I used to attend high school right across the street where Disney has their studios in Burbank, CA. We had a media program that often worked with them in helping us kids towards careers in film, television, and more. I saw when they built their fancy new animation studio and when they revamped their cooperate offices. And I still drive by it all practically everyday. So it’s doubly fascinating for me to see the inner workings, as chronicled in the new documentary WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY, of how the Mouse House’s animation wing nearly shut down to taking back its throne with a resurgence that brought us some of the best animated films of all-time.
Below we have the brand new trailer. And as always, you can head over to Apple to watch it in HD.
The synopsis: Waking Sleeping Beauty is no fairytale. It is a story of clashing egos, out of control budgets, escalating tensions… and one of the most extraordinary creative periods in animation history. Director Don Hahn and producer Peter Schneider, key players at Walt Disney Studios Feature Animation department during the mid1980s, offer a behind-the-magic glimpse of the turbulent times the Animation Studio was going through and the staggering output of hits that followed over the next ten years. Artists polarized between the hungry young innovators and the old guard who refused to relinquish control, mounting tensions due to a string of box office flops, and warring studio heads create the backdrop for this fascinating story told with a unique and candid perspective from those that were there. Through interviews, internal memos, home movies, and a cast of characters featuring Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Roy Disney, alongside an amazing array of talented artists that includes Don Bluth, John Lasseter, and Tim Burton, Waking Sleeping Beauty shines a light on Disney Animation’s darkest hours, greatest joys and its improbable renaissance.
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