Yesterday, Byron Howard made a special appearance on the official Zootopia facebook page!
In this stream, he took us into the Walt Disney Animation Drawing Studio (which they decked out with Zootopia merch for the occasion) and taught us some techniques that they use at Disney Animation, how they draw the characters, and how they maintain the natural rhythms of the animals when they’re standing on two legs. It’s a fun glimpse into the process of Disney character drawings.
Then, at about the 30 minute mark, he starts answering some questions from the audience- including the tidbit of how Jack Savage turned into Nick Wilde. Yes, that’s right- Jack Savage was what he called the fox during early production. Mind. Blown.
Check it out over on Facebook, or after the break! The drawing lesson begins at round 9:30, and the questions begin at about 30:00.
I wanted to ask Byron P. Howard why there was almost no Zootopia merchandise. Unfortunately, I missed that chance, and all I can do for now is go to Twitter to ask him that same question. It's going to take forever for him to respond, but I hope he does, because only he knows why Zootopia isn't selling as much merchandise as someone like me would have wanted.
Haven't I seen a topic worded like a slightly angrier version of this on the reddit today?
Yes…? 🙁
I understand the sentiment. Was most disappointed when I went to Reading the other day to the pop-up Disney Store and they did not have a single piece of Zootopia merch there. It seems here in the UK at least I would have to either order it online or go to the Oxford Street Disney Store, which is disappointing. This movie needs better merchandising for sure.
Which is weird, because if you went to that thread I created, then you might have learned from FirelordOzai11 that, at least at his local Disney store, there was a dedicated Zootopia section.
I don't really know. I haven't visited my local Disney store in a while to see if any Zootopia merchandise restocked, and I don't think I'll be able to get to that other store. I can still take a bus to each of them, but I don't have enough money to do so.
I'd guess that the Disney store in question was one in a major city and so would probably be of comparable size to the one on Oxford Street London, if it isn't the Oxford Street store.
The answer is easy. Merchandizing takes place months before the movie is released to get designs approved contracts signed and product made. The studio didn't believe that the movie would succeed so they did little beyond just a basic merchandize package and were caught flat footed when they saw how big it was.
Although this could be a good thing, argue about doing merchandizing right for the sequel and entice the executives in that way, since a sequel would satisfy pretty much every executive in the company. Its a safe money maker, creatively it demands a sequel (not shoehorned in or a cliff hanger), it was a critical hit with large fan support for a sequel, and its a chance to truely capitalize on its success unlike the original. If it had been given the same support as given to Frozen Zootopia would have surpassed it easily.
So, it's the same situation as with The Lion King: a film made to fill a gap that they didn't think would reach nearly the level of popularity that it did.
Only managed to catch the very end while it was live, but enjoyed even that bit
I actually gave my thoughts on the whole Nick Wilde/Jack Savage thing on my DeviantArt journal earlier today: http://gistech.deviantart.com/journal/The-Two-Faces-Of-Jack-Savage-689372163
It's got a small bit of speculation but it does create some very interesting scenarios. I wonder if anybody will ever use fox Jack Savage in a fic or artwork.
I came up with a one shot that not only was the "original" Jack Savage was a fox, but that he was Nick's father, and hence the reason why he's not in the movie is that he's missing or dead.
I kind of pictured that maybe he left some kind of film video behind for Nick to find later, a la Iron Man 2 with Howard Stark to Tony.
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