'Maleficent’ Finds a Director

I hadn't noticed much news about this one recently, but hadn't forgotten. Apparently it is still under consideration. Excerpted from ‘Maleficent’ Finds a Director in Production Designer and VFX Supervisor Robert Stromberg by Angie Han:

Over the past two years, Disney’s Sleeping Beauty retelling Maleficent has attracted the attention of several high-profile directors. Tim Burton was the first one attached to the project, back when it was first announced, and Darren Aronofsky, David O. Russell, and Guillermo del Toro are among the other names who’ve been rumored or who have expressed interest in the film.

The man who’s actually landed the job, however, is somewhat lesser known. Disney has tapped visual effects supervisor and production designer Robert Stromberg to helm the film, which will mark his directorial debut.

Scripted by Alice in Wonderland scribe Linda Woolverton, Maleficent follows the Sleeping Beauty tale from the villainess’ point of view. [Angelina Jolie] has been attached to star as the self-titled “Mistress of All Evil” since 2010. Maleficent falls neatly into the revisionist fairy tale trend that’s hot in Hollywood at the moment, along with such movies as Snow White and the Huntsman, Mirror, Mirror, and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters.

Disney Defrosts, Thaws Out "The Snow Queen"

Remember a year ago when many people were upset when the media blitzed that Disney was foregoing fairy tale films for the foreseeable future--I discussed it some in my Thoughts on Tangled post. Yes, only a year later and we have Princess Sofia announced and even bigger news, Snow Queen is being defrosted.

Now, I have a long history with Snow Queen and have mentioned it before. Back in 2000 when my husband worked for ABC Online, he rode the train to Burbank and became friends with a few of the Disney animators. A few dinners and conversations later, I had some backdoor insights and peeks at Snow Queen which were fascinating. To sum up: It was nothing like the fairy tale, at all. There was a Snow Queen. That's it. If the plot had been described to me without any preface I wouldn't have ever placed it as the HCA tale.

Then Disney needed to layoff employees to make its year end numbers--which included those animators and my husband--and Snow Queen was tabled yet again. ABC was in the state that NBC is in today and Disney itself wasn't doing much better. VSPs (voluntary severance packages) were the topic of conversations, not The Snow Queen. I've lost count how many times the project has been tabled. And, fortunately, my husband was kept on a few extra months to finish some major projects so we walked away with the package and a new job the following Monday, a blessing since we had moved across the country for the job, far away from family and a much lower cost of living standard. Our rent then was hundreds more than our mortgage now that we live back in Nashville.

But now, with headlines about defrosting, thawing, etc. the media is announcing that the film has been resurrected yet again. Just one article is here but a news search will produce more. There's not much beyond the title and confusion over whether it will be handdrawn or CGI but the consensus is that it will be 3D. I still don't understand Hollywood's misconception that 3D sells seats and DVDs. They might consider offering women viewers some strong female roles and some non-gross romance. (See Movie crowds dip to 16-year low as apathy lingers By DAVID GERMAIN.)

Now the movie will be one word-titled "Frozen." Yes, those onscreen TV guides have oversimplified our lives. And we wouldn't want to disenfranchise male viewers with a girlie title either.

I enjoyed Tangled. I'm not a Disney fan, but I am not a big detractor either. Honestly, more of my own distaste comes from those days dealing with Disney in Burbank when my husband was employed there and I worked down the street at a branch of the Burbank Library. But that's neither here nor there for this post.

As always, I am happy about any big media project that brings more focus on fairy tales, and, let's face it, Disney is hard to surpass for visibility. So let's hope "Frozen" finally gets defrosted, cooked and served at our tables!

Disney Announces Princess Sofia

From For Disney, a Younger Princess By BROOKS BARNES at the New York Times:

This week the company plans to announce “Sofia the First,” a television movie and series centered on a girl princess. It’s a first: Disney’s princesses until now have all been adults (Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and so on).

“Sofia the First” will play on both Disney Channel and Disney Junior, a channel aimed at children ages 2 to 7 that is set to make its debut in the coming months. The company’s hope, of course, is for the character to spawn all kinds of consumer products. It’s a solid business bet; the Disney Princess toy line generates about $4 billion in annual retail sales.

From Disney unveils newest princess, Sophia the First, for toddlers: Hoping youngest belle of the ball will appeal to younger kids BY Sashana Maitland at NEW YORK DAILY NEWS:

Nancy Kanter, general manager for Disney Junior Worldwide, told Reuters that “Sophia the First” will feature "plenty of pretty dresses and sparkly shoes," but with an emphasis on "what makes a real princess is what's inside, not what's outside."

And from Disney Announces New Princess:

Sofia the First, will be an animated movie as well as a TV series that will focus of this oh-so-cute purple-gowned child princess. The tiny princess adventures begin with Sofia’s mom marries the king of their storybook world. The two new royals then pack up their old lives and move into the castle, where they start their fancy new fairytale lives. In addition to gaining a step brother and sister, Sofia will also have guest encounters with existing Disney Princesses like Cinderella and the pretty fairies from Sleeping Beauty!

So this time, a corporate construct not based on any specific character. What do you think?

Advertising: SoyJoy and Princesses

Advertising Agency: Dentsu Indonesia
Creative Director: Tashiaki Gomi
Art Director: Tommy Hartanto
Agency Producer: Alda Octaviani
Production Company: Luscious International
Director: Tina Bull
Executive Producer: Andrew Morris
Producer: Velly Sinay
Published: August 2010

Via Ads of the World and YouTube. These are more obviously riffs on the Disney fairy tale princesses, but perhaps that makes them even more interesting?

