Disney's King of the Elves got shelved

This is old news, but still.




Back in April of 2008, Disney revealed their line-up of animated movies through 2012. One of them listed for release at Christmas in 2012 (three full years from now) was a project called King of the Elves based on Philip K. Dick's short story. Disney hired Brother Bear co-directors Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker to direct this and we thought it was moving along smoothly.



King of the Elves is a fantasy story about an average man living in the Mississippi Delta, whose reluctant actions to help a desperate band of elves leads them to name him their new king. Joining the innocent and endangered elves as they attempt to escape from an evil and menacing troll, their unlikely new leader finds himself caught on a journey filled with unimaginable dangers and a chance to bring real meaning back to his own life.


Read more: http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/12/23/disneys-philip-k-dick-animated-cg-movie-has-been-shelved/#ixzz0wFIrQEE0


There’s two obvious reasons that King of the Elves may have been axed. The first is that it could be very hard to merchandise; the second is that the source story is actually not really what you’d first think of as a Disney toon. Here’s a minor spoiler - the lead character ends up killing his best friend.

It may simply be that they couldn’t get an expanded version of the short story to play well. The writing and storyboarding process at Disney, as per Pixar and some of their rivals, is a long and arduous one. Sometimes, a film just doesn’t come together.

Read more: Have Disney Canned Their Philip K. Dick Adaptation, King of the Elves? | /Film http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/12/23/have-disney-canned-their-philip-k-dick-adaptation-king-of-the-elves/#ixzz0wFJYCfHe


- TAE