Merry Christmas! Disney’s innovative Dunk the Halls programming of the Christmas Day NBA game between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs is now live. Dunk the Halls is being presented on ESPN2, Disney+, and ESPN+. The special alt-cast marks the first animated presentation of an NBA game and the first NBA game to stream on Disney+.
NBA on Main Street USA
The virtual, live re-creation of the Spurs vs. Knicks game is set on iconic “Main Street, USA” in Magic Kingdom as the teams play while Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy and Chip and Dale cheer them on. Shots of “Main Street, USA” and other famous landmarks within Magic Kingdom will be regularly shown, including Cinderella Castle.
The Story
The storyline behind the Dunk the Halls presentation begins with Mickey’s Christmas wish to Santa Claus to bring the NBA players to “Main Street, USA” at Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort to play the first animated NBA game on Christmas Day.
The First-Of-Its-Kind Technology
Each Spurs and Knicks player appears as a motion-enabled, animated player for the special Christmas matchup. Through state-of-the-art real-time visualization technology enabled by Sony’s Beyond Sports, combined with Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations’ optical tracking, fans watching Dunk the Halls will see every three-pointer, dunk, layup, pass and more from the real-life Spurs vs. Knicks game at Madison Square Garden in New York as it happens.
- At halftime of the Spurs vs. Knicks game, the Disney characters, led by Mickey Mouse, will compete in a special slam dunk contest;
- Santa’s Elves will operate the cameras for the game while Santa himself will operate ESPN’s “SkyCam” during the game;
- The Disney characters will deliver pregame and halftime speeches to the players and decorate a large Christmas tree during the game;
- Fans will also get to find out if it will snow on “Main Street, USA” and see how many churros Goofy can eat.
Dunk the Halls continues ESPN and the NBA’s well-documented history innovation, including alt-cast executions that utilize the unmatched depth and scope of The Walt Disney Company. In 2021, ESPN and the NBA teamed up with Marvel for “Marvel’s Arena of Heroes,” — an alt-cast of an NBA regular-season game.
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