“Disney’s Planes” is Ready for Take-Off on August 9th – Media Aviation Day Photos and Video
Hi everyone!
The movie Disney’s Planes lands in theaters on August 9th, promising a high-flying film for the entire family. We had the opportunity to send our reporter, Bruce, to DisneyToon Studios to participate in a unique “Planes Day” where he was able to view the film, voice the character of Dusty the cropduster and so much more!
DisneyToon Studios was decked out in the theme of Disney’s Planes!
The movie posters and trailers have promoted the film as “From Above the World of Cars, Comes Disney’s Planes”. It looks like a Pixar film, but it isn’t. The film also was originally meant for home video release, but was so well received that it will be released theatrically. Jeff and I haven’t been able to screen it yet, but all reviews we’ve heard so far – including from our reporter – have been glowing. Bruce is an artist himself, and was especially impressed with the visuals of Disney’s Planes. He also went into the studio to try his hand at voicing Dusty (voiced by Dane Cook in the film).
Director Klay Hall (we interviewed him for Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure back in 2009) has been a plane enthusiast his entire life. His father and grandfather were both pilots, and Hall can fly as well. Hall was working on a different project when John Lasseter came to him and asked if he wanted to work on a film about planes – Hall jumped on the chance to make a film about his lifelong passion. It took 4 years to bring Disney’s Planes to the big screen. Hall went to different locales for research, including London, India and New York – these are all locations in the film. Just like all Disney animated films, Hall wanted authenticity for Disney’s Planes that visiting these locales offered. You can see below the gorgeous animation, as well as photos of Klay Hall visiting India’s Taj Mahal and London.
The Planes Aviation Day at the Studios was really a full day – there was a walk-through of the story of Disney’s Planes with Screenwriter Jeff Howard; Story Artists’ Drawing Demonstration with Dan Abraham (Head of Story) and Art Hernandez (Story Artist); Creating Believable Worlds Through Art Direction with Ryan Carlson (Art Director) and Giving PLANES it’s wings with the Pre-Visual Development Team. The work it takes to create an animated film is extensive, including designing the look and personality of each character.
The Planes video game (available for Nintendo) proved very popular with everyone!
Bruce was able to see step-by-step what it took into making Disney’s Planes – he said that everyone made it look easy, even though so much work went into it. Jeff and I are looking forward to seeing the film soon! For those who are old enough to have seen Top Gun in theaters (or on home video since then), there is a reunion of Val Kilmer and Anthony Edwards as two jets in Disney’s Planes – that will be fun for us to see.
From the Disney press release:
“Disney’s Planes” is an action-packed 3D animated comedy adventure featuring Dusty (voice of Dane Cook), a plane with dreams of competing as a high-flying air racer. But Dusty’s not exactly built for racing—and he happens to be afraid of heights. So he turns to a seasoned naval aviator who helps Dusty qualify to take on the defending champ of the race circuit. Dusty’s courage is put to the ultimate test as he aims to reach heights he never dreamed possible, giving a spellbound world the inspiration to soar. “Disney’s Planes” takes off in theaters on Aug. 9, 2013. For more information, check out Disney.com/Planes, like us on Facebook: facebook.com/DisneyPlanes and follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/DisneyPictures.
Thank you to Disney ToonStudios for hosting us, and make sure to see Disney’s Planes on August 9th!