| On
Monday, February 2nd, Buena Vista Home Entertainment
hosted a special sneak preview of their upcoming 2004 DVD
lineup for members of the press. Appearing at the event,
which was held in Los Angeles, California, were Disney VP
of Marketing Gordon Ho, plus special guests
director Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids, Desperado,
From Dusk 'til Dawn) and top producer Don Hahn
(The Lion King, Hercules). On hand to promote the studios
biggest titles in the coming quarter - Spy Kids
3-D, The Haunted Mansion and the
direct-to-video sequel The Lion King 1 1/2
- the trio fielded questions from the audience, and gave
a taste of what consumers can expect from the studio, post-Pixar,
in the coming year.
Robert, there were reports when Spy Kids 3 came
out in theatres that some people had a hard time seeing
the 3-D because of certain eye conditions. Did you do anything
to correct that for the film's DVD release?
Robert Rodriguez: No. If you have a stigmatism in your
eye, you may not be able to see 3-D. That's how you're
able to find out - "You're enjoying this?
I'm not!" The people who invented 3-D, actually
a lot of them could only see through one eye and that's
why they were coming up with a system that could simulate
three dimensions. That's where they invented this
3-D from, and it turned into a fad that everyone else could
enjoy. I think [Sylvester] Stallone told me he has a slight
stigmatism in one eye, so he couldn't really get the
full effect.
Actually, the mother of the little boy [in the film] can't
see it either, so she didn't get to see the movie
in 3-D!
Don, do you do a running commentary of The Haunted
Mansion through the whole film?
Don Hahn: Yeah, we do. We did a commentary with our director,
Rob Minkoff, and our visual effects supervisor Jay Redd
and our writer David Berenbaum through the whole movie.
Any guest "ghosts" doing commentary?
DH: (laughs) No, unfortunately!
Was there ever a possibility that Lion King 1
would go directly into theatres?
Gordon Ho: It's a question that comes up a lot - I'll
be frank - about why a film goes direct to video or to theatres.
Two things: I don't know if you can tell from any of the
clips we've shown, but it [Lion King 1 1/2] starts out in
their home theatre. So creatively, it lends itself perfectly
to the home environment. The other thing is that it's based
on economics and business reasons. It's about the fact that
we have such a great franchise that was established
by Don and Lion King was so successful with 13 million units
sold that for the Walt Disney company, it just made sense
for this to be a direct-to-video movie.
And I'll speak for the director. (laughs) This movie was
made for the big screen. It screens really well on the big
screen. We had to make the movie look so good because we
use original footage from the first movie and I don't think
you can tell the difference - which is the new footage and
which is in the real movie. It plays really well on the
big screen.
There was a time when something going direct-to-video
wasn't a good thing; it was considered something that wasn't
good enough for theatres. With the amount of money people
are now spending on DVDs, is that stigma kind of leaving?
GH: DVD is a medium to itself. Robert said it best: "More
people than not have their experience with a movie at home
- DVD or video - instead of in a theatre." So I think
you're absolutely right. The data we show is that when we
show people - families in particular - a movie premiering
on DVD, they say, "Great - this is a great opportunity
for me to take my family and enjoy it."
Sometimes it's difficult to go out to theatres and that's
why you see people having that experience at home. So you're
right - from a "stigma" standpoint, there's always
going to be something there, but we've seen the trend go
down. It's a viable medium that exists.
The original Spy Kids is coming out in a special
edition. Can you explain why it was delayed?
RR: Spy Kids didn't have anything extra on the DVD. I was
shooting Once Upon a Time in Mexico in Mexico when the deadline
for that thing passed. By the time I got back - they don't
have the shorter windows like they do now where I was able
this time - with Spy Kids 3-D - to turn in all the materials
by November to come out in February. Back then, they needed
seven or eight months of lead time.
I wasn't able to put Spy Kids out, and I never got a chance
to catch up and do another one until everything else was
finished. Because we put out in theatres a special edition
of Spy Kids that had extra scenes that weren't finished
in time for the theatrical release and we never put that
out on video - no commentary, none of the extra goodies.
They're coming with the special edition. They will be nice
transfers - everything will be cleaned up and we'll have
additional footage and stuff: We'll do it right. In the
meantime, I put out two other ones. It was just a timing
thing.
The extra features on The Lion King 1 1/2 appear
to be the most elaborate I've ever seen on a direct-to-DVD
movie. Can you describe the decision-making process with
that?
