| Fun with Mr. Future | |
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| Directed by | Darrell Van Citters |
| Written by |
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| Starring | |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Distribution |
Release dates |
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Running time | 8 minutes [2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Fun with Mr. Future is a 1982 live-action/animated short film from Walt Disney Productions directed by Darrell Van Citters. [3]
An audio-animatronic talking-head replica of Abraham Lincoln (voiced by Phil Proctor) hosts a tour of what the future will look like via retro-style animation. [4] [5]
Fun with Mr. Future originally began development as an Epcot television special, whose crew included Darrell Van Citters, Mike Giamo, Joe Ranft, Mike Gabriel, [6] Tad Stones, and Brian McEntee. [2] [7] [8] At the time, this team was also involved in the development stages of what would become Sport Goofy in Soccermania (1987) and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). [7] After Disney shelved the Epcot special, [2] Tom Wilhite allowed them to use footage from the project and edit it into a new animated short. [7] The resulting work marked the directorial debut of animator Darrell Van Citters, who began his career at the Disney studios. [9]
Disney released the film in Los Angeles on October 27, 1982. [1] No other public screenings took place until October 2010, when New York's Museum of Modern Art featured it in a program commemorating the publication of John Canemaker's book, Two Guys Named Joe. [2] [10] According to Tad Stones: "[Working on it] was a lot of fun but I couldn't even tell you where you find it now. It's one of those gems even Disney doesn't know it has. I went to a comic convention and was surprised to see its cels for sale". [4]
Toy Story is a 1995 American animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the franchise of the same name, it was the first entirely computer-animated feature film, as well as the first feature film from Pixar. It was directed by John Lasseter and produced by Bonnie Arnold and Ralph Guggenheim, from a screenplay written by Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, and Alec Sokolow and a story by Lasseter, Stanton, Pete Docter, and Joe Ranft. The film features music by Randy Newman, and was executive-produced by Steve Jobs and Edwin Catmull. The film features the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Annie Potts, R. Lee Ermey, John Morris, Laurie Metcalf, and Erik von Detten.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. It is loosely based on the 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? by Gary K. Wolf. The film stars Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Stubby Kaye, Joanna Cassidy, and the voices of Charles Fleischer and an uncredited Kathleen Turner. Combining live-action and animation, the film is set in an alternate history Hollywood in 1947, where humans and cartoon characters co-exist. Its plot follows Eddie Valiant, a private investigator with a grudge against toons, who must help exonerate Roger Rabbit, a toon framed for murder.
The Rescuers Down Under is a 1990 American animated adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the sequel to Disney's 1977 animated feature film The Rescuers, which was based on the novels by Margery Sharp. In The Rescuers Down Under, Bernard and Bianca travel to the Australian Outback to save a boy named Cody from a villainous poacher who wants to capture an endangered golden eagle for money. Directed by Hendel Butoy and Mike Gabriel from a screenplay by Jim Cox, Karey Kirkpatrick, Byron Simpson, and Joe Ranft, the film features the voices of Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor, John Candy, and George C. Scott.
Cinderella is a 1950 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Based on Charles Perrault's 1697 fairy tale, the production was supervised by Ben Sharpsteen, and was directed by Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, and Clyde Geronimi. The film features the voices of Ilene Woods, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Rhoda Williams, James MacDonald, and Luis van Rooten.
A Bug's Life is a 1998 American animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's second feature-length film, following Toy Story (1995). The film was directed by John Lasseter, co-directed by Andrew Stanton, and produced by Darla K. Anderson and Kevin Reher, from a screenplay written by Stanton, Donald McEnery, and Bob Shaw, and a story conceived by Lasseter, Stanton, and Joe Ranft. It stars the voices of Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hayden Panettiere, Phyllis Diller, Denis Leary, David Hyde Pierce, Joe Ranft, Jonathan Harris, Madeline Kahn, Bonnie Hunt, Brad Garrett, Michael McShane, John Ratzenberger and Richard Kind. In the film, a misfit ant named Flik, looks for "tough warriors" to save his ant colony from a protection racket run by a gang of grasshoppers. However, the "warriors" he brings back turn out to be an inept troupe of Circus Bugs. The film's plot was initially inspired by Aesop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper.
Cars is a 2006 American animated sports comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by John Lasseter, co-directed by Joe Ranft, produced by Darla K. Anderson, and written by Dan Fogelman, Lasseter, Ranft, Kiel Murray, Phil Lorin, and Jorgen Klubien, and was the final film independently produced by Pixar after its purchase by Disney in January 2006. The film features an ensemble voice cast of Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, Tony Shalhoub, Cheech Marin, Michael Wallis, George Carlin, Paul Dooley, Jenifer Lewis, Guido Quaroni, Michael Keaton, Katherine Helmond, John Ratzenberger and Richard Petty, while race car drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mario Andretti, Michael Schumacher and car enthusiast Jay Leno voice themselves.
