The Disney Renaissance was a period from 1989 to 1999 during which Walt Disney Feature Animation returned to producing commercially and/or critically successful animated films. The ten feature films associated with this period are The Little Mermaid (1989), The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), and Tarzan (1999).
The Great Mouse Detective (1986), Oliver & Company (1988) and Fantasia 2000 (1999) are also often included, the first two being precursors of the period and the last being the final animated feature film to follow the same artistic pattern as classic Disney films.
The films were mostly musical adaptations of well-known stories, similar to ones produced by Walt Disney from the 1930s to 1960s.The Art of Disney: The Golden Age (1937–1961). Chronicle Books. 2014. .Mirarchi, Chuck. October 16, 2016. "Taschen Releases Book About Disney's Golden Age of Animation." Disney Information Station. They saw great success at the domestic and foreign box office, earning much greater profits.
Background (pre-1989)
After the deaths of Walt and Roy O. Disney (in 1966 and 1971, respectively), Walt Disney Productions was left in the hands of Donn Tatum, Card Walker, and Walt's son-in-law, Ron Miller. Under their supervision, creative leadership over feature animated films largely fell to Wolfgang Reitherman.
While certain films, such as The Rescuers (1977), were commercially and critically successful, most of the films released in the two decades after the death of the Disney brothers did not perform as well as the studio's previous work. Reitherman was determined to produce only family-friendly material certain to turn a profit, so he softened Disney villains so that they were more comical or pitiful than scary. During production of The Fox and the Hound (1981), long-time animator Don Bluth left Disney's animation department to start his own rival studio, Don Bluth Productions, taking 11 of Disney's 65 animators with him. Production on The Fox and the Hound was delayed by six months.Sito, Tom (November 1998). "Disney's The Fox and the Hound: The Coming of the Next Generation". Animation World Magazine. Retrieved December 2, 2021. Don Bluth Productions produced The Secret of NIMH (1982), whose story was rejected by Disney as too dark, and the company became Disney's main competitor in the animation industry during the 1980s and early 1990s.
Disney made organizational changes in the mid-1980s after narrowly escaping a takeover attempt by businessman and financier Saul Steinberg. Following the success of the animated short film Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983), which brought classic Disney characters back to theatrical animation, Michael Eisner, formerly of Paramount Pictures, became CEO in 1984, and he was joined by his Paramount associate Jeffrey Katzenberg as studio chairman, while Frank Wells, formerly of Warner Bros. Pictures, became president. In 1985, Peter Schneider was hired as president of Disney's feature animation department, which was soon to be rebranded as Walt Disney Feature Animation.
On February 1, 1985, to make room for live action filmmaking, the animation department was moved from the main Disney lot in Burbank to a supposedly temporary location in various hangars, warehouses, and trailers about east in nearby Glendale, where it would remain for the next ten years. Most of the Disney Renaissance films were produced there, in the former Grand Central Airport, then known as the Grand Central Business Centre.
The box office failure of The Black Cauldron (1985) put the future of the animation department in jeopardy. Going against a 30-year studio policy, the company founded a television animation division (now Disney Television Animation), which produced such shows as DuckTales. Roy E. Disney, who resigned from the company in 1984, persuaded Eisner to let him return and supervise the animation department in the hopes of improving its fortunes.
1986–1988: The Great Mouse Detective, Disney vs. Don Bluth, Hayao Miyazaki's influence, and Oliver & Company
Disney released The Great Mouse Detective (1986) a few months before Don Bluth released An American Tail (1986). An American Tail outperformed The Great Mouse Detective and became the highest-grossing animated film to that date. Still, The Great Mouse Detectives critical and commercial success instilled executive confidence in Disney's animation department. In 1988, Disney released Oliver & Company on the same day as The Land Before Time. While the latter broke An American Tail's record for highest-grossing animated film worldwide, Oliver & Company outgrossed it in the United States, launching an era of increased theatrical turnout for Disney.
In the 1980s, Disney collaborated with filmmaker Steven Spielberg, the producer of An American Tail and The Land Before Time and a long-time animation fan, to produce Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), a live-action/animation hybrid that featured animated characters of the 1930s and 1940s from many studios. The film was a critical and commercial success: it was the summer's biggest hit, won three Academy Awards and a Special Achievement Academy Award, and renewed interest in theatrical animated cartoons. Spielberg also helped Disney produce three Roger Rabbit shorts. Disney moved to first place in box-office receipts by 1988.
The Disney Renaissance was prompted by competition with Don Bluth's animated productions, along with the evolution of overseas animation, most notably the Studio Ghibli anime productions from Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki's adaptation of the Lupin the Third comics created by Monkey Punch, The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), influenced the climax of The Great Mouse Detective, which in turn paved the way for the Disney Renaissance. The two-minute climax scene used computer-generated imagery (CGI), making it the first Disney film to extensively use computer animation, a fact that Disney used to promote the film during marketing. Glen Keane, a leading animator for Disney films, has also credited Miyazaki's work as a "huge influence" on Disney's animated films.Lee, Michael J. October 24, 2010. "An Exclusive Interview with Glen Keane." RadioFree.com.
Timeline (1989–1999)
1989: The Little Mermaid
Disney had been developing The Little Mermaid (1989) since the 1930s, and by 1988, after the success of Touchstone Pictures' Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the studio had decided to make it into a Broadway-style animated musical. Lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken, who worked Off-Broadway years earlier on Little Shop of Horrors alongside now-Walt Disney Feature Animation president Peter Schneider (who served as company manager on the stage musical), became involved in the production, writing and composing the songs and score for the film."Treasures Untold: The Making of Disney's 'The Little Mermaid'" [documentary featurette]. Bonus material from The Little Mermaid: Platinum Edition [DVD]. Walt Disney Home Entertainment. 2006. Ashman worked to have the songs stitched into the movie, bringing the musical theater tradition into Disney.
Upon release, The Little Mermaid was a critical and commercial success and garnered a higher weekend gross than Don Bluth's All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), which was released on the same day, eventually breaking The Land Before Times record of highest-grossing animated film.
It won two Academy Awards for Best Original Song ("Under the Sea") and for Best Original Score, earning an additional nomination for Best Original Song for "Kiss the Girl". It also marked a significant turn by the studio back towards the darker and scarier villains typical of the films it had produced before Walt Disney's death.
1990–1991: The Rescuers Down Under and Beauty and the Beast
The Rescuers Down Under (1990) was the first sequel produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. The film garnered mainly positive reception but was not as financially successful as The Little Mermaid. However, it was notable for being the first film to be completely produced using Disney's new Computer Animation Production System (CAPS). The rest of the traditionally animated films during this period would be produced using CAPS.
Beauty and the Beast (1991) was Disney's next film and proved to be an immense critical and commercial success. It was the first animated film nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, remaining the only animated film nominated for Best Picture when that category had only five entries (1944–2008); it won the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) and two Academy Awards, for Best Original Score and Best Original Song ("Beauty and the Beast"). Beauty and the Beast also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Sound, as well as two additional nominations for Best Original Song. In addition to being Disney's highest-grossing animated movie at the time, it was the first animated film to reach $100 million at the box office in the US. The box office success also gave way to a profitable merchandising campaign. In 1994, it was the first Disney Renaissance film to receive a Broadway adaptation.Lund, Dan (2005). Dream on Silly Dreamer (Documentary film). Orlando, Florida: WestLund Productions.
1992–1994: Aladdin and The Lion King
Aladdin (1992) and The Lion King (1994) followed, respectively, with both films having the highest worldwide grosses of their respective release years. Aladdin was the highest-grossing animated film at the time of its release, but it later became second after being surpassed by The Lion King, which remains the highest-grossing traditionally animated film in history.
Howard Ashman wrote several songs for Aladdin before his death, but only three were ultimately used in the film. Tim Rice ultimately joined the project and completed the score and songs with Alan Menken. Rice later went on to collaborate with Elton John and Hans Zimmer for The Lion King, after ABBA had turned down the offer to write songs for the film. Both films won Academy Awards for Best Original Song ("A Whole New World" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight") and Best Original Score, and, like Beauty and the Beast, also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy). Aladdin also earned an additional Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song and nominations for Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing, for a total of five nominations. The Lion King earned two additional Academy Award nominations for Best Original Song, giving it a total of four Academy Award nominations.
Between the two in-house productions, Disney diversified in animation methods and produced the stop-motion animated film The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), written by former Disney animator Tim Burton and directed by also former Disney animator Henry Selick. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects, becoming the first animated film to do so, losing to Spielberg's 1993 film Jurassic Park. Thanks to the success of the early films of the Renaissance era, Disney management was able to allocate sufficient money to bring Walt Disney Feature Animation back from its ten-year exile to Glendale. A 240,000-square-foot building designed by Robert A. M. Stern opened across the street from the main Disney lot in Burbank on December 16, 1994.
1995–1997: Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Hercules