Wreck-It Ralph is coming back. I absolutely loved the first movie, in fact, it was part of one of my very first Disney Movies press junkets.
During my Christopher Robin red carpet premiere experience in Los Angeles this past Summer, I also got to spend the day enjoying the press presentations educating us about the fascinating details that went in to producing the new movie, Ralph Breaks The Internet. This is the first of three posts leading up to the premiere of that movie, I cannot wait to see the finished product:
RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET: WRECK-IT RALPH 2 leaves Litwak’s video arcade behind, venturing into the uncharted, expansive and thrilling world of the internet—which may or may not survive Ralph’s wrecking. Video game bad guy Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly) and fellow misfit Vanellope von Schweetz (voice of Sarah Silverman) must risk it all by traveling to the world wide web in search of a replacement part to save Vanellope’s video game, Sugar Rush. In way over their heads, Ralph and Vanellope rely on the citizens of the internet—the netizens—to help navigate their way, including a webite entrepreneur named Yesss (voice of Taraji P. Henson), who is the head algorithm and the heart and soul of trend-making site “BuzzzTube.”
It was an honor to preview some early footage of Ralph Breaks The Internet with Director Rich Moore, Director/Writer Phil Johnston and Producer Clark Spencer:
I have explained in all my other Disney posts that the detail that goes into a Disney movie is mind-boggling. That is one of several big reasons why these movies are of such high quality.
We chatted about the Oh My Disney scene, which I will share more details with you at a later date (best teaser trailer ever, by the way). Then the above gentlemen explained to us that in order to get a fuller understanding of the real workings of the actual Internet, they took a trip to One Wilshire Boulevard:
As of 2013 it was one of the top three telecommunications centers in the world, and by 2015 One Wilshire was “the most highly connected Internet point in the western U.S.,” with submarine communications cables allowing “one-third of Internet traffic from the U.S. to Asia [to pass] through the building.” (from Wikipedia)
This is the level of research that makes a Disney movie the absolute best it can be. I remember when we were listening to some of these same fellows explain over five years ago that they went to Spain for the research of the first movie to study Gaudi architecture because that is the style they were looking for in Wreck-It Ralph. For this movie they studied one of the biggest Internet centers in the world.
How do we get from Litwak’s to the rest of the world? Because, Vanellope has a problem with her game and asks Ralph to help her save it from being unplugged forever. She needs a piece of tech, and doesn’t know what to do. We are several years in the future from the original movie, and now Litwak’s has wifi, so Ralph and Vanellope decide to surf the net, literally!
They introduced us to the many characters that make up the working Internet portion of the world that Ralph and Vanellope have now arrived in. The details that go into every character is amazing.
We are in the Internet now, and the animators and writers had to come up with a way to visualize for us, how would everything look, what would make up the various parts of the Internet city that Ralph and Vanellope find themselves in, and what familiar items will we find. There are net users who look like us in avatar form, and netizens, full time citizens of the Internet, and one of my favorites is Knowsmore.
He is a physical representation of the search bar. You know how you start to type in a word and the rest of the letters, whether correct or not, start to populate to help you find the word before you finish typing? That is Knowsmore, and spoiler alert, my favorite line from him, “My auto fill is a little aggressive today.” We have all been there in real life, this and many other aspects of our Internet lives come to life in this movie, and it is brilliant!
Apps have more creative names in the Internet universe that Ralph and Vanellope visit. Districts in the Internet city that Ralph and Vanellope visit contain the Apps we know and use. Some have the real company names, and some have names that sort of spoof the names we use all throughout the day. Instead of Buzzfeed and Youtube, there is Buzztube, etc.
And we got to meet Taraji P. Henson’s character, Yesss. She is the fabulous fashion maven of the Internet! Yesss is an algorithm. She is also a fashionista. You may notice that her clothes are forever changing. Styles are always changing, and in the world of the Internet, these changes are occurring all day and night. So Yesss’s outfits are constantly changing, hence she is an algorithm rather than a static character like our friends.
Yesss is explaining to Ralph and Vanellope ow to make money on the Internet, you will have to see the movie to find out why, after all that would be a big spoiler!
Lastly, we chatted about the auction site, Ebay. To bring authenticity to this app in the world of Ralph and Vanellope, Ebay is an actual auction house. Naturally, Disney brought in Brian Curless, the reigning US auctioneer champion! It is the pinnacle of authenticity!
Like WRECK-IT RALPH on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WreckItRalph/
Follow WRECK-IT RALPH on Twitter: https://twitter.com/wreckitralph
Follow WRECK-IT RALPH on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wreckitralph/
Visit the official RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET: WRECK-IT RALPH 2 website here: http://movies.disney.com/ralph-breaks-the-internet-wreck-it-ralph-2
RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET: WRECK-IT RALPH 2 arrives in theatres everywhere on November 21st!
Photos by Alex Kang for Disney.
Lastly, I got to voice the character of Vanellope during my first Disney movie trip almost six years ago. I am going to include this in every post, because this is the closest I may come to being in a Disney movie!
Wreck-It Ralph “Ralph Meets Vanellope” Clip
Me animated as Vanellope!
My family enjoyed the first movie a lot and we are looking forward to seeing this one. It sounds equally as entertaining and fun.