Disney and ESPN’s latest animated team-up will feature Mickey and Minnie at the Magic Kingdom as the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks “Dunk the Halls.”
What’s Happening:
- The first real-time animated NBA game will take place on Christmas Day, December 25th at noon ET, making use of Sony’s Beyond Sports technology.
- The virtual, live recreation of the Spurs vs. Knicks game will be set on Main Street, USA at the Magic Kingdom, while Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy and Chip and Dale cheer the teams on.
- Other iconic landmarks within the Magic Kingdom will be featured as well, such as Cinderella Castle.
- The storyline of Dunk the Halls consists of Mickey’s Christmas wish to Santa Claus to bring the NBA players to Main Street, USA to play the first animated NBA game on Christmas Day.
- Each Spurs and Knicks player will appear as a motion-enabled, animated player, making use of state-of-the-art real-time visualization technology enabled by Sony’s Beyond Sports, combined with Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations’ optical tracking.
- Fans watching Dunk the Halls will see every three-pointer, dunk, layup, pass and more from the real-life Spurs vs. Knicks game at Madison Square Garden in New York as it happens.
- Drew Carter will serve as the play-by-play commentator alongside ESPN basketball analyst Monica McNutt, who will be joined by Daisy Duck, who will serve as the sideline reporter.
- All five NBA Christmas games on December 25th will be available on ABC, ESPN, Disney+ and ESPN+.
- Dunk the Halls will be presented on ESPN2, Disney+ and ESPN+. The special alt-cast marks the first animated presentation of an NBA game and the first NBA game to stream on Disney+.
- Dunk the Halls follows another animated real-time alt-cast for Monday Night Football on December 9th, featuring characters from The Simpsons.
More production highlights:
- At halftime of the Spurs vs. Knicks game, the Disney characters, led by Mickey Mouse, will compete in a special slam dunk contest
- Santa’s Elves will operate the cameras for the game while Santa himself will operate ESPN’s “SkyCam” during the game
- The Disney characters will deliver pregame and halftime speeches to the players and decorate a large Christmas tree during the game
- Fans will also get to find out if it will snow on Main Street, USA and see how many churros Goofy can eat
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