Fans of Mickey and the gang will get a special Christmas treat!
Everyone’s favorite mouse is headed to the basketball court for the first real-time animated NBA presentation. The New York Knicks will play the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at noon ET at Madison Square Garden. For the event, the arena will transform into Disney World’s Main Street, USA, and the players will 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 as NBA players, passing, dribbling, and dunking. The Disney characters will deliver pregame and halftime speeches, host a halftime slam dunk contest, and decorate a Christmas tree during the game. While the cameras at Madison Square Garden are typically operated by grownups, the Dunk the Halls cameras will be operated by elves — and Santa is behind ESPN’s SkyCam!
The game’s animation comes from Sony’s Beyond Sports’ real-time visualization engine and optical tracking technology from Hawk-Eye Innovations. This is the third telecast this year to use Beyond Sports, who animated hockey for the NHL Big City Greens Classic 2 in March and the NFL The Simpsons Funday Football on Dec. 9. Pixar fans will recognize the format from Toy Story Funday Football, which animated the October 2023 Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars game in London.
Families find animated games an easy and playful way to include kids in major league sporting events. This year, the NBA will get a little Christmas magic, too!
Dunk the Halls airs at noon Wednesday, Dec. 25 on ESPN2, ESPN+, and Disney+.
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