Pete's Dragon ''Pete's Dragon'' is the title of two Disney live-action films:
* ''Pete's Dragon'' (1977 film)
* ''Pete's Dragon'' (2016 film)
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Archival recordings
Production
Development
''Once Upon a Studio'' was created spontaneously in preparation for the Walt Disney Company's centennial in October 2023; directors Trent Correy and Dan Abraham discussed ideas during their free time for approximately eight months. The duo called the film a "love letter" to Walt Disney Animation Studios as well as "a thank you to anyone in the audience that's ever connected with a film over the last hundred years."
The short film includes 543 characters from the studio's feature and short films, up to '' Wish'' (2023), and vocals from more than 40 voice actors. Archival recordings were used for certain actors who died before production or were unavailable to do so, this included the Genie's dialogue which was sourced from previously unused audio recorded by Robin Williams according to Josh Gad, the voice of Olaf, under acceptance from Williams' estate. Other archive recordings taken from their original films include Bobby Driscoll as Peter Pan and Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket, as the filmmakers were intended not to recast those characters.
computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes (still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refe ...
, and live-action footage, with Eric Goldberg serving as the head of hand-drawn animation, while Andrew Feliciano worked as head of computer animation. Among the hand-drawn animators recruited for the short was current Disney animators Mark Henn, Randy Haycock, Alex Kupershmidt, and Bert Klein also provided animation for the short, as did former Disney animators James Baxter,
Ruben Aquino
Ruben Aquino (born December 18, 1953) is a Japanese-born Filipino-American animator. A character animator and a supervising animator who has formerly worked on many films at Walt Disney Animation Studios, his work has included the several Disney c ...
,
Tony Bancroft
Tony Bancroft (born July 31, 1967) is an American animator and film director who frequently collaborates with Disney. He is the founder and owner of the faith-driven animation company Toonacious Family Entertainment. Tony currently serves as th ...
, Nik Ranieri, and Will Finn; the animators worked both on characters they have previously animated in addition to other classic characters; Baxter requested the directors to work on characters from '' Bambi'' (1942), having been a fan of the film while growing up. Goldberg recruited CG animators in the studio who also had experience in hand-drawn animation. Hand-drawn apprentices were also hired to provide animation for the short. The characters were animated in a way that replicated their original films' art style.
Almost 80% of the short's animation is hand-drawn. By the directors' insistence, the hand-drawn animation was done with ink and paper, which Goldberg approved of. Goldberg made the scenes entirely hand-drawn, after which Feliciano would create CG animation that would match the hand-drawn characters' movement. He also personally animated the scene where Mickey approaches a photo of Walt Disney, as he was interested in the scene because of its emotional tone, as well as the Genie, which he originally animated in ''
Aladdin
Aladdin ( ; ar, علاء الدين, ', , ATU 561, ‘Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of ...
'' (1992), and characters originally drawn by Ward Kimball.
CG animators had to rebuild the character models for CGI characters from films created before '' Tangled'' (2010) due to updates made to animation technology over the years, with rigging and rendering being reworked so that they could be used with modern technology. The CG animators worked closely with the hand-drawn team, with Goldberg and Feliciano, the latter a fan of ''Aladdin'' since childhood, inspecting the short to determine whether a scene would be led by a hand-drawn or CG character, after which they would evaluate whether a hand-drawn or CG character should be animated first in the scene. Animators with experience in hand-drawn and CG animation, such as Tyler Pacana and
Anthony DeRosa Anthony "Tony" DeRosa (born January 1, 1959) is an American animator, best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. DeRosa has worked as a supervising animator on several Disney Animated Feature Films, including ''The Lion King'', ''Poc ...
, worked on scenes combining both formats; Pacana used a technique named "2D puppetry" to help rig the final photo shot.
Many of the props that the animated characters interact with are CG, including the vending machine that Stromboli shakes and Goofy's camera and ladder.
An early idea the filmmakers received from studio employees multiple times was to include a scene of a room full of all the characters voiced by Alan Tudyk since he has voiced a character in every Disney Animation film since '' Wreck-It Ralph'' (2012). This idea was abandoned, but Tudyk was included in the short as the voice of the Mad Hatter.
