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).]
