The new short film resurrects 543 animated Disney characters with new Robin Williams sound
Disney’s new animated/live-action hybrid short “Once Upon a Studio” is a bit like the final battle in “Avengers: Endgame”: packed with every relevant character you could imagine. The short film, intended to celebrate Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 100th anniversary, features 543 characters from throughout the company’s history – including some that fans thought we might never see again, like Aladdin’s Genie, voiced by the late Robin Williams.
Polygon was on hand to view the short film at a preview of Disney’s upcoming feature Wish in Los Angeles. “Once Upon a Studio” follows Mickey and Minnie Mouse as they collect animated characters for a 100th anniversary group photo in front of the Roy E. Disney Animation Building. About halfway through, as portraits of Disney’s animated characters come to life and roam the halls of the studio, Genie appears, à la Night at the Museum, next to Olaf the Snowman from “Frozen” (voiced by Josh Gad) and speaks a few lines, those who are not known from Aladdin. As the filmmakers repeatedly emphasized, they didn’t use special effects or AI to create the moment, unlike other filmmakers who revived actors for film roles.
“They were actually direct lines from previous recordings,” producer Yvett Merino told Polygon at the preview. “When we do animated footage for any feature film, there are a number of shots. So we were able to find this line that fits our short film so well.”
AI was an intense topic in Hollywood during both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, with the WGA making concessions to limit AI use in its new contract. Earlier this month, Williams’ daughter Zelda shared on Instagram how disturbing it was for her to see AI recreating her father’s voice, calling the facsimiles “a horrifying Frankenstein’s monster at worst.”
And Disney has no intention of creating their own version of this monster. “We are an absolute no [AI] right now,” producer Brad Simonsen told Polygon. “In fact, the use of AI in the building is not permitted.”
The Once Upon a Studio creative team, including directors Dan Abraham and Trent Correy, reached out to Robin Williams’ estate early on and shared storyboards of Aladdin’s short and outtake selections. As Jennifer Lee, Disney Animation Studios’ chief creative officer (and Frozen director), put it, the company received the estate’s blessing to proceed.
“It was so important to us to share our earliest version of the short film with Robin’s team,” said Merino. “So many of us who work here at Disney Animation were inspired by Aladdin and Robin’s performance. It meant the world that they agreed to his inclusion in the short film – and [it was] so special that Eric Goldberg, the genius for the animation [original] Feature film, I also did the animation here.”
For the directors and producers, Goldberg was the key to truly honoring the iconic character. “When you animate a character, you develop a relationship with that character and you know who that character is,” Merino said.
Image: Walt Disney Animation Studios
Simonsen added: “What Dan and Trent specifically expressed was that we hoped to get the animators back [who originally served as lead animators on some of the short’s characters], because in 2D, hand-drawn, a superior was actually in charge of this character. They were the ones who kept this character in the model throughout the entire show. So it was a dream come true to bring back the people who led these characters.”
In addition to being responsible for Genie, Goldberg served as the overall head of hand-drawn animation at Once Upon a Studio. And when the moment came to bring the Genie scene to life, the directors essentially handed him the reins. “We storyboarded the moment and said, ‘Okay, Eric, do your Eric Goldberg thing and bring the magic,'” Abraham recalls. “And then he did.”
Lee said Williams’ performance still has an impact on her more than three decades later. “Genie is such an important figure to so many of us,” she said.
And that kind of impact makes Williams’ place in the 100-year history of Disney animation permanent. “I just think we couldn’t have made this short film without Cinderella,” Abraham explains. “We couldn’t have made this short film without Stitch. We couldn’t have made this short film without Robin Hood. And without the spirit we couldn’t have done it. It’s just part of our history, our legacy.”
“Once Upon a Studio” will debut Sunday, October 15, during the special “Wonderful World of Disney: Disney’s 100th Anniversary Celebration” at 8:00 p.m. EDT on ABC. A streaming date has not yet been announced.
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