New "Tangled" Teaser Poster from Disney + Some Development Art

Lots of hair...

(click image for a larger view):

The vibe is 'mischievous'. Think it will grab the boys attention? Personally I'd like to see more of the fencing horse, as in, a horse with a sword (artwork below).

Here's a reminder of the synopsis:And below is some uncredited development art that's been released (though much of it it looks like Glen Keane's work). I'm just posting a small selection. You can see a whole lot more HERE. I see a "lather, rinse, repeat" regarding some of the motifs (most of which I did not include here) - I'll leave you to discover what I mean by that - but I'm guessing it's supposed to be a tribute to the classics.Looking forward to seeing what they do with the chameleon. I hope he still doesn't talk by the time it gets to the big screen.This one below is lovely, although again a 'tribute' sort of piece to the classics and yes, there's a book for the beginning too - at least in the development art. That makes me happy. :) The mosaic is gorgeous.Again, you can see a whole lot more behind-the-scenes art HERE.

In case you missed it on the SurLaLune Blog, here's a behind-the-scenes featurette recently released by Disney on creating Tangled.


Sources for poster HERE and development artwork HERE.

Snow Queen Confirmed As Next Full-Length Disney Feature

The rumors about Disney working on Snow Queen have been around for a long time now and it's true it has been in development and then taken off the boards in the past (so to speak). Now, however, it's been confirmed as being back in the development stage of production (with a release likely in 2013).Pixar's John Lassiter made it very clear he wanted to do more fairy tales when he took over the revamping of Disney Feature Animation and he was just as passionate about returning to hand drawn animation. Snow Queen has not been confirmed as the next full-length hand drawn animated feature going into production after the Winnie-the-Pooh feature (which doesn't appear to be full-length from the way it's spoken about, but I could be wrong on that count). It appears they're fully on track with the announcement that they plan to "release a hand-drawn animated film every 2 year keeping in with the tradition and work that built Disney to where it is today".You can see a very brief announcement HERE by Producer Peter Del Vecho and a little speculation about it. (Whether the project is titled "The Snow Queen" or just "Snow Queen" isn't clear.)

I found an article HERE from June which effectively assembled all the rumors and past tidbits on Snow Queen and is quite informative with interview quotes. It was one of the first places to give some substance to the idea Snow Queen was back in the feature plan this year, though it hasn't been updated with this news from the last couple of days (the comments section confirms it as of November though).The concept art you're seeing here is by development artist and animator Harald Siepermann who released a ton of old sketches from his portfolio a while back. These Snow Queen pieces were among them (you can see all of the sketches from the different projects HERE). He was interviewed back in 2008 and had this to say about the designs he was working on:

HS: I worked together with Dick Zondag on The Snow Queen. I’ve known him since Balto, actually, which we did for Steven Spielberg animation. When the time came for The Snow Queen, they gave me call and then I did some first design based on a young Meryl Streep kind of character. Unluckily, the project was canceled because Disney didn’t want to go into fairytales anymore at that time. They said that they wanted something wise, witty and more modern, because at that time, you know, everybody said that the Disney formula was dead and nobody wanted to see princesses and stuff like that. So, that project was canceled, sadly. But I spent a couple of weeks on some Queens, trying different levels of caricature on her, some more cartoony, others less.

No news on the artists attached to this project yet, though Alan Menken ("Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid") is said to already be at work on the score.

You may want to note that ABC (owned by Disney) is looking to produce a TV series adaptation of Fables, which features Kai and the Snow Queen as characters, is currently in the Pilot production stage (i.e. greenlit and beyond). No news on whether Kai and the Snow Queen will be featured yet, of course. It's probably not at all related but considering it's very early in Snow Queen's development (assuming they start from scratch - which, since having the opportunity to see some development a few years ago, I sincerely hope they do) I'm sure artists (at Disney Feature Animation) will be taking note at how the characters are handled if they appear, despite that they're Bill Willingham's versions.

Hmm. Perhaps that announcement should have been in a separate post. OK - I'll repeat that info shortly... ;)

Pixar's First Fairy Tale: "The Bear and the Bow"

NOTE: If this post looks familiar, you are not seeing things. I'm re-posting it as I felt it got buried in other news a few days ago.

Pixar are busy working on their first fairy tale titled "The Bear and the Bow".

Apparently writer and director, Brenda Chapman*, loves Grimm's fairy tales and Hans Christian Andersen's tales. Her story is a combination of her love for those tales and a reflection on raising her daughter. (source: Wikipedia)

The "Bear and the Bow" takes place in "a rugged and mythic Scotland", where Merida, a member of the royal family, decides to give up her family name for her dream of becoming an archer. Merida makes reckless choices, preferring to run wild through the Scottish highlands than put on a dress and behave herself at court, resulting in peril for her father's kingdom and her mother's life. "Merida struggles with the unpredictable forces of nature, magic and a dark, ancient curse to set things right." (quotes from slashfilm.com)The characters made public so far are Princess Merida - whose hair is constantly tangled (voiced by Reese Witherspoon), King Fergus (Billy Connolly), Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson), a witch - who prefers to be called a wise woman - baddie (Julie Walters), a fifteen foot bear and Merida's younger triplet brothers.

Here's Reese Witherspoon on her character Merida(from pixarplanet.com):

"I get offered a lot of animated movies… [then] Pixar came along with [a] great character. A girl from royalty who would rather be a great archer? And she has a Scottish accent? Who could turn that down? You always go for the great character to play, even if she’s animated."

And here's a very interesting report from empireonline.com:

Though it's tempting to roll one's eyes at yet another female lead character that's a princess -- especially coming from Disney-owned Pixar now -- the movie is already displaying a refreshing change of pace by reportedly focusing more on the princess' relationship with her mother than the quest to find a prince. Even the inclusion of a non-evil queen is a big step for animated features which, often based upon Grimm's fairytales, overwhelmingly feature evil stepmothers and the like.

[Once Upon A Blog's FTNH: How interesting! This sounds like a long overdue updating of the independent/rebellious princess genre that doesn't rely on a romantic plot - there has yet to be mention of a prince, other than Merida's younger brothers, at any point, though that bear is looking a little suspicious to me. Reports are that the story does, indeed center more on Merida's relationship with her mother, so I'll reserve judgment on the bear! ;) ]

While only early concept art was shown at the event, Empire Online reports that it was indeed gorgeous. See what else they had to say by clicking over to the source.

(Source for quoted text: latinoreview.com )

The tone of the film is reported to be a mix of fantasy, humor and exciting adventure in a rich and mythically lush tale. I'm really looking forward to finding out more about this film.

"The Bear and the Bow" is scheduled for a Christmas 2011 release. NOTE: *Brenda Chapman was one of three directors on "The Prince of Egypt" for Dreamworks and was involved in story/development in varying capacities on Disney's "The Little Mermaid" (story trainee), "Beauty & the Beast" (key story artist), "The Lion King" (head of story) as well as for "The Rescuers Downunder" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame".