Disney Sets Star Wars Animated Telecast for Super Bowl LXI — SkimNews
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- Disney will air 'Star Wars Funday Football,' a real-time animated telecast of Super Bowl LXI on February 14, 2027, across Disney+, Disney Channel, Disney XD, and the ESPN App, with C-3PO voice actor Anthony McDaniels participating.
- The animated broadcast recreates every play using NFL Next Gen Stats and Sony's Hawk-Eye Innovations optical tracking, converting live gameplay into animation with players as avatars and Star Wars characters subbing in at key moments.
- The Star Wars telecast is part of Disney's seven-option Super Bowl LXI lineup, which also includes Pat McAfee's commentary-driven 'Field Pass' on ABC and ESPN, a Peyton-and-Eli Manning 'ManningCast' on ESPN2, a stats-focused 'Playbook' on NFL Network, and a Spanish-language broadcast on ESPN Deportes.
- Super Bowl LXI marks Disney's first Super Bowl broadcast rights in about two decades, stemming from a 2021 NFL rights deal that keeps Monday Night Football on ESPN through 2033.
- The NFL took a 10% stake in ESPN as part of the broader rights arrangement, which also moved NFL Network and NFL RedZone under the ESPN umbrella.
- Paramount previously aired a kids' version of the Super Bowl on Nickelodeon in 2024, while Disney has previously built kids-focused animated NFL, NHL, and NBA telecasts using Toy Story, Big City Green, and Marvel characters.
- Five days after the Super Bowl broadcasts, Lucasfilm will mark Star Wars' 50th anniversary with a restored version of the 1977 original film in theaters starting February 19, 2027.
Why it matters: For its first Super Bowl in nearly 20 years, Disney is betting on a franchise-IP-driven, seven-telecast format that uses the NFL's tracking-data pipeline to convert live action into animation — a deliberate bid to capture younger and family audiences that Nickelodeon's 2024 kids' Super Bowl proved were reachable, but at far greater technical and rights complexity than any prior attempt.
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