inuitka
03-01-2006, 01:20 AM
From www.o-meon.com
Sources close to the Walt Disney Company tell o-meon.com that the popular feature animation production team of John Musker and Ron Clements will be returning to Walt Disney Feature Animation (WDFA). Musker and Clements, whose work as writers and director and producer includes The Little Mermaid, Hercules, and Treasure Planet, left WDFA last year after the studio refused to green light their latest feature animation project, Fraidy Cat.
In meetings held earlier this week at Walt Disney Studios, Ed Catmull, currently President of Pixar animation and soon to be the executive in charge of the newly formed Disney-Pixar animation studio, told staffers that both he and John Lasseter, who will be the new studio's creative head, want to focus their attention on the creative process at WDFA. Part of that focus involves the return of, at least, some of Disney’s lost creative talent as Catmull singled out the return of Musker and Clements to illustrate his point.
Despite pronouncements that legal review of the pending deal between Disney and Pixar Animation Studios prevents executives from either company from commenting about plans for the new Disney-Pixar studio publicly, news of Musker and Clements’ return is just the latest in a series of announcements that have erupted from the Mouse House since the deal was announced.
Immediately following Catmull and Lasseter’s first visit to Disney animation and Imagineering, it was learned that Lasseter has terminated production of Toy Story 3 at Disney’s Circle 7 Animation facility in Glendale. The ultimate fate of Circle 7 is still unknown. Lasseter also created a bit of a stir in Disney executive circles when he skipped introductions with Imagineering’s top brass and made a beeline to meet Imagineer Tony Baxter.
“We’re just so damn happy all of this is happening,” a WDFA staffer told o-meon.com, while confirming the report of the return of Musker and Clements. “We just can’t believe that everything we’ve been trying to tell them (Disney management) for years is finally coming true. We finally have a chief executive in Bob Iger who understands what creativity means to the company!”
:D
Sources close to the Walt Disney Company tell o-meon.com that the popular feature animation production team of John Musker and Ron Clements will be returning to Walt Disney Feature Animation (WDFA). Musker and Clements, whose work as writers and director and producer includes The Little Mermaid, Hercules, and Treasure Planet, left WDFA last year after the studio refused to green light their latest feature animation project, Fraidy Cat.
In meetings held earlier this week at Walt Disney Studios, Ed Catmull, currently President of Pixar animation and soon to be the executive in charge of the newly formed Disney-Pixar animation studio, told staffers that both he and John Lasseter, who will be the new studio's creative head, want to focus their attention on the creative process at WDFA. Part of that focus involves the return of, at least, some of Disney’s lost creative talent as Catmull singled out the return of Musker and Clements to illustrate his point.
Despite pronouncements that legal review of the pending deal between Disney and Pixar Animation Studios prevents executives from either company from commenting about plans for the new Disney-Pixar studio publicly, news of Musker and Clements’ return is just the latest in a series of announcements that have erupted from the Mouse House since the deal was announced.
Immediately following Catmull and Lasseter’s first visit to Disney animation and Imagineering, it was learned that Lasseter has terminated production of Toy Story 3 at Disney’s Circle 7 Animation facility in Glendale. The ultimate fate of Circle 7 is still unknown. Lasseter also created a bit of a stir in Disney executive circles when he skipped introductions with Imagineering’s top brass and made a beeline to meet Imagineer Tony Baxter.
“We’re just so damn happy all of this is happening,” a WDFA staffer told o-meon.com, while confirming the report of the return of Musker and Clements. “We just can’t believe that everything we’ve been trying to tell them (Disney management) for years is finally coming true. We finally have a chief executive in Bob Iger who understands what creativity means to the company!”
:D