‘Once Upon a Studio’, a Disney short film, Reunites Iconic Characters

Disney releases the trailer for the upcoming short film Once Upon a Studio in advance of the company’s 100th anniversary celebration.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a number of characters are coming together for the film. The Once Upon a Studio trailer has audiences falling in love with Disney magic once more. Tinkerbell helps Mickey and Minnie Mouse leap from their picture frames as the scene opens on an deserted Disney animation studio. Characters from across Disney’s long and illustrious history come to life and gather for a snapshot as the camera moves around the structure.

Disney recalls some of the most iconic quotes from the studio. From Sleeping Beauty’s fairy godmothers’ quarrelling to Winnie the Pooh’s classic “oh, bother,” Disney’s fans are likely to recognise not just the characters themselves, but a variety of the voice actors that accompany them. For the movie, more than 40 voice performers returned, including Josh Gad as Olaf from Frozen and Dwayne Johnson as Maui from Moana, both of whom are well-known actors and Disney characters in their own right. The trailer is an enormous wave of nostalgia for Disney fans of all ages because it has characters from every Disney era, both hand-drawn and computer-generated.

A total of 543 characters from over 85 films—both feature-length and short films—are shown in the trailer. Disney quotes Once Upon a Studio as saying, “Once Upon a Studio welcomes heroes and villains, princes and princesses, sidekicks and sorcerers…to celebrate 10 decades of storytelling, artistry, and technological achievements.” With the exception of some archive sound utilised for Jiminy Cricket of Pinocchio, performed by Cliff Edwards in 1940, all of the animation and voice acting in the movie Once Upon a Studio are in reality brand new. Using unused footage from the original movie, Robin Williams’ Genie from Aladdin will be included in a touching reunion.

You Can Watch Once Upon a Studio on the Big Screen

The high calibre of animation in Once Upon a Studio is difficult to dispute given Disney’s role in the current WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike; however, with both Marvel and Walt Disney Studios VFX employees unionising, it is unclear what the future for Disney and Disney-owned visual effects may entail as a result of the strike.

The movie had its world premiere at the Annecy Film Festival in June, but it will air on ABC’s The Wonderful World of Disney: Disney’s 100th Anniversary Celebration on October 15. The short film Once Upon a Studio will also be shown before the Nov. 22 premiere of Disney’s newest film Wish, which stars Ariana DeBose as Asha.