You may have noticed that there’s a new Disney animated film, Big Hero 6 out in theaters now. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m sure it’s great.

Since we’re talking about Disney animation, let me take this opportunity to address a question that I’ve been asked numerous times over the years: “Why haven’t you created a new Mickey Mouse cartoon?” It’s a valid question and one that deserves an answer.

Way back in the 1920s and 30s, Walt Disney created some of the greatest cartoon characters ever – Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy among them. He also created some of the greatest cartoons ever. In fact, Donald Duck won an Academy Award for Best Cartoon in 1942 for his lovable interview with Hitler (Der Fuehrer’s Face). Even today, these cartoons are timeless classics that are still enjoyed by people all over the world.

Back in those days, cartoons were only seven minutes long because they were shown at movie theaters before the main feature. They were designed to be funny and entertaining rather than dramatic or dramatic. To put it succinctly, they weren’t designed as vehicles for telling stories with strong plots or deep characters; they were just designed to make people laugh. They succeeded brilliantly at that

As you probably know, this week marks the official 80th anniversary of Mickey Mouse. Many Disney fans are celebrating with a variety of events and activities, including the release of some new Mickey Mouse merchandise. But here’s the one thing you won’t see: A new Mickey Mouse cartoon.

In fact, it’s been over seven years since we’ve seen any new cartoons starring Mickey Mouse or most of his classic friends (Donald Duck, Goofy, etc.). On June 17th, 2007 Disney released their final short cartoon in the series “Mickey Mouse Works” which also featured Pluto and Minnie Mouse. Since then, these classic characters have primarily been relegated to cameo appearances in other shows (like “Phineas & Ferb”) or as walk-around characters at theme parks.

I’ve always wondered why these iconic characters haven’t been used more in recent years. These are some of the most recognizable characters in the world. Seemingly every day I see young children wearing a Mickey Mouse t-shirt or a Minnie Mouse dress. And yet these characters are nowhere to be found on TV.

So why did this happen? The answer probably boils down to three things: 1) Their enduring popularity 2) Mickey’s limited range as a character 3)

I was in the cartoon studio this week and we were going over a layout, and I said to the artist, ‘What would Mickey Mouse look like today?’

I guess it was just a question that sparked my curiosity. And then we all got to thinking about it. I mean, Mickey Mouse has been around for more than 80 years now. He’s never changed his appearance. He still looks pretty much like the same character Walt Disney created back in 1928 – those big circular ears, and that big smile, those little white gloves and those big shoes.

But if you think about it, everything around him has changed dramatically. We have such different entertainment now. There is so much more competition for kids’ attention now that they don’t really watch cartoons on television anymore. And there are other ways of seeing Mickey Mouse now – on YouTube, or on your phone. You don’t see him at the movies anymore either; he doesn’t star in any new feature films anymore like he used to do back in the 30s and 40s (and even into the 50s). I think there was even an attempt recently to bring him back with a computer-animated film but then it got cancelled.

So maybe it is time for him to change?

I can

The original Mickey Mouse shorts were designed to be shown in movie theaters, but Disney has no plans to create new theatrical cartoons for the character, or any other classic Disney characters. Instead, Mickey Mouse and the rest of the Disney characters are used primarily in television shows and movies made for video.

The reason for this is two-fold. First, theatrical cartoons are much more expensive to produce than television animation. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the movie theater market isn’t a very good way to reach young children, who are Mickey’s primary audience.

To understand why theatrical cartoons are more expensive than television animation, it’s important to understand how they’re produced. Most feature-length animated movies (such as Aladdin and The Lion King) are created using computer animation or a combination of computer animation and traditional hand-drawn animation (the type of animation used in classic Mickey Mouse shorts). But some feature-length animated movies (like The Prince of Egypt) are still completely hand-drawn. Feature-length cartoons are also completely hand-drawn when they use a style that can’t be easily duplicated through computer animation (such as the style used in South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut).

However, all hand-drawn cartoons require an enormous amount of

To the reader who wants to know why Mickey Mouse hasn’t been seen on the screen in a long time, I’d like to explain how animated films are made and why it takes so long. First, the idea for a story is worked out by a staff of writers. It’s important that this idea be original and interesting, because a cartoon has no stars to attract an audience. And also it must be one that will lend itself to being “animated.”

A musical score is then written. Then comes the drawing of thousands and thousands of sketches or drawings. These drawings must be done with great care and skill because — unlike live action films where you have actors’ faces and expressions — animated cartoons are all drawings. They must be drawn so that they are “alive.”

Next, inked black-and-white copies of these drawings are placed on sheets of celluloid which are photographed individually by an optical printer. Then each scene is colored with transparent oils on the reverse side of these sheets, called cels.

Now for the actual animation: Each cel is placed on a special stand in front of a motion picture camera, and as each cel is photographed in sequence with its predecessors, an illusion of life and movement is created in what will eventually become the

Mickey Mouse has never appeared in a live-action film, despite the fact that he was inspired by a real mouse. Walt Disney’s pet mouse was named Mickey after the silent film actor Mickey Rooney. Figment of Walt Disney’s imagination he is not, but apparently when it comes to movies about Mickey Mouse, even Walt Disney himself couldn’t make it work.

Walt Disney spent his early years making silent films with his own cartoon character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. He created Mickey Mouse after losing the rights to Oswald, and debuted him in Steamboat Willie in 1928. The mouse was a hit and starred in many animated shorts for several years until Fantasia, when Walt Disney decided to retire him from animation. “It seems that Mickey is no longer necessary,” he said.

Mickey would return to animation in 1943, but why did he stop appearing in cartoons at all? Well, because the studio thought they had better things to do than make cartoons. In an interview with Michael Barrier in The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney, Walt’s brother Roy explains that they thought they could make more money making propaganda films during World War II than cartoons. And later on, besides re-releases of older short films and one-off appearances like his role as a

High on Disney’s list of concerns is the fact that some animation fans have complained in recent years about the quality of their films. This year, in fact, Disney released a film called “Home on the Range” that was so badly reviewed and poorly attended that it’s being mentioned as the worst animated film ever made.

Disney has had its share of other flops, including “Treasure Planet,” “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” and “Lilo and Stitch.” Since 1998, when Disney released “Mulan” and “A Bug’s Life,” it has released only one animated film that did not come from Pixar: “Brother Bear.”

That film managed to rake in only $85 million at the domestic box office. By contrast, Pixar’s two films this year alone earned a combined $1 billion worldwide.