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The Business

'Big Hero 6'

The imaginary city of San Fransokyo, a mash-up of San Francisco and Tokyo, is the setting of Disney's latest animated movie, Big Hero 6 .

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By Kim Masters • Dec 12, 2014 • 1 min read

The imaginary city of San Fransokyo, a mash-up of San Francisco and Tokyo, is the setting of Disney's latest animated movie, Big Hero 6.

Don Hall and Chris Williams directed the film, which begins by exploring the bond between Hiro Hamada, a brilliant but unmotivated young inventor, and his studious big brother, Tadashi.

Tadashi creates a robot named Baymax, but this is not a menacing, metallic robot. Baymax is friendly, soft, inflatable, and caring.

Of course, life gets complicated for Hiro and Baymax, who team up with Hiro's schoolmates in an epic battle with a mysterious villain.

Our guests, producer Roy Conli and Andrew Millstein, president of Disney Animation Studios, are Disney veterans who were on board in the old days of hand-drawn animation -- long before Disney acquired Pixar or Marvel.

Andrew Millstein

It was in the Marvel library that co-director Don Hall found inspiration for Big Hero 6. The film is loosely based on a little-known comic book, but the Marvel connection isn't promoted in the film or even mentioned in the marketing. From the start, producer Roy Conli says, it was clear that creative control would belong to the animators and directors, despite Marvel's great power at Disney.

Roy Conli

In their conversation with Kim Masters, Conli and Millstein also reflect on the way Disney has changed over the years, and the benefit of regular screenings with a group known as The Story Trust.

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    Kim Masters

    partner/writer at Puck News, host of KCRW's “The Business.”

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    Michael Schneider

    Senior editor at Variety

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    Kaitlin Parker

    Producer, 'The Business' and 'Hollywood Breakdown'

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    Andrew Millstein

    Walt Disney Animation Studios

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    Roy Conli

    filmmaker

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