Children's film

Last updated

A children's film, or family film, is a film genre that generally relates to children in the context of home and family. Children's films are made specifically for children and not necessarily for a general audience, while family films are made for a wider appeal with a general audience in mind. [1] [2] Children's films come in several major genres like realism, fantasy, adventure, war, musicals, comedy, and literary adaptations. [3]

Contents

Psychological aspects

Children are born with certain innate biological dispositions as a product of long evolutionary history. This provides an underlying biological framework for what may fascinate a child and also impose limitations on the same. These can be seen in certain universal features shared in children's films. [4] According to Grodal, films like Finding Nemo (2003), Bambi (1942), or Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (2001) are based on certain strong emotions like fear, that lead to the activation of what Boyer and Lienard called the hazard-precaution system. [5] This enables the brain to take precautions in case of danger. [4] Children's films such as these explore various topics such as: attachment to parenting agency; the development of friendship; reciprocal relationships between individuals; or deal with the necessity or need in children and young people to explore and to engage in play. [6] Thus these diverse films deal with certain aspects that are not mere social constructions, but rather emotions relevant to all children and therefore have an appeal to a wider universal audience. While cultural aspects shape how various films are created, these films refer to underlying universal aspects that are innate and biological. [4] University of Melbourne scholar Timothy Laurie criticises the emphasis placed on children's innate psychic tendencies, noting that "pedagogical norms have been tirelessly heaped onto children's media", and that rather than deriving from hardwired biology, "the quality of childhood is more likely shaped by social policy, political opportunism, pedagogical institutions, and youth-specific market segmentation". [7]

Family films versus children's films

In both the United States and Europe, the idea of children's films began to gain relative prominence in the 1930s. According to Bazalgette and Staples, the term "family film" is essentially an American expression while "children's film" is considered to be a European expression. [8] However, the difference between the two terms can be seen in casting methods adopted by American and European films respectively. In American family films, the search for a child protagonist involves casting children who meet a specific criterion or standard for physical appearance. In contrast, European children's films look to cast children who appear "ordinary". [9] Similarly, in American family films, the adult cast can be composed of well known actors or actresses in an effort to attract a wider audience, presenting narratives from an adult or parental perspective. This is shown through the casting, content of the plot, editing, and even mise-en-scène . [9] According to Bazalgette and Staples, a fine example of a family film is Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989), which if it were a European children's film with a similar plot, the title would be Sis, Dad Shrunk Us, explaining that European children's films are told from the child's perspective, portraying the story through the various emotions and experiences of the child. [10] Because of these differences, American family films are more easily marketable toward domestic and international viewing audiences while European children's films are better received domestically with limited appeal to international audiences. [11]

United States

Early years

The Walt Disney Company made animated adaptations of Grimms' Fairy Tales before World War II, beginning with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). The period immediately before and during World War II saw the release of three significant family films in the U.S. These were Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by Disney, Gulliver's Travels by Fleischer Studios, and Pinocchio (1940), also by Disney. [12] All of these were loose adaptations of literary sources. [12]

After the war, Disney continued to make animated features that could be classified as family films given the scope of its content. [13] According to Wojcik, the most important film adaptations of children's literature in the immediate post-World War II period were the motion pictures The Diary of Anne Frank by George Stevens (1959), Treasure Island (1950) by Byron Haskin and Luigi Comencini's 1952 motion picture Heidi . [14]

1960s to 1990s

In the 1960s, motion pictures such as To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and Oliver! (1968), directed by Carol Reed, portrayed children as naturally innocent. [15] Other films of the 1960s that involved children include The Sound of Music (1965) by Robert Wise and The Miracle Worker (1962). [16] These were very successful musical motion picture that were in the genre of family films. Four of the top ten highest-grossing films of the decade were family films: The Sound of Music, One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), The Jungle Book (1967), and Mary Poppins (1964). [17] Hollywood also released motion pictures starring children though these were not commercially successful and they were literary adaptations nonetheless. These include ...And Now Miguel (1966), Doctor Dolittle (1967), and The Learning Tree (1969). [18] [19] Other family/children films of the decade include Pollyanna (1960), Swiss Family Robinson (1960), In Search of the Castaways (1962), The Sword in the Stone (1963), That Darn Cat! (1965), Up the Down Staircase (1967), To Sir, With Love (1967), Yours, Mine and Ours (1968), and The Parent Trap (1961). [20]

Children's films in the 1970s from the United States include animated films such as The Aristocats (1970), Charlotte's Web (1973), Robin Hood (1973), The Rescuers (1977), and The Hobbit (1977). [21] The decade also had live action children's films like Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), Sounder (1972), Benji (1974), Tuck Everlasting (1976), The Bad News Bears (1976), Freaky Friday (1976), and A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich (1978), [21] the divorce drama involving a child Kramer vs. Kramer (1978), and The Muppet Movie (1979). [22] There were also combination live action/animation films such as 1971's Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Pete's Dragon (1977). This trend of films inspired the 1980s and 1990s productions of classic children's films from America including Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Matilda (1996). [21]

American children's and family films of the 1980s include Popeye (1980), The Fox and the Hound (1981), Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), The Great Mouse Detective (1986), and The Little Mermaid (1989). [23] Spielberg portrays children realistically, having to cope with issues. [24] This is seen in E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, [22] where the children have to cope with the issues of single parenting and divorce, as well as separation from their father. Also, in the motion picture Empire of the Sun (1987), [25] the protagonist child Jim Graham has to deal with separation from his parents for years, to the point where he is unable to even remember what his mother looked like. He is wounded not by bullets, but by the madness and cruelty of war and separation from his parents. [25] According to Robin Wood, in their films, Lucas and Spielberg both reconstruct "... the adult spectator as a child ..." or "... an adult who would like to be a child". [26] [27] Other important children's films from the U.S. in the late 1970s include Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). [24] Live action films like Superman (1978) [28] and Superman II [29] are also important children's and family films. They have been ranked as some of the best family entertainment over the past generation. The 1970s and 1980s also include several films and their sequels as classics of family films, including: Star Wars (1977) and its sequels The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). [30] Other similar movies and sequels include Robert Zemeckis's film Back to the Future (1985) and its sequels Back to the Future Part II (1989) and Back to the Future Part III (1990). [30]

"Since the resurgence of Disney feature films with The Little Mermaid (1989)", writes Laurie, "high-budget animations have become part of the Hollywood box office furniture, with phenomenal successes from Pixar Studios, DreamWorks animations and more recently, Blue Sky Studios". [7] Important animated family films of the 1990s include Disney titles such as Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Mulan (1998), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), and the Pixar animated films Toy Story (1995), its sequel Toy Story 2 (1999), and A Bug's Life (1998). [31] This decade introduced the modern fairy tale film Edward Scissorhands (1990), [32] depicting an isolated, artificially created young man with human emotions and childlike qualities who is ultimately rejected by society while the female protagonist holds on to his memory. The 1990s also saw additional live-action family films such as Back to the Future Part III (1990), which brought the Back to the Future franchise into this decade, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), Home Alone (1990) and its sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Hook (1991), Alan & Naomi (1992), Jurassic Park (1993), Steve Zaillian's Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993), Super Mario Bros. (1993), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), The Flintstones (1994), Babe (1995), Jumanji (1995), 101 Dalmatians (1996), Fly Away Home (1996), Vegas Vacation (1997), and October Sky (1999). [33] Films such as A Little Princess (1995) were more successful in the home video market than in theaters. Direct-to-video became important for both animated and live-action films, such as The Return of Jafar (1994) and those starring Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. [34]

Europe

In the 1930s and 1940s, a children's film studio was set up in Moscow. Several films were imported from this studio to the United Kingdom including The Magic Fish, The Land of Toys , and The Humpbacked Horse . [35] Post World War II children's films include the Italian neorealist film Bicycle Thieves , by Vittorio De Sica (1948). [36] According to Goldstein and Zornow, Clement's French film, Forbidden Games (1952), features children in the scenario of war, and shows the gap between children and adults. [37] This period also includes the Czech children's film Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955), directed by Karel Zeman. In the 1960s, important European children's films include the British-Italian romance film Romeo and Juliet (1968), and the French film L'Enfant sauvage (1969). French film directors Louis Malle and François Truffaut made significant contributions to children's films. Louis Malle made the films Zazie dans Le Metro (1960), Murmur of the Heart (1971), and Pretty Baby (1978). The works of Truffaut include The 400 Blows (1959), The Wild Child (1970) and Small Change (1976). [38] The film making style of Malle and Truffaunt inspired present day directors in making children's films; including Ponette (1996) directed by Jacques Doillon, which deals with the emotional and psychological pain and hurt that children experience "... while living without parental love and care". [39] Other important European children's cinema in the 1960s include The Christmas Tree (1969), which tells the story of a child coping with his imminent death due to leukemia, and Robert Bresson's film Mouchette (1964), which deals with the suicide of a 14-year-old girl. According to Wojcik, the contrast between films like Mary Poppins and Mouchette shows the ambiguous or schizoid nature of the depiction of children in the 1960s. [40]

European children's films from the 1970s and 1980s include: the German film directed by Wim Wenders, Alice in den Städten (1974); the Spanish film The Spirit of the Beehive (1973); Fanny & Alexander directed by Ingmar Bergman; the Danish film Pelle the Conqueror (1988); The NeverEnding Story (1984), directed by German director Wolfgang Petersen; [24] the Danish film, Me and Mamma Mia (1989); [11] and the Hungarian film Love, Mother (1987). [41] Autumn Sonata by Ingmar Bergman is also an important cinema in the genre of family films, although it deals with issues between parent and child which the child expresses after reaching adulthood. The 1990s include the important Russian films Burnt by the Sun (1994) and The Thief (1997), both of which are set in post-revolutionary Russia of 1917. [42] In the 2000s, important European children's films include the Finnish film Mother of Mine (2005), the Italian short film Il supplente ("The Substitute") (2007), and the Polish animated film Peter and the Wolf (2006). In 2010s the Belgian, French language film, The Kid with a Bike (2011) stands as an important children's film. [43]

Britain

In the 1960s, the UK made motion pictures dealing with children that are now regarded as classics. [30] These films include The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), Lord of the Flies (1963), Born Free (1966), To Sir, with Love (1967) (based on E. R. Braithwaite's real experiences), and if.... (1968). [44] The list also includes the film Kes (1969). Some children's motion pictures belong to the category of avant-garde films because of the unconventional and often controversial treatment of the subject. [45] According to film scholars; an important example of an avant-garde children's film is the British film Pink Floyd The Wall (1982). [46] [47] Pink Floyd The Wall is an unconventional and controversial motion picture that has a haunting and powerful nightmarish depiction of alienated childhood, boarding school separation, maternal deprivation, separation anxiety, war, and consumerist greed that affects a child and further affects his relationships and experiences in adulthood. It shows the child with non traditional images and the social changes that has occurred with family. [47] In Pink Floyd The Wall the representation of child and family "stresses confrontation, confusion, dysfunctionality and history". [47]

Asia

In the 1960s, important children's films from Japan include Bad Boys (1960), based on the lives of children in a reform school for juvenile delinquents, and Boy (1969). [38] In the 1960s, important children's films from Asia include the motion picture Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1969) by Satyajit Ray. [13] South India gave us the children's film Daisy (1988), depicting children in a boarding school and their experience of separation and longing. Other children's films from this region also include Abhayam (1991), which is also known by the alternative title, Shelter, by Sivan. It was awarded the Silver Elephant and Special International Jury & CIFEJ Jury Awards at the 7th International Children's Film Festival. [48] India also has a neo-realist children's film about street children in Mumbai, Salaam Bombay (1988) by Mira Nair. It depicts the cruel way in which adults treat children in India by showing the hard life of street children in Mumbai (also called as Bombay). [49] Important children's films from India also include the Bollywood films Masoom (1983) and Mr. India (1987); both directed by Shekhar Kapoor. Other important children's films include the reproduction of the German Fairy tales of the Grimm brothers by the Israeli film companies Golan Globus and Cannon Films in their series called Cannon Movie Tales , which includes: The Frog Prince (1986), starring Aileen Quinn, Helen Hunt, and John Paragon; Beauty and the Beast (1987), starring John Savage; and Puss in Boots (1988), starring Christopher Walken. From Japan, Miyazaki's Spirited Away was voted as the number one film that must be seen by 14 years of age. That list also included the Maori motion picture Whale Rider (2002). Another important children's film is Son of Maryam (1998), directed by Hamid Jebeli and set in Azerbaijan. It deals with the relationship between a Muslim boy and an Armenian priest. [49]

Other world regions

Important children's films from Africa include Tsotsi (2006). [50] Another collection of family films is the anthology of 20 Canadian and European motion picture productions titled Tales for All . This includes the Canadian children's film Bach and Broccoli (Bach et Bottine) (1986) and the Argentine film Summer of the Colt (1990), directed by André Mélancon. [51]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Bazalgette 1995, p. 92.
  2. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, pp. 4–5.
  3. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 161.
  4. 1 2 3 Grodal Torben (2009) Embodied Visions, Oxford University Press. P 27
  5. ↑ Boyer, Pascal; Liénard, Pierre (2006). "Why ritualized behavior? Precaution Systems and action parsing in developmental, pathological and cultural rituals". The Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 29 (6): 1–56. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.473.3819 . doi:10.1017/s0140525x06009332. ISSN   0140-525X. PMID   17918647. S2CID   9395265.
  6. ↑ Panksepp, Jaak (September 3, 1998). Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780199884353.
  7. 1 2 Laurie, Timothy (2015). "Becoming-Animal Is A Trap For Humans". Deleuze and the Non-Human. eds. Hannah Stark and Jon Roffe.
  8. ↑ Bazalgette 1995, p. 94.
  9. 1 2 Bazalgette 1995, p. 95.
  10. ↑ Bazalgette 1995, p. 96.
  11. 1 2 Bazalgette 1995, pp. 92–108.
  12. 1 2 Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 66.
  13. 1 2 Wojcik-Andrews 2000, pp. 55–122.
  14. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 77.
  15. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 87.
  16. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, pp. 88–89.
  17. ↑ "All-Time Box Office Hits". AMC Filmsite. Archived from the original on November 21, 2015.
  18. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 89.
  19. ↑ "The History of Film — The 1960s". AMC Filmsite. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
  20. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 92.
  21. 1 2 3 Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 96.
  22. 1 2 Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 106.
  23. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 100.
  24. 1 2 3 Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 101.
  25. 1 2 Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 163.
  26. ↑ Wood, Robin (January 1986). Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 163. ISBN   9780231057776.
  27. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 104.
  28. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 173.
  29. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 105.
  30. 1 2 3 Wojcik-Andrews 2000, pp. 104–105.
  31. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 119.
  32. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 102.
  33. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 110.
  34. ↑ Matzer, Marla (April 16, 1997). "Direct-to-Video Family Films Are Hitting Home". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved June 4, 2011.
  35. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 72.
  36. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, pp. 117–118.
  37. ↑ Goldstein, Ruth M.; Zornow, Edith (September 1, 1980). The screen image of youth: movies about children and adolescents . Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press. p.  211. ISBN   9780810813168.
  38. 1 2 Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 94.
  39. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, pp. 94, 116.
  40. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 95.
  41. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, pp. 98–99.
  42. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 115.
  43. ↑ "The Kid with a Bike – review". the Guardian. March 22, 2012. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
  44. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, pp. 92–93.
  45. ↑ Wojcik-Andrews 2000, pp. 190–191.
  46. ↑ Giannetti Louis (1987) Understanding Movies. 4th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. pp. 332–339
  47. 1 2 3 Wojcik-Andrews 2000, pp. 168–169, 191.
  48. ↑ "Abhayam (Main Phir Aaunga) (Shelter)". Children's Film Society, India.
  49. 1 2 Wojcik-Andrews 2000, p. 108.
  50. ↑ Bradshaw, Peter (March 16, 2006). "Tsotsi". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077.
  51. ↑ Alice Duncan (2014). "Summer of the Colt". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Archived from the original on May 2, 2014.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animation</span> Method of creating moving pictures

Animation is a filmmaking technique by which still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets (cels) to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animation has been recognized as an artistic medium, specifically within the entertainment industry. Many animations are computer animations made with computer-generated imagery (CGI). Stop motion animation, in particular claymation, has continued to exist alongside these other forms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Burton</span> American filmmaker and animator (born 1958)

Timothy Walter Burton is an American director, producer, writer, and animator. Known for pioneering goth culture in the American film industry, Burton is famous for his gothic horror and fantasy films. He has received numerous accolades including an Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and three BAFTA Awards. He was honored with the Venice International Film Festival's Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2007 and was given the Order of the Arts and Letters by Culture Minister of France in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walt Disney</span> American animator and producer (1901–1966)

Walter Elias Disney was an American animator, film producer, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he holds the record for most Academy Awards earned and nominations by an individual. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors. Several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress and have also been named as some of the greatest films ever by the American Film Institute.

<i>Toy Story</i> 1995 Pixar film

Toy Story is a 1995 American animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the franchise of the same name, it was the first entirely computer-animated feature film, as well as the first feature film from Pixar. It was directed by John Lasseter and produced by Bonnie Arnold and Ralph Guggenheim, from a screenplay written by Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, and Alec Sokolow and a story by Lasseter, Stanton, Pete Docter, and Joe Ranft. The film features music by Randy Newman, and was executive-produced by Steve Jobs and Edwin Catmull. The film features the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Annie Potts, R. Lee Ermey, John Morris, Laurie Metcalf, and Erik von Detten.

<i>Fantasia</i> (1940 film) 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney

Fantasia is a 1940 American animated musical anthology film produced by Walt Disney Productions, with story direction by Joe Grant and Dick Huemer and production supervision by Walt Disney and Ben Sharpsteen. It consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Music critic and composer Deems Taylor acts as the film's Master of Ceremonies who introduces each segment in live action.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julie Andrews</span> British actress, singer and author (born 1935)

Dame Julie Andrews is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, two Emmy Awards, three Grammy Awards, and six Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for three Tony Awards. One of the biggest box office draws of the 1960s, Andrews has been honoured with the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2007, and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2022. She was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000.

While the history of animation began much earlier, this article is concerned with the development of the medium after the emergence of celluloid film in 1888, as produced for theatrical screenings, television and (non-interactive) home entertainment.

<i>Toy Story 2</i> 1999 Pixar film

Toy Story 2 is a 1999 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The second installment in the Toy Story franchise and the sequel to Toy Story (1995), it was directed by John Lasseter, co-directed by Ash Brannon and Lee Unkrich, and produced by Helene Plotkin and Karen Robert Jackson, from a screenplay written by Andrew Stanton, Rita Hsiao, Doug Chamberlin, and Chris Webb, and a story conceived by Lasseter, Stanton, Brannon, and Pete Docter. In the film, Woody is stolen by a toy collector, prompting Buzz Lightyear and his friends to rescue him, but Woody is then tempted by the idea of immortality in a museum. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Annie Potts, R. Lee Ermey, John Morris, and Laurie Metcalf reprise their roles from the first Toy Story film and they are joined by Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Estelle Harris, Wayne Knight, and Jodi Benson, who play the new characters introduced in this film. This is the last Toy Story film to feature Varney as the voice of Slinky Dog before his death the following year.

