Followers of Mickey and the gang will get a particular Christmas deal with!
Everybody’s favourite mouse is headed to the basketball court docket for the primary real-time animated NBA presentation. The New York Knicks will play the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at midday ET at Madison Sq. Backyard. For the occasion, the sector will rework into Disney World’s Foremost Avenue, USA, and the gamers will likely be animated as iconic Disney characters with 3D animation.
Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, Chip, and Dale will take to the court docket as NBA gamers, passing, dribbling, and dunking. The Disney characters will ship pregame and halftime speeches, host a halftime slam dunk contest, and beautify a Christmas tree in the course of the recreation. Whereas the cameras at Madison Sq. Backyard are usually operated by grownups, the Dunk the Halls cameras will likely be operated by elves — and Santa is behind ESPN’s SkyCam!
The sport’s animation comes from Sony’s Past Sports activities’ real-time visualization engine and optical monitoring expertise from Hawk-Eye Improvements. That is the third telecast this 12 months to make use of Past Sports activities, who animated hockey for the NHL Massive Metropolis Greens Traditional 2 in March and the NFL The Simpsons Funday Soccer on Dec. 9. Pixar followers will acknowledge the format from Toy Story Funday Soccer, which animated the October 2023 Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars recreation in London.
Households discover animated video games a simple and playful approach to embody youngsters in main league sporting occasions. This 12 months, the NBA will get just a little Christmas magic, too!
Dunk the Halls airs at midday Wednesday, Dec. 25 on ESPN2, ESPN+, and Disney+.
