The Disney studio seems to have realized its declining popularity and is reacting to win back its fans. After announcing the return of one of the main architects of the 1990s hits, the studio with the big ears has just made a big decision that could—we hope—put an end to several years of wandering. We tell you everything you need to know!
A decision that will change everything at Disney?
The 2010s were particularly lucrative for the Disney group, which grossed over $1 billion at the box office. While we're obviously thinking of the Marvel Studios, Star Wars, and Pixar licenses, the Walt Disney Animation branch was not far behind. Three animated classics became billionaires (Frozen, Zootopia, and Frozen 2), a first for the studio with the big ears! Another sign of Disney's good health: it won its first three Oscars for Best Animated Feature in the last decade, for Frozen, Big Hero 6, and Zootopia. Unfortunately, despite the Oscar won by Encanto in 2022 and the box office triumph of Moana 2 in 2024, Walt Disney Animation has struggled to establish its animated classics since the health crisis we have been through. Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) and Avalonia: The Strange Journey (2022) were released to total indifference on Disney+, Encanto and Wish: Asha and the Maid Starwere failures at the global box office.
Wish's is all the more painful because it was supposed to be the Disney studio's centennial film... By wanting to imitate the animation style of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the big-eared studio only demonstrated that after being at the forefront of animated cinema for decades, it found itself lagging behind. While the upcoming films already revealed (Zootopia 2, Frozen 3, and Frozen 4) seem to confirm that the group wants to focus on its strongest licenses at the expense of original stories, recent announcements seem to reveal another strategy under consideration at Disney.
Last week, at the Annecy Animation Film Festival, Jared Bush - director of Zootopia 2 and artistic director of Walt Disney Animation - informed the press of Ron Clements' return to the studio, to advise the new generation of directors. As co-writer and co-director of Basil, Private Detective (1988), The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), Hercules (1997), Treasure Planet (2002) and Moana (2016), Ron Clements has contributed significantly to Disney's success with three generations of viewers.
While Ron Clements' return suggested The Walt Disney Company's desire to reconnect with its audiences who grew up with the Disney classics of the 1990s, a recent statement from Jared Bush in the columns of The Wrap confirms this. Indeed, Walt Disney Animation is working on new 2D animated films. "I love 2D. We have 2D artists working on incredibly bold projects. I can't say more at this time," confides the artistic director.
As a reminder, the last fully 2D animated classic from the Disney studio is Winnie the Pooh(2011), by Stephen J. Anderson and Don Hall. In response to Pixar's triumph throughout the 2000s, the long-eared studio decided to go 100% 3D starting with Tangled, despite its inconclusive first attempts with Chicken Little in 2005. While, as we have seen, several Disney 3D films enjoyed huge box-office success during the 2010s, this choice attracted a lot of criticism from a section of the public accustomed to 2D animation.
And you, what do you think of this new direction the Disney studio is taking? Feel free to tell us in the comments section. And to discover this major series that Disney+ has lost, click here.
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