<i>The Hunchback of Notre Dame</i> (1996 film) American animated musical drama film

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1996 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is loosely based on the 1831 novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. The film was directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise and produced by Don Hahn, from a screenplay written by Tab Murphy, Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and the writing team of Bob Tzudiker and Noni White. Featuring the voices of Tom Hulce, Demi Moore, Tony Jay, and Kevin Kline, the film follows Quasimodo, the deformed and confined bell-ringer of Notre Dame, and his yearning to explore the outside world and be accepted by society, against the wishes of his cruel, puritanical foster father Claude Frollo, who also wants to exterminate Paris' Roma population.

Walt Disney Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from The Walt Disney Company's motion picture studios, television series, theme parks, and traditional studio albums produced by its roster of pop, teen pop, and country artists.

<i>An American Tail</i> 1986 animated film directed by Don Bluth

An American Tail is a 1986 American animated musical adventure film directed by Don Bluth and written by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss from a story by David Kirschner, Freudberg and Geiss. The film stars the voices of Phillip Glasser, John Finnegan, Amy Green, Nehemiah Persoff, Dom DeLuise, and Christopher Plummer. It is the story of Fievel Mousekewitz and his family as they emigrate from Russia to the United States for freedom, but Fievel gets lost and must find a way to reunite with them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walt Disney Animation Studios</span> American animation studio

Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene from its first synchronized sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie (1928). Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney, it is the oldest-running animation studio in the world. It is currently organized as a division of Walt Disney Studios and is headquartered at the Roy E. Disney Animation Building at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Since its foundation, the studio has produced 62 feature films, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) to Wish (2023), and hundreds of short films.

<i>The Swan Princess</i> 1994 American film

The Swan Princess is a 1994 American animated musical fantasy film based on the ballet Swan Lake. Featuring Michelle Nicastro, Howard McGillin, Jack Palance, John Cleese, Steven Wright, Sandy Duncan, and Steve Vinovich, the film is directed by former Disney animation director Richard Rich and scored by Lex de Azevedo. The film was distributed by New Line Cinema in the United States and by Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International outside the US. It was released theatrically on November 18, 1994, and grossed $9.8 million against a $21 million budget, becoming a box-office bomb, partly due to struggling competition with a re-release of The Lion King (1994). The film later became popular through home video releases and has since been followed by a series of direct-to-video sequels starting in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Hahn</span> American film producer and director (born 1955)

Donald Paul Hahn is an American film producer who is credited with producing some of the most successful animated films in recent history, including Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.

David Maxwell Kirschner is an American film and television producer and screenwriter. His producing credits include Don Bluth's An American Tail and Titan A.E. animated features as well as the Child's Play horror film series.

United Kingdom Animation began at the very origins of the art form in the late 19th century. British animation has been strengthened by an influx of émigrés to the UK; renowned animators such as Lotte Reiniger (Germany), John Halas (Hungary), George Dunning and Richard Williams (Canada), Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton have all worked in the UK at various stages of their careers. Notable full-length animated features to be produced in the UK include Animal Farm (1954), Yellow Submarine (1968), Watership Down (1978), and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disney Renaissance</span> Period of Disney animated films, 1989–1999

The Disney Renaissance was a period from 1989 to 1999 during which Walt Disney Feature Animation returned to producing critically and commercially successful animated films. These were mostly musical adaptations of well-known stories, similar to the films produced during the era of Walt Disney from the 1930s to 1960s. The resurgence allowed Disney's animated films to become a powerhouse of successes at the domestic and foreign box office, earning much greater profits than most of the Disney films of previous eras.

Tarzan was a Disney media franchise that commenced in 1999 with the theatrical release of the film Tarzan, based on the character Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

<i>Mary Poppins Returns</i> 2018 musical film

Mary Poppins Returns is a 2018 American musical fantasy film directed by Rob Marshall, with a screenplay written by David Magee and a story by Magee, Marshall, and John DeLuca. Loosely based on the book series Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers, the film is a sequel to the 1964 film Mary Poppins, and stars Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins, with supporting roles from Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Dick Van Dyke, Angela Lansbury, Colin Firth, Meryl Streep, and David Warner in his final film appearance. Set in London during the Great Depression, the film sees Mary Poppins, the former nanny of Jane and Michael Banks, return to them in the wake of the death of Michael's wife.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.