Disney’s celebration of its own 100th anniversary seems to mainly operate along the theory that more is more. They recently announced a box set that would contain 100 of the studio’s animated movies and cost $1500. (For that price, you could pay for more than ten years of a Disney+ streaming subscription — which you could use to watch pretty much all of the 100 movies in the box set over and over during that time.) Now comes Disney}s latest tribute to itself: They’ve released a brand new animated short on Disney+ titled “Once Upon a Studio,” with a cast of 543 Disney characters from throughout the company’s century of work.
The short follows Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and 541 of their closest friends as they assemble outside the Walt Disney Studio building for a group photo. The short is only about ten minutes long, so most of the characters are relegated to very brief cameos. But you will get to see Moana meet Flounder, and Mr. Toad ride the Magic Carpet from Aladdin.
Here is a trailer for the short, which is already streaming on Disney+:
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Here is how Disney describes the short:
Featuring 543 Disney characters from more than 85 feature-length and short films, “Once Upon a Studio” welcomes heroes and villains, princes and princesses, sidekicks and sorcerers—in all-new hand-drawn and CG animation—to celebrate 10 decades of storytelling, artistry and technological achievements. Mickey Mouse leads the emotional and joyful reunion of beloved Disney characters as they come together for a group photo to mark Disney’s 100th anniversary. The short film is written and directed by Dan Abraham and Trent Correy, and produced by Yvett Merino and Bradford Simonsen.
“Once Upon a Studio” is now streaming on Disney+. The short will also be airing on Disney Channel and several other cable networks this week, and will also play in theaters in front of the current re-release of Moana.
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Gallery Credit: Claire Epting