The state and future of animation

[EricJ]

Because if they were going to video, sequels could be done by the B-tier TV-animation studios, and not take up too much of the theatrical studio's time on the money features.

I'll bet you're next going to ask why they weren't better received...

[Farerb]

The start of it was Return of Jafar, which was only a TV pilot to the Aladdin series, but Disney decided to release it on VHS as well and it did really well so they figured why not do the same for other films?

[Ben]

Why were most sequels to animated films prior to Toy Story 2 and Shrek 2 direct-to-video films?

I literally just gave you the answer to this right above…

[Farerb]

It's also worth to note how much easier it is to make a theatrical sequel to a CGI film because the models already exist and they don't have to recreate everything from scratch, unlike Hand Drawn films where the characters need to be drawn again and again.

[EricJ]

The start of it was Return of Jafar, which was only a TV pilot to the Aladdin series, but Disney decided to release it on VHS as well and it did really well so they figured why not do the same for other films?

Wait...
(checks IMDb)
Oh, yeah, it DID come out before Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea!

I knew Jafar was a TV-pilot, but I always thought the rest of their sequels were trying to get in on the direct-video money they'd discovered with the '99 Kiki's Delivery Service dub. (Since only US Japanese-anime fans knew about the concept of "OVA animation", and word was starting to spread to the mainstream industry.)
That, and they knew LM2 was too weak to be the theatrical sequel its reputation insisted upon, but sequels were now legally classified as, quote, "Character marketing" by the studio, and marketing had to be direct to the parents at Target-Mart.

[Daniel]

Yeah, we've been through this before.

The dub of Kiki came out in 1998.

[EricJ]

...Darn, imagine my not remembering that from fourteen years ago. Gettin' old.

[GeffreyDrogon]

Are Disney's The Princess and the Frog and Moana "woke"? Some Conservatives think so, especially on Quora.

[Dacey]

No.

[GeffreyDrogon]

If Lionsgate has been picking up animated shows for distribution, why hasn't it set up its own animation studio for features yet, since the animated films it has picked up or coproduced haven't done well?

[EricJ]

Because ALL THEY DO is pick up. And if all they pick up are ones that "Haven't done well"...

[GeffreyDrogon]

Then why are mini-majors like Skydance and Alcon investing in animation divisions?

[GeffreyDrogon]

What was the earliest animated film known to have the Wilhelm Scream? Most will say Disney's Beauty and the Beast, but were there animated films that used it earlier than that?

[Daniel]

Nope.

[EricJ]

The Art of Skiing, however, was Disney's first to use the Goofy Scream.