Walt Disney Animation Studios?

[Mr_Incredible]

Yesterday I, like many of you probably did, picked up on a copy of Meet the Robinsons (the first animated film that I've had the oppurtunity to buy on Blu-ray), and something that really bugs me, that I probably noticed in the theatres but forgot about. Why is there two logos at the start? First it has the nice new Walt Disney Picture castle (which even though I like, I really miss the classic blue one), then it has a new one, with Steamboat Willie saying Walt Disney Animation Studios. Since when have they had this? I think it's a bit sad when Disney has to announce an animated film that they did themselves with an animation logo. I always thought that Disney was an animation studio that happened to do the occasional live action film. So, why the need for this additional logo? Is it to help seperate the confusion some people have that everything CG is Pixar (which thankfully will be true in the near future, if not from now on completley), and cause the logo is so much more lifelike now, they need to set up it's an animated film. Again, it's pretty sad to see that Disney has lost it so badly in the animation field (heck, in the whole idea of family oriented entertainment, but that's another subject altogether). What do you all think?

[ROBONICS95]

While most of us associate Walt Disney Pictures with animation, Walt Disney Pictures (first logo) is actually a distributor for G, PG, and PG-13 rated Disney films, both live action and animated. Walt Disney Pictures is not just tied to animation, as their most popular release (Pirates trilogy), among many recent others, is live action.

Pixar, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of Disney's animation studios with Walt Disney Animation Studios being the other. You see a Pixar logo after the Walt Disney Pictures logo to let the audience know this film was created by Pixar Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.

Even though the official name and logo were different, we did see a Walt Disney Feature Animation logo before Chicken Little. After the Pixar acquisition and a few pieces of housekeeping were completed within the animation department, Disney presented a new logo and name for Meet the Robinsons. Letting the audience know that this film was created by the "new and improved" Walt Disney Animation Studios.

It's primarily used as a "signature" of sorts.

And don't be so sure about Walt Disney Animation Studios not making CG anymore. We still have Bolt and Rapunzel to be released; both are rumored to be in CG.

[DisneyMickey]

It really serves as a counter balance with Pixar.

The (Pixar cg castle) Disney Pictures logo was followed by a Pixar Animations Studio intro.

Now, the (new castle) Disney Pictures logo is followed by a Walt Disney Animation Studios intro.

It, like mention above, is to distinguish Pixar Animation with Disney Animation. The new name Walt Disney Animation Studios mirrors Pixar Animation Studios. Both are owned by Disney and are its signature animation subsidiaries. WDAS new focus is to return back to 2D while Pixar handles the 3D. Perhaps that is why Steamboat Willie is the new logo for WDAS.

But I think they will be doing away with the Pixar-created CG castle that came before all the movies 1995-2007 because the new trailer for WALL-E has the new Disney Pictures castle in front of the jumping lamp Pixar logo. It really is much simpler than it sounds.

But I think it is about time Disney has its own Animation logo. Pixar has one and even Dreamworks has one.

[Beach Baller]

It is not just distinguishing between Pixar and Disney Animation, but also to distinguish between any other animation that comes from Disney. For example The Wild and Valiant were both made by The Walt Disney Studios but were not made by Disney Animation Studios. Gnomeo and Juliet is now going to be released by Touchstone but at one point in time was going to be another Walt Disney Studios film produced by another animation company. Similarly a lot of movies coming out on DVD (starting with Tinkerbell) will be made by Disney Toon Studios, not Disney Animation Studios. It simply helps brand the product. It is something that people can identity with.

[Coheteboy]

For those who haven't seen it: