Glago's Guest (found unreleased Disney animated short film; 2008)
The short's poster
Status: Found
Date found: 15 Dec 2023
Found by: Ziggy Cashmere
Glago's Guest was an animated short produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and directed by Chris Williams. Originally meant to premiere before Bolt (which Williams would co-direct), it was swapped for the short Tokyo Mater[1] after it did not test as well as the studio had hoped. Since then, the short has not been officially released in any capacity.
Plot
A Russian soldier named Glago, stationed out in the middle of Siberia during the early 20th century, continues to go through the motions of his mundane patrol, until one day he's visited by an otherworldly structure, and from it, small gelatinous creatures. Though initially fearful and confused by these beings, these aliens end up saving his life.
Production
Chris Williams, at the time having only been a story artist for the past 14 years, had taken a liking to how Roman statues had strong, bold features, and after taking that inspiration and later pitching 6 ideas (one of which would later become Prep & Landing) to then-chief-creative-officer John Lasseter, "Glago's Guest" was greenlit. However, just as Glago was beginning production, Williams was also placed to co-direct Bolt with Bryon Howard. Having to juggle two things at once and learn how 3D animation works coming from a 2D animation background, Glago was having difficulty being made. Thankfully, however, after earning the trust of Lasseter to be allowed to continue, both productions managed to be created at the same time. With a minimalist tone, look, and overall feeling in mind, Glago was boarded, modelled, and edited in time to be released alongside Bolt on November 21st in 3D.[2][3]
Availability
In June of 2008, Glago's Guest premiered at the Annecy Film Festival. This would be its first and only public screening.
On October 29th, 2008 less than a month before release, it was announced that Glago's Guest would not be screening before Bolt in theaters[4] due to poor reception with test audiences.[5] Because of this, Bolt's 2D premiere was without any sort of short film until it would be given one for its 3D release in December, that being Tokyo Mater.
In 2018, a disc containing the short film that was originally sent to critics and reporters (known as a screener copy) was sold on eBay to a user named AnimeGolem. The user was apprehensive about releasing it due to copyright concerns, so they decided to mail the disc to someone else who would be interested in sharing it online instead. It is unknown what happened to the disc after it was mailed.
On December 3rd, 2023, the store CD Trader in Tarzana, California, listed another copy of the screener disc on their eBay account as an auction. User Ziggy Cashmere bid on it hours within its listing, and won after three days, being the only bid. Once the disc had arrived, it was duplicated as a disc image and uploaded on the Internet Archive as well as YouTube.