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Sotiris
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Post by Sotiris »

Don Hall and Chris Williams are directing a new movie together.
Roy Conli wrote:Don and Chris are working on a new project.
Source: http://collider.com/roy-conli-interview ... -hearts-3/
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Re: Untitled Don Hall & Chris Williams Film (WDAS)

Post by Sotiris »

With Chris Williams leaving Disney, the fate of this movie becomes uncertain. The project may be shelved, Don Hall may decide to direct it solo or he could be paired with a new directing partner.
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Post by Farerb »

We now have information regarding the Walt Disney Animation Studios film following Encanto.

According to Discussing Film, the next Disney animated feature film in production will arrive in the Fall of 2022 and will be directed by Don Hall. This will mark Disney’s 61st film in their canon of animated features and will likely fill the November 22 slot that was previously announced.

Hall has co-directed several films for Disney, including Raya and the Last Dragon, Winnie the Pooh, and Big Hero 6 for which he won an Academy Award. He is currently working on the upcoming Baymax! series for Disney+, which is based on the film which won him an Oscar and is due for release sometime next year.

The script is written by Qui Nguyen, writer of Raya and the Last Dragon. It will be produced by Roy Conli (Tangled, Big Hero 6) and executive produced by chief creative officer Jennifer Lee.

The main character in the film is Ethan, a Bi-racial (Caucasian/African-American) 14-year old. The studio is looking for voiceover talent 18 and older to play the role. According to the logline, Ethan “sounds very typical as far as teenagers go. Playful and quick-witted, but can also retreat. He can be a wise-ass, but he isn’t particularly tough. The actor VOICING him should be FUNNY, LIKABLE, & SOUND LIKE A 14 YR OLD, but also possess the ability to quickly turn inward and show us a SOFT EMOTIONAL SIDE.”

Auditions for the film began May 31 with production officially starting yesterday, July 1.
source: https://thedisinsider.com/2021/07/05/de ... dios-film/
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Re: Untitled Don Hall Film

Post by Sotiris »

It sounds like another boring action movie like Big Hero 6. I guess that's the type of film Don Hall likes. :| Ethan is the same age as Hiro too (which is another turn off for me as I like my protagonists to be older). It seems this will be an original story set in modern times and not an adaptation of a pre-existing property. Not that it makes a difference anymore...
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Re: Untitled Don Hall Film

Post by Sotiris »

What do fans want? Musical adaptations of fairytales, myths/legends or classic literature. What does Disney give them? Literally anything but that. ~Sigh~

With each new project revealed, I find myself getting more and more depressed and pessimistic about Disney's future. :(
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Re: Untitled Don Hall Film

Post by PatrickvD »

History should have taught Disney by now that these films are usually forgotten within a year or two.
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Re: Untitled Don Hall Film

Post by Farerb »

We knew about this project from D82's post:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33744&p=746873&#p746818

We now only got the protagonist's description.
Truthfully, I always had low expectations for this considering the people who are involved but maybe since it'll probably be set in modern USA, then lines like "dragon nerd", "bling is my thing", etc... won't feel jarring and out of place this time.
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Re: Untitled Don Hall Film

Post by estefan »

Sotiris wrote:What do fans want? Musical adaptations of fairytales, myths/legends or classic literature. What does Disney give them? Literally anything but that. ~Sigh~
I mean, Zootopia was none of those things and it made over a billion dollars, was highly acclaimed by critics and audiences and won an Oscar. If there's an audience Disney Animation is catering to, it's the one they believe is making them successful.
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Re: Untitled Don Hall Film

Post by Sotiris »

Sure, let's pretend that the sole exception in the studios' 97-year history somehow negates the fact that their most successful movies have consistently been musical adaptations of fairy/folk tales or literature.
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Re: Untitled Don Hall Film

Post by Disney's Divinity »

estefan wrote: I mean, Zootopia was none of those things and it made over a billion dollars, was highly acclaimed by critics and audiences and won an Oscar. If there's an audience Disney Animation is catering to, it's the one they believe is making them successful.
Well, Tangled, Frozen, and Moana all performed much better than WIR and BH6, for example. The former two were adaptations, even Moana is based somewhat on myth, and all three were musicals. Versus a piss-poor wannabe Marvel film and a Dreamworks-eque original story about living video game characters...
Sotiris wrote:Sure, let's pretend that the sole exception in the studios' 97-year history somehow negates the fact that their most successful movies have consistently been musical adaptations of fairy/folk tales or literature.
Even Disney didn't expect Zootopia to do that well from what I remember. That was lightning in a bottle--and even though the film did well, I imagine if you asked a random person on the street, they wouldn't know what Zootopia is like they would Frozen, for example. For some reason, Zootopia doesn't seem to have the same recognition or merchandise sales. Also, I doubt Zootopia will ever end up in their best-film lines (Platinum, Diamond, Signature) for the same reason, although I expect Frozen to be there someday.

I do wish WDAS would start returning to their roots more with Lasseter finally gone, but who knows if that will happen. The thing that makes me least interested about this is the description that makes it sound like a boy in middle school in the modern day. Before I read down to that part, I thought it could be okay since it has Jennifer Lee involved and several people from Raya (which I liked).
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Re: Untitled Don Hall Film

Post by UmbrellaFish »

Sotiris wrote:With each new project revealed, I find myself getting more and more depressed and pessimistic about Disney's future. :(
I have tried to find a way to say this as sympathetically as possible because I understand the grief and I feel the grief, too. But I think we just have to accept that there is no going back. Your favorite Disney films are not timeless— they are of that time, the studio environment, the outside world’s culture. There’s no way to get back to the Renaissance or whatever era is your favorite. The company is more massive than ever and they’ve found success with more “masculine” properties like Star Wars and Marvel. The success of the Disney Princess franchise has focused a critical lens on the Disney heroines, partly because the franchise offers these fictional characters as aspirational figures and as role models. Disney found serious competition for the first time in the 90’s and had to change their product to remain competitive. On and on and on the differences go— the Disney of today is not one that Walt Disney would recognize, nor would Howard Ashman, for that matter.

