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Disney's remarkable 25-year evolution
2019-07-16 
An official poster for the 1995 Disney animation film Toy Story.[Photo/Mtime]

When we think about the world's finest animation, we think about Disney.

As the Studio's live-action remake of its 1994 classic The Lion King roared into Chinese theaters on Friday, film-goers in China were set to be in awe of the ground-breaking technology used to bring the original artistry and masterful storytelling to life.

Since the release of its first fully animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs back in 1937, Walt Disney, the world's animation pioneer, has continues to push the boundaries of animation technologies.

With the comeback of The Lion King, let's take a look at several key Disney productions that showcase their technological advances in the last 25 years.

1. Toy Story (1995)

Produced by Pixar and released by Disney in 1995, Toy Story was the world's first-ever full-length computer-animated movie. The software used for animation design at that time was primitive; incorporating finer details like fur and hair of characters proved impossible.

A still from the 2010 animation film Toy Story 3. [Photo/Mtime]

2. Toy Story 3 (2010)

In the third installment of the Toy Story series, characters were created with more detailed facial expressions. More importantly, Disney made a breakthrough in creating fur and hairs to show gravity, acceleration and force, adding depth to characters' movements.

A comparison between a shot behind-the-scenes and its finished look with special effects from the 2010 animation film Alice in Wonderland. [Photo/Mtime]

3. Alice in Wonderland (2010)

To create the wondrous world of the Wonderland, Disney's special effects team completed a total of 2,500 visual effects shots for the film. Very few sets were built for the Wonderland, except for the Round Hall and Red Queen's dungeon—the rest were all created digitally. As most of the characters in the film were also digital, leading actors had to act in a green-screen environment without much to interact with.

A still from the 2016 computer-animated comedy film Zootopia. [Photo/Mtime]

4. Zootopia (2016)

To produce Zootopia, a film full of furry animals that walk, talk, and dress like humans, Disney pushed its fur-animating technology to an unprecedented level. Animators spent eight months making the 2.5 million hairs on rabbit Judy Hopps and fox Nick Wilde.

To bring the 64 different species of animals to life, animators specifically researched different types of fur, and the studio's IT engineers even wrote a whole new language in the computer to make it possible.

A still from the 2018 fantasy adventure film The Nutcracker and Four Realms.[Photo/Mtime]

5. The Nutcracker and Four Realms (2018)

To recreate the magical nutcracker world of E.T.A. Hoffmann, the production team built practical sets for three of the four bizarre, beautiful realms. In addition, the film features more than 1,000 special effects shots, including digitally-created palaces, forests, rivers, and characters.

An official poster for Disney's remake of The Lion King featuring young Simba in a den. [Photo/Mtime]

6. The Lion King (2019)

Film critics and audiences are now split on how they feel about the remake of Disney's 1994 classic.

Nonetheless, the pioneering filming techniques, featuring extensive use of "virtual-reality tools" to create hyper-realistic visuals of the Pride Lands and treasured characters, will undoubtedly inspire amazement.

"If a movie could be judged solely on technique, The Lion King might qualify as a great one," columnist A.O. Scott of the New York Times wrote in a recent review.

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