JCJRSmith
US Navy Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2003
- Messages
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Don't know if anyone has posted about this yet. It is about time!!!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17524865/?GT1=9145
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17524865/?GT1=9145
NEW ORLEANS - The Walt Disney Co. has started production on an animated musical fairy tale called The Frog Princess, which will be set in New Orleans and feature the Walt Disney Studios first black princess.
The film, set for release in 2009, also is the first hand-drawn film Disney has committed to since pledging last month to return to the traditional animation that made it a worldwide brand.
The Frog Princess, a musical scored by composer Randy Newman, is an American fairy tale starring a girl named Maddy who lives in the French Quarter in New Orleans, said John Lasseter, chief creative director for Disney and Pixar Animation Studios.
Disney did not provide details of the plot, but the company showed shareholders preliminary drawings from the movie. Newman and a jazz band played a song from the movies score.
Maddy joins eight other Disney princess characters, who have generated $3 billion in global retail sales since 1999. Disney Princesses is the fastest-growing brand for the companys Consumer Products division.
Disney introduced its first non-white animated heroine in 1992's Aladdin: a Middle Eastern character named Jasmine. Three years later an American Indian princess appeared in Pocahontas.
The creation of the Chinese heroine from Mulan came in 1998. Other Disney princesses are the main characters from Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid.
Disney aggregated the eight characters in 1999 under the banner Disney Princesses and has rolled out toys, books, clothing, furniture and other merchandise aimed at girls ages 3 to 8.
Disney chief executive Robert Iger said the company wanted to show its support for New Orleans, only partially rebuilt 18 months after it was flooded by Hurricane Katrina, by holding its annual meeting and setting its newest animated film in the city.
The films New Orleans setting and strong princess character give the film lots of excitement and texture, Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook said.
John Musker and Ron Clements, who co-directed The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Hercules will co-direct the movie. The pair also wrote the story for the film.
