Disney Took Issue With Same-Sex Kiss In Nimona Movie, Say Former Blue Sky Staff

Anonymous former Blue Sky staff members reveal that Disney took issue with a same-sex kiss being included in the scrapped Nimona movie. The animated film was set to be an adaptation of Noelle Stevenson’s fantasy graphic novel, which was set in a futuristic medieval setting and centered on the titular human girl with the ability to shapeshift into various sizes and forms and could breathe fire. Nimona teams up with former knight Ballister Blackheart in an effort to bring down the corrupt government known as the Institution.

Development on the Nimona movie adaptation was first announced in mid 2015 when 20th Century Fox Animation acquired the rights to the novel with Patrick Osborne attached to direct and Marc Haimes set to write while Blue Sky Studios would handle the animation. Following Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox, the project would initially be one of a handful to survive the studio transition and was scheduled to hit theaters in January 2022. Nimona would ultimately be scrapped as Disney elected to shutter Blue Sky Studios in 2021 citing the economic impact from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as making it no longer feasible to keep a third animation house open alongside Pixar and Walt Disney Animation.

Just over a year after the project was scrapped, multiple Blue Sky staff members spoke with Business Insider to discuss the Nimona movie adaptation that never came to be. The former employees revealed that Disney took issue with a same-sex kiss being included in the movie, with studio execs putting enough pressure in a 2020 meeting for it to be left out of future presentations to the House of Mouse. One former staff member said of the decision:

“We need more queer stories, but we also need to call out how nefarious it is when you don’t tell queer stories. When the biggest entertainment company in the world creates content for children and systematically censors queer content, they are pushing queer children to dark places.”

The unnamed former Blue Sky staffers also went on to question Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s recent response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, to which he recently issued an apology to company employees for his initial lack of a response and donations to the politicians behind the policy. One staffer noted that while Chapek is supposedly “championing inclusive storytelling and LGBTQ content,” there is a lack of any such content and stated that “Disney is its own biggest hurdle in telling those stories.” The former Blue Sky employees also recalled that the removal of the same-sex kiss in Nimona movie presentations created “a weird atmosphere” at the animation studio that subsequently derailed the family-like environment they had experienced prior.

The reveal that Disney took issue with the same-sex kiss in the scrapped Nimona movie adaptation comes as the studio has been under fire from the general public and both Disney and Pixar employees regarding its handling of addressing Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Members of Disney staff wrote a letter to Chapek to ask him to publicly oppose the bill prior to it passing the state’s Senate while Pixar employees have stated that the studio censored efforts to produce more LGBTQ+ inclusive content. Though Chapek has since apologized, his initial lack of a response and the unlikelihood of Nimona‘s revival will remain a negative chapter in the studio’s history.

Source: Business Insider

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Grant Hermanns
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Grant Hermanns is a News Writer, Interviewer and Hiring Manager for Screen Rant, having joined the team in early 2021. Way back in 2015 while still in his college days, Grant got his start in the entertainment journalism industry with creator-friendly site Moviepilot until it shuttered nearly three years later. From there he joined the staff at ComingSoon.net and was its Associate Editor prior to coming over to Screen Rant.

To say he’s a lover of film and television would be an understatement and when he’s not mass consuming either you can find him exploring the world of Dungeons & Dragons with friends or slowly making his way through his gaming backlog.

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