Marc Fraser Davis was a prominent American artist and animator for Walt Disney Animation Studios. He was one of Disney's Nine Old Men, the famed core animators of Disney animated films, and was revered for his knowledge and understanding of visual aesthetics. After his work on One Hundred and One Dalmatians he moved to Walt Disney Imagineering to work on rides for Disneyland and Walt Disney World before retiring in 1978.
Hector James Peabody, simply referred to as Mr. Peabody, is an anthropomorphic cartoon dog who appeared in the late 1950s and early 1960s television animated series The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, produced by Jay Ward. Peabody appeared in the "Peabody's Improbable History" segments created by Ted Key, and was voiced by Bill Scott. In 2014, he was featured in a computer-animated film, Mr. Peabody & Sherman. From 2015 to 2017, he appeared in a television series based on the film.
John Cannizzaro Jr., better known as John Canemaker, is an American independent animator, animation historian, author, teacher and lecturer. In 1980, he began teaching and developing the animation program at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts', Kanbar Institute of Film and Television Department. Since 1988 he has directed the program and is currently a tenured full professor. From 2001-2002 he was Acting Chair of the NYU Undergraduate Film and Television Department. In 2006, his film The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation, a 28-minute animated piece about Canemaker's relationship with his father, won the Academy Award for best animated short. In 2007 the same piece picked up an Emmy award for its graphic and artistic design.
The Brave Little Toaster is a 1987 American independent animated musical adventure drama film directed by Jerry Rees. It is based on the 1980 novella of the same name by Thomas M. Disch. The film stars Deanna Oliver, Timothy E. Day, Jon Lovitz, Tim Stack, and Thurl Ravenscroft, with Wayne Kaatz, Colette Savage, Phil Hartman, Joe Ranft, and Jim Jackman in supporting roles. It is set in a world where domestic appliances and other consumer electronics come to life, pretending to be lifeless in the presence of humans. The story focuses on five anthropomorphic household appliances, which include a toaster, a lamp stand, a blanket, a radio and a vacuum cleaner, who go on a quest to search for their owner.
Eric Cleon Larson was an American animator for the Walt Disney Studios starting in 1933, and was one of "Disney's Nine Old Men".
Wolfgang Reitherman, also known and sometimes credited as Woolie Reitherman, was a German–American animator, director and producer and one of the "Nine Old Men" of core animators at Walt Disney Productions. He emerged as a key figure at Disney during the 1960s and 1970s, a transitionary period which saw the death of Walt Disney in 1966, with him serving as director and/or producer on eight consecutive Disney animated feature films from One Hundred and One Dalmatians through The Fox and the Hound.
Joseph C. Grant was an American animator, artist and writer.
Joseph Henry Ranft was an American animator, screenwriter, and voice actor. He worked for Pixar Animation Studios and Disney at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney Television Animation. His younger brother Jerome Ranft is a sculptor who also worked on several Pixar films.
Darrell Van Citters is an American director, animator, and author, whose credits include directing the animated television series Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi and directing popular Looney Tunes cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester the Cat, Tweety, and Foghorn Leghorn. He partnered with Ashley Postelwaite in 1992 to form Renegade Animation. He studied animation at the California Institute of the Arts.
Edward T. "Tad" Stones is an American animator, storyboard artist, screenwriter, producer and director, best known for his work for The Walt Disney Company, where he worked from 1974 to 2003. His most notable credits for Disney include creating, writing and producing the animated series Darkwing Duck and producing Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Aladdin, Hercules, and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. He was a storyboard artist on Bob's Burgers when it premiered in January 2011.
Kenneth B. "Ken" Anderson was an American animator, art director, layout artist, and storyboard artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios for 44 years. He had been named by Walt Disney as his "jack of all trades".
Sport Goofy in Soccermania is an animated television special produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation for The Walt Disney Company. It originally aired May 27, 1987, on NBC. During its television debut it was preceded by a mockumentary showing past Goofy cartoons of him always getting everything wrong and leading into the cartoon special where the audience is finally shown a competent, athletic Goofy who is the hero.
Waking Sleeping Beauty is a 2009 American documentary film directed by Disney film producer Don Hahn and produced by Hahn and former Disney executive Peter Schneider. The film documents the history of Walt Disney Feature Animation from 1984 to 1994, covering the rise of a period referred to as the Disney Renaissance.
Disney's Nine Old Men were a group of Walt Disney Productions' core animators, who worked at the studio from the 1920s to the 1980s. Some of the Nine Old Men also worked as directors, creating some of Disney's most popular animated movies from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to The Rescuers. The group was named by Walt Disney himself, and they worked in both short and feature films. Disney delegated more and more tasks to them in the animation department in the 1950s when their interests expanded, and diversified their scope. Eric Larson was the last to retire from Disney, after his role as animation consultant on The Great Mouse Detective in 1986. All nine members of the group were acknowledged as Disney Legends in 1989 and all would receive the Winsor McCay Award for their lifetime or career contributions to the art of animation.
