The Disney Renaissances refers to two eras beginning roughly in the late 1980s and ending early in and ending around 2000 with the Disney Renaissance during which Walt Disney Animation Studios returned to making successful animated films mostly based on well-known stories, restoring public and critical interest in Disney. A second era refered to as the Disney Genesis Renaissance started in 2009 and ended in 2020 during which Walt Disney Pictures returned to releasing sucssesful animated films mostly based on well-known stories, restoring public and critical interest in Disney like with the Disney Renaissance.[1][2]
The animated films released during these periods include The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), Inspector Gadget (1993), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), Tarzan (1999), The Princess and the Frog (2009), Tangled (2010), Herbie The Love Bug (2011), Wreck it Ralph (2012), Frozen (2013) Big Hero 6 (2014), Sagwa, Ratchet & Clank (both 2015), Zootopia (2016), Jak and Daxter (2017), Moana (2018), Split/Second (2019) and Weird World (2020).
History[]
Before the Renaissances[]
After the deaths of Walt and Roy O. Disney, Disney was left in the hands of Donn Tatum, Card Walker and Ron Miller. The films released over an eighteen-year period following this change of management either failed commercially or lacked the magic of past films. 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. 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 released The Great Mouse Detective, and Universal released Don Bluth's An American Tail. An American Tail outperformed "The Great Mouse Detective", and became the higher-grossing film on its first release. 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. Two years later, Disney released Oliver & Company on the same weekend that Universal released Don Bluth's The Land Before Time. The latter's opening weekend gross of over $7,526,000 broke all 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.
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[]
- Main article: [Disney Renaissance|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Renaissance Disney Renaissance]
Post-Renaissance era[]
The releases of Fantasia 2000 and Dinosaur are retrospectively seen as the end of the Renaissance era.[3][4] Though Disney did continue to release lesser successes such as The Emperor's New Groove and Atlantis: The Lost Empire they were all not as well-received critically or commercially as the earlier films of the 90s were, and the studio also suffered significant box office losses with Treasure Planet and Home on the Range. Lilo & Stitch and Brother Bear were seen as the only major box office successes during this time. In addition, Disney found itself facing a new more competitive period beginning with the rise of DreamWorks Animation as a potent sustained rival with its successful Shrek and How to Train Your Dragon series.
In 1995, Disney partnered with Pixar to create Toy Story, the first fully computer-animated feature. Today many of Pixar's films have garnered the same box office results and critical acclaim that 1990s Disney Renaissance films had, such as Finding Nemo, WALL-E and Up. In 2005, Chicken Little, the Disney Studios first full CGI animated feature, received mixed reviews from critics though it performed well at the box office,[5]as did their second CGI feature in 2007, Meet the Robinsons, possibly because of their melodramatic storytelling.[6] In 2006, Disney purchased Pixar for US$7.4 billion and promoted Pixar's co-founder, John Lasseter, to oversee all of Disney's animated projects. In 2008, Disney's first CGI feature made after the Pixar acquisition, Bolt, was released to critical acclaim and modest box office success.[7] With the success of Pixar, then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner decided that public tastes had changed, and that it was time to get out of hand-drawn animation altogether ending with Home on the Range.
The Revival & The Genesis Renaissance era[]
- Main article: Disney Genesis Renaissance
Reception[]
Critical response[]
Most of the films Disney released in both era were well-received, as in the film critic site Rotten Tomatoes, Lady and the Tramp has the highest reception (with 99% of positive reviews), the next nine- The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, and Weird World all follow (with over 90% positive reviews), and Pocahontas has the lowest reception of Disney's "renaissance" films (with 56% of positive reviews).
