Walt Disney Animation Studios officially pulled out the plug from the Tiana Princess series to abandon its creation of original Longform content for streaming.
The spokesman confirmed that Vancouver Studios has had several layoffs as a result of this change in business strategy. In addition to the Tiana series, the studio is also discarding an unreleased feature-length project set to go straight to Disney+.
Teana was first announced in December 2020 and was envisioned as a musical featuring Anicanoni Rose, who introduces her role as Teana in the 2009 film Princess and the Frog.
Sources close to the streaming series say that despite best efforts, including some changes to the creative team, Tiana was unable to finally get to where it was needed to provide production costs.
Still, as Tiana is one of Disney’s Canon Princesses, the Princess and Frog remain important assets to the company. Last year, Splash Mountain Attractions were revamped at both Disney’s US Parks and transformed into Teana’s Bayou Adventure.
The animation studio is said to develop an independent summary special inspired by the princess and frog. This is currently under early development. Details of the project remain under the rap, but it is expected to feature an all-new storytelling, accompanied by Joyce Shelly as director and writer based on the 2009 film, and also directed by Steve Anderson.
The decision to shelve the unreleased Disney+ movie with Teana followed last year’s news, with Pixar not prioritizing developing longform episode content after the release of Dream Productions, and will win or lose at Disney+.
During the pandemic, some Disney executives, including then-CEO Bob Chapek, have pushed various film silos to create original Disney+ content to help grow subscribers.
Walt Disney Animation’s Moana 2 was originally conceived as an animated series before being reconsidered as a theatrical release. The decision paid off with spades and brought in more than $1 billion at the global box office. He will debut on Disney+ on March 12th. It is expected to produce huge numbers there (the first Moana released in 2016 became a cult classic with children, and was the most viewed streaming film of 2024). That proved that the theatre is the biggest strength of its animation, along with the $1.7 billion won by 2024’s biggest film, Pixar’s Inside Out 2.
Insider says Walt Disney animation is still committed to releasing one theatrical film a year, along with other shorts and special projects. Zootopia 2 is scheduled to be released on November 26th with the studio’s new Chief Creative Officer Jared Bush tapped for directing and writing, and also directed by Disney veterinarian Byron Howard. There are features that are not scheduled for November 2026, but the third installment of the hit franchise will be set for November 2027.
Short form is extremely popular in streaming. According to Nielsen, Disney+ license was the most viewed show in the United States last year. Disney Animation’s past summary streaming projects include Emmy Award-winning Zootopia+ and Baymax! series.
