The Big Picture
- Disney’s canceled
Princess Academy
promised a crossover of iconic characters at a royal boarding school with original music. - Financial reasons led to the shelving of
Princess Academy
as Disney shifted focus from 2D to 3D animated features. - Although
Princess Academy
was never completed, Disney fans can still enjoy some crossover magic in films like
Ralph Breaks the Internet
.
With last weekend’s long-awaited D23 Expo, fans were treated to a sneak peek at all things coming up in the world of Disney. From glimpses of upcoming Marvel Studio projects to the premiere of new footage for the forthcoming Tron: Ares, the convention offered audiences a little bit of everything, unveiling a slate of sequels, stage adaptations, and revivals in an overwhelming series of announcements. Yet, while the biannual event focused on expanding the popularity of the studio’s pre-existing franchises, the entertainment giant hasn’t always been able to capitalize on its most iconic properties. In fact, one of Disney’s most promising canceled projects combined the team-up premise of Marvel’s Avengers with the world’s love of Disney Princesses.
Entitled “Princess Academy” while it was still a work in progress, this animated short first entered production back in 2009 and was ultimately developed for approximately four years before being shelved. An ambitious concept that would have crossed over every Disney princess from 1937’s Snow White until the Rapunzel depicted in 2010’s Tangled, the project’s animators managed to get well into the storyboarding phase before being dismissed. Still, with current CEO Bob Iger signaling that Disney will focus on more animated sequels in the future, it’s worth wondering what might have been if just some of these characters had been allowed to meet in a crossover event similar to the MCU’s Avengers.
The Avengers
When an unexpected enemy threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins.
- Release Date
- May 4, 2012
- Director
- Joss Whedon
- Runtime
- 143 minutes
What Would Disney’s ‘Princess Academy’ Have Been About?
As the title suggests, “Princess Academy” would have accomplished its main crossover by introducing Disney’s iconic characters to one another at a royal boarding school, where much of the story’s main drama would have been derived from their unique interactions. Rather than confining its premise to only include mainstream nobles, however, the short would also have prominently featured Disney’s female leads who aren’t princesses, such as Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas and Violet from The Incredibles. This broader selection would have allowed the short to celebrate the full contributions of the studio to popular culture over the years, showcasing how heroines of various backgrounds could come together in a celebratory tribute to Disney’s various art styles and modes of storytelling.
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Aiming to capitalize on the musical legacy of the studio’s stories, “Princess Academy” also would have foregone a more unified plot in favor of anthology segments broken down into individual sections. Adopting a similar approach to one of the highest-grossing releases of Disney’s Golden Age, Fantasia, each section of the film would have been accompanied by original music, with the studio’s infamous hit-maker, Alan Menken, signed on to pen the score as late as 2012. However, despite the attachment of the company’s big name and the film’s exciting premise, not even magic fairy dust could make Disney believe in this project. Facing an increasingly difficult market for animated entertainment, Disney axed “Princess Academy” entirely in 2013, crushing many fans’ dreams of seeing their favorite heroes from Pixar and Disney go to school together.
Why Was Disney’s Ultimate Princess Crossover Cancelled?
While this late cancellation is frustrating, Disney had a practical reason for shelving “Princess Academy.” Finding their 3D animated features to be massively outperforming their traditional, 2D movies, in the early 2010s Disney stopped making 2D animated movies almost entirely, repurposing the company’s resources towards future hits like Frozen and Moana. Since “Princess Academy” was being developed as a 2D tribute to the entertainment giant’s history, Disney let go of the short’s animators in addition to the rest of its hand-drawn animation department in 2013, with tuition for “Princess Academy” ultimately proving too steep for Mickey. Yet, while the financial reasons behind this promising project’s loss are decidedly unmagical, audiences shouldn’t worry too much, as Disney still released many wonderful movies throughout the 2010s.
One of these films, Ralph Breaks the Internet, even manages to partially deliver on “Princess Academy” and its initial premise. While Disney’s princesses aren’t shown attending a boarding school in the film, the 2018 sequel to Wreck-It Ralph includes a scene where Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman) meets some of Disney’s most notable princesses over the years, encountering recent newcomers like Elsa (Idina Menzel) and Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) as they commiserate over the tiresome tropes associated with their royal stations. The scene isn’t scored by Alan Menken and includes no intricately animated song sequences, but as a tribute to Disney’s royal continuity, the nod at least manages to capture some of the magic that could have been found in one of Disney’s most exciting cancellations. While Iron Man, Captain America, and the MCU gang are no Disney princesses, at least we have The Avengers to cater to our desire for crossover magic.
The Avengers is currently available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.
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