Disney Characters As Humans by Jirka Väätäinen

Discovered via What Disney Princesses Would Look Like If They Were Actually Human by Jamie Frevele from the artist's blog at Jirka Väätäinen.

From the article:

Jirka Väätäinen is a graphic design student at the Arts University College at Bournemouth in the UK, and he’s come up with some really interesting interpretations of what Disney's animated heroines would look like in real life using photo manipulation

I really enjoyed these and thought you may, too.

This is the most recent and strongest celebrity influence--definitely some Amanda Seyfried in his version of Rapunzel.

Disney Princesses as Cover Models by Petite Tiaras

Oh, me oh my. I have to devote a few posts to Disney princesses this week because I really enjoyed these on different levels. First up, found at 13 Disney Princesses Magically Transformed Into Magazine Cover Models by Jill Pantozzi and originally from Petite Tiaras who I believe created them. Love the tag lines, too.

 

 

Advertising: C'est So Paris

For Paris and Ile-de-France regional tourism committee: Disney Exhibition in 2007. (So, yes, this is old, but I haven't shared it here before!)

Credits:

Agency: BDDP & Fils
Creative Director: Manoëlle Van der Vaeren
Art director: Marielle Postec
Copywriter: Thomas Olivri
Photographer: Dimitri Daniloff
Alteration: Janvier

Found via Ads of the World.

Disney's Beauty and the Beast in 3D and Other Formats

I will say this for them, Disney covers the bases with their home movie releases these days. Today was the release day of another iteration of Beauty and the Beast. I don't own a blu-ray player or a 3D tv and don't plan to anytime soon but at least all of the choices are available in one package in case I buy this or decide to get those latest devices.  Beauty and the Beast (Five Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy).

That said, the reviews on the net for the 3D version are quite positive and I can see how well this would translate. I'm not a 3D fan either, but this one would interest me.

I remember seeing this one in the theatre on original release day in 1991, eager for a Beauty and the Beast tale, not so Disney-jaded, and a little bittersweet because I had recently lost a dear friend who would have adored it. For some reason, this movie hit it home even harder that my friend wasn't around anymore and wouldn't be seeing and sharing experiences like movie viewing with me.

I loved the movie and still consider it one of my favorite Disney films--I like Tangled and Sleeping Beauty best--despite some of the things I absolutely HATE about what they did with the tale. After all, it pretty much has become the standard version of the tale now and all of the allegations about Beauty and the Beast condoning abusive relationships can rest easily on this version's doorstep. But that's a hot topic, isn't it?

Anyway, I love the music. I like a dark haired girl who voraciously reads (shades of Robin McKinley anyone?) and wears yellow so well. This is a fun movie even with its flaws.

Anyone here trying out the 3D version anytime soon?

Word for Teens Blog: Thoughts On: Disney Princesses (And, you know, YA books.)

  

A blog, Word for Teens, had an interesting post last week on Disney Princesses and YA books, titled: Thoughts On: Disney Princesses (And, you know, YA books.). No, there's nothing overly profound but I enjoyed the entry and wanted to share. Essentially she breaks down the Disney Princesses to types and then offers YA books that use the same types of heroines/love stories.

From her introduction:

You know the ones I'm talking about. Snow White. Sleeping Beauty. Jasmine from "Aladdin". Mulan. Belle from "Beauty and the Beast". Ariel from "The Little Mermaid". Rapunzel from "Tangled". Cinderella. Pocahontas.

They all get the happy ending with the guy they love.

And you know what? That's GREAT. But it's the way the princesses themselves fall in love that worries me, not their characters or anything. (Note, however, that Disney doesn't have love triangles. Take a lesson, YA writers.) And you can see how this influences YA writing.

Let me explain.

The most interesting is Little Mermaid which she saves for last.

Obsessive Love
Or, my annoyance with Ariel.

Ariel is a lot of my friend's favorite princess. She's spunky; like Jasmine and Belle, she longs to explore and be somewhere she's not. And she's a red head!

But unlike Jasmine and Belle, when it comes to love, she's a bit of a moron.

Part of her falls under the concept of "love at first sight," which is a concept I loathe. Don't get me wrong - I get instant attraction and the instant feeling that you're going to love someone. That this is "the one."

But Ariel takes that a step further to where most paranormal romances are right now, minus the love triangle. She gives up everything for a man she hasn't even talked to. Yes, part of it is her longing to live on the shore, but that's just an added bonus for this girl - the big thing is getting the guy.

There's more, click through to read it, and it's funny just how many books she pulled to compare to Little Mermaid vs the other princesses, such as Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1) and Evermore: The Immortals and Shiver (Wolves of Mercy Falls) and Sea Change. I also enjoyed it because while I enjoy Little Mermaid as a musical--if you like musicals it's hard not to enjoy Disney's Little Mermaid on that level--I dislike the story and Ariel for many of the reasons discussed here. I wasn't this type of girl, was never this type of girl and don't see myself becoming one. These types of girls annoyed me.

   

And I'm not dissing the HCA version either which has an entirely different message, ending and purpose from the Disney version of his tale. I don't love either version, but I accept HCA's much more easily.

Anyway, I don't have time to delve further into this, but it stuck with me for a few hours after I read it and thus deemed it quite worthy of sharing here on SurLaLune.