Lion King and Lasseter

[Mark Mayerson]

Lasse Reichstein Nielsen wrote:

>Slightly off-topic here, but... just *how* bad is 'The Lion King'
>anyway? Danish cinemas has ordered the most copies ever of a single
>movie to release it simultaneously at just about every major theatre.
> And what is it about John Lassiter/PIXAR doing a feature for Disney?

The Lion King has a lot of great visuals but a very poorly structured
story.  That doesn't seem to be bothering North American audiences, who
have made this the highest grossing Disney feature in North American
history.  While I have reservations about all the recent Disney
animated features, this one is probably the worst from a story
standpoint since Oliver and Co.  Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast
and Aladdin are all far superior so far as I'm concerned.

The Lassiter feature is tentatively called Toy Story.  It's completely
computer animated and currently in production.  I know one of the 
animators.  It's due to finish up in the summer of '95, so assuming
that it finishes on time, it will be released for Christmas '95.
___________________________________________________________________
Mark Mayerson				Side Effects Software Inc.,
Internet:  mayerson at sidefx.com          Toronto, Ontario, Canada
					(416) 366-4607