Disney Renaissance

The Disney Renaissance refers to an era beginning roughly in 1989 and ending in 1999 during which Walt Disney Animation Studios returned to making more musical animated films that were mostly based on well-known stories, and it allowed Disney's animated films to become powerhouse successes at the domestic and foreign box office; making far more profit than most of the other Disney films from previous eras.
The animated films released during this period include:
* 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)
* Tarzan (1999)
==History==
===Before the Renaissance===
After the deaths of Walt and Roy O. Disney, Disney was left in the hands of Donn Tatum, Card Walker, and Ron W. Miller. The films released over an eighteen-year period following this change of management mean the films being made were not considered as memorable as the products that Walt Disney directed while he was still alive, with the exception of a few films. However, it should be noted that most of the films still did well at the box office, mostly getting positive reviews from movie critics at the time and were able to be nominated for a few awards, except for The Black Cauldron, which should also be noted that it was the only true failure of that time period. An especially hard blow was dealt during production of The Fox and the Hound when long-time animator Don Bluth left Disney, taking 11 Disney animators with him, to start his own rival studio, Don Bluth Productions. With 17% of the animators now gone, production on The Fox and the Hound was delayed. Don Bluth Productions produced The Secret of NIMH in 1982, and the company eventually became Disney's main competitor in the animation industry during the 1980s and early 1990s.
Disney made major organizational changes in the 1980s after narrowly escaping a hostile takeover attempt from Saul Steinberg. Michael Eisner, formerly of Paramount Pictures, became CEO in 1984, and he was joined by his Paramount associate Jeffrey Katzenberg, while Frank Wells, formerly of Warner Bros., became President. After the disappointing box office performance of the 1985 PG-rated feature The Black Cauldron, the future of the animation department was in jeopardy. The Black Cauldron is what gave Walt Disney Animation Studios the final push to create the great films that would be just as great as when Walt ran the Studio. Going against a thirty-year studio policy, the company founded a TV animation division which was much cheaper than theatrical animation. In the interest of saving what he believed to be the studio's core business, Roy E. Disney persuaded Eisner to let him supervise the animation department in the hopes of improving its fortunes.
In 1986, Disney would soon begin its road to recovery. They released The Great Mouse Detectivehttps://www.mouseplanet.com/9534/How_Basil_Saved_Disney_Feature_Animation_Part_Onehttps://www.mouseplanet.com/9549/How_Basil_Saved_Disney_Feature_Animation_Part_Two and Universal released Don Bluth's An American Tail. Although An American Tail outperformed The Great Mouse Detective at the domestic box office and became the higher-grossing animated film on its first release, The Great Mouse Detective remained critically and financially successful enough to restore executive confidence in Disney's animation department. However, it should also be noted that this film had received more favorable reviews than An American Tail from various movie critics, most notably from Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, at the time of their respective releases.
Two years later, Disney released Oliver & Company on the same weekend that Universal released Don Bluth's film, The Land Before Time. The latter's opening weekend gross of over $7,526,000 broke most of the records, becoming the top grossing opening weekend for an animated feature. The film out-grossed An American Tail and became the highest-grossing animated film at that time. However, this wasn't a complete loss for Disney. Oliver & Company did beat out The Land Before Time at the domestic box office by about $5,000,000 and was nominated for much more awards; most notably a Golden Globe award, despite the fact this Disney film wasn't as well-received as the Don Bluth film.
Earlier in 1988, Disney collaborated with Steven Spielberg, a long-time animation fan and producer of An American Tail and The Land Before Time, to produce Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a live action/animation hybrid which featured animated characters from the 1930s and 1940s from many different studios together. The film was a critical and commercial success, winning three Academy Awards for technical achievements and renewing interest in theatrical animated cartoons. Other than the film itself, Spielberg also helped Disney produce three Roger Rabbit shorts.
===The Renaissance era===
Disney had been developing its own adaptation of The Little Mermaid since the 1930s, and by 1989, after the critical and financial success of The Great Mouse Detective, Roger Rabbit, and Oliver & Company (the only one of the three films to get mixed reviews), the studio had decided to make it into an animated Broadway-like musical. Lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken, who worked on Broadway years earlier on productions such as Little Shop of Horrors, became involved in the production, writing and composing the songs and score for the film. The film was released on November 14, 1989 and garnered a higher weekend gross than Don Bluth's All Dogs Go to Heaven, which opened the same weekend. It went on to break The Land Before Time's record of highest-grossing animated film at the time of its respective release. The Little Mermaid was a critical and commercial success. It won two Academy Awards, for Best Original Song and for Best Original Score ("Under the Sea"), earning an additional nomination for Best Original Song for "Kiss the Girl".
The Rescuers Down Under was released one year later and was the first canon sequel to the popular 1977 film The Rescuers, which was also produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. The Rescuers Down Under garnered much positive criticism and earned a modest box-office success, but was less successful than The Little Mermaid at both the domestic and foreign box office.
Beauty and the Beast, often considered to be one of the greatest of all Disney animated features, followed in 1991. It was the first animated film nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, losing to The Silence of the Lambs. Beauty and the Beast did win the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) and two Academy Awards, for Best Original Score and Best Original Song. Beauty and the Beast also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Sound, as well as two additional nominations for Best Original Song.
Aladdin and The Lion King followed in 1992 and 1994, respectively, with both films having the highest worldwide grosses of their respective release years. Aladdin was the highest-grossing animated film up until that time, but was later surpassed by The Lion King, which became the highest-grossing animated film ever at the time and remains the highest-grossing traditionally animated film in history (third overall after additional gross from a 2012 3D re-release, behind Toy Story 3 and Frozen). Both films won Academy Awards for Best Original Song and Best Original Score. 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. Howard Ashman wrote several songs for Aladdin before his death, but only three were ultimately used in the film. Tim Rice joined the project and completed the score and songs with Alan Menken. Tim Rice went on to collaborate with Elton John and Hans Zimmer in The Lion King. Between these in-house productions, Disney diversified in animation methods and co-produced The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) with former Disney animator Tim Burton, which was directed by also former Disney animator Henry Selick.
The next Disney animated film, Pocahontas (1995), opened with mixed to negative reviews and drew box office numbers which were low in comparison with The Lion King, though it still earned $346 million worldwide and garnered Academy Awards for Best Score and Best Original Song for "Colors of the Wind".
The following year, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Disney's first animated film produced at a budget of over $100 million, opened to better reviews than Pocahontas, but a lower total box office of $325 million. Both films feature songs by lyricist Stephen Schwartz.
When Hercules (1997) earned $252 million ($73 million less than Hunchback) at the box office, news media began to openly suggest that Disney was on a downward trend with their animated film releases. Although it gained more positive criticism than Pocahontas, it was still vulnerable to competition from companies such as DreamWorks and Pixar. All three films feature music composed by Alan Menken.
thumb|left|200px|The film considered to revive Disney from the moderate failure of Hercules.
Mulan (1998), animated and produced entirely by Walt Disney Animation Studios Florida with a score by Jerry Goldsmith and songs by Matthew Wilder and David Zippel, earned $304 million at the worldwide box office, restoring the commercial and critical standing of Disney's output.
Tarzan (1999), with songs by Phil Collins, won an Academy Award for Best Original Song with "You'll Be in My Heart" and became Disney's most commercially-successful film since The Lion King, earning $448 million at the box office and positive reviews. Tarzan was also Disney's most expensive animated feature to that date at $130 million, much of which went to developing new processes such as the computer-assisted background painting technique known as "Deep Canvas".
The success of the Disney Renaissance attracted the attention of other animation studios, many of whom tried to replicate Disney's success by turning their movies into Disney-styled musicals or various traditional animated films. However, most attempts met with mixed to negative reviews from critics. Some of the most infamous examples include and However, a few films did come close in terms of matching the critical and financial success. Examples include Don Bluth's Anastasia, (both of which would eventually be owned by Disney via 20th Century Studios), , and .
It also should be noted that while some animated movies flopped at the box office, mostly due to fierce competition from Disney or from other movies, they both received critical praise and/or a cult following and also performed much better in terms of home video sales; which in turn saved them from fading into obscurity. Some of the most famous examples include Balto from Amblimation, , , and arguably the most famous of them all: from Warner Bros. Animation in which the latter overtook Tarzan as a classic today due to having more real-life lessons and themes.
Even as Disney's animated films from the 90s had these copycats which included The Swan Princess, Anastasia, and more (some of these directed by former Disney animators) other animated movies emerged that departed from the Disney formula. Movies like Cool World, BeBe's Kids, Space Jam and especially Beavis and Butt-Head Do America would be a departure in story, presentation and animation from the usual Disney animated film at the time. Even when Paramount's Nickelodeon came out with their first animated feature film, The Rugrats Movie, it became the first animated film not to be made, released or distributed by Disney to gross over $100 million in the US alone; it led to other animated films based off of TV cartoons such as , the first three Pokemon movies, , (the last two were beat out at the box office by Lilo & Stitch) and even Disney's own Doug's 1st Movie and Recess: School's Out to prove that animated films based off of television cartoons were made for not just a direct to video market but also a theatrical market with one of the Crown Jewels being The Simpsons Movie eventually making Disney's animated musicals a little outdated.
As the Disney Renaissance started to develop faster in 1995, the anime genre rose on the same year. , which was released on the same year as Pocahontas, had changed the landscape of anime and animation as a whole. This proved that animation can teach real-life lessons and morals without having to stick to the family-friendly filter as the adult animation genre was changed since then. Due to this, more and more people abandoned Disney and flocked to the anime and adult animation genre for their ability to go beyond the family-friendly filter as many believed that the family-friendly filter was what began the downfall of traditional animation.
In 1995, Disney partnered with Pixar to create Toy Story, the first fully computer-animated feature. In the 2000s, many of Pixar's films, such as Finding Nemo, WALL-E, and Up, garnered the same box office results and critical acclaim that the '90s Disney Renaissance films had.
Plus to top it all off, Jeffrey Katzenberg started DreamWorks with its own animation studio to rival Disney proving competition that lead up to the release of Shrek in 2001.
==Critical reaction==
Most of the films Disney released in this era were well-received, as in the film critic site Rotten Tomatoes, the first four (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King) have the best critical reception (with over 90% positive reviews) and Pocahontas has the lowest reception (with 56% of positive reviews).
Film 	Rotten Tomatoes
The Little Mermaid 	93% (72 reviews)
The Rescuers Down Under 	71% (28 reviews)
Beauty and the Beast 	93% (121 reviews)
Aladdin 	95% (78 reviews)
The Lion King 	93% (136 reviews)
Pocahontas 	54% (57 reviews)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame	71% (58 reviews)
Hercules 	82% (56 reviews)
Mulan 	86% (84 reviews)
Tarzan 	89% (106 reviews)
==Box office==
Film 	Release date 	Release date 	Box office revenue	Box office revenue	Box office revenue	Budget 	Reference									
Film 	Premiere 	General 	Domestic 	Foreign 	All time worldwide	Budget 	Reference									
The Little Mermaid 	November 13, 1989	November 17, 1989	$111,543,479 	$99,800,000 	$211,343,479 	$40,000,000 	 									
The Rescuers Down Under 	November 16, 1990	November 16, 1990	$27,931,461 	$19,500,000 	$47,431,461 	$25,000,000 	 									
Beauty and the Beast 	November 10, 1991	November 22, 1991	$218,967,620 	$222,553,617 	$441,521,237 	$25,000,000 	 									
Aladdin 	November 8, 1992 	November 25, 1992	$217,350,219 	$286,700,000 	$504,050,219 	$25,000,000 	 									
The Lion King 	June 12, 1994 	June 24, 1994 	$422,783,777 	$564,700,000 	$987,483,777 	$45,000,000 	 									
Pocahontas 	June 15, 1995 	June 23, 1995 	$141,579,773 	$204,500,000 	$346,079,773 	$55,000,000 	 									
The Hunchback of Notre Dame	June 19, 1996 	June 21, 1996 	$100,138,851 	$225,200,000 	$325,338,851 	$100,000,000	 									
Hercules 	June 13, 1997 	June 27, 1997 	$100,112,101 	$153,600,000 	$252,712,101 	$70,000,000 	 									
Mulan 	June 5, 1998 	June 19, 1998 	$120,620,254 	$183,700,000 	$304,320,254 	$85,000,000 	#27 									
Tarzan 	June 12, 1999 	June 18, 1999 	$171,091,819 	$279,100,000 	$450,191,819 	$140,000,000	 									
Total 	Total 	Total 	$1,631,119,354 	$2,192,353,617 	$3,823,472,974 	$612,431,000	*A light grey cell indicates information is not available.
* indicates the budget of the film was estimated by IMDb.	*A light grey cell indicates information is not available.
* indicates the budget of the film was estimated by IMDb.	*A light grey cell indicates information is not available.
* indicates the budget of the film was estimated by IMDb.	*A light grey cell indicates information is not available.
* indicates the budget of the film was estimated by IMDb.	*A light grey cell indicates information is not available.
* indicates the budget of the film was estimated by IMDb.	*A light grey cell indicates information is not available.
* indicates the budget of the film was estimated by IMDb.	*A light grey cell indicates information is not available.
* indicates the budget of the film was estimated by IMDb.	*A light grey cell indicates information is not available.
* indicates the budget of the film was estimated by IMDb.	*A light grey cell indicates information is not available.
* indicates the budget of the film was estimated by IMDb.	*A light grey cell indicates information is not available.
* indicates the budget of the film was estimated by IMDb.
==Academy Awards==
Nine of the ten films in the Disney Renaissance were nominated for Academy Awards, six of which won at least one Oscar:
Year	Title 	Oscar nominations	Oscar win
1989	The Little Mermaid 	3 	2
1991	Beauty and the Beast 	6 	2
1992	Aladdin 	5 	2
1994	The Lion King 	4 	2
1995	Pocahontas 	2 	2
1996	The Hunchback of Notre Dame	1 	0
1997	Hercules 	1 	0
1998	Mulan 	1 	0
1999	Tarzan 	1 	1
==Soundtracks==
Year	Title 	US	RIAA certification
1989	The Little Mermaid 	33	6× Platinum
1991	Beauty and the Beast 	19	3× Platinum
1992	Aladdin 	6 	3× Platinum
1994	The Lion King 	1 	Diamond
1995	Pocahontas 	1 	3× Platinum
1996	The Hunchback of Notre Dame	13	Platinum
1997	Hercules 	17	Gold
1998	Mulan 	25	Gold
1999	Tarzan 	5 	Platinum
==Notes==
*All of the films releases in the Disney Renaissance era prior to release of The Lion King in 1994 uses their variant of 1990 version of Walt Disney Pictures logo (with exception of The Little Mermaid which uses 1985 logo instead).
*Beginning in release of The Lion King in 1994, new films which release afterwards (Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan, and Tarzan) used the 1994 variant of 1990 version of this logo and all films released in Disney Renaissance era prior to The Lion King (with exception of The Rescuers Down Under) was re-released again which featured 1994 variation of the logo.
*It should noted that 1994 version of this logo is videotaped and remade with digital ink-and-paint, presumably with the CAPS software.
*The Rescuers Down Under is the only film in the Disney Renaissance to be sequel to another animated Disney movie.
**It is also the only Disney Renaissance movie to not get a direct-to-video follow up.
*The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Hercules, and Tarzan are the only films from the Disney Renaissance to have spin-off shows. Those shows include: The Little Mermaid, Ariel, Sing Me a Story with Belle, Aladdin, Timon and Pumbaa, The Lion Guard, Hercules, and The Legend of Tarzan.
**The Little Mermaid and The Lion King are the only two films from the Disney Renaissance to have two spin-off shows.
*The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, and Mulan are so far the only films in the Disney Renaissance to get live-action remakes.
*There were several times where two franchises from the Disney Renaissance crossover with each other, those being The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management) where it was hosted by Iago from Aladdin and Zazu from The Lion King, and Hercules and the Arabian Night, which was a crossover between Hercules and Aladdin.
==See also==
*Waking Sleeping Beauty - a documentary film chronicling the Disney Renaissance
==References==
==External links==
*
*Decent Films: Notes on the End of the Disney Renaissance
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