Big Hero 6

[Sky Syndrome]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSV3laJplpU[/youtube]
That's gorgeous! San Fransokyo makes me think of a race car computer game I played long ago. In it you see everything from the driver's seat and there were all kinds of place settings for races including a city with lights in different neon colors everywhere and the race tracks have big loops which made everything more surreal especially the neon lighted city.

[Sotiris]

From Walt Disney Animation Studios comes Big Hero 6, an action comedy adventure about brilliant robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada, who finds himself in the grips of a criminal plot that threatens to destroy the fast-paced, high-tech city of San Fransokyo. With the help of his closest companion—a robot named Baymax—Hiro joins forces with a reluctant team of first-time crime fighters on a mission to save their city. Inspired by the Marvel comics of the same name, and featuring comic-book style action and all the heart and humor audiences expect from Walt Disney Animation Studios, the CG-animated “Big Hero 6” hits theaters in 3D on November 7, 2014.

Source: http://blogs.disney.com/insider/article ... n-studios/

For Hall, the absence of a detail-obsessed fan base for the series was part of its appeal, as it left every character and setting open to interpretation. “I was looking for something on the obscure side, something that would mesh well with what we do,” Hall said. “The idea of a kid and a robot story with a strong brother element, it’s very Disney.”

The original comic is set in Tokyo, though Hall’s film takes place in a mythical mash-up of Tokyo and San Francisco, a conceit that allows Disney’s animators to imagine a uniquely stylized cityscape — and indulge a studio-wide affinity for Japan fed by that country’s strong animation tradition. “Marvel properties take place in the real world,” Hall said. “We were looking for something to do where we could make our own world — bring in the Japanese influences, have recognizable landmarks mashed up with a Japanese aesthetic.”

[...] He found Big Hero 6 while digging through Marvel’s library for ideas and pitched it to Disney’s chief creative officer, John Lasseter, in 2011.

Big Hero 6 is being produced wholly at Disney Animation, but Marvel Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada has been participating in brainstorming sessions about the project. “Don was a huge fan of Marvel,” Quesada said of Hall. “He understood what we did. I didn't have to explain our world to him. The relationship between Hiro and his robot has a very Disney flavor to it but it’s combined with these Marvel heroic arcs.”

For Hall, the movie itself is a mash-up of two passions — animation and comic books. “It’s basically geek wish fulfillment,” Hall said.

Source: http://herocomplex.latimes.com/movies/e ... ig-hero-6/

After the Marvel acquisition, Disney Chairman and Chief Executive Robert A. Iger was encouraging the different divisions of the company to think of ways to make use of Marvel's properties. [...] Hall, a comic book aficionado, began to dig through Marvel's library, looking for ideas. "I was looking for something on the obscure side, which would give us more license to make it our own," Hall said.

Hall looked at several properties and ultimately pitched three before Lasseter settled on Big Hero 6. In the series, created by Steven T. Seagle and Duncan Rouleau in 1998, Hall found a story with Disney-friendly elements — a child hero, humor — and a distinctive tone that played well with the animation studio's many Japanophiles, including Lasseter. "The storytelling aspects are very frenetic, very visceral," Joe Quesada, Marvel's chief creative officer, said of the comic. "It takes tropes of Japanese culture, manga, anime. There are giant dinosaurs that invade a city, big robots, youth fashion, cutesy stuff in the vein of Hello Kitty."

Source: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/mo ... .htmlstory

Q: Big Hero 6 news hit this week, and that was surprising because it's a concept that even some Marvel diehards don't know a lot about. But when you think of things that could be made into animated features, it's no surprise that something like this was created by two of the Man of Action masterminds in Stephen Seagle and Duncan Roleau. How exactly did this get arrived upon as a Disney Animation feature?

Joe Quesada: The idea actually came from Don Hall, the director, who is a huge Marvel fan and obviously a big nerd if he remembers Big Hero 6. Don came to us with suggestions for maybe six of our lesser known properties, and we started working with him on some ideas for how these could be approached as Disney animated movies. Don took three of those possibilities to John Lasseter, and John really gravitated to the story that we spitballed on "Big Hero 6." That's how it came to be, and it's been really fun. I've been involved some with those guys, and it's great to see how someone else's creative process works. I was lucky enough to spend two days last week with John and the animation guys beating out the story and seeing how these guys work, and it was not unlike the process we have here at Marvel.

