The Great Mouse Detective
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. Despite "An American Tail"s greater level of success, "The Great Mouse Detective" was still successful enough (both critically and commercially) to instill executive confidence in Disney's animation department. As Disney and Don Bluth studios competed with each other, Disney's film "The Brave Little Toaster" (1987) would become a key production because it attracted a substantial amount of talent both new and old. Many of the cast and crew members went on to have successful careers in the animation industry. Co-writer Joe Ranft became a script supervisor at Pixar, while animators Glen Keane, Kirk Wise, and Kevin Lima animated and/or co-directed most of the future Disney films of 1989 and the 1990s. "Oliver and Company" (1988) would later be released on the same day as "The Land Before Time" (1988). Despite "The Land Before Time" becoming globally the highest-grossing animated film to that date, breaking the previous record of "An American Tail", "Oliver and Company" outgrossed it in the United States, launching an era of increased theatrical turnout for Disney.