Walt Disney Studios has announced that it will no longer release direct-to-DVD sequels to its animated features.

 

The company has previously released sequels to such classics as The Lion King and Bambi, as well as more recent features Chicken Little and Meet The Robinsons. Such ventures have proven lucrative but have not been as critically acclaimed as their predecessors.

 

The policy change is seen to be indicative of the influence of new Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter, director of Cars and A Bug's Life, who has never been a fan of sequels.

 

As a part of the move, DisneyToon Studios will become part of Walt Disney Feature Animation and its president, Sharon Morrill will stand down from the position before being reassigned to another post..

 

The Little Mermaid 3, released later this year, will be the last direct-to-DVD sequel.

already knew this but whatever

Oh thank god, all of them are cr@p, what was wrong with the first Little Mermaid? Nothing. But they have to ruin it by having an awful sequel, this next one won't be much better either -_-

 

Can anyone name a 'good' sequel, minus Toy Story 2?

Lion King 2 :cheer: i LOVE that film :wub:

Lion King 2 :cheer: i LOVE that film :wub:

I supose, but it wasn't as good as the original

Oh thank god, all of them are cr@p, what was wrong with the first Little Mermaid? Nothing. But they have to ruin it by having an awful sequel, this next one won't be much better either -_-

 

Can anyone name a 'good' sequel, minus Toy Story 2?

 

the new F4 film is better than the first (obv thats not too hard but its an improvement) and Scooby Doo 2

 

however maybe someone should have a world with Warners as they have been threatening Goonies 2, Gremlins 3, and Beetlejuice 2 DTVers among other properties

About time to, i am sorry but what is the point of The Fox and The Hound 2, havent seen it but it will surley be the same story all over again, and wouldnt the old lady from the first one be dead yet. The Lion King 3 and the point of that? Cinderella 2 and Cinderella 3- a twist in time, how many times can that be re done? What else have the pointlessly sequeled? Pochontas. Glad they stopped before Snow White 2 which would probably be Snow White and the eight dwarths which couldnt be called that because it would be insulting to small people so it would and the eight verticaly challanged people! :P

Why can't the little mermaid 3 go to cinema :(

YES! :cheer: The new F4 film is gona be well better than the 1st :cheer:

the new F4 film is better than the first (obv thats not too hard but its an improvement) and Scooby Doo 2

 

however maybe someone should have a world with Warners as they have been threatening Goonies 2, Gremlins 3, and Beetlejuice 2 DTVers among other properties

Thats true, but they're not Disney though

I'm glad these sequels are being kicked out.

 

The original films were a great family film that everyone could enjoy. These sequels are based squarely at young kids who don't have such a great threshold on quality - as long as they recognise the characters and the animation remains of a reasonably high standard they'll be as happy to watch the sequel as the original. However, these don't enjoy the care and attention that the classics had - the wonderful drawing, animation and songs.

 

Mind you, didn't Disney say they were never making any more 2D animations and is that not one of the most likely reasons for this about turn?

 

I always thought these films were just straight to DVD because they were not good enough to be on at the Cinema. (with the exception of the Family Guy film of course. :D )

I always thought these films were just straight to DVD because they were not good enough to be on at the Cinema. (with the exception of the Family Guy film of course. :D )

 

however to be slightly fair to these 'dvd prems' these were budgeted to go DTV rather than being a B.O. failure with auds in the North American terr. More a brand extention and a way to keep the franchize open, with a good brand name some like American Pie can sell quite a lot of units at DTV level and so obv get costs back easily

Oh thank GOD. I hate it when they bring out a straight to video sequel (Bambi, Mulan) because then you're in two minds about whether to buy it or not, because you want to know what happens, but on the other hand you know it's probably complete tosh.

 

The Lion King 2 btw, is the probably the best Disney sequel out there :P Along with Toy Story 2.

Good. All the disnet sequels have been rubbish.

and some of them have ruined the original.

such as Pochahontus. or however its spelt.

she ended up getting with another man in the 2nd lol

Edited June 26, 200718 yr by MikeyJosh

To anyone with any sentiment or even an ounce of appreciation for the revolutionary and beautiful films Disney's "full length animated films" once were, these sequels were at best complete c**p, at worst utterly offensive. I can't decide what better exemplifies the demise of the Walt Disney Company -- these trite, biannual computer animated ("Cars"?! What?!) films or "The Lion King 1 and 1/2". -_-

 

I remember when Disney only released a feature animated film every few years, when those films were breathtaking and timeless.

 

Sorry if this sounds overly sentimental but having grown up marveling at the likes of The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, I feel bad for the kids today whose perception of animated films is limited to computer animated, loud-mouth slapstick c**p.

Edited June 28, 200718 yr by Consie

To anyone with any sentiment or even an ounce of appreciation for the revolutionary and beautiful films Disney's "full length animated films" once were, these sequels were at best complete c**p, at worst utterly offensive. I can't decide what better exemplifies the demise of the Walt Disney Company -- these trite, biannual computer animated ("Cars"?! What?!) films or "The Lion King 1 and 1/2". -_-

 

I remember when Disney only released a feature animated film every few years, when those films were breathtaking and timeless.

 

Sorry if this sounds overly sentimental but having grown up marveling at the likes of The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, I feel bad for the kids today whose perception of animated films is limited to computer animated, loud-mouth slapstick c**p.

 

Spot on.. The "Disney Film" (which in many ways was almost an actual genre in its own right, much like the "Carry On Film" or "The Hammer Horror Film"...) has become so incredibly tarnished over the past decade, that what gets released now is hardly worthy of the name tbh.... These "direct-to-video" sequels I think probably did the most damage to Disney's rep, but yeah the more recent ones such as "Cars" or "Robots" don't really help either.... That sheer "unmissable" quality about a Disney film has almost certainly vanished, perhaps forever... :(

The sequels were always utter rubbish.

Nail on the head entirely. Disney also hasn't crossed over well to 3D animation - their films are consistently the worst and miles behind Pixar and even Dreamworks. Quite why they decided to never make another 2D animation after 'Home on the Range' is beyond me...why deny yourself a medium when The Simpsons movie might very well breathe new life into it? Also, as a fan of animation in general I much prefer 2D to 3D and kids today are going to grow up assuming 2D is c**p when it bloody well isn't.

 

They also trade too much now on the actor / actress providing the voice when it really doesn't matter. Wouldn't you prefer the vocal talents of the classic Disney voices (ok, they're all dead now...) like Bill Thompson, Sterling Holloway, even Phil Harris? These weren't Hollywood greats but you knew them instinctively by their voices. In a way the Lion King began this unfortunate trend - but at least that was backed up by a good story and wonderful animation...patchy songs though.

 

Is Walt spinning in his grave? I'd like to think so.

 

 

They also trade too much now on the actor / actress providing the voice when it really doesn't matter. Wouldn't you prefer the vocal talents of the classic Disney voices (ok, they're all dead now...) like Bill Thompson, Sterling Holloway, even Phil Harris? These weren't Hollywood greats but you knew them instinctively by their voices. In a way the Lion King began this unfortunate trend

 

I would argue that it was more the big deal made out of Robin Williams voicing the Genie in "Alladin" that started that whole trend myself tbh, but I see your point... I do think that there should be more emphasis placed upon the actual character of the vocal talent than whether they're an A-list celeb or not.. I mean, they're even getting the likes of Avril fukkin' Lavigne to do voices these days for apparently no other reason than the fact that it's Avril Lavigne.....FFS, they could've picked just about any spotty teenage girl off the streets tbh for all the impact she had on "Over The Hedge"... <_<

 

And I agree, 2D is certainly NOT a dead form as far as animated features go, I really like the way a lot of Japanese Anime films use both 2D and 3D, 3D being used mainly for the backgrounds and actual mise-en scene , and 2D being used mainly for foregrounds and the characters.. Makes for a very interesting effect IMO... Mind you, Japanese Anime films such as "Appleseed", "Ghost In The Shell", etc absolutely pish all over Disney and Pixar for the most part anyway let's face it....

True - I forgot about Robin Williams, but he was a lone star in a cast of nobodies. The Lion King was largely all well-known voices.