Tour (from Angela's MulanFAQ): The first room there is the one with a big storyboard set up. It's the scene where Mulan is meeting with the matchmaker and trying to recite the proper attributes for a good wife. Mulan has written all this as a "crib sheet" on her arm between her wrist and elbow. The matchmaker (who I am guessing doesn't see very well, or maybe sees well enough) takes Mulan by the arm and smears the writing half way through and leaves Mulan to fluster her way through the rest of the list. Obviously, this is part of the set up in the early part of the movie. They have a little room to the left (as you enter) where they have the little statuettes of all the characters. In the room to your right just before you start the main tour, they have some beautiful background paintings and scenes from the film. Once inside you see the usual group of cubicles with animators working away on drawings. Then they showed us a trailer (about four minutes) of Mulan. I don't think this will be what makes it to the theater--it seemed more like an excerpt from the "Making of Mulan" special that will certainly be on the Disney Channel next May. We saw some of the battle sequences saw the scene where Mulan makes it to the top of the pole that none of the other soldiers could climb, the bad guy, Mulan's parents and horse, the scene where she cuts off her hair before running away (that one is surprisingly powerful) and various other stuff. They introduced the "gang of three" [Yao, Ling, and Chien Po] and Mushu (with the wonderful line of Mulan's: "My ancestors sent a green lizard to protect me?").

Thanks very much to "Dopey" for all the information provided!

Click here to see conceptual art from the film located at Aint-it-cool-news. Thanks Harry!

Looking for more information about Mulan facts?

Disney's Mulan official site
Mulan Unnoficial Site
Angela Kuo's Mulan FAQ
Vicky Viadas Mulan Site

Fantasia 2000

Walt Disney's classic animated feature, Fantasia, is scheduled for a 2000 theatrical release, pushing back again the 99 original schedule. Disney animators will insert several new segments, retain some, and delete others. Four of the segments from the original will remain in the 2000 cut: "Night on Bald Mountain", "The Dance of Hours", "The Nutcracker Suite", and "The sorcerer's Apprentice". Five new musical segments will be added, some incorporating state-of-the-art computer animation: The first movement will be Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, featuring abstract "3-D" computer animation similar to Toccata and Fugue in Fantasia; "The Pines of Rome" by Ottorino Respighi, which will feature CGI generated whales-and-dolphins segment ( Blue whales swimming around. A little baby one gets stuck in an iceberg, then finally freed, and all the whales take off and "swim" through the sky toward the northern lights ), Hans Christan Andersen's 'The Steadfast Solider' will sport a snappy score by Dimitri Shostakovich, and it's almost done completely by computer (It looks perfectly fluid and convincing); and Donald Duck will appear as Noah's assistant on the Ark, to the tune of Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance" (Donald Duck appears loading animals into the ark, can't find Daisy, runs around and finally finds her).

The film was originally paced for release in 1997, but in the beginning of June Disney threw out the Beethoven's Fifth segment they'd had in production for six months and went hunting for new ideas to go with Beethoven's Fifth. Also, Fantasia Continued production quotas are very low which is slowing down production. This past summer, The Los Angeles Times reported that, despite the small addition, the new Fantasia was fast becoming a troubled production. As its title suggests, the film will debut in the year 2000, a three year delay from its originally planned release. The Times article stated that FANTASIA 2000 may also join WATERWORLD and TITANIC as one of the most expensive films ever made. With only three of the six new segments completed, and two more years of production to go, the budget may reach $100 million. (The usual cost for an animated feature is $60 to $80 million). All musical numbers are intended to be performed by the Chicago Symphony conduced by James Levine of Metropolitan Opera.

Back in the beginning of 1996, in an interview, Roy Disney pictured the film's start with Beethoven's Fifth Symphony: "...a blank, dark screen in an absolutely black theater. You will hear the first four notes of Beethoven's Fifth da-da-da-da, and with the second group of notes, the picture starts. No title, nothing."

The film is being directed By Hendel Butoy ("The Rescuers Down Under") and Francis Glebas. Donald W. Ernst produces. Other crew members are Dean Gordon (Artwork Supervisor), Dan Cooper/Michael Humphries (Art Director), Dave Bossert (Special Visual Effects Supervisor), Lois Freeman-Fox (Film editing) and Keith Lesser (Production assistant).

Walt Disney's friend and sometimes-cocktail companion Salvador Dali expressed interest in contributing a segment to any update of Fantasia should it come about. Dali collaborated with Disney animators for a few months and came up with several paintings, which were turned into storyboards and sketches. When the sequel was shelved, all the artwork was stored, but at some point over the last few decades the original Dali artwork was stolen. All the storyboards and sketches remain in the possession of Disney, and according to the CA source, they read back in 1994 that the Dali piece would be included in the Fantasia Continued project. Recently, at Siggraph 97, Disney showed part of "The Steadfast Soldier" segment. In it, a one legged toy soldier is scorned by his fellow soldiers. Sees a ballerina balancing on one foot, can't see the other leg, so he thinks she's like him. Finds out that she has two legs and feels a bit rejected, but she falls in love with him anyway. Meantime, and evil Jack in the box really wants the girl, but she has rejected him. The Jack-In-The-Box does get in the way of the two, the Soldier is washed out to sea, and tries to re-unite with the Ballerina. The Fantasia segment ends the same way the original tale ends, which makes it one of the most faithful to the original story Disney has done in a while. The three main characters of the segment (the Ballerina, Tin Soldier, and Jack-in-the-box) are 3D CG animated elements. In-house physical dynamics were used to animate some of the 'reactive' elements of the Ballerina such as her cloth skirt and hair curls.

Also being shown at the conference is a brief clip from another Fantasia entry set to the tune of The Pines of Rome. The shots were of a baby whale flying into the air and floating above an Arctic landscape. He flys through the spouts of a pod of whales and then suddenly they all start to rise into the air as well. Aerial ballet with Whales. The scene's brilliant blend of computer and traditional animation, along with its stunning artistry, was a positive sign, as it showed that any "excessive" time and money used on the film had been well spent.

In the Times article, Disney studios denied the $100-million rumors. Thomas Schumacher, executive vice president of Walt Disney feature animation and theatrical productions, was quoted as saying that such rumors are from "people who just don't understand the concept of what we're trying to do with this movie."

Click here to see a picture from "The Steadfast Soldier" segment founded at Aint-it-cool-news. Thanks Harry!

Dinosaurs

Disney is developing and producing another non-traditional animated film. This prehistoric tale, first called "Dinosaurs", is now in early stages of production, and will employ stop-motion, CGI, and miniature models. George Scribner ("Oliver & Company") is set to co-direct. The film is scheduled for a 1998-1999 release.

From the program for the 1997 Australian Effects and Animation Festival: "In dazzling photo realistic style, Dinosaur recreates a critical moment in prehistory when the greatest beasts the world has ever known gave way to the most unlikely creatures of all - the ancestors of man. In this CGI landmark film, Disney explores one of history's most compelling dramas".

George Scribner, director for Disney's upcoming "Dinosaur" film has left the project and been replaced by story head Thom Enriquez. Enriquez will co-direct the film with Ralph Zondag.

Disney is animating the film in a very original way. Most CG flicks (i.e. Toy Story) are animated with an animator (or two) taking an individual shot and animating all the characters in that shot. For Dinosaur, Disney is using a process similar to that used for traditional animation. A Lead Animator will do the main motion of the character, then pass the shot off for an Assistant Animator to do the secondary motion (fingers, toes, etc.) and check for objects passing through each other (intersections).

Actor D. B. Sweeney (Fire in the Sky) will be voicing the main character. Kiefer Sutherland, Julianna Margulies, Joan Plowright and Alfre Woodard are also involved in the project. Sweeney said the dinosaurs in the movie would be CG, while the environments would be filmed on location in various settings, like the jungles of Kauai. The film wouldn't be as scary as Jurassic Park (he kept comparing it more to Toy Story), but it would feature as a major plot point the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. Sweeney's character sounds pretty strange -- he said he played a dinosaur who had been raised by lemurs who becomes a sort of saurian Moses and leads the lemurs to safety after the asteroid ends the age when his own kind ruled the earth.Through the Sweeney dino's efforts, the mammals are then free to take over higher niches of the ecosphere of the earth. The film is budgeted at over $100 million.

Disney has acquired the rights to make an animated film based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs character. The movie will emphasis the original vision expressed in "Tarzan of the Apes", the story of a young boy raised in the wild by apes, who eventually searches for his human heritage after he is discovered by a British expodition, among them Jane. Tarzan will then have to decide to return to his Engilsh homeland or remain in the jungle. A considerable amount of the story will be spent focusing upon Tarzan's childhood. The major conflict point of the movie is how Tarzan was raised by animals, but how he's really a human. Should he stay in the jungle, or go off with Jane?

