conceive it or not , Disney was not interested in putting their animated movies onto home video and thought it would be a spoilt idea to do so .
1.Mickey and Minnie Mouse share the exact same birthday —Nov. 18, 1928— as they both appeared inSteamboat Willietogether:
2.The first cartoonDisneymade incolorwas the Silly Symphony shortFlowers and Trees. The cartoon was also the first to be made in Technicolor (making it the first full-color cartoon) and was so innovative for the time, too, that it would earnWalt Disneyhis firstOscar— an Academy Award for Animated Short Subjects.
3.The first sound cartoon in color is 1930’sFiddlesticks —though it’s not fully color as it used a two-color processing system. The cartoon — which was about the character of Flip the Frog — was created byUb Iwerks, an early Disney animator who worked with Walt for 10 years. He left the studio in 1930 over various creative differences.Fiddlesticksalso features a mouse that looks a lot like Mortimer Mouse, and it’sspeculatedthat it’s because it’s actually an early design of Mickey Mouse, whom Iwerks helped refine the design of.
4.The term “Disney Vault” is actually a lotolderthan you might think. It was used to refer to movies that were taken out of “the vault” and re-released into theaters after their original run (this was way before home videos existed).
5.The first movie Disneyre-releasedfrom the vault wasSnow White and the Seven Dwarfsin 1944, during WWII. The studio was sort of forced to as they were cash-strapped at the time and wereproducing propaganda filmsfor the government that weren’t really made for profit.
6.The success of theSnow Whitere-release started the tradition of Disney re-releasing its films into theaters every 7–10 years. This would end in the ’90s after Disney decided to release the wildly successfulThe Little Mermaidonto VHS. Being thefirstDisney movieto be released on home video following its theatrical run was considered a huge gamble for the company.
7.The Little Mermaidwas released onto home video six months after its release and, of course, went on to become a huge seller. Many at Disney did not want it to be released onto home video as it would cut into the established theatrical re-release model. The success of it led Disney in the 1990s to shift to the home video model, not only releasing its new movies on home video, but also its “vault” movies.
8.Though Disneyverymuch resisted putting its animated movies onto VHS, in 1985,Pinocchiobecame thefirstclassic Disneyanimated movie to get released onto home video, and they charged a premium for it, pricing it at $79.95 (which would be around $198 in today’s money).
9.The Disney Vault alsostoppedbeing a marketing tool after Disney launched Disney+ and essentially made its entire library available for streaming.
10.In 1930, a Mickey Mouse writing tablet became the first Disney character merchandise. Walt Disney agreed tolicensethe character to a company in New York (for $300) because he needed the money at the time.
Mickey Mouse Writing TabletFirst Licensed Piece of Disney Character Merchandise1930#DisneyArchives50pic.twitter.com / Ijy2w3eOGB
11.But it wasn’t the first Walt Disney created character to be licensed out — that was actually Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who had a stencil set released in 1928, though Disney at the time did notown the rightsto the character as they were produced for Universal.
Oswald Stencil SetManufactured by Universal Toy & Novelty1928#DisneyArchives50pic.twitter.com/3Db7Y36WMA
12.Disney CEO Bob Iger, knowing how muchlosing the rightsto Oswald bothered Walt Disney, negotiated to get the rights back from NBCUniversal in 2006. Which is why he now appears in the parks, has merchandise, and even has a brand-newanimated shortthat was made in 2022 to celebrate the Walt Disney Company’s 100th anniversary.
13.The Watcher in the Woods, costarring screen legend Bette Davis andReal Housewiveslegend Kyle Richards, was Disney’s attempt at making moreadult-focused contentas kids' movies were losing popularity and horror was big (because ofThe Exorcist). The movie originally had a limited release in 1980, but was pulled from theaters because of bad reviews (mainly because of theending). After some reshoots and a new ending filmed, the movie was re-released in 1981; however, the movie ended up bombing at the box office — in part because of the press it had gotten for needing reshoots, making people think it was a bad film.
14.Julie Andrews was not the first person to playMary Poppinson screen. It was Mary Wickes, who played the character in 1949 in a one-hour TV adaptation that was part of CBS’sStudio Oneseries.
15.However, Julie did also play Mary Poppins on TV! While she never played her again on the big screen, she did play the character a few more times in some of herTV specials.
16.The version of “Beauty and the Beast” that Mrs. Potts sings in the film was thevery first takeAngela Lansbury sang.
17.Tangledis themost expensive animated movieever made — costing $260 million to make. The high budget had to do with many factors: One was that the movie was in development since 1996 and had gone through many, many rewrites, then there was the cost of new animation software Disney had to develop for it, and then, of course, it was a labor intensive movie that took a really long time to animate.
18.Treasure Planetis actually themost expensive2D animated movie ever made, costing up to $140 million to make. LikeTangled, the movie had been years in development (first pitched in 1985), but it also caused much debate within the studio about what the direction of the movie should be. Though a cult classic today, the movie bombed at the box office and is cited as the reasonDisney moved awayfrom 2D animated movies.
19.And lastly, theDuckTalestheme song is one of the catchiest Disney songs of all time (and one of the best theme songs ever, IMO). The song was written by songwriterMark Mueller, who said he wrote the song in about 45 minutes and that the only instruction Disney gave him was that they wanted a pop radio song not a “cartoon song.” Mueller would go on to also write the theme song forChip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers.
And ' XC small fry , yes , Mueller does have a knack for pen tonic wireless songs ! He actually cowrote Jennifer Paige ’s 1998 hit call " Crush . "
Disney Plus / Viayoutube.comAnd ’90s kids, yes, Mueller does have a knack for writing pop radio songs! He actually cowrote Jennifer Paige’s 1998 hit song “Crush."
