It’s a big year for Walt Disney Animation Studios, which turns 100 on Oct. 16, making it the longest-running animation studio in history.
The Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio was founded by Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney in 1923, and they released their first hand-drawn theatrical animated film in 1937 with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. That style of 2D animation continued to be their signature until the ‘00s, where the studio largely turned to computer animation, with just a few exceptions like 2009’s The Princess and the Frog and 2011’s Winnie the Pooh. Since then, however, all of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ theatrical films have been computer animated.
That includes their November 2023 original theatrical release, Wish, which was intentionally conceived as a project that would honor the past 100 years of Walt Disney animation tradition in both story and visual presentation. But even still, Wish is not animated in the OG 2D style. Why?
Walt Disney Animation Studios Chief Creative Officer and Wish executive producer/writer Jennifer Lee told IGN in a recent interview that in the early stages of development several years ago, it was seriously discussed.
“We did talk about it in the beginning, in multiple directions,” she said. “It was interesting, because when we first started thinking about it, we were just deciding. It wasn't like: we can or can't. It was just deciding, is that what we want to do?”
After the Wish teaser trailer dropped, animation aficionados were surprised to see the computer animation look painterly, which is more in line with the watercolor style of Disney’s 1959 adaptation of Sleeping Beauty.
Lee said that specific aesthetic came out of discussions with Wish producers Peter Del Vecho and Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster Jones, and co-directors Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn about their collective goal in making Wish a film where there was no break from the artists’ vision to the screen.
“What happens in hand-drawn is that you have the incredible hand of the artist, but also limitations in what you could do on screen,” Lee explained. “What happened in CG is you'd have incredible, boundless opportunities, visually, that elevated it — even to the point for some — into realism, which is not what we wanted to do. The more important thing to us was to have a way to find technology that can do everything. Connect to the true vision of the artist, but bring in technology that could finally take away limitations.”
The story of Wish fits into Disney’s long history of adapting and creating original fairy tales that center on a central character with a passionate desire that they desperately want to come true. In this case, Asha (Ariana DeBose) is the empathetic dreamer who lives in the imaginary Kingdom of Rosas sometime around 1200 to 1300. The idyllic land is ruled by the charismatic King Magnifico (Chris Pine) who has the power to take and grant wishes.
Lee admitted that even after they committed to using computer animation to make Wish, they did consider using traditional animation to bring the character Star to life. Ultimately, she said 2D had too many limitations in terms of camera movements and characterization.
However, Lee said their upcoming short, Once Upon a Studio, ended up becoming the project that celebrates Disney’s 2D and 3D traditions. “We didn't know if it would work, and it did,” she shared.
“We don't, in any way, want to shy away, or turn our back on hand-drawn,” Lee emphasized. “We love it. It's a part of our DNA…Keeping that legacy alive is absolutely critical. But with every film or series or short, we're going to do the technology that we think is absolutely right for what we're trying to achieve.”
Wish opens exclusively in theaters on Nov. 22, 2023. Stay tuned for more from our interviews with the filmmakers later this week.
