(Source: jimhillmedia.com)
(Writer's note: I had held off on reporting this story, mainly because I was waiting for independent confirmation from another source. Now that the L.A. Times has confirmed it, she's a go.)
It's a blue Christmas for Disney this year now that the upcoming Tinker Bell CGI animated movie, starring the voice of Brittany Murphy, has been forced off its Fall 2007 release date.
Tinker Bell and the Ring of Belief was sent back for retooling after it tested too young for a major portion of its intended demographic: girls aged 2-11. Apparently, the story wasn't compelling enough for older tweens (although it made a great flick for the 4-6 set), which means it's back to the drawing board for Tinker Bell until 2008 or even 2009.
Why is this such a problem? Well, Tinker Bell is the tentpole direct-to-DVD release for its upcoming "Disney Fairies" franchise. This is a promotional package similar to its highly-successful "Disney Princesses" line of DVD's, books, collectible plates, toys and other fancy stuff. Disney Princesses raked in a stunning $3.4 billion dollars for the company during 2006. Needless to say, Disney executives have similar hopes for the denizens of Pixie Hollow, and the bean counters estimated that this setback could cost the company $500 million in sales.
Of course, bringing out Tinker Bell and the Ring of Belief as is would be an even worse setback for the company. TBRB is the first in a planned tetralogy of movies about classic Disney fairy characters (such as the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio) stretching out to 2010. If Tinker Bell tanks, that means that no one will look at either the other 3 movies or the tons of associated merchandise that will litter shop shelves in the coming years. Given the high profitability benchmark that Disney Princesses set, that would be a lot of merch collecting dust.
To mollify irritated retailers, who were expecting Disney Fairies product around October 2007, Disney has released some exclusive web content and is offering promotional access to the mighty Disney Channel. It may not be enough to soothe stores, but it's the best the Mouse House can do right now.
What's even more galling for Disney is that they can't even go to the CGI mavens at Pixar for assistance on Tinker Bell. Pixar has its hands full with projects like Ratatouille and Toy Story 3, and Lasseter and Catmull trimmed some movies from its roster, such as Chris Sanders' pet project, the animated feature American Dog.
Besides, Pixar head John Lasseter has made it clear that he's not a fan of marketing ploys like Disney Fairies, since he feels it sullies the memory of some classic Disney animated films.
Will Disney pull Tinker Bell (and Disney Fairies) out of the hole? Or will the Mouse House get a painful lesson in quality control? Stay tuned.
