Word: disneyism
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...said to be "furious" when he found out that DreamWorks was working on a movie about ants. It is an open secret that in background sessions with reporters at numerous publications, he has been complaining that Katzenberg swiped the idea for Antz on his way out the door from Disney in 1994 or sometime thereafter. Katzenberg's camp angrily denies that he ever heard of the Bugs project while at Disney and says that in fact the idea for Antz was pitched to Katzenberg by a DreamWorks executive named Nina Jacobson, who subsequently, as it happens, went to work...
...debut in November with The Prince of Egypt--the story of Moses, a project very dear to Katzenberg's heart. Katzenberg is hoping his Bible epic will be enough of a critical and commercial success to prove he actually did play a crucial role in the making of such Disney animated hits as Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King--all released while he ran the Disney roost...
...Disney, however, buzzed into Katzenberg's plans by slotting A Bug's Life for November, directly against Prince of Egypt. Disney had completely underestimated the phenomenon Toy Story would be, but it was expecting great things from A Bug's Life. It had its McDonald's meals and its merchandise deals all lined up. Pixar has alleged that Katzenberg was so intimidated that he offered to cancel Antz if Disney would move A Bug's Life away from Prince of Egypt. DreamWorks denies that, but Katzenberg eventually shifted Prince of Egypt to what he thought would be a safer date...
...Disney then promptly moved its remake of Mighty Joe Young, the story of a giant ape on the loose in New York City, out of summer and head to head with Prince in December. Although Disney is known for hardball scheduling tactics (it rereleased The Little Mermaid against Fox's Anastasia, for example), it insisted it had decided to move the ape well before DreamWorks switched Prince of Egypt. Late last week Disney moved Mighty Joe Young back a week...
Months earlier, though, Katzenberg had decided to give Disney a taste of its own medicine. He put Antz on a rush schedule to get it out five months early--beating A Bug's Life by several weeks. Katzenberg insists that he has "not a scintilla" of interest in tweaking Disney by upstaging Bugs but that he hurried his film merely because "the movie's great, and we could get it done...