|
 But that is not stopping Walt Disney Co's Disney Animation
from hoping that Baymax, the inflatable oversized waddling robot
of upcoming film "Big Hero 6," becomes the studio's very own
"Iron Man" and launches a new animated superhero world.
The Disney Animation studio is coming off the smash
Oscar-winning hit "Frozen," a tale of two princesses that became
the highest-grossing animated movie of all time with $1.3
billion in global ticket sales. Now it hopes to find success
with Friday's release of "Big Hero 6," a film based on a
little-known Marvel comic book of the same name.
"Iron Man" helped "turn the ship as far as people taking a
chance into science fiction and fantasy," said Don Hall, who
co-directed "Big Hero 6" with Chris Williams.
Tapping into the growing technology scene and young innovators,
Williams said he hoped audiences would connect with a new band
of superheroes comprised of smart tech nerds who harness their
scientific knowledge, led by teen prodigy Hiro.
And then there is Baymax, a childlike, huggable healthcare robot
inspired by a vinyl robotic arm the directors saw at Carnegie
Mellon's research labs.
"Young people form robotics teams these days," said Williams.
"There does feel like there's a renewed or growing interest in
the young engineering side."
"Big Hero 6" is expected to generate $53 million in U.S. and
Canadian ticket sales over its opening weekend, according to
Boxoffice.com.
The film follows Hiro in the city of Sanfransokyo, a
near-futuristic imagining of San Francisco melded with Tokyo.
[to top of second column] |
From the floating wind turbines painted in the style of Japanese
animator Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli films and characters
inspired by anime, to finding Baymax's face in the two holes
connected by a line in small Japanese bells, Japanese influences are
woven into the Disney aesthetic.
To create Sanfransokyo, Disney Animation's chief technology officer
Andy Hendrickson devised software to map Tokyo-style buildings over
the current layout of San Francisco.
As Hiro enters a competition to win a place at the local technology
college at the behest of his older brother Tadashi, tragedy strikes
and Tadashi is suddenly killed.
Tadashi's prototype robot Baymax comforts Hiro and joins him and his
college friends to become superheroes using their scientific
knowledge. They band together to take down a Kabuki-masked villain
trying to take over the city with microbots.
Disney films haven't shied away from dealing with death, such as the
mother doe in "Bambi" or Simba's father in "The Lion King." Those
films helped the directors introduce death as a catalyst for their
superhero origin story.
"It's hard for us to talk about who Hiro is and Baymax is without
talking about the brother who connects them," Hall said.
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Lisa Richwine and James
Dalgleish)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
