| Once Upon a Studio | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster | |
| Directed by |
|
| Written by |
|
| Produced by | Yvett Merino Bradford Simonsen |
| Starring | Chris Diamantopoulos |
| Cinematography | John Hasbrook (layout) Daniel Rice (lighting) |
| Edited by | Michael Louis Hill |
| Music by | |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures[a] |
Release dates | |
Running time | 9 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Once Upon a Studio is a 2023 Americanlive-action animatedfantasy comedyshort film produced byWalt Disney Animation Studios in celebration ofthe Walt Disney Company's centennial.
In the film, Disney characters come to life from pictures and animation frames hanging on the walls of theRoy E. Disney Animation Building following the end of a usual work day.[1] Combiningcomputer graphics andtraditional animation on live-action backgrounds, the short features characters from the majority of the studio's works made up to that point.[b] The film was dedicated to the memory ofBurny Mattinson, the company's longest-serving employee,[3] who made a cameo in the short and died eight months before its release.[4]
Once Upon a Studio premiered at theAnnecy International Animation Film Festival on June 11, 2023, and had its first public screening in the United States onABC'sThe Wonderful World of Disney on October 15, along with the world television premiere ofEncanto.
Taking place on October 16, 2023, employees fromWalt Disney Animation Studios, which had become 100 on that day, leave at the end of their work day. An intern (Renika Williams) converses withBurny Mattinson about the studio turning 100 years old, with Mattinson musing, "If these walls could talk..."
Inside the studio, Mattinson's wish comes true.Mickey Mouse, in a productioncel fromMickey's Birthday Party (1942), comes to life and callsTinker Bell (Peter Pan, 1953). Mickey asks her if all of the employees are gone, to which she nods. Excited, Mickey andMinnie Mouse jump out of the cel, with Minnie getting many of the characters from the studio's filmography to all meet in the lobby. In various places in the building, different characters begin to prepare for the meeting. While everyone is getting prepared, Mickey approaches a photograph of studio co-founderWalt Disney and thanks him in a private, somber moment.
All the characters go outside to the lobby to take a group photo for the 100th anniversary with Mickey getting them together. However,Goofy accidentally falls off his ladder, thus causing the camera to break into pieces. Everyone starts to leave sadly as the group photo is apparently canceled. Just then,Alan-a-Dale (Robin Hood, 1973) plays "When You Wish Upon a Star" on his lute, joined in by other characters playing their instruments and taking turns to sing the song's lyrics.
Meanwhile, the brooms (Fantasia, 1940) sweep up the pieces of Goofy's camera, Fix-It Felix, Jr. (Wreck-It Ralph, 2012) repairs the camera to its original state,Hercules (Hercules, 1997) puts the ladder back in position, and theFairy Godmother (Cinderella, 1950) uses her magic to help Goofy up the ladder while setting the camera up for the photo. The rest of the group of characters sing the next line in the song, before Mickey holds up Jiminy Cricket (Pinocchio, 1940), who leads the assembled characters for the song's final line before they pose for the group photo, with Tinker Bell using her wand tomatch cut to the finished photo.
The short film ends with a tagline that reads, "To all who imagined with us, laughed with us, and dreamed with us. Thank you".
Once Upon a Studio was created spontaneously in preparation forthe Walt Disney Company's centennial in October 2023;[17] directorsTrent Correy and Dan Abraham discussed ideas during their free time[18] for approximately eight months.[19] The duo called the film a "love letter" toWalt 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".[17][20]
The short film includes 543 characters[21] from the studio's feature and short films, up toWish (2023), and vocals from more than 40 voice actors.[17] Archival recordings were used for certain actors who died before production or were unavailable to do so; this included theGenie's dialogue, which was sourced from previously unused audio recorded byRobin Williams[22] under acceptance from Williams' estate, according toJosh Gad, the voice ofOlaf.[11] Other archive recordings taken from their original films includeBobby Driscoll asPeter Pan andCliff Edwards asJiminy Cricket, as the filmmakers intended not to recast those characters.[13]
Once Upon a Studio combinestraditional animation,computer animation, and live-action footage, withEric Goldberg serving as the head of hand-drawn animation, while Andrew Feliciano worked as head of computer animation.[17][7] Among the hand-drawn animators recruited for the short was current Disney animatorsMark Henn, Randy Haycock, Alex Kupershmidt, and Bert Klein also provided animation for the short, as did former Disney animatorsJames Baxter,Ruben A. Aquino,Tony Bancroft,Nik Ranieri, andWill Finn;[23] the animators worked both on characters they have previously animated in addition to other classic characters; Baxter requested the directors to work on characters fromBambi (1942), having been a fan of the film while growing up.[7] Goldberg recruited CGI animators in the studio who also had experience in hand-drawn animation.[7] Hand-drawn apprentices were also hired to provide animation for the short.[7] The characters were animated in a way that replicated their original films' art style.[24]
