The Princess and the Frog
Released by Walt Disney Pictures on November 25, 2009
Directed by
Ron Clements
Jon Musker
Executive Producer
Sir Daniel Abbott
Main Voices
Anika Noni Rose as Tiana
Bruno Campos as Naveen
Keith David as Dr. Facilier
Michael-Leon Wooley as Louis
Gus St. Pierre as Ray the Firefly
Peter Bartlett as Lawrence
Jennifer Cody as Lottie
John Goodman as Big Daddy LaBouff
Jenifer Lewis as Madam Odie
Oprah Winfrey as Eudora
Terrence Howard as James
Emeril Lagasse and Kevin Michael Richardson as Marlon and Ian
Notes
Animator and New Orleans native Blanche Boudreaux was still at Nelvana while
The Princess and the Frog was in production. However, she did get to host a special edition of her PBS series
Carooning Made Easy in which she demonstrates how to draw the main characters.
ITTL, Anika Noni Rose sings a pop version of "Never Knew I Needed" with New Orleans icon Harry Connick, Jr.
Randy Newman still does the musical score ITTL, but the song lyrics are credited to Ne-Yo and Del St. Pierre.
Dr. Facilier will be added to an updated version of Fantasmic in the near future.
The premiere for the film was held at the Louisiana Superdome. Previous Disney premieres at the Superdome include
All Dogs Go to Heaven in 1990 and
The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1996. Next summer, 20th Century-Fox will premiere
X-Men Origins: Gambit at the Superdome.
IOTL, the November 25 release date was limited to Los Angeles and New York before the film went into general release on December 11. Instead, I had Disney release the film on Thanksgiving to give it a head start before New Line Cinema releases the highly-anticipated
Pandora (known IOTL as
Avatar).
The Princess and the Frog opened at #1 at the box office ahead of Paramount's
Shinobi and Touchstone/Nickelodeon's
Ben 10: Alien Swarm.
Future attractions based on the film are being planned for Riverfront Square in St. Louis. Meanwhile at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, World Holiday Land in the southwest corner will be rethemed into a possible expansion of New Orleans Square (below), which could include a new Princess and the Frog e-ticket. In case you're wondering, Splash Landing (which sits on the OTL Splash Mountain site), will stay intact as of this post.