Where is Walt Disney heading to in the 21st century ?

[Maciamo]

Disney has long been inspired by folktales and 19th century novels for its movies. Except for a few original Disney characters like Mickey, Donald & co. and a few original movies (Dumbo, Aristocats, Lion King...), most of the famous 20th century animations were borrowed.

Britain has given Disney King Arthur & Merlin, Robin Hood, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, the Jungle Book, Oliver Twist, the 101 Dalmatians and Winnie the Pooh.

Snow White is German, the Little Mermaid is Danish, Pinocchio is Italian, Bambi is Austrian, Sleeping Beauty, the Beauty & the Beast and the Hunchback of Notre Dame are all French, while Cinderella is shared by the French, Italian and German folktales. Let's not forget Atlantis from Ancient Greece.

Onced Disney ran out of ideas from Europe, it looked to Arabia (Aladdin), China (Mulan), native America (Pocahontas...) or Hawaii (Lilo & Stitch).

But in the last few years we have seen a new and completely different styles of animations appearing, like Toy Story or Monsters Inc. where the heros no longer belong to tradition, but to some weird futuristic world.

How do you think Disney productions will evolve ?

[Satori]

This information might give you a clue:

Who Owns What:

http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/disney.asp

Disney Corporate Timeline:

http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/disney-timeline.asp

It's definitely not the same company it was years ago.

Oops! Maybe you were merely asking about animation development?

[Winter]

Ever since I found out Donald Duck was racist, I stopped getting involved with that company.

Truthfully, I never liked Disney. DD's attitude just finalized it.

Well....actually, surprisingly enough out of everything ever created by Disney, Donald is the only thing I like.

Isnt that a kick in the head?

[Lina Inverse]

Well, the retard crap by Disney really didn't change much... if it's now retard crap about folk tales or retard crap about some futuristic stuff - not much difference
But clearly the most retarded stuff are their own creations - Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse etc. (damn... I would really need a puking smiley here)

[babar-san]

it will go farther and farther down the drain, as independant animators like myself start animation companies of our own, and slowly but surely emerge as animation icons in this time of horrible film making. companies dedicated to the idea that different animation should be produced for different age audiences. the market is there. but no one is willing to make an animated film for adults in america. the same shlok over and over. all of this will change in the near future.

[Eve]

Donald Duck is racist? Whut did he say?

[Gaki]

and a few original movies (Dumbo, Aristocats, Lion King...)

I read an article about how Lion King was a rip-off of Tezuka Osamu's Kimba the white lion, not sure how true it is but the article was pretty convincing.

Found it: http://www.kimbawlion.com/rant2.htm

[jieshi]

where is disney heading? one word "ANIME".