Q: Well, what was it then in that original concept that justified this property as the one to go all in with? What was the x-factor that made it go?

Joe Quesada: Well, I think the x-factor was that when we started reimagining Big Hero 6 with Don and his crew, there was a story there of two brothers. I think it was a boy and his robot kind of thing that makes it very Disney in the traditional sense. But the beauty of this is that Don is a real Marvel fan, and he's embraced the visual history of Marvel. I think we've gone and lectured to the animators over there about what Marvel is and how we look at visual dynamics in our comics -- everything from Jack Kirby to John Romita Sr. to John Romita Jr. So there's a lot of Marvel influence in this, which is really cool. It's going to be an amazing blend of what Disney does in animation and what Marvel does in the action adventure genre.

Source: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... e&id=45418

[Sotiris]

Seagle & Rouleau Discuss Big Hero 6's Big Debut
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... e&id=45407

Marvel's BIG HERO 6 Creators React to Disney Adaptation News
http://www.newsarama.com/17774-marvel-s ... -news.html

[TsWade2]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSV3laJplpU[/youtube]
That's gorgeous! San Fransokyo makes me think of a race car computer game I played long ago. In it you see everything from the driver's seat and there were all kinds of place settings for races including a city with lights in different neon colors everywhere and the race tracks have big loops which made everything more surreal especially the neon lighted city.

Ooooh! Enchanting!

[milojthatch]

Meh.

[Sotiris]

I'm tired WDAS' practice of setting their films in fictional or generic locations. Why are they so afraid of an existing geographical location? Why couldn't they set the film in Tokyo as it is in the comic book?

[PatrickvD]

I'm tired WDAS' practice of setting their films in fictional or generic locations.

Which movies specifically are you referring to? I've never noticed anything out of the ordinary in recent years.

[DisneyEra]

I'm tired WDAS' practice of setting their films in fictional or generic locations. Why are they so afraid of an existing geographical location? Why couldn't they set the film in Tokyo as it is in the comic book?

That's not the only thing they've changed. Why did they change Hiro's last name from Takachiho to Hamada?
Also there have been lots of WDAS films that take place in real world settings:

The Great Mouse Detective-Victorian London
Oliver & Company-Late 1980s New York
Peter Pan-Edwardian London
Hunchback of Norte Dame-16th century Paris
101 Dalmations-London
Lilo & Stitch-Hawaiian Island of Kauai (Okina)
Beauty & the Beast-France
The Princess & the Frog-1920s New Orleans
Bolt-Hollywood/New York
The Aristocats-Paris
The Rescuers Down Under-Australian Outback

To me, I like the setting of "San Fransokyo". Merging to real cities San Fransico & Tokyo together.

[ajmrowland]

I'm tired WDAS' practice of setting their films in fictional or generic locations. Why are they so afraid of an existing geographical location? Why couldn't they set the film in Tokyo as it is in the comic book?

Wait, there actually is a comic? I thought this was an original story.

Either way, I dont know how many Disney films are set in fictional locations that didn't legitimately call for them.

Edit: I reckon many of the name changes were made to dumb things down for little kids and general audiences, the way some lines in the first Harry Potter book were altered, including the title. It's also not u common to see name changes in localized versions of japanese shows and games.

[Sotiris]

Which movies specifically are you referring to? I've never noticed anything out of the ordinary in recent years.

Most recently was with The Princess and the Frog (Naveen was from the fictional Maldonia), Tangled, Frozen and now Big Hero 6. It's not a recent practice; I just never liked it.

Why did they change Hiro's last name from Takachiho to Hamada?

I assume so the name would have alliteration and be easier to pronounce.

[DisneyEra]

Which movies specifically are you referring to? I've never noticed anything out of the ordinary in recent years.

Most recently was with The Princess and the Frog (Naveen was from the fictional Maldonia), Tangled, Frozen and now Big Hero 6. It's not a recent practice; I just never liked it.

Why did they change Hiro's last name from Takachiho to Hamada?

I assume so the name would have alliteration and be easier to pronounce.

