CBS MarketWatch and other news outlets have reported that The Walt Disney Company will return to traditional two-dimensional animation, reversing a corporate policy pursued by former CEO Michael Eisner as too costly. The announcement came at the company's annual stockholders meeting, which was held in New Orleans, Louisiana.

“It will be Walt Disney's first foray into traditional, two-dimensional animation -- the medium that propelled the company to prominence under its founder and namesake -- since the 2004 effort Home on the Range, which fizzled at the box office,” the site said.

The Frog Princess will be the first new animated feature created under the administration of Robert Iger, Eisner's successor, who has undertaken substantial efforts to inject life into the company's core businesses and relationships. The film is set for a 2009 release.

“This movie is going to be classic Disney, but you've never seen this before,” the site quoted John Lasseter, the creative chief of Pixar, who now oversees all of Disney's animation operations, as saying.

Pixar films, of course, have dominated Disney's successful animated business for years with such features as Toy Story, A Bugs Life, The Incredibles, and mostly recently Cars.

The Frog Princess will be a return to the animated musical genre and, in a Disney first, will feature an African-American lead character.

According to the company's press release, The Frog Princess is based on an original story written by Disney's acclaimed filmmaking duo John Musker & Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules), who will also direct. Oscar-winning songwriter-composer and New Orleans native Randy Newman (Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc. and Cars) will write songs and the score for this project. Peter Del Vecho, a 12-year Disney animation veteran, will produce.