Disney Interactive has released official information about the upcoming Warren Spector and Junction Point studio game, Epic Mickey. The title is coming to the Wii and provides a new twist on Disney games.

“Mickey is an adventurous and rambunctious mouse,” said Warren Spector, creative director and vice president, Junction Point. “I want to bring his personality to the forefront, place him in a daunting world and connect his spirited character with video game players worldwide. Ultimately, each player decides for him- or herself what makes Mickey cool.”

Below we have some screenshots put to a video thanks to GameTrailers. The game reaches back to 1927 to pull Oswald the Luck Rabbit to become the first inhabitant of Yen Sid’s Cartoon Wasteland. Yen Sid is from “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and is a nickname that Disney animators gave him. Oswald always greets the new retired characters but starts to become resentful of Mickey. Of course Mickey takes a wrong turn, and ends up in Yen Sid’s area.

“Having Warren combine creativity and innovation with one of the world’s most famous characters takes Mickey back to his creative roots and allows fans to deepen their engagement with him as a character – especially in video games,” said Graham Hopper, executive vice president and general manager of Disney Interactive Studios. “In addition to Warren’s lifelong love of cartoons, films and comics, his visionary approach to game design and storytelling will make certain that this heroic tale of discovery and redemption resonates with Disney fans and gamers alike.”‪

Players will have the use of magical paint and thinner to get through the world.

“The core of this game is the idea of choice and consequence, and how that defines both the character and the player,” says Spector. “By putting the mischievous Mickey in an unfamiliar place and asking him to make choices – to help other cartoon characters or choose his own path – the game forces players to deal with the consequences of their actions. Ultimately, players must ask themselves, ‘What kind of hero am I?’ Each player will come up with a different answer.”

The story behind Oswald is actually very interesting and makes him a perfect villain character. Oswald was supposed to be Walt Disney’s first animated star. He appeared in 26 silent films but then lost Oswald in a production battle. Oswald went off with the studio and some animate staff and Walt went off to create Mickey with Ub Iwerks.

The big breaking news this morning is that The Walt Disney Co. says it is acquiring Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion in cash and stock, bringing characters like Iron Man and Spider-Man into the Disney family.

“This transaction combines Marvel’s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney’s creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories,” said Disney head Robert A Iger.

“Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney.”

Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of 5,000 Marvel characters.

It said the boards of Disney and Marvel have both approved the transaction, but it requires an antitrust review and the approval of Marvel shareholders.

—

This could make for some pretty interesting changes to upcoming video games, movies and comics.

Princess and the Frog

At SDCC, we were fortunate enough to sit with Disney Directors Ron Clements and John Musker for The Princess and the Frog. The Princess and the Frog is a return to the traditional 2D hand-drawn animation that Walt Disney fans know and love.

The musical The Princess and the Frog is set in New Orleans and shows us what happens when a beautiful girl named Tiana kisses a frog prince. Randy Newman does the score as well in the musical.

As we were getting ready to set up for the interview both Ron and John talk about how they attended San Diego Comic Con 20 to 30 years ago. They spoke about how the scale has changed and how it used to be about comic books and it was a sub culture. Of course they pointed out how there were no women there (everyone looks at me and we laugh).

Q: How close are you to finishing the film?
A: We’re pretty close. The film is all animated. We just finished animation totally last week. But there are different stages in the film. We are done with story, animation, we’re putting in color and we have 40% left in color over the next three months.

Q: Is the color computerized?
A: Yeah, it’s still sort of hand painted but there hasn’t actually been cells since Little Mermaid and that was the last.

Q: What is your favorite part of the film?
A: I like the music scores, I think Randy has done a good job. There is a number of good ones. A character that is like a voodoo fairy godmother she sings a song called, “Dig a little deeper”. There are things about all the characters that I like.

Q: What are some surprises in the movie?
A: There are twists that I am not going to give away that have to do with the emotional aspects of the movie. But there’s something with the ending of the movie that we’ve done that is very Disney-esque and yet very different than anything that has been done in a Disney film. There are aspects in the story that kindof look at Disney in a new way, re-examine Disney and what Disney is about and what Disney means to people.

Q: Is there a point where you thought 2D animation was dead?
A: There was a point where we thought, absolutely that 2D is dead. Michael Eisner had turned his back on 2D and felt it had no future.

Q: Now that it’s back do you have any nods or homage to older 2D?
A: I would say yeah that there are lots of nods and easter eggs in the movie.

Q: I heard that every 2.5-3 years will be a hand drawn film?
A: 2.5 – 3 years is the plan and there are two different ones on the board and we’re thinking the next film will still be a hand drawn film but after those. I think that actually sounds good, because if you did one every year you might lose the novelty of hand drawn.

Q: Has the break that you have had from feature film making impact your style at all?
A: Some productions techniques that Lasseter brought from Pixar. One of them is animatics of their sequences that is a stage between storyboarding and animation. Take every shot in the movie to plan where the camera went, lighting, and staging.

Q: Have you heard the racial criticism about the character in the movie?
A: All the criticism has been from people who have not seen the movie who don’t know the characters of the movie or the story. From the very beginning when this film was announced there have been issues. But everyone who has been involved with the movie and has seen what it is and that’s including from the very beginning and wanted to be sensitive to what we were doing. So we did alot of consulting. We’ve since previewed the movie, and the reaction we’ve gotten from everyone who has actually seen the movie that knows the story has been very very positive. If people have concerns, see the movie and a lot of the issues will go away. We feel good about the movie and it works for all audiences the way we hoped it would.

Here is the first trailer for the Princess and the Frog:
Here is a recent feature on the villain in the Princess and the Frog:

The book covers from early childhood and the first half of his career, including the makings of some of the movies we all know and love, as well as the launch of Studio Ghibli. There is also a foreword by John Lasseter, the Chief Creative Officer at Pixar and Walt Disney and close friend of Miyazaki’s. John has been responsible for overseeing the English language dubbing of Miyazaki’s films, as well as being executive producer for their American releases.

Vice President from Viz Media, Gonzalo Ferreyra had this to say about the books release:

“Hayao Miyazaki is known and loved around the world for his imaginative films that continue to delight children and adults,” says Gonzalo Ferreyra, Vice President, Sales & Marketing for VIZ Media. “STARTING POINT presents, in Miyazaki’s own words, his philosophies towards life, his work, the animation industry both in Japan and abroad, and his creative inspirations and motivations. He also offers lots of stories, many of them quite humorous, which show the extent of his complete dedication to animated film and the people with whom he works. We invite fans to enjoy this chronicle of the life of a man whose own dreams have come true.”

The estimated release date for “Starting Point: 1979 – 1996″ is August 4th and is expected to be $29.99 US and $34.99 Canada.

Additionally, those who are keeping an eye out for “Ponyo” might like to note that Viz are bringing out the “PONYO PICTURE BOOK” and “THE ART OF PONYO”, both due for release on August 4, 2009. And they will also be bringing Volumes 1 & 2 of “THE PONYO FILM COMIC” out as well, but they won’t be available until August 11th.

Australians wanting to see all of the above Miyazaki book releases can keep an eye on Madman Entertainment who have scheduled to release these titles (plus a few more Miyazaki books) on September 10th. Start saving your money now!