Almost 80% of the short's animation is hand-drawn.[7] By the directors' insistence, the hand-drawn animation was done with ink and paper, which Goldberg approved of.[7] Goldberg made the scenes entirely hand-drawn, after which Feliciano would create CGI animation that would match the hand-drawn characters' movement.[7] He also personally animated the scene where Mickey approaches a photo ofWalt Disney, as he was interested in the scene because of its emotional tone, as well as theGenie, which he originally animated inAladdin (1992), and characters originally drawn byWard Kimball.[7]
CGI animators had to rebuild the character models for CGI characters from films created beforeTangled (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.[7] The CGI animators worked closely with the hand-drawn team, with Goldberg and Feliciano, the latter a fan ofAladdin since childhood, inspecting the short to determine whether a scene would be led by a hand-drawn or CGI character, after which they would evaluate whether a hand-drawn or CGI character should be animated first in the scene.[7] Animators with experience in hand-drawn and CGI animation, such as Tyler Pacana andAnthony DeRosa, worked on scenes combining both formats; Pacana used a technique named "2D puppetry" to help rig the final photo shot.[7]
Many of the props that the animated characters interact with are CGI, including the vending machine that Stromboli shakes and Goofy's camera and ladder.[25]
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 byAlan Tudyk since he has voiced a character in every Disney Animation film sinceWreck-It Ralph (2012). This idea was abandoned, though Tudyk was included in the short as the voice of theMad Hatter fromAlice in Wonderland (1951).[13]
Dave Metzger composed the score for the short,[7] which was composed so that it would feel reminiscent of each character's debut appearance.[13] In the scene where Mickey approaches a photo of Walt Disney, the song "Feed the Birds" fromMary Poppins (1964) is heard, which was chosen due to being Disney's favorite.[7] As they discussed the idea with executive music producer Matt Walker, he suggested bringing in song co-writerRichard M. Sherman to perform a new rendition of the song.[7] Sherman recorded the song on August 22, 2022, at Disney's original office and using the same piano theSherman Brothers used to perform the song for Disney.[7] The song, "When You Wish Upon a Star" fromPinocchio (1940), was sung by the cast in the finale. In this version, various characters take turns singing, until the song eventually becomes a unified chorus sung by everyone there. While it remains unclear exactly how many of the returning voice actors joined in for the end of the song, many have reached the conclusion that most of them recorded.
Once Upon a Studio had its world premiere at theAnnecy International Animation Film Festival during the opening day celebration on June 11, 2023.[20] It was also screened for attendees at theWalt Disney Studios panel atDestination D23 on September 10, where it received a standing ovation, and as the BFI Special Matinee of theBFI London Film Festival Opening Day event on October 14.[26][27] It had its first public showing onABC on October 15 (as part ofThe Wonderful World of Disney: Disney's 100th Anniversary Celebration, hosted byKelly Ripa) in front of the TV premiere ofEncanto, before streaming on October 16 onDisney+ andHulu, and aired on the same date onDisney Channel (as part ofOnce Upon a Monday Movie Marathon) in front of an airing ofFrozen II,Disney Junior,FX,FXX,FXM, andFreeform. The short was later released on YouTube on December 24.[28] In Canada, it premiered onCTV 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 andEncanto afterwards. On October 18, 2023,Disneyland Resort announced that a short film,Once Upon a Studio was added inside the Opera House theater inMain 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.[29]
There was a discussion of pairing it with the theatrical release ofWish (2023), but Disney decided to release it in a more accessible format.[30] However, it was theatrically released alongsideWish in Japan on December 15, 2023.[31] It was also screened in theaters with a Disney100 limited engagement re-release ofMoana (2016), and for one week at theEl Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, where public screenings were held to qualify it for theBest Animated Short Film shortlist[32][33] for the96th Academy Awards. It would ultimately make the shortlist on December 21.[c]
Once Upon a Studio was released on digital platforms on January 23, 2024. It was included in theBlu-ray andUltra HD Blu-ray releases ofWish, which was released on March 12, 2024.[40]
The short received positive reviews from critics, who called it an "emotional and nostalgic experience."[41][42][43][44]
The short premiered onABC on Sunday, October 15, 2023, as a "sustainer" to the network television premiere ofEncanto (2021) from 8:00 pm to 8:11 pm, 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.[45] Its premiere onDisney Channel the following day at 6:05 pm (serving as a sustainer to a "Disney Channel Movie"[46]) 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.[47] It received a 0.11 P2+ rating, and 0.10 rating with adults 18–49, equivalent to 0.131 million viewers in that demographic.[48]
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Astra Film and Creative Awards | January 6, 2024 | Best Short Film | Once Upon a Studio | Nominated | [49] |
| Children's and Family Emmy Awards | March 15, 2025 | Outstanding Animated Short Form Program | Won | [50][51] |
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