Disney's Fraidy Cat

[Lino]

Ok, this is a gripe of mine. Disney really delivers when it comes to animation. The nineties and new milleniums were golden! So why all the sudden has Disney gone so corprate not to exept a good flick they might not mechandise. Let me explain. Disneys has the biggest reputation for good animation, they have just decided to dive into CGI and leave traditional animation for the small screen for a little while . They had a few set productions, Chicken Little, meet the robinsons (formeraly a day in the life of wilber robingson) among others. The one that caught my attention was "fraidy cat", a old style comedy set in London, following in the foot steps of films like "The Adventures" and "Aladin". The plot basicly tells us about a cat accused of a murder in a hitchcock style mystery. The film was already starting to get rave review until the disney execs bad mouthed it, claiming it would not be a good family film. Basicly that they wouldnt be able to sell fraidy cat toys and games or make a series of sequals. If you dont believe me check out the article http://www.jimhillmedia.com/mb/articles ... hp?ID=1604

I dont get it, this cats cute as hell, I'd buy a fraidy cat doll if given the oppertunity. Now Disney is starting to make more live action flicks, like "The geatest game ever played" and "pirtates of the carribian" and correct me if im wrong but theres no kiddie merchadise dispite the fact that it was a good movie and earned Disney alot of dough. Another thing, disney decided to produce the wild which not only is it unorignal but they characters arent even cartoony enought 2 make plushy dolls of t-shirts. And how cute was valiant, no merchandising at all. There are alot of cute disney films and Id like to see even more, I think the only fraidy cats here are the disney suits.


I would really like to get some feedback on this 1because Im baffled. They thought kids would like treasure planet more than this finiky feline? COME ON!

[Sullivan]

Too many things to correct here.

Let's just leave it at "Jim Hill doesn't always have the best info."

[Lino]

So is his article just flawed or is he blowing smoke here and Fraidys going into production?

I have a feeling your in on the mouse-capades of Disney.

[Sullivan]

I actually don't know anything about Fraidy Cat, other than it was something WDFA was developing for awhile, and Ron and John had been on it for awhile, but is now on the back burner. Who knows what the future may hold. It may come back at some point.

But Jim loves to speculate. He needs a story. So if a film is no longer in development he usually writes an article about how it was a brilliant idea that got canned.

He wrote an article like that about A Few Good Ghosts.
He wrote an article like that about Gnomeo and Juliet.
He wrote one now about Fraidy Cat.

I think the problem is that Jim Hill is aware of ideas being developed at Disney, and imagines exciting things for them. We all want to see exciting movies based on these concepts. But part of the process of development is that you develop a lot of different ideas, and you have teams of writers competing for a few production spots. By the very nature of motion picture production, NOT ALL PITCHES BECOME MOVIES.

Jim doesn't seem to understand that last part.

And so when a writer who (understandibly) works his or her heart out developing a project that doesn't go, or doesn't go yet, grumbles.... Jim prints it.

But he would be the first one to complain if an idea does get made and then turns out to have a weak premise as a starting point. "Who greenlit this junk?" he'd ask!

Not that any of those projects were or are junk. Just that the process is one of competition. And if it wasn't for the competing process where hopefully the best stories win out, the films WOULD be junk.

[Dacey]

I thought that "Fraidy Cat" was canned. Is that what Jim is saying?

[Lino]

Well Sullivan your on the ball,
Its a shame Ron & Jon are leaving or left. I now know better than to put complete trust in Jim Hill, I mean, now that I give it greater thought Aladin needed some serious time to retool before it became a classic right? I suppose I was just in a rush to see fraidy in the green because I thought it was a great concept, I had been following it for years, an what the hell I like orange cats...I guess Ill just have to sit through grafield2...auy vah...

[Meg]

I was dissapointed this was cancelled too...It sounded like a neat idea.

Still, I don't think the younger generation would have 'gotten' the whole Hitchcock thing.

[Dacey]

Okay, now I'm lost.

[Lino]

I take it its just on the shelves for a bit.

[Sullivan]

I honestly don't know if it's dead or just resting.

I was sad to see Ron & John leave. If they're smart (and they are) they'll develop a big hit for Sony or Dreamworks.

Heck, they could retire. They're probably bazillionaires. I don't stay up at nights wondering how they'll survive out in the cold.

[Lino]

Ya theve done some fine work and im sure theyll be back somewhere some how, maybe break into some CGI or live action.

[Darkblade]

I heard about this movie but I later heard it was canned, could someone fill me in on what it was?

[Neal]

First four or five links should help:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Di ... f&oq=&aqi=

[EricJ]

But most of them direct back to:
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/ ... 7/662.aspx

(Since the mandate of the Lasseter Administration has been to redress all Eisner grievances and rebuild Stainton mistakes, you'd think this would be on the list...)

[eddievalient]

I hope Lasseter dusts this one off. I like the concept and the artwork in the article there is neat. I'd like to see it get made, especially now that Up has proven that a film doesn't have to be "commercial" to be successful.