GH: From the very beginning, the DVD group was amazing
and they worked really closely with Brad and I know Brad
was the one who came up with the idea of the "Hidden
Mickeys" - he had actually done a couple of hidden
Mickeys unbeknownst to me. (Editor's Note: The Lion King
1 1/2 contains 12 "hidden mickey" animation in-jokes,
the finding of which is integrated into the disc's supplemental
features.) He also came up with the "This is Your Life"
biography for Timon. It's a great relationship that we have
with our partners in home video. It is unbelievable - it's
the most impressive bonus material I've ever seen.
After we saw the movie - and Nathan Lane was so hilarious
- our goal on the DVD was to make it the most hilarious
DVD of all time. There are other DVDs that claim that title,
but I think if you look at Meredith hosting "Who Wants
to Be King of the Jungle?" and Peter Graves interviewing
Timon - that all just came together.
That was our theme and everything came from that. Once you
have an underlying theme and you have such great talent
like Ernie and Nathan to work with, those are the things
that really gel together.
We also had time. We started working early with Brad and
working with voice talent - that's where it all came together.
We're pleased. I'll tell you this: When they told me they
wanted a functional playable version of "Who Wants
to Be A Millionaire" with Meredith Viera to work on
your set-top DVD player - not on your computer - I said
there was no way you could do it. Because as you guys know,
a DVD player is not a computer. But they figured it out.
There are millions of permutations of questions and answers
that exist and it works great. Kudos to the group who figured
that out.
That's what we're all about - pushing the medium further.
Even though the DVD is still a set-top box, there are still
a lot of things that can be done. Who would have thought
that 3-D could be rejuvenated on a DVD home theatre? Who
thought you could play "Millionaire"? That's what's
so exciting.
Don, what are your thoughts on your film spawning
this extra franchise?
DH: Thats pretty cool. Having worked on the original movie,
I don't think any of us really thought it would do anything
before it opened because it was a story about a lion cub
getting framed for murder - we described it as "Moses
and Joseph meet Elton John in Africa", and we thought,
"Who would want to see that?"
It's a huge thrill to see these movies come out, and I love
this one because I just think it's funny. It's a great movie.
Did Eddie Murphy contribute anything to The Haunted
Mansion DVD?
DH: He did some interviews for us, because there's a section
of the audience that really wants to see Eddie on this DVD,
so he did some extensive interviews for us on the disc.
Is it a challenge to get stars to contribute a
commentary or these extra features? Is it getting easier?
DH: We tried to think about all these things in advance,
because DVD is a major place for families to see these movies,
so while we're doing our EPK interviews and while we're
shooting and while we're doing the movie itself, we're trying
to layer these things in, so Eddie sits down to do an interview
and we try to cover topics and general information about
the DVD as well, because we know that's going to be riding
the heels of the movie itself and a lot of people are going
to want to see that.
Does this participation by stars become part of
their contract?
DH: No, it's not negotiated. There's a bit of coaxing and
good will involved (laughs), but that's a topic for another
martini at the bar.
How important are PC-enhanced DVD-ROM features
for you both as filmmakers? Are you interested in pursuing
it further on future releases?
RR: I like my stuff to be self-contained on the DVD for
the player, but I can see it branching out into something
more complex, but I'm a Mac guy - I usually don't play that
stuff, so I never really pay much attention to it.
DH: I feel the same way. I love to have it all contained
in the player itself, and I'm also a Mac guy, so hopefully
soon it will all blend together and you can watch the movie
and play the games and do everything together.
You're making another 3-D film after this one.
Can you tell us about it? And was it easier to convince
your studio after the success of the last one?
RR: They actually called me and said, "Do you want
to do another 3-D movie?" "Yeah, it was fun."
So I thought of something - a story my son and I had been
working on just for fun - and then it was like, "Hey,
guess what? We're selling this!" I told him, "We
just sold that idea." He said, "That sounds good."
It's really cool. I'm in the middle of writing it right
now and we'll probably shoot toward the end of the year.
I can't say anything more about it, but it's super-cool.
It's a family fantasy. It's really out there, because it
came mostly from my son.
Are there any easter eggs on the DVDs that you'd
care to tell us about?
I go out of my way to make sure people can find everything
on my DVDs. I don't really have anything hidden in
there.
Given all the news with Pixar and Disney this
week, how is that going to affect the availability of Pixar
DVDs?
GH: (much nervous laughter) I can't comment on that. No
comment!
•••
Special thanks to Mac Maclean and all at Buena Vista
Home Entertainment. All images copyright Walt Disney. All
rights reserved. |
