"Big Hero 6."

"Frozen" has given Disney Animation Studios a new cachet within the company - if that is possible - and so attention turns to their coming projects. Naturally, there is a lot of interest and people want to know as much as they can find out.


"Big Hero 6" will be released on November 7th, 2014, which really isn't that far away. It has had a lower profile than "Frozen" did at this point, for sure.

Don Hall directs along with Chris Williams, the latter who came in later - that has been a trend at Disney recently, for a director to shepherd a project through the demanding early stages (here Hall) and then get a "helper" (here Williams) later in the process (as with "Frozen" when Jennifer Lee wrangled a directing credit rather late in production).

"Big Hero 6" is a lot different than "Frozen," which underneath it all was a re-working of a typical Disney fairytale from Hans Christian Anderson (with Ms. Lee working hard on the storyline about two sisters fighting, apparently). "Big Hero 6" is based on a Marvel Comics series of the same name with which even many comic book fans are unfamiliar (though many are, of course).

This will be the first animated Marvel film to be released theatrically via Walt Disney Animation Studios, so it is a Big Deal. Of course, Marvel has been working with live-action studios all along, the difference with "Big Hero 6" is that this is an animated feature film from Disney - and Marvel.

The Disney Animation Studios general manager and executive vice president, Andrew Millstein had a few things to say about the film recently. Here are some questions and answers from him about the "Big Hero 6" project:

Your next film is Big Hero 6, which comes out in November and is based on a Marvel comic series. How involved is Marvel?

Andrew Millstein: It’s a Disney Animation Studios project. We have friends at Marvel. We like to share where we are. But it’s more from the perspective of, “Share your wisdom with us, what’s working, what’s not.” But it really lives within Disney Animation Studios.

It comes from the Marvel library, but it’s not a Marvel property that people are familiar with. Will you present it as Marvel-based?

Andrew Millstein: We’re going to have to fine-tune the language of the presentation. But it’s not a secret we are trying to hide. We will highlight that in the right way.

The official synopsis from Walt Disney Animation Studios:

Brilliant robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada finds himself in the grips of a criminal plot that threatens to destroy the fast-paced, high-tech city of San Fransokyo. With the help of his closest companion, a robot named Baymax, Hiro joins forces with a reluctant team of first-time crime fighters on a mission to save their city.

I will be roundly criticized for this by people really into this comic book (I never heard of it before), but to my eyes, the plot appears to be vaguely similar to the "Ghost in the Shell" series. Don't worry, I have my flame suit on for that.

"Big Hero 6" was a comic book from Marvel written by David Claremont and David Nakayama. Claremont is a big force behind the "X-Men" series and even appeared in "X-Men: The Last Stand" in a cameo as a lawnmower guy.


2020