If indeed Disney is returning to the old ways of animation, it ould require retraining a whole host of animators... unless of course they're planning on outsourcing it to Asia (which, considering it's Disney, isnt exactly out of the sphere of possibility).
But from a business POV, it simply doesnt make sense. Compared to digital work, traditional cel is hideously expensive to create and requires a longer production cycle. Assuming this announcement wasnt a shill to placate nervous investors (and I'd happily bet it was nothing more than that), it's suicide.
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I'm pretty sure Disney has lost money on a lot of animated movies Only recently, because the product simply wasnt that good. Remember: Disney was founded on animation and made a good amount of coin producing it. Then Eisner came on the scene, ripped the animation department to shreds, and gave us films that were dependent on the sales of action figures and keychains over quality of filmmaking. He's also effectively ruined the theme parks as well, but that's another story altogether. Suffice it to say that Disney *has* profited well on cartoons and animated films, but now they've lost their direction, and I'm not sure at this point they'll find it again. They desperately need another Walt.
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