Disney fans are calling out the company for seemingly making new Oogie Boogie Bash posters using AI, despite currently suing an AI company.
AI Oogie Boogie Bash Posters
The Disneyland Resort Magic Key pages shared the Oogie Boogie Bash posters on social media to coincide with the release of this year’s Halloween event details. On the same day, news broke that Disney and Universal were teaming up to sue generative AI company Midjourney over copyright infringement.
Many praised the lawsuit, but are now disappointed to find Disney’s own posters appear to be generated with artificial intelligence.
Though we cannot be sure that the posters were created with AI, there are some telling details. In this poster featuring Oogie Boogie and other Disney Villains, for example, Hades appears to have five fingers on his right hand and four on his left — and only one eyebrow. Those possible errors could be due to the angles of Hades’ artwork. But there are more strange elements…
Agatha Harkness’ blouse has three lines on one side and four on the other, when there should be the same number on both sides. Her left hand is also strangely shaped. One of Ernesto de la Cruz’s fingers is significantly bigger than the others, and the hem of one of his jacket sleeves has embroidery while the other sleeve does not.
Dr. Doofenshmirtz has three fingers on his left hand and four fingers on his right hand. And the shoe with Judge Doom is strangely floating in a not-very-well-defined cage above the Dip.
The depictions of Ernesto and Dr. Doofenshmirtz are very clearly based on stock artwork of the characters — the first artwork that comes up when you Google their names, in fact. But if you compare these to the poster, you’ll see the erroneous details we pointed out are not missing from the original character art.
The second poster has some uncanny valley characters, too. One of the most obviously odd details is Mickey’s left hand. He and Minnie are ostensibly holding hands, but their arms are at weird angles and their hands seem to melt together into one, which has an extra finger.
You might also find their eyes off-putting. That’s because, usually, Mickey and Minnie’s pupils are at the bottom of their eyeballs, not floating in the middle. It’s also a little strange that they aren’t depicted in their new Halloween Time costumes revealed on the same day this poster was released. The collar of Minnie’s dress in this poster is also off-center.
Some of the shadowing is also weird, and the leaves on the ground are not shaped like leaves. Though it could be a stylistic choice, the Jack-o’-Lantern on the right has off-center features with one eye larger than the other. The shapes of the buildings to the sides don’t really match up with Buena Vista Street, even though that’s where the poster is ostensibly set.
Ursula’s right hand looks tiny with oddly-proportioned fingers, as though she has five literal fingers and no thumb (or a hidden thumb). The “guests” in the background are shapeless and featureless, with some seemingly squished heads and disembodied limbs.
The bats in both posters are oblong and inconsistent, some with one wing longer than the other or with sharper scalloped points on one wing.
If the posters are AI-generated, they send a clear message amid the Midjourney lawsuit: Disney doesn’t mind using AI to create content instead of hiring artists, they just mind if other people are using their IPs without their permission.
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