It’s been a weird year for Disney. While the mouse house has been preparing for its 100th anniversary celebration for months now, the company has also been suffering from great financial losses. Four of this year’s big movie releases (Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Little Mermaid, Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and Pixar’s Elemental) have all performed poorly in the box office. In addition, the much-hyped Marvel TV series, Secret Invasion, failed to capture much attention on Disney+ and the theme parks have been strangely vacant. Because of this, there has been much talk about how the studios might fail again with another potential misfire in the form of the live action version of Snow White (sans Dwarfs) coming to theaters next year. Maybe.
Of course, Disney, Marvel and Lucasfilm are not the only studios to suffer from poor reception and the Hollywood strike hasn’t been helping anything either. But instead of dwelling on the negative, it’s time to focus on all that Disney has done right over the past 100 years beginning with a brand new special: The Wonderful World of Disney: Disney’s 100th Anniversary Celebration! Hosted by Kelly Ripa, the ABC special may not be as polished as Disney would have liked but it does feature something truly special for hardcore Disney animation fans. In addition to exclusive moments featuring Ripa and sneak peeks of upcoming Disney projects (like the holiday release of Wish) the special will also celebrating the company’s past.
The big event for the night is the world broadcast premiere of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ new animated short film, Once Upon a Studio, which has already been impressing audiences. Directed by Dan Abraham and Trent Correy, the short will not only accompany Wish when it opens in theaters on November 22, 2023, but also on the small screen on October 15. The nine-minute long cartoon stars an “all-star ensemble” of 543 animated characters from over 85 Disney feature-length and short films. This mini celebration welcomes heroes and villains, princes and princesses, sidekicks and sorcerers created in all-new hand-drawn and CG animation celebrating 10 decades of storytelling, artistry and technological achievements.
The special also includes a viewing of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Oscar®-winning feature Encanto. In case you haven’t seen it, Encanto tells the tale of the Madrigals, an extraordinary family who live hidden in the mountains of Colombia, in a magical house, in a vibrant town, in a wondrous, charmed place called an Encanto. The magic of the Encanto has blessed every child in the family with a unique gift from super strength to the power to heal—every child except one, Mirabel (voice of Stephanie Beatriz). But when she discovers that the magic surrounding the Encanto is in danger, Mirabel decides that she, the only ordinary Madrigal, might just be her exceptional family’s last hope. The film features songs by Emmy®, GRAMMY® and Tony Award® winner Lin-Manuel Miranda and is directed by Byron Howard and Jared Bush and co-directed by Charise Castro Smith.
The Wonderful World of Disney: Disney’s 100th Anniversary Celebration! airs on Sunday, October 15 at 8 p.m. Disney will mark its official 100th anniversary the next day with additional programming across Disney+ and its networks with more information to come.
Main Image: Walt Disney Animation Studios
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