Disney Renaissance
Encyclopedia
The Disney Renaissance refers to an era beginning roughly in the late 1980s and ending in the late 1990s, during which Walt Disney Animation Studios returned to making successful animated films mostly based on stories that were known to many, restoring public and critical interest in Disney.

The animated films released during this period include: The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid (1989 film)
The Little Mermaid is a 1989 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name. Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, the film was originally released to theaters on November 14, 1989 and is the twenty-eighth film in...

(1989
1989 in film
-Events:* Batman is released on June 23, and goes on to gross over $410 million worldwide.* Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million...

), The Rescuers Down Under
The Rescuers Down Under
The Rescuers Down Under is a 1990 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution on November 16, 1990...

(1990
1990 in film
The year 1990 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* CGI technique is expanded with motion capture for CGI characters, used in Total Recall .* The first digitally-manipulated matte painting is used, in Die Hard 2....

), Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)
Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirtieth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and the third film of the Disney Renaissance period...

(1991
1991 in film
The year 1991 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*April 28 - Bonnie Raitt marries actor Michael O'Keefe in New York* Terminator 2: Judgment Day, became one of the landmarks for science fiction action films with its groundbreaking visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic.*November...

), Aladdin (1992
1992 in film
The year 1992 in film involved many significant films. -Top grossing films:-Awards:Academy AwardsGolden Globe AwardsNational Film Awards...

), The Lion King
The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...

(1994
1994 in film
1994 was a significant year in film.The top grosser worldwide was The Lion King, which to date stands as the highest-grossing traditionally-animated film of all time...

), Pocahontas
Pocahontas (1995 film)
Pocahontas is the 33rd animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and was originally released to selected theaters on June 16, 1995 by Walt Disney Pictures...

(1995
1995 in film
-Top grossing films:-Events:* March 22 - The Dogme 95 movement is officially announced in Paris by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg.* March 28 - Actress Julia Roberts and singer Lyle Lovett announce their plans for separation....

), The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996 film)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1996 American animated drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released to theaters on June 21, 1996 by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirty-fourth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, the film is inspired by Victor Hugo's novel of...

(1996
1996 in film
Major releases this year included Scream, Independence Day, Fargo, Trainspotting, The English Patient, Twister, Mars Attacks!, Jerry Maguire and a version of Evita starring Madonna.-Events:...

), Hercules
Hercules (1997 film)
Hercules is a 1997 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirty-fifth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker...

(1997
1997 in film
-Events:* The original Star Wars trilogy's Special Editions are released.* Production begins on Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.* Titanic becomes the first film to gross US$1,000,000,000 at the box office making it the highest grossing film in history until Avatar broke the record in 2010.*...

), Mulan
Mulan
Mulan is a 1998 American animated film directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook, with story by Robert D. San Souci and screenplay by Rita Hsiao, Philip LaZebnik, Chris Sanders, Eugenia