Yesterday, Walt Disney Animation Studios dropped D.I.Y. Duck on its Youtube channel. Its actual runtime is two and a half minutes, but heck, it's something.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjSIofvEJhI
Followed by another minute of making of, confirming that it's at least MOSTLY hand drawn animation; some digital aid is to be expected.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncEza6z_SwE
Today, seemingly unrelated and unprompted, Warner Bros put out a short clip, not necessarily an actual trailer, for The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, rescued by GFM Animation from David Zaslav's tax writeoff streak and presented as the one Looney Tunes project allowed to advance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hafVN4-1cxU
Just something that happened to catch my attention. Interesting that hand drawn 2D animation is quite suddenly a subject of interest to both of these media giants at roughly the same time. Maybe Coyote vs Acme will get dredged up next? That seems to have been the primary focal point this year that led to someone paying WB enough to trying out the Porky and Daffy movie after all.
As for what Disney's goals are, I have no idea. Once a king in animation, now taking baby steps like recovering from a disability and needing to relearn the art all over again. A long way from even getting enough footing to do something on the level of The Princess and the Frog, much less the 90's golden age.
It's something to think about in between ragewatching The Acolyte episodes or whatever you all have been doing these days.
Ignoring that this is Disney, I wish they'd had the painted backgrounds like in the older cartoons, but it's nice that 2D animation is coming back.