Like how in Atlantis Kida's real name is Kidagakash. Not even Milo could pronounce it

[MJW]

I don't want to start a debate, but does anyone else have the feeling that by the time this film hits theaters it won't be titled Big Hero 6? I don't really know the history of the comic series and whether or not it has enough brand recognition to prevent a title change, but I can see executives arguing that audiences might wonder "Big Hero 6? I never saw the first five films!" or something along those lines.

Again, I don't want to start another Rapunzel/Tangled debate, but I'm wondering if we're going to get a more generic title by 2014. Disney Heroes anyone?

[Sotiris]

I don't want to start another Rapunzel/Tangled debate, but I'm wondering if we're going to get a more generic title by 2014.

I actually believe they may stick with 'Big Hero 6' because it's a pretty generic title already and there's the Marvel association with it (even if it's just an obscure one). But who knows? It could get renamed to just 'Hero'.

[SWillie!]

"Big Hero 6? I never saw the first five films!"

hahaha I never even thought of that!! I hope they stick with the title, or at the very least stick with something unique, rather than continue the one word trend.

[DisneyEra]

I think the film title will remain Big Hero 6. The film comes out in about 18 months, people who have never heard of it before see it's a Marvel property & look for the original comic Sunfire and Big Hero 6 #1 (September 1998) & the 5 issue 2008 miniseries. I'm sure at Comic Con & D23 this summer, more info for this film will be released. There's ALOT more to Marvel than Avengers/Spider-Man/Wolverine. That's "Mainstream Marvel".

[Sotiris]

[Jordan] Roberts also took on a year and a half commitment with Walt Disney Animation Studios, working on their first movie inspired by a Marvel comic entitled Big Hero 6. Due out in 2014, the CGI film will be directed by Don Hall and focus on Hiro Hamada, a robotics prodigy, along with his robot companion BayMax. They join a team of superheroes in a high-tech place called San Fransokyo.

“Writing the superhero movie took a bit of a gear shift. It was raunchier than it should have been and it took me a while to get my G-rated voice,” said Roberts.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/05/ ... to-disney/

I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, I've just been busy. Late last year I started work on Big Hero 6 as Head of Animation along with Zach Parrish. We're working hard and it doesn’t leave all that much time for personal painting. I can't wait to show the world in the fall 2014!

Source: http://www.bighappyaccident.com/blog/20 ... ig-hero-6/

If you've seen the test shot that was released then you realize that this film is going to be headed in a different direction that what you're used to when you think of the name Disney.

Source: http://www.blueskydisney.com/2013/06/bl ... m-hat.html

I'm told that Big Hero Six is still in story work (with production to start in a couple of months.).

Source: http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/ ... t-diz.html

[Jules]

“Writing the superhero movie took a bit of a gear shift. It was raunchier than it should have been and it took me a while to get my G-rated voice,” said Roberts.

Wha? Really?

And there I was hoping they might make this PG-13!

[DisneyJedi]

G-rated? I'm pretty sure the movie's actually going to be rated PG for superhero action.

Plus, Disney's recent CG films have been getting slapped with a PG rating as of late.

[pap64]

Not gonna lie... I have no idea what Big Hero 6 is, and I think the merge of American and Japanese culture is odd, but I am excited for this movie. I know that fans at one point will point fingers and say that this isn't Disney, that they should stick with fairy tales and musicals. But considering the success of Wreck-It Ralph with its odd for Disney concept, I want to see this become a hit with critics and audiences if done right. I love how right now Disney has this nice mix of movies that fit their ideals along with movies that are a tad outside of their comfort zone. It is like a mix of 90s and early 00s mentality, but done in a clearer way.

[Disney's Divinity]

I don't want to start a debate, but does anyone else have the feeling that by the time this film hits theaters it won't be titled Big Hero 6? I don't really know the history of the comic series and whether or not it has enough brand recognition to prevent a title change, but I can see executives arguing that audiences might wonder "Big Hero 6? I never saw the first five films!" or something along those lines.

Again, I don't want to start another Rapunzel/Tangled debate, but I'm wondering if we're going to get a more generic title by 2014. Disney Heroes anyone?

I never thought about that. I'd gotten so used to the title at this point, that I hadn't thought about how people who first here it might react. "Big Hero" alone is a strange title, come to think of it.