Maybe modern Disney isn’t for you. The truth is— so far, it’s not for me! I’ve accepted that. Sure, I like Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph just fine but maybe I’m too old, maybe I’m too cynical but I just can’t connect with those stories and characters the way I do the ones I grew up with (particularly the 90’s).

Why do I still have an interest in modern day Disney movies? Chiefly, it’s been a big part of my life— I couldn’t sooner cut off the company that gave me Ariel and Mary than cut off my own arm (which frankly is a chilling statement, and only goes to show how amazing Disney’s marketing team was in the 90’s). I admit my interest was waning before, but working at WDW also reignited my passion for the company. Nostalgia plays a huge factor in my continuing interest.

But I also think now is an exciting time for the studio with Jennifer Lee still newly in charge. I’m excited that they’re bringing in directors from outside the company. I’m glad that the movies are a variety of genres— the Renaissance wore audiences into the ground with fairy tales and romances (unfortunately, but). Frozen II was a sloppy film but it did not adhere to the Pixar formula at all which for me was a positive. It surprised me, it went places I never expected a Frozen sequel to go. Raya, on the other hand, underwhelmed me a little bit because it was that same old Pixar formula resurrected. Time will tell, but I am eager to see what Encanto spells for Disney’s future. If I don’t like it, I’m happy to just rewatch my Blu-rays of TLM and BATB.
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Re: Untitled Don Hall Film

Post by Disney's Divinity »

I think that's where the divergence comes in between one side of this forum and the other side--we don't have to accept anything. I think there was a similar theme in the Coco thread the other day, that ho-hum it's been this way for a while, might as well accept it. I don't live in that kind of hopeless attitude that things never change, they will always stay the same, might as well give up and become resigned to it, etc. Things are constantly changing and they can just as easily change for the better as they can for the worse. Sometimes things change so fast it's hard to believe it. I mean, for example, Lasseter being ousted, the Disney princess line finally making the characters look movie-accurate, The Black Cauldron finally on Blu-ray (TSitS having got a new restoration as well for Disney+ even if it hasn't been released), etc. I believe positive change never stops being possible. Some things look more unlikely than others, but everything is possible--and I don't see things like literary or mythical adapations as being on the highly unlikely end of things like hand-drawn animations revival would be.
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Re: Untitled Don Hall Film

Post by DisneyEra »

Translated from Portuguese: Disney registered the names:

• Ethan Clade;
• Meridian Clade;
• Searcher Clade; and
• Captain Calypso Kahn.

This is in line with a recent rumor about the 2022 movie from
@DisneyAnimation
being played by a 14 year old biracial boy named Ethan!


Is this true?

https://twitter.com/OCamundongo/status/ ... 1698247680
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Re: Untitled Don Hall Film

Post by Sotiris »

Yes, it's true. Disney did, in fact, register those names. However, the applications for each one are filed separately, so we can't know for sure if "Captain Calypso Kahn" is for the same project as the rest of them.
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Re: Untitled Don Hall Film

Post by DisneyEra »

So now we know his full name "Ethan Clade". The others I assume must be his relatives. But Captain Calypso Kahn, doesn't sound like it's from this film. It's to bad there's no D23 this year, with Encanto basically finished, we should get more info on this feature later this fall.
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Re: Untitled Don Hall Film

Post by unprincess »

Both "meridian" and "searcher" could be words related to travel/expedition/adventure etc...so in that regard maybe "Captain" Calypso does fit? maybe we're getting another boy/male lead on an adventure trip movie like Atlantis/Treasure Planet?
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Re: Untitled Don Hall Film

Post by Farerb »

Some people said that "Searcher Clade" is not labeled with "Standard Character Mark" which led them to believe that this might be the title of the film.
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Re: Untitled Don Hall Film

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unprincess wrote:Both "meridian" and "searcher" could be words related to travel/expedition/adventure etc...so in that regard maybe "Captain" Calypso does fit? maybe we're getting another boy/male lead on an adventure trip movie like Atlantis/Treasure Planet?
Probably. Does this mean the film will be a period piece? That's where the mind goes when you hear about captains and adventure. I suppose it could be set in present times too, but that's much more boring.
farerb wrote:Some people said that "Searcher Clade" is not labeled with "Standard Character Mark" which led them to believe that this might be the title of the film.
Let's hope not. That's not a good title.
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Re: Untitled Don Hall Film

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Skyler Shuler wrote:A name that's floating around for a role in Searcher Clade, not the main kid, but I assume Captain Calypso Kahn, is Timothée Chalamet. I don't know if that's that role; I just know his name is floating around the studio.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkGPqAY54s8
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Re: Untitled Don Hall Film

Post by Jules »

I am very much looking forward to an official announcement regarding this film, so that we can ditch the rumours and find out exactly what it is direct from Disney's mouth.

For the record, I do not mind an action-adventure film from WDAS. We've had plenty of female-leaning films these last ten years, so a little testosterone is welcome, lol. Furthermore, I do not like the idea of the WDAS canon being thought of as simply "girly princess films." Yuk.
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