Best Animated Feature Contenders, Trolls 3, Disney, Will Ryan

Introduction

Hi there and welcome to Vox Talk, your weekly review from the world of voice over. I’m your host, Stephanie Ciccarelli from Voices. In today’s show, you’ll hear about Oscar contenders for Best Animated Feature, the release date for Trolls 3, how Disney is set to spend $33 billion on content in the next year, the passing of animation and radio drama icon Will Ryan, findings from the Share of Ear study that may surprise you and a special opportunity to celebrate our one hundredth episode in the Community Spotlight.

News 1: Oscar Nominees for Best Animated Feature

Looking forward to the Oscars?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, this year’s animated feature race is a competitive field complete with family-friendly musical fare, sequels packed with A-list voice talent and more.

To say this year’s race is crowded is an understatement. You may have seen a handful of these animated features in theater, like Disney’s recently released ‘Encanto’ or ‘Raya and the Last Dragon,’ Pixar’s ‘Luca’, 20th Century Studios and Locksmith Animation’s ‘Ron’s Gone Wrong’ and a number of titles on Netflix, including ‘The Mitchells vs. the Machines.’

As we covered in a previous episode, Universal’s Illumination Entertainment’s ‘Sing 2,’ will be released during the holidays as well. You can find a full list of animated feature contenders linked from our show notes.

The 94th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, will honor the best films released between March 1st and December 31st, 2021, and is scheduled to take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on March 27, 2022.

When will you know who the nominees are?

Preliminary voting for shortlisting begins on December 10th closing on December 15th with the Oscars shortlist announcement due to be released on December 21st.

Be sure to stay subscribed to Vox Talk as we follow Oscar contenders as they become Oscar nominees and winners.
News 2: Trolls 3 Set for November 2023 Release

Got some sunshine and your dancing shoes?

Variety reports that Universal Pictures has announced plans for a third “Trolls” movie. The still-untitled film will be released in theaters on November 17th, 2023.

The upcoming installment in the animated family-friendly franchise is deviating from the release pattern of its predecessor, which unexpectedly shook up the film exhibition industry last year. Universal planned to release “Trolls World Tour” in March 2020, right before COVID-19 forced movie theaters around the globe to close.

Rather than delaying the film until cinemas were able to reopen, the studio decided to put it on digital rental service on the same day as its theatrical debut. However, nearly every multiplex (sans select drive-in locations) were closed, so the only option for audiences was to watch “Trolls World Tour” at home. Needless to say, cinema operators weren’t thrilled.

Variety goes on to mention that it wasn’t until Universal’s CEO Jeff Shell later touted the lucrative on-demand revenues, suggesting the company would go forth with simultaneous releases in post-pandemic times. In response, AMC and Cinemark, two of the biggest movie theater chains, vowed to boycott Universal’s movies. Since then, Universal and the major cinema circuits have hammered out an agreement to shorten the theatrical window and bring movies more quickly to the home.

Not much more is known about Trolls 3, the voice cast included, we’ll have to keep our eyes and ears out for more information. Follow along with Vox Talk to hear about the voice cast once it is announced!
News 3: Disney to Spend $33 Billion on Content

How would you spend $33 billion dollars?

The Hollywood Reporter announced that the Walt Disney Company is planning to turbocharge its content spending in its fiscal 2022 calendar year, which began October 1st.

According to the company’s annual report, which was filed with the SEC Wednesday afternoon, Disney plans to spend approximately $33 billion on content over the next year, inclusive of its streaming programming, linear programming, and sports content.

That is an $8 billion increase from fiscal 2021, when the company says it spent approximately $25 billion on content.

The Hollywood Reporter goes on to say that Disney also disclosed just how many films and TV shows it plans to release in 2022. Disney’s Studios division plans to release some 50 titles for theatrical release and on its direct-to-consumer platforms, while its General Entertainment division plans to produce or commission 60 unscripted series, 30 comedy series, 25 drama series, 15 docuseries/limited series, 10 animated series and 5 made for TV movies in fiscal 2022.

General Entertainment includes the ABC and Disney TV studios, National Geographic, and FX Productions while Studios includes Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Pictures, LucasFilm, Pixar, and Twentieth Century Studios.

News 4: Will Ryan

Many news outlets have covered the passing of Will Ryan, prolific voice actor, musician, writer and ASIFA-Hollywood past president who passed away on November 19 after a short battle with cancer. He was 72.

You may remember Will Ryan for his role in Teddy Ruxpin as Grubby the Octopede. After moving to California, Will began to write and record songs for The Walt Disney Company.

Will enjoyed long running voice roles for the Disney Company including Willie the Giant, Peg-Leg Pete, and several characters in the “DuckTales” and Disney’s “Gummi Bears” series. He was also the voice of Tigger and Rabbit and the singing voice of Eeyore on seventeen seasons of “Welcome to Pooh Corner”.

Some of Will’s noted animated feature roles included Petrie in “The Land Before Time”, Herald Seahorse in “The Little Mermaid”, Digit in “An American Tail”, and Hero in “Thumbelina”.

In 2021, Will entered his 34th year as a series regular on the popular radio show “Adventures in Odyssey” best known for playing the role of Eugene Meltsner.

In the last year,Will Ryan co-starred in a show with friend and Adventures In Odyssey castmate Katie Leigh called “Tell Ya Later.” This weekly show debuted on January 27th, 2021 and the final episode featuring Ryan was published on November 15th, just four days before his death.

There are many tributes to Will Ryan online, several of which come from the Adventures in Odyssey community.

Will is survived by his wife Nancy Niparko Ryan, sisters Patty Ryan and Marsha Ryan Russo, and brother, George Ryan.
News 5: Share of Ear Study

Ever heard of “Share of Ear?”

Radio World has just published information from Edison Research’s most recent “Share of Ear” study covering the third quarter of 2021. The study details how audio listening habits have shifted over the past five years — sometimes dramatically.

One interesting finding in the report runs counter to popular perceptions: listening via Pandora and Spotify has stagnated while AM/FM listening and podcast consumption both continue to see steady gains.

The Edison report also revealed that podcast audience listenership has continued to rise. Over the past two years, the daily reach of podcast listening among those aged 13 to 34 rose 43 percent with daily reach up 51 percent among those aged 25 to 54.

For more information about this study, you can find a link to the Radio World article in today’s show notes.

Vox Talk Community Spotlight: Celebrating 100 Episodes!

In this week’s Community Spotlight, I am thrilled to announce that this very episode marks the 100th episode of Vox Talk! Isn’t that amazing? To celebrate, we wanted to show our appreciation for you, our listeners, by running a really cool contest. The prize? A free Premium membership to Voices.

So what do you need to do?

Show us how you listen to Vox Talk!

Send a photo of you listening to the show with a screenshot of your phone or a snap of your listening space, and tag @voices on Instagram in your story or timeline, or you tag us on Twitter to enter.

We're giving away a free premium membership to a Guest member of Voices and five copies of our Voice Acting for Dummies book. Be sure to enter the contest before it closes on Wednesday December 8th at 12pm EST. Winners will be announced on episode 101 of Vox Talk.

Wrap Up
Well, that’s the way we saw the world through the lens of voice over this week. Thank you for joining us and for sharing your thoughts about the show! We love to hear from you and can’t wait to see the photos of you listening to Vox Talk. I’m your host, Stephanie Ciccarelli from Voices. Thank you again for including Vox Talk in your day! See you on social media and we’ll get together again for another episode of Vox Talk next week.