Comic-Con@Home: What We Learned from Disney's "Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe" Panel

Phineas and Ferb fans got a sneak peek at the upcoming Disney+ Original Film, Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe, during a virtual panel from Comic-Con@Home. The panel included a first-look at the film’s opening number, a song called “Such a Beautiful Day” that was released to music streaming services yesterday.

The virtual panel included the following presenters:

Michael Schneider – Moderator
Dan Povenmire – Creator
Jeff Swampy Marsh – Creator
Bob Bowen – Director
Ashley Tisdale – Candace
Vincent Martella – Phineas
Maulik Pancholy – Baljeet
Dee Bradley Baker – Perry

Watch Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe Comic-Con@Home 2020:

Highlights of the panel included:

Dan and Swampy recalled how they met on The Simpsons and moved to Nickelodeon to work on Rocko's Modern Life. They came up with the concept for Phineas and Ferb in 1993, but had a hard time selling the series back then.
Ashley Tisdale was really excited for Candace to get her moment in this film. She can only do 2-hours of recording at a time because Candace talks so fast and yells so much that she gets exhausted.
Ashley said seeing Dan and Swampy made her feel like she was home. She recalled the series keeping her grounded during the High School Musical concert world tour because she would have to take breaks to record episodes from all over the world.
Dan Povenmire complimented Ashley’s acting in the film. He needed her to cry and make it not funny and she brought him to tears. It’s part of the end of the movie, which gets very real. Swampy says if you don’t feel something at the end of the movie, you’re dead inside.
Vincent Martella has been playing Phineas since he was 13 and he’s 27 now. He grew up in Florida and recorded his sessions at Disney World in the same studio where they record parade announcements.
The cast finished recording dialogue for the film from home.
Maulik Pancholy shared a story about visiting schools to promote his book and having kids go nuts when he shared that he was the voice of Baljeet.
Dee Bradley Baker considers the Perry sound to be a superpower magic trick because people always freak out and get very excited when he does it for them.
Swampy is grateful to director Bob Bowen for having a creative solution to a story problem that he couldn’t share details about because it's a spoiler.
Dan said that when creating the story for the film, they tried to find a scenario they had never explored. Candace had never been the central character and nobody had ever been in dire stakes before on the series.
Swampy shared that Phineas and Ferb don’t usually get upset or worried, so having that moment in the film gives it more weight than the series ever had.
“Such A Beautiful Day” is Ashley’s favorite song in the film and she recorded it just a few weeks ago.
Dan said it was written so late because it replaced a scene where Candace was trying to bust the boys. To viewers not familiar with the series, it started too harsh and made it hard for the audience to be on Candace’s side.
“Such a Beautiful Day” was written by Karey Kirkpatrick (Something Rotten) and Dan. It was Karey’s idea to change the tempo several times.
Dan and Swampy have a cameo in the film.
The movie is meant to be like a lost episode that takes place in the middle of the same summer.
Dr. Doofenshmirtz goes to space with the kids and Perry has to keep changing back and forth between himself and Agent P so the boys don’t know about his double life.

Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe will premiere August 28th on Disney+.