Disney Will Make Over Mickey. Why? To Make Us Like Him.

[Bruce Wayne]

Disney buying marvel for Lady Day.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ItsJustSomeRandomGuy#p/u/3/uyYb_r4cZHE

 

[anon`]

Has "updating" a character ever worked?

Example:
Updating Bugs Bunny to Buzz Bunny
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6989380/

Ok, so that is indeed horrendous (as are countless other examples) but this isn't always a recipe for disaster. New Starbuck is way cooler than Old Starbuck, after all.

But yeah, it's usually like watching a train wreck. In slow motion. On Blu-Ray. Seriously... Tintin Americanised? Even I can see the tragedy in that.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

.



Tintin's going to end up being Marty McFly with a cowlick, and Professor Calculus will be Doc Brown in a green derby hat.



.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The problem with all "reimaginings for today" and "updated for modern sensibilities" and the like is that they're always dreamed up by the boys from marketing rather than by anyone with any sort of genuine creative vision. The beauty of the original characters is that they *didn't* come out of focus groups and merchandising research.

 

[jamespowers]

The problem with all "reimaginings for today" and "updated for modern sensibilities" and the like is that they're always dreamed up by the boys from marketing rather than by anyone with any sort of genuine creative vision. The beauty of the original characters is that they *didn't* come out of focus groups and merchandising research.

I guess you won't like the sagging pants Mickey then eh?

 

[Lady Day]

Disney buying marvel for Lady Day.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ItsJustSomeRandomGuy#p/u/3/uyYb_r4cZHE

They see the future.
:cry:

LD

 

[Lady Day]

Has "updating" a character ever worked?

Example:
Updating Bugs Bunny to Buzz Bunny
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6989380/

That toon got SERIOUS backlash from everywhere. SO much so it got pulled fast. Kids were writing in protesting.

LD

 

[23SkidooWithYou]

Back to the Disney thing...

They're afraid Mickey has become nothing but a corporate icon? Well, gee whiz, who do they think did that?

I worked for 2 years in the retail end of Disney. They made a radical move in those days to liquidate all the old backstock (and there was tons of it) and start limiting the size run in childrens clothing. They finally figured out that by the time a kid was a size 8 or 10, they didn't want to be Ariel...they wanted to be Brittany Spears. Exactly why we had so much old stuff that didn't sell. Layette and toddlers always sold, kids moved slow after the tiny sizes because the kids wouldn't wear "baby stuff".

Disney should know by now that Mickey is a funny critter. He has his child fan base which I believe is attracted by the innocence and approachable quality Mickey has shown over the recent years. Then kids grow out of Mickey and don't come back until they have kids of their own. Then they come back again when they are Grandparents...either to indulge the gkids or because they have the time and money to enjoy the grown up hobby of collecting/visiting their childhood friend. (Disney Time shares, collectibles, etc)

If Disney is revamping Mickey, it's in response to dwindling sales in a particular market like video games. They keep trying to grab that older child market and I don't think they ever do or ever will. I wonder, if they revamp Mickey into such a super hero go-getter, if they consider they might alienate the younger child and his/her parents. To do so, imho, breaks the circle that has perpetuated Mickey all these decades. They're walking a very fine line.

Oh, and Disney knows it's generational. Why do you think video titles are re-released and then go back into the vault for 10 years or more????

fftopic: We had adult character clothing groups too. You guys would have cringed! There was a group that included a blue/grey faux fur cropped jacket with the Pooh characters on it. It never sold and we always had it shoved in the rafters of the stockroom. If we needed to fill a fixture until new stuff came...we sent our Cast Members to haul out "Road Kill Eeyore". lol

 

[reetpleat]

This is going to suck, and here's why.


Spielberg's reasoning:


-- TINTIN is cool, like Indiana Jones. (That much is true!)

-- However...TINTIN is very European and very mid-20th century.

-- As a result, generations of European readers love TINTIN, but very few Americans have gotten into him and most Americans are left cold by his "foreign" Euro vibe.

-- Therefore ... in order to make a TINTIN movie appealing for American viewers, the characters and stories need to be "Americanized" and also be made more violent.



Result? This flick is going to throw all of the TINTIN books' charm out the window.


Here's the cast: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0983193/



.[/QUOT

Or, they could make tin tin a trust fund eurotrash guy. Or one of those europeans with the huge back packs shlepping through asia.

Or maybe they can give him a huge gut and tiny speedos

 

[reetpleat]

That's funny! The same thing happened in South America in the '50s. My mom (who grew up in Brazil) remembers how hugely popular the Donald Duck comic books were with kids. And my mother-in-law says that Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, and Huey-Dewey-Louie were runaway hits in 1950s Chile, too. Mickey Mouse was a dud as far as Brazilians and Chileans were concerned.


Which begs the question: if Mickey Mouse has been boring for at least 5 decades, why bother investing any new money in "reviving" him? Let Mickey continue to be Disney's equivalent of the Nike swoosh and Ronald McDonald, nothing more.

.

Come to think of it, has anyone ever really liked Mickey Mouse. I suppose they liked the old steamboat willy stuff, or back when he was in interesting stories. but since the fifties, he seems rather dull. Certainly no bugs bunny. He seems pretty much the symbol for disney, but a disney better known for disney world, snow white, cinderella etc. Who says "I love mickey Mouse"

 

[Carlisle Blues]

Minnie does

 

[Haversack]

For another view of the early Mickey Mouse back when he was the B. Simpson of his day, check out his encounter with the live-action Jimmy Durante in the 1934 comedy, _Hollywood Party_. Raspberries. Nose-tweaking. Running around on the floor making women shriek.

http://former.imdb.com/title/tt0025263/

As a bonus, its the only movies which has both Laurel and Hardy, and the Three Stooges in it. The scene with L&H and Lupe Velez at the bar with the eggs is especially memorable.

Haversack.

 

[jamespowers]

For another view of the early Mickey Mouse back when he was the B. Simpson of his day, check out his encounter with the live-action Jimmy Durante in the 1934 comedy, _Hollywood Party_. Raspberries. Nose-tweaking. Running around on the floor making women shriek.

http://former.imdb.com/title/tt0025263/

As a bonus, its the only movies which has both Laurel and Hardy, and the Three Stooges in it. The scene with L&H and Lupe Velez at the bar with the eggs is especially memorable.

Haversack.

This scene:
[YOUTUBE]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/g3cvUuRQtSc&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/g3cvUuRQtSc&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ayxt9IZSSFY&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ayxt9IZSSFY&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]
This has a little of everything in it.

 

[Patattack]

I say, nix Mickey and replace him backwards with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Interesting you mention this. Did you happen to read in the article that Oswald is the main antagonist in the new video game? He's tired of being forgotten, and starts fighting back!

In any case, I really like the idea of making Mickey less squeaky-clean. He doesn't have to be a bad guy, of course, but if he's too perfect he's not believable. For evidence, I present "Runaway Brain," a Mickey short made in 1995 that has him making normal-person mistakes - forgetting his anniversary, getting caught in a lie, etc. He also has a personality of his own, rather than just constantly cheery!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vDoWoePKPg&feature=related