Music
Dave Metzger
David "Dave" Metzger (born December 12, 1960) is an American orchestrator and composer who has orchestrated many Disney feature animation films, including ''Frozen'', '' Moana'', ''Planes'', '' Wreck-It Ralph'', '' Tarzan'', '' Haunted Mansion'', ...
composed the score for the short, which was composed so that it would feel reminiscent of each character's debut appearance. In the scene where Mickey approaches a photo of Walt Disney, the song " Feed the Birds" from '' Mary Poppins'' (1964) is heard, which was chosen due to being Disney's favorite. As they discussed the idea with executive music producer Matt Walker, he suggested bringing in song co-writer Richard M. Sherman to perform a new rendition of the song. Sherman recorded the song on August 22, 2022 at Disney's original office and using the same piano the
Sherman Brothers
The Sherman Brothers were an American songwriting duo that specialized in musical films, made up of Robert B. Sherman (December 19, 1925 – March 6, 2012) and Richard M. Sherman (born June 12, 1928). Together they received various accolades in ...
used to perform the song for Disney. The song, " When You Wish Upon a Star" from '' Pinocchio'' (1940), was sung by the cast in the finale.
Release
''Once Upon a Studio'' had its world premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival during the opening day celebration on June 11, 2023. It was also screened for attendees at the Walt Disney Studios panel at Destination D23 on September 10, where it received a standing ovation, and as the BFI Special Matinee of the
BFI London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...
Opening Day event on October 14. It had its first public showing on ABC on October 15 (as part of '' The Wonderful World of Disney: Disney's 100th Anniversary Celebration'', hosted by Kelly Ripa) in front of the TV premiere of '' Encanto'', before streaming on October 16 on Disney+ and
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
, and aired on the same date on
Disney Channel
Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...
(as part of ''Once Upon a Monday Movie Marathon'') in front of an airing of '' Frozen II'', Disney Junior, FX, FXM, and Freeform. The short was later released on YouTube on December 24. In Canada, it premiered on CTV 2 the same day as the ABC broadcast. Unlike the American broadcast, which featured a host and an intro, CTV 2 only aired the short and ''Encanto'' afterwards. On October 18, 2023, Disneyland Resort announced that a short film, ''
Once Upon a Studio
''Once Upon a Studio'' is a 2023 American live-action animated film, live-action/animated Crossover (fiction), crossover fantasy comedy short film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios in celebration of the Walt Disney Company's centennial. ...
'' was added inside the cinema in Main Street Cinema at Disneyland, since the beginning of the 100th anniversary celebration of the Walt Disney Company and Walt Disney Animation Studios on October 16, 2023.
There was a discussion of pairing it with the theatrical release of '' Wish'' (2023), but Disney decided to release it in a more accessible format. However, it was theatrically released alongside ''Wish'' in Japan on December 15, 2023. It was also screened in theaters with a Disney100 limited engagement re-release of '' Moana'' (2016), and for one week at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, where public screenings were held to qualify it for the Best Animated Short Film shortlist for the 96th Academy Awards. It would ultimately make the shortlist on December 21.
Home media
''Once Upon a Studio'' was released on digital platforms on January 23, 2024, followed by Blu-ray, DVD, and
4K UHD
4K resolution refers to a horizontal display resolution of approximately 4,000 pixels. Digital television and digital cinematography commonly use several different 4K resolutions. In television and consumer media, 38402160 (4K UHD) is the dominan ...
releases on March 12, 2024.
Reception
Critical response
The short received positive reviews from critics, who called it an "emotional and nostalgic experience."
Ratings
The short became a commercial success and premiered on ABC as a "sustainer" to the network television premiere of '' Encanto'' from 8:00pm to 8:11pm, in which it received 2.57 million total viewers in 1.736 million households, with a 1.39/4 HH rating. It also received a 0.45/4 adults 18–49 rating/share, which was equivalent to 0.587 million viewers watching in that demographic. Its premiere on
Disney Channel
Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...
on Monday, October 16, 2023 at 6:05pm (serving as a sustainer to a "Disney Channel Movie") received 0.349 million viewers, making the highest rated program on the network that week and the 343rd most viewed program on all of cable television. It received a 0.11 P2+ rating, and 0.10 rating with adults 18–49, equivalent to 0.131 million viewers in that demographic.
animated television series
An animated series is a set of Animation, animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can ...
by Roberts Gannaway and Tony Craig that is also a crossover of many Disney Animated Canon films.
* '' Once Upon a Mouse'', a 1981 animated featurette by Jerry Kramer and Gary Rocklen produced to commemorate the studio's 24th animated feature film, '' The Fox and the Hound''.
* '' Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', a 1988 film by
Robert Zemeckis
Robert Lee Zemeckis (born May 14, 1952) is an American filmmaker. He first came to public attention as the director of the action-adventure romantic comedy ''Romancing the Stone'' (1984), the science-fiction comedy ''Back to the Future'' film tr ...