Kevin Lima, director of 'The Goofy Movie' and veteran Disney supervising animator Chris Buck (Percy, Wiggins) are to co-direct. Glen Keane (Ariel, the Beast, Marahute, Aladdin, Pocahontas) will return to the studios later this year from his year-long sabbatical in Paris to oversee the lead character in Tarzan. Songs for the movie will be written by english pop star Phil Collins, with lyrics by David Zippel (Mulan, Hercules) and Original Score by Alan Silvestry. The film is in early stages of production, and the tentative release date is for Summer 1999. Tab Murphy (Hunchback´s screenplay) is working on the script. Tarzan will be voiced by Tony Goldwyn. He looks a bit like Hercules; however there are a few differences. Tarzan has very wavy black hair, his nose is a bit bigger (somewhat flared), and seems to be even more muscular than the greek hero. The rest of the cast includes Minnie driver ("Circle of friends") as Jane, Nigel Hawthorne-porter as Jane´s father, Rosie O´Donnel as Terkoz (Tarzan´s ape friend- she will perform one of the songs), Brien Blessed (from the 80´s Flash Gordon) as Clayton, Wayne Knight-Tantor as an elephant and Glenn Close as Kala, Tarzan´s ape mother. The Ape leader in Tarzan is named Kerchak, there is a rumor saying Disney wanted to cast comedian Chris Rock as his voice but he declined for some unknown reason. Now Kerchak will be played by no one else than Harrison Ford.The film will sport computer generated 3-D jungle backgrounds around the traditionally-drawn characters. They have developed a deep canvas process giving the backgrounds depth but the traditional hand painted look.

The project was initially assigned to the TV Animation department (The people responsible for "Aladdin and the king of thieves" and "The Return of Jafar"). When the project was taken away by Feature Animation, it caused much resentment among people in TV Animation and rumor has it that this caused the resignation of the department head.

In the film, Jane's father dresses up as an ape to study them in the wild. Dave Burgess (Archdeacon), is the supervising animator for him. It is said Dave Pruiksma (Mrss.Potts, Flit) is also involved. The style of the film varies a lot: Quite dramatic when Tarzan's an adult, but a little goofier when he's young (sitting on the back of a rhino, about to whap it with a stick or something).

In an interview, Peter Shneider (President of Walt Disney Feature Animation) said: I think we'll do it unlike anyone's ever done it before , You will actuallly see the bonding between man and the apes. It also really explores the issues of Where do I fit in? What is my family? is it the people who bring me up, or those I born to look like?" Also he said Tarzan will be a more dramatic and serious film, "more adult oriented" As far as I know Walt Disney movietoons division was going to use the Tarzan story in a comedic adaptation with the character of Goofy as Lord Goofstroke but the Walt Disney Company opted instead for a Feature emphasazing Edgar Rice Burroughs' original vision, expressed in "Tarzan of the Apes" . The creators of the film are trying to be very realistic with the animal characters, so don't expect dancing apes and lions everywhere, animator Glen Keane is also trying to incorporate animal mannerisms in the character of Tarzan Of course there will be some comedic relief provided by Rosie O' Donell character, Terkoz (who will even sing one of Phil Collins tunes) and Tantor the elephant with the voice of Wayne Knight, but there will be more dramatic and emotional moments than funny ones, also I don't think the adult Tarzan will sing in the movie, that goes for other characters. But we'll have to wait till the summer of 1999 to see the final results.

Click here and here to see conceptual art from the film located at Aint-it-cool-news. Thanks Harry!

Treasure Planet

Disney is embarking on an animated science-fiction version of "Treasure Island'' tentatively called "Treasure Planet''. It is described as a space odyssey that will feature a cast of characters that includes alien creatures, robots and space pirates. It's also been mentioned as kind of a "Treasure Island on Mars" adventure.

The film is now on early stages of development. John Musker and Ron Clements, the director-writer team behind "The Little Mermaid'', "Aladdin" or "Hercules", have already started full-time development of the film.

A group of explorers go in search of the lost underwater city in this animated, action-adventure epic. Kirk Wise and Gary Troustdale, the team behind "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" will tackle this big screen adventure, which will be the first 70 mm film since 1985´s Black Cauldron. It will also have in its crew Hunchback's art director Dave Goetz and producer Don Hahn. It will go into production next year.

The explorers from the film are from different races, and there is also a robot with them. There are also supposed to be some strange looking creatures living in Atlantis.

Creator Mike Mignola is being courted as production designer for Atlantis. Although Mignola is a definate influence on the production (not only character design but in mise en scene and layout) he is not working in the project- yet. They really want his official hand in the project, though. Ricardo Delgado (Age of Reptiles) is also doing preproduction artwork.

Disney's abstract for Atlantis: "For hundreds of years, daring adventurers equipped with little more than ancient charts, tattered maps and raw courage traveled far and wide in search if the mythical lost continent of Atlantis. Today, a new generation of explorers, armed with artistry and unbounded creativity, have set off on a mission to discover the fabled lost continent in a new epic motion picture. Producer Don Hahn and directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale are melding traditional and digital animation technologies with Disney's rich tradition of storytelling to carry us into the mysterious world of Atlantis."

Click here to see a piece of original artwork from the movie founded at Aint-it-cool-news. Thanks Harry!

Kingdom of the Sun

The first original story to get the greenlight at Disney animation since "The Lion Ling", this film centers on a young boy who discovers a lost Incan city. Roger Allers, who co-directed Lion King, will direct the film along with Mark Dindal (Cats don't dance). Andreas Deja will serve as supervising animator for the villainess, an old inca sorcerer named Yzma. "She is very vain, probably campy and that´s something I have never done. I can´t wait to get started!" says the animator. Eartha Kitt will voice the aging Incan priestess who wants her youth back."This character can't handle wrinkles," says Deja. "It's my goal to make her as memorable as Cruella DeVil." David Spade voices Manco, a prince who bears the mark of the sun on his arm. Manco meets a llama herder named Pancha, who's identical to him except for the mark. The two agree to trade places. The evil sorceress discovers the switch and turns Manco into a llama so she can take over the kingdom knowing the imposter is powerless to stop her.

The film is now in pre-production stage and will be edited by Tom Finan, who cut Hercules and Pocahontas.The script is being written by Jonathan Rogers ("The Lion King"). Scheduled to be released in 1999 or 2000, it will have music by Sting.

Timber

The story of some bear cubs and their struggle through a destroyed timberland.

The Roger Rabbit Sequel

When the producing team of Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall lost their Paramount deal, they eventually wound up back at Touchstone. That studio wanted them to develop the long-awaited Roger Rabbit follow-up flick. However, word is that executive producer Steven Spielberg has reservations about proceeding with the Kennedy-Marshall story pitch.

The premise has Roger and a troop of his cartoon cohorts sent oversees on a U.S. Army mission during World War II to fight the Nazis (sort of a "Ton Platoon" concept). The idea is certainly a high-concept one, but in the wake of Spielberg's post-Schindler's List success, his motto may be "No Nazi villains in my movies." The follow-up idea presently is to have the sequel be in a musical vein. Another sequel idea is titled "Who Discovered Roger Rabbit?". In it Roger found himself brushing elbows with the Hollywood stars at the start of his career. Errol Flynn, Clark Gable and numerous Hollywood landmarks were sprinkled throughout the script. It has been approached also as a 50's musical

Gary Wolf, author of the book on which the first film is based and author of the book sequel, Who P-p-p-plugged Roger Rabbit? commented on the feasibility of a sequel to the popular film. "The second Roger Rabbit movie is currently being looked at as a direct-to-video release, much like the cartoons. It will have a live-action opening and closing, and a cartoon middle. It will all take place in Toontown, so the premise works." Wolf also said that he has completed a third Roger Rabbit book, but his agent is encouraging him not to sell it until the film is released, to increase profit potential.

The latest news says that the follow-up might finally become a reality. Daily Variety recently reported that Disney composer, Alan Menken, has already completed a musical score for the movie, described as an "an old-fashioned Busby Berkeley-style song-and-dance flick". Menken may also be joining on as a producer.The movie might be a prequel telling the story of how Roger got his start in Hollywood and met his voluptuous wife, Jessica. Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment (co-producers with Disney of the first "Roger Rabbit") has officially said that a sequel is planned although no date has been given. Another interesting bit of news is that this movie will probably be release to the big screen and not direct-to-video as it had been originally intended.