Disney, ESPN & NBA Shoot for a Seasonal Slam with ‘Dunk the Halls’ Real-Time Animated Event

Disney, ESPN and the NBA are teaming up to present Dunk the Halls — the first real-time animated NBA game using Sony’s Beyond Sports technology — on Christmas Day, Wednesday, December 25, at noon ET when the New York Knicks host the San Antonio Spurs. The special alt-cast marks the first animated presentation of an NBA game and the first NBA game to stream on Disney+; also airing on ESPN 2 and streaming on ESPN+.

The virtual, live re-creation of the Spurs vs. Knicks game will be set on “Main Street, USA” in Magic Kingdom Park 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 Park will be regularly shown, including Cinderella’s Castle.

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 Park at Walt Disney World Resort to play the first animated NBA game on Christmas Day.

Each Spurs and Knicks player will appear 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 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.

In addition to the re-created basketball action, at halftime 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.

The Dunk the Halls announcement follows the recent news that ESPN, Disney and the NFL will premiere The Simpsons Funday Football on Monday, December 9 — an animated Monday Night Football game transformed in real-time into the Simpsons world also using Sony’s Beyond Sports Technology. Atoms Stadium in Springfield will host the fully immersive fan viewing experience featuring the Cincinnati Bengals at the Dallas Cowboys, ESPN’s Monday Night Football game that evening.

Highlights of this programming event include dozens of The Simpsons characters played by their series voice actors (including Hank Azaria, Nancy Cartwright, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner and Yeardley Smith); Homer and Bart will head separate sideline crews with Lisa, Krusty, Nelson, Milhouse and Ralph joining Bart to root for the Bengals, while Carl, Barney, Lenny and Moe side with Homer and the Cowboys.

Outside of the live game, The Simpsons producers have written original content for the telecast that will be utilized before, during and after the game. Fans will also be treated to animated segments also written by the show crew, incorporating Stephen A. Smith, Peyton and Eli Manning and others. And players from both teams will appear in pre-recorded segments where they interact with Simpsons characters.

The Simpsons Funday Football alternate viewing presentation will stream on Disney+ and ESPN+, and, on mobile, with NFL+, beginning at 8 p.m. ET.  

Internationally, the special presentation will be available on linear or streaming in more than 145 markets live and/or via replay. Among those, all Latin America including Mexico and Brazil, the Caribbean, Australia & New Zealand, Netherlands, Sub-Saharan Africa and Canada (TSN). Video on Demand will also be available 12 hours after the live broadcast ends in these and other markets.  

This is the second consecutive year ESPN, Disney and the NFL have presented a Funday Football telecast.