The closing of the DisneyToon Studios will not take full effect until the middle of the 2006-year; however, there are many individuals in and around the animation industry that are still sensing the initial reverberations of this announcement. Due to The Walt Disney Co. closing studios located in Orlando, Florida; Paris, France; Tokyo, Japan; and Canada over the past few years, animation professionals and fans alike are skeptical of the current outlook of Disney's feature animation production and distribution measures. DisneyToon Studios was the home to several intelligent and highly skilled writers, directors, producers, and animators (approximately 250), but it would appear that after two decades of hard work, Sydney, Australia has become another Walt Disney animation graveyard.
Tim Brook-Hunt, Sydney animation producer, commented on how the impending closure will impede upon the industry's growth: "We've lost a major source of training and talent in the industry," Brook-Hunt told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, "but also for the people involved, it's very difficult to see that all of them can be absorbed into the rest of the industry,"
The absorption effect that Brook-Hunt spoke of, many individuals feel is the Company's insistence on computer-animated projects, while others merely assess the situation as simply another result of poor executive management. The officially press release regarding the closure of the successful DisneyToon Studios remarked how the closing of the studio's doors is a measure taken in response to a changing industry and a constant fluctuation of creative output. "This closure is a business decision due in large part to the changing creative climate and economic environment," reads the official statement. Such an industry in flux is apparently one "in which DisneyToon Studios requires more flexibility to choose the most appropriate and efficient animation process."
Although the statement claims that it is the "creative climate" that demands a more "efficient animation process" for success, it is abundantly clear that the DisneyToon Studios' location would not be shutting down without a major financial reason. One source on the matter reports that it is in part due to the weakening American Dollar overseas that DisneyToon Studios is closing. "The stronger Australian dollar of recent years has made it more expensive for foreign-owned companies like Disney to base their production facilities in Australia," the source writes.
The Sydney, Australia studio is best known for creating good quality high-end sequel films to Disney own titles in recent years. Such titles include The Lion King II, The Jungle Book II, Return to Neverland, The Lady and the Tramp II, and several others. It is true that many fans see the sequels themselves as a flailing move from the larger media giant to find something worth promoting; however, it is also true that regardless of the initial superficiality of the films' productions, they served as one of the last remaining anchors to two-dimensional animation across the world. DisneyToon Studios is the last Disney owned two-dimensional animation studio, and will shut its doors in one year. DisneyToon Studios will officially close in the middle of the 2006-year, after completing three more particularly notable sequel films. These additional films will include: Brother Bear II, Bambi II, and Cinderella III.
The Walt Disney Co. has shown interest in constructing new sites in other areas of the world in order to help push hand-drawn animation, however weak those interests have been. One of such areas is India, a place on the map where--for those following the animation industry--is the primary source of outsourced project development and production. This concept of shifting gears to South Asia however, remains unexplored.
But regardless of what avenues Disney pursues over the next year and a half for feature-length animation; be it constructing new sites overseas in previously overlooked locales, further developing their taste in three-dimensional project work, or perhaps the most out of favor ideal, the avenue of doing nothing… One thing is for certain, The Walt Disney Co. is ever so slowly conforming to the popular belief that their creative vision of feature-length animation is, instead, quite shortsighted.
(sources: several)