From Newsgroup: rec.arts.disney.parks

On 14 Feb 2022, Biden sucks <jthomq@gmail.com> posted some news:sufaqm$1aiol$15@news.freedyn.de:

Full steam ahead with the woke crap, Disney. Go for it.

As the year 2024 draws closer, Disney fans have become increasingly vocal
and concerned about The Walt Disney Company losing the rights to Mickey
Mouse. But Disney has already lost almost 95% of the classic animation material from its feature films, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi, and no amount of lobbying Congress could have stopped the loss.

One of the earliest versions of DisneyAs Mickey Mouse is set to enter the public domain on January 1, 2024, ending a 96-year-long copyright held by
the entertainment giant since MickeyAs first cartoon, Steamboat Willie, debuted in 1928. At that time, MickeyAs copyright was valid for 28 years,
with the option for Disney to extend it for an additional 28 years,
meaning that the original copyright for the Steamboat Willie character was
set to enter the public domain at the end of 1983. Facing a loss of
ownership, Disney sprang into action to save the beloved mouse from life outside The Walt Disney Company.

Disney wasted no time, bypassing any potential riff-raff and going
directly to the United States government for help, lobbying Congress in an effort to hold on to Mickey a little longer. Whether federal lawmakers
revered Disney as an untouchable entertainment powerhouse or the American people had elected a Congress full of Mickey fans, weAll never know, but Congress happily extended DisneyAs copyright by enacting the oMickey Mouse Protection Act,o or, as it is formally known, the Copyright Term Extension Act.

Copyrights donAt last forever, though, and when the clock strikes midnight
on January 1, 2024, Disney will be forced to say farewell to Steamboat Willieuthough his trademark will remain.

But while there may still be some measure of hope for Mickey, thereAs no
hope for a loss of Disney property that has already occurreduone that
never made the headlines as Steamboat Willie did. The Walt Disney Company
has already suffered a tragic loss of some of its intellectual property,
and the company has no one to blame but its very own animators.

In the 1930s and 1940s, when Walt DisneyAs animators were tasked with hand-drawing the characters and backgrounds for some of the studioAs most beloved animated films, they embraced their work with great passion and dedication. They apparently enjoyed their work and had lots of fun on the clock. Back then, hand-drawn animation was a lengthy, labor-intensive
process, but it was business as usual for those in that line of work.
Because of this, animators were often very carefreeuand sometimes carelessuwhen it came to the fragile vintage art they were creating.

Arthur Stevens, a long-time Disney animator and director who worked on
classic Disney animated films The Rescuers (1977), The Fox and the Hound (1981), and The Black Cauldron (1985), once explained that animators used
to toss finished animation canvases on the floor when they were finished
with them. Some animators even used the canvases to slide around on the floors. While the practice might have been good for team-building, it was entirely destructive for the artwork itself.

It created multiple problems for the studio as well. Over the years, the carelessness of DisneyAs animators resulted in the loss of nearly 95% of DisneyAs vintage animation materialua loss from which recovery is not possible. In an effort to prevent further losses, experts now employ preservation techniques to care for the remaining material. The goal is to lower the risk of further damage and loss of DisneyAs treasured and
priceless artwork.

Fortunately for Disney fans of every age, all of the films for which the animation material was lost are still available in some physical and
digital formats and can be streamed on the Disney+ platform.

Not if you're woke broke!!

https://www.disneydining.com/disney-loses-95-percent-of-classic-animation- cels-bb1/
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