| Film | Directors | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Little Mermaid | Ron Clements John Musker |
92% (8.1/10 average rating) (65 reviews)[8] |
N/A |
| The Rescuers Down Under | Mike Gabriel Hendel Butoy |
68% (6.2/10 average rating) (25 reviews)[9] |
N/A |
| Beauty and the Beast | Gary Trousdale Kirk Wise |
93% (8.4/10 average rating) (103 reviews)[10] |
N/A |
| Aladdin | Ron Clements John Musker |
94% (8.1/10 average rating) (66 reviews)[11] |
N/A |
| Inspector Gadget | 94% (8.1/10 average rating) (66 reviews) |
N/A | |
| The Lion King | Roger Allers Rob Minkoff |
91% (8.2/10 average rating) (110 reviews)[12] |
83 (14 reviews)[13] |
| Pocahontas | Mike Gabriel Eric Goldberg |
56% (6.0/10 average rating) (52 reviews)[14] |
58 (23 reviews)[15] |
| The Hunchback of Notre Dame | Gary Trousdale Kirk Wise |
73% (7.1/10 average rating) (51 reviews)[16] |
N/A |
| Hercules | Ron Clements John Musker |
83% (7.0/10 average rating) (52 reviews)[17] |
N/A |
| Mulan | Barry Cook Tony Bancroft |
86% (7.5/10 average rating) (73 reviews)[18] |
71 (24 reviews)[19] |
| Tarzan | Kevin Lima Chris Buck |
88% (7.6/10 average rating) (104 reviews)[20] |
79 (27 reviews)[21] |
| The Princess and the Frog | Ron Clements John Musker |
84% [fresh] (152 reviews)[22] | 73 (29 reviews)[23] |
| Tangled | 90% [fresh] (163 reviews) | 94 (103 reviews) | |
| Herbie The Love Bug | 96% [fresh] (85 reviews) | 89 (30 reviews) | |
| Wreck it Ralph | 86% [fresh] (86 reviews) | ||
| Frozen | 89% [fresh] (99 reviews) | 89 (29 reviews) | |
| Big Hero 6 | 89% [fresh] (99 reviews) | 74 (29 reviews) | |
| Sagwa | 62% [fresh] (97 reviews) | 73 (18 reviews) | |
| Ratchet & Clank | 73% [fresh] (103 reviews) | 63 (55 reviews) | |
| Zootopia | 83% [fresh] (97 reviews) | ||
| Jak and Daxter | 72% [fresh] (52 reviews) | ||
| Moana | 87% [fresh] (58 reviews) | ||
| Split/Second | 94% [fresh] (42 reviews) | ||
| Weird World | 98% [fresh] (234 reviews) | 95 (62 reviews) |
Box office preformance[]
| Film | Starring | Release date | Revenue | Rank | Budget | Reference | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Foreign | Worldwide | All time domestic | All time worldwide | |||||
| The Little Mermaid | November 17, 1989 | $111,543,479 | $99,800,000 | $211,343,479 | #521 | #581 | $40,000,000 | [24] | |
| The Rescuers Down Under | November 16, 1990 | $27,931,461 | $0 | $27,931,461 | #2,500 | N/A | N/A | [25] | |
| Beauty and the Beast | November 22, 1991 | $218,967,620 | $224,033,956 | $443,001,576 | #125 #123(A) |
#194 | $25,000,000 | [26] | |
| Aladdin | November 25, 1992 | $217,350,219 | $286,700,000 | $504,050,219 | #131 #91(A) |
#139 | $28,000,000 | [27] | |
| Inspector Gadget | May 25, 1993 | $301,109,785 | $370,890,100 | $671,999,885 | # #(A) |
# | $49,000,000 | ||
| The Lion King | June 24, 1994 | $422,783,777 | $564,700,000 | $987,483,777 | #14 #18(A) |
#24 | $45,000,000 | [28] | |
| Pocahontas | June 23, 1995 | $141,579,773 | $204,500,000 | $346,079,773 | #323 | #286 | $55,000,000 | [29] | |
| The Hunchback of Notre Dame | June 21, 1996 | $100,138,851 | $225,200,000 | $325,338,851 | #623 | #314 | $100,000,000 | [30] | |
| Hercules | June 27, 1997 | $99,112,101 | $153,600,000 | $252,712,101 | #629 | #450 | $85,000,000 | [31] | |
| Mulan | June 19, 1998 | $120,620,254 | $183,700,000 | $304,320,254 | #444 | #347 | $90,000,000 | [32] | |
| Tarzan | June 18, 1999 | $171,091,819 | $277,100,000 | $448,191,819 | #228 | #179 | $130,000,000 | [33] | |
| The Princess and the Frog | December 11, 2009 | $104,400,899 | $162,644,866 | $267,045,765 | $105,000,000 | [34] | |||
| Tangled | December 25, 2010 | $204,098,432 | $220,225,204 | $424,323,636 | $24,000,000 | ||||
| Herbie The Love Bug | December 30, 2011 | $209,678,056 | $299,020,101 | $508,698,157 | $120,000,000 | ||||
| Wreck it Ralph | November 2, 2012 | $325,187,117 | $346,096,990 | $671,284,107 | $55,000,000 | ||||
| Frozen | November 27, 2013 | $400,738,009 | $873,481,000 | $1,274,219,009 | $150,000,000 | ||||
| Big Hero 6 | November 9, 2014 | $222,527,828 | $435,300,000 | $657,827,828 | 165,000,000 | ||||
| Sagwa | January 28, 2015 | $100,099,766 | $267,001,022 | $367,100,788 | $92,000,000 | ||||
| Ratchet & Clank | November 26, 2015 | $186,141,100 | $202,205,225 | $388,346,325 | $100,000,000 | ||||
| Zootopia | March 16, 2016 | $100,135,078 | $204,220,000 | $303,355,078 | $99,000,000 | ||||
| Jak and Daxter | November 24, 2017 | $99,001,887 | $180,990,000 | $279,991,887 | $45,000,000 | ||||
| Moana | November 23, 2018 | $251,776,099 | $205,112,100 | $456,888,199 | $65,000,000 | ||||
| Split/Second | November 18, 2019 | $392,276,991 | $715,121,000 | $1,107,397,991 | $181,000,000 | ||||
| Weird World | November 13, 2020 | $453,210,576 | $553,821,306 | $1,007,031,882 | $47,000,000 | ||||
