Disney Is Ditching CGI Movies This became inevitable the moment Disney completed its merger with Pixar. Disney’s foray into computer animation is over. According to Jim Hill Media through JoBlo, they’ve fired everyone off of what was supposed to be their next CGI feature, American Dog, and what’s more their new Animation head John Lasseter is ending all future CGI productions. Instead, Pixar will now be the sole provider of computer animated movies for Disney. Disney meanwhile, will go back to doing what it used to do best: Traditional, 2-D animated movies. Lasseter has always believed that there’s still a place for that kind of animation in the industry, he’s always been adamant that it’s the story which matters, not how it’s animated, and now Disney’s going to try and prove it. This is fantastic news. It never made sense for Disney to have two divisions producing CGI movies anyway. They were in effect, competing against themselves. Pixar doesn’t need their mediocre animated movies further cluttering up the landscape, they have their hands full with DreamWorks, BlueSky, and all the others. Maybe, just maybe Disney can bring 2-D animation back. Whether American Dog will now be done in traditional animation or not remains unclear. We do know that Disney has Enchanted and The Frog Princess coming in 2-D. Those movies are to be something of a test, to prove to Disney execs that there’s still money to be had in making movies with colored pencils and ink. So it looks like when Meet the Robinsons hits theaters next year, it will be the second and final computer animated movie from Disney Animation. It ends there. The others will from here on out be Pixar, proudly displaying the Disney logo alongside Luxo Jr. As it should be. Back to Hand Drawing for Disney Posted Dec 19th 2006 9:00PM by Jennifer DeFilippo Pencil. Paper. Have you two met? I think the better question may be directed to the animator -- do you remember how to use them? I remember when Toy Story came out in 1995 -- it was huge! It broke barriers being the first full-length computer animated film. It was exciting and quickly became the thing to do; seemingly making hand drawing the thing of the past. Disney animation is now putting a stop to the CGI addiction and returning to a more traditional drawing plan. This change, just announced today by John Lasseter and Ed Catmull, will take place in Walt Disney Co.'s Burbank studios, leaving Pixar to exclusively work onCGI projects. There isn't a specific answer to why the change happened, but one rumor centers around Chris Sanders who is responsible for Lilo and Stitch and the upcoming film American Dog. Lilo and Stitch, if you can remember, was hand-drawn -- and was a huge success. Perhaps they're hoping the same hand-drawn success with American Dog. I do think it's nice to know that there is an effort being made in preserving this art form. I often times get worried with how great technology has become that we get further and further away from our origins. Being a bit of a technology dunce I don't understand the steps necessary in making a CGI film but I do fondly reminisce about the making of Steamboat Willie. I still vividly remember watching how they drew out the story to create the film. It was exciting seeing the characters come to life right off the page. I find relief knowing that there are many films to come made in that same historical way ... and I'm sure many animators are relieved too.