Theme_Park_Insider
11-05-2009, 12:00 PM
By Robert Niles: http://www.themeparkinsider.com/art/news/epic-mickey-game.jpgFor tonight's open thread, I'll leave you with this article from the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/business/media/05mickey.html), revealing some of the ways that the Walt Disney Company is looking to revitalize its icon, Mickey Mouse.
Over the decades, Mickey's ossified into a corporate symbol - far from his origin as the "Bart Simpson of his day," as the NYT put it. Heck, even the original Animation tour film at the then-Disney-MGM Studios gently mocked Mickey's corporate status.
I also enjoyed the reveal that the famous "Oswald for Al Michaels" deal wasn't some last-minute, face-saving throw-in, but a calculated move by Disney to regain rights for a character it needed for next year's "Epic Mickey" video game, the first step in the company's re-envisioning of the Main Mouse.
Whaddya think?
More... (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200911/1520/)
Over the decades, Mickey's ossified into a corporate symbol - far from his origin as the "Bart Simpson of his day," as the NYT put it. Heck, even the original Animation tour film at the then-Disney-MGM Studios gently mocked Mickey's corporate status.
I also enjoyed the reveal that the famous "Oswald for Al Michaels" deal wasn't some last-minute, face-saving throw-in, but a calculated move by Disney to regain rights for a character it needed for next year's "Epic Mickey" video game, the first step in the company's re-envisioning of the Main Mouse.
Whaddya think?
More... (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200911/1520/)