Once Upon a Studio (2023) on Netflix
Employees leave the animation building as a hundredth anniversary nears. Mickey Mouse steps from a production cel and, with Minnie Mouse, calls the characters of the films made there together.
- Watch on NetflixThis title is not on Netflix right now. Please check back later for updates.
- Watch on NordVPN
- Netflix4.2/5
- IMDb8.3/108,540 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
An intern and a longtime employee talk about a hundredth anniversary as the animation building empties for the day. Inside, Mickey Mouse steps out of a production cel and calls Tinker Bell, who nods that everyone has gone. Mickey and Minnie Mouse jump down, and Minnie gathers characters from most of the films made in the building. Others prepare for the meeting. Mickey pauses before a photograph of the company's co-founder and thanks him.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Once Upon a Studio (2023)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The Genie's dialogue in Once Upon a Studio came from previously unused recordings by Robin Williams, used with his estate's approval, and the filmmakers brought back Bobby Driscoll as Peter Pan and Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket rather than recast those characters.
- Richard M. Sherman, who co-wrote the song, recorded a new rendition of "Feed the Birds" for the short on August 22, 2022, at Disney's original office, using the same piano the Sherman Brothers had played it on for Walt Disney.
- Almost 80% of the short's animation is hand-drawn, and at the directors' insistence the hand-drawn work was done with ink and paper, an approach Eric Goldberg approved of.
- The short packs in 543 characters from Disney's feature and short films up to Wish, plus vocals from more than 40 voice actors.
- Studio employees repeatedly pitched a scene of a room full of every character voiced by Alan Tudyk, who has voiced someone in every Disney Animation film since Wreck-It Ralph; the idea was abandoned, though Tudyk still voiced the Mad Hatter.
- The film is dedicated to Burny Mattinson, the studio's longest-serving employee, who makes a cameo appearance in it and died eight months before its release.
- CGI animators had to rebuild the character models for CGI characters from films made before Tangled, reworking rigging and rendering so the older models would work with modern technology.
- Once Upon a Studio was screened for one week at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, where public screenings were held to qualify it for the Best Animated Short Film shortlist at the 96th Academy Awards, which it made on December 21.