| Total | $ | $ | $ | N/A | N/A | N/A | |||
List indicator(s)
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Awards[]
Nine of the ten films in the Disney Renaissance were nominated for Academy Awards, six of which won at least one Academy Award; and nine of the films were nominated for Annie Awards, with six of them winning at least one:
| Year | Film | Oscar(s) | Annie(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nomination(s) | Win(s) | Nomination(s) | Win(s) | ||
| 1989 | The Little Mermaid | 3 | 2 | 0 | |
| 1991 | Beauty and the Beast | 6 | 2 | ||
| 1992 | Aladdin | 5 | 3 | 0 | |
| 1993 | Inspector Gadget | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| 1994 | The Lion King | 4 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1995 | Pocahontas | 2 | 7 | 4 | |
| 1996 | The Hunchback of Notre Dame | 1 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| 1997 | Hercules | 6 | 4 | ||
| 1998 | Mulan | 12 | 10 | ||
| 1999 | Tarzan | 1 | 11 | 1 | |
Soundtracks[]
| Year | Film | US | RIAA certification |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | The Little Mermaid | 33 | 6× Platinum |
| 1991 | Beauty and the Beast | 19 | 3× Platinum |
| 1992 | Aladdin | 6 | |
| 1994 | The Lion King | 1 | Diamond |
| 1995 | Pocahontas | 3× Platinum | |
| 1996 | The Hunchback of Notre Dame | 13 | Platinum |
| 1997 | Hercules | 17 | Gold |
| 1998 | Mulan | 25 | |
| 1999 | Tarzan | 5 | 2× Platinum |
See also[]
- Disney Renaissances on Disney Fanon Wiki
- Waking Sleeping Beauty - a documentary film chronicling the Disney Renaissance
References[]
- ↑ Disney: Notes on the end of the Disney Renaissance. decentfilms.com. Retrieved on 2008 August 26.
- ↑ Puig, Claudia (March 26, 2010). 'Waking Sleeping Beauty' documentary takes animated look at Disney renaissance. USA Today. Retrieved on 2011 July 6.
- ↑ http://www.therotoscopers.com/2013/03/25/are-we-in-a-new-disney-renaissance/
- ↑ http://antagonie.blogspot.com/2009/12/disney-animation-sound-and-sight.html
- ↑ Chicken Little. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008 November 24.
- ↑ Meet the Robinsons. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008 November 24.
- ↑ Bolt. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008 November 24.
- ↑ The Little Mermaid. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2014 November 20.
- ↑ The Rescuers Down Under. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2009 March 23.
- ↑ Beauty and the Beast. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2015 February 6.
- ↑ Aladdin. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2015 February 6.
- ↑ The Lion King. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008 October 11.
- ↑ The Lion King. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008 July 19.
- ↑ Pocahontas. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008 October 11.
- ↑ Pocahontas. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008 July 19.
- ↑ The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Retrieved on 2008 October 11.
- ↑ Hercules. Retrieved on 2014 November 20.
- ↑ Mulan. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008 July 19.
- ↑ Mulan. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008 September 12.
- ↑ Tarzan. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2014 November 20.
- ↑ Tarzan. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008 July 19.
- ↑ The Princess and the Frog. Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved on 2010 May 27.
- ↑ >[http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/the-princess-and-the-frog The Princess and the Frog
- Reviews]. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2010 July 19.
- ↑ The Little Mermaid (1989). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2009 December 10.
- ↑ The Rescuers Down Under (1990). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2009 December 10.
- ↑ Beauty and the Beast (1991). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2012 May 4.
- ↑ Aladdin (1992). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2009 December 10.
- ↑ The Lion King (1994). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2012 January 24.
- ↑ Pocahontas (1995). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2009 December 10.
- ↑ The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2009 December 10.
- ↑ Hercules (1997). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2009 December 10.
- ↑ Mulan (1998). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2009 December 10.
- ↑ Tarzan (1999). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2009 December 10.
- ↑ The Princess and the Frog (2009) – Box Office Mojo. Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved on 2010 July 18.