For those of you who haven't heard, Disney is releasing a 2-D animated musical on December 11th called The Princess and the Frog. It's about a young woman in New Orleans who gets turned into a frog after kissing a frog prince. The soundtrack and songs are by Randy Newman (Academy Award winner, Toy Story), who spent every summer in New Orleans as a kid. Not to jump the gun, but this movie looks really good. Musicals are my favorite kind of movies, and those old Disney musicals just take me back to my childhood and make me happy.
But it's going down a little different this time around. What do I mean? Well, there are so many more ways to market this movie with the internet. I remember going to the movie theater and seeing a preview for The Lion King. My mom said "We're going to that," and we planned for a few months ahead of time to go see it in the theater. A year ago, I remember going on the internet and looking at early pictures of the characters in this movie, and then planned a year in advance to go to the movie. Now, there are commercials , backstage access, "making of" featurettes, character analysis', the soundtrack is on Youtube...you can even view the first five minutes of the movie! Before the movie is even released.
There are still the regular marketing items: coloring books, bubble baths, Princess Tiana clothes, posters...(on a side note, I owned Lion King coloring crayons. Way better than regular ones).
So, what do you think? Have you heard of this movie? Are you going to see it? What was/is your favorite Disney movie? Did you have a favorite song? Who was your favorite character? Do you think the internet will help Disney roll in the cash, or will the fact that this is "old school" Disney do that all on its own?
[To answer my own questions, my favorite Disney movie is (tied) The Lion King, Mulan, Beauty and the Beast, I like "Reflection" and "I Just Can't Wait To Be King", my favorite character is Mulan because she defies typical female gender roles. I am going to see The Princess and the Frog and am bringing my six year old brother to it. I think that the combination of old school Disney and the internet will make this a high grossing film (that and it's rated G so all ages will go to see it. And Princess Tiana is the first black princess).]
I am not a big fan of musicals, but I have very fond memories of the Disney movies when I was a kid. I loved Aladdin and The Little Mermaid. Now I'm hooked on the Pixar movies. I think I own almost every single one. Toy Story is a classic favorite. My daughter is totally in love with Cars. She even has a Cars bed (I was mistakenly hoping Lightening McQueen would be incentive to sleep on her own.)
ReplyDeleteDisney will make money, but from the previews I'm not sure if this will do as well as the Pixar movies. We'll see.
I have heard of the movie and I kinda want to see just to see what it's like and it looks a little cutsie. My favorite Disney movie was and always has been "The Little Mermaid." I used to be so mad at my mom for not naming me Ariel. My favorite song however would probably have to be "Be Our Guest" from "Beauty and the Beast."
ReplyDeleteI do think that the internet plays a big role in helping Disney make the dough, but as to this movie, I guess that is something we will just have to find out after hearing how the movie went.
Kayley,
ReplyDeleteI have seen previews for this movie and will admit that I actually got excited about it. Not necessarily because I want to see it, but because it reminded me of the old Disney movies that used to come out when I was little. You know what I’m talking about the GOOD Disney movies. I want the little children of today to have Disney classics like we did. I also remember reading and noticed on the bottom of your blog, that Princess Tiana is the first black princess. So I think that is pretty cool as well. All in all I think Disney should do more movies like this and go back to its roots.