No more fairy tales from Disney?

[Charles]

Word on the street and in the press today is that the Walt Disney Company will no longer produce fairy tales as themes for animated feature films. "Tangled" will be the last.

As this article asks... Is it a good or bad thing?

Only time will tell. There's nothing etched in stone that Disney won't go back to the fairy tale as a subject for its animated features, but for now, it's looks like it's a wrap.

Through the years on the long history of the AN Forums, one of the chief complaints the community voiced was that of Disney consistently turning to the fairy tale and/or musicals as a mainstay for its features. No longer a problem.

Let's see which way they go from here.

[paburrows]

The Disney company state the same thing in the 80's and produced Oliver & Company. Funny thing was 5 years later they created Little Mermaid, Beauty & the Beast, etc, etc, etc. So never say never. I think that its good to have a break, but its just that.

[Greg B]

I'd heard on the news that Disney made such a statement based on the returns of "Princess and the Frog".

Then I heard in the same report how "Aladdin" was their mainstay regarding the stats they got from that movie.

The Disney Princess line and the fairy tale line were the things that made Disney enjoyable. Is it that we've run out of fairy tales to use for fodder?

There are still other children's books that can be adapted to the screen. I liked the Disney musical stuff.

We'll have to see where this goes as obviously PIXAR is leading the pack in animation revenue at Disney and PIXAR doesn't rely on fairy tales but original content to a degree.

[paburrows]

Yeah original content like Toy Story 3, Cars 2, Monsters 2 & Incredibles 2!

[Greg B]

They were original when they first came out Paburrows!

Popular enough to spawn those record breaking box office sequels.

There are just so many fairy tales Disney could exploit. They would have to make some up. It may be that the world has outgrown fairy tales or outgrown them the way Disney tells them.

Fairy tales traditionally were violent and terrifying stories that got 'sanitized' around the middle of the 20th Century.

It's now up to Disney to buckle down and be the top dog in animation or they'll lose that market to newer, more talented people who can market intrinsic works.

With the rift caused by Disney regarding the animation workforce of the past 10 years, it will have to establish more than a paycheck to get those creative minds willing to make the sacrifices that Walt Disney could get his artists to do.

Pixar does this. They know the value of the talent not being just an addition to the office like chairs and tables.

Keep your talent happy and you'll beat all the odds.

[MrFun]

I'm delighted that Disney finally has a bonified hit on it's hands. Plus, "Tangled" is a darn good movie.

The question remains, what happens next? Will Disney ever fill that big empty building? Will artists be respected again or will they continue to be treated like disposable farm workers?

Let's not start dancing in the streets just yet.

[Charles]

Disney indeed be may rethinking their decision as to whether or not they should produce more fairy tale based content for their animated movies as "Tangled" did better on its opening weekend than any previous Disney feature with $69 mil so far.

BoxOfficeMojo

As for animation artists getting respect from the studio's executives and the scene at the lot in Burbank, well... I defer to Mr. Fun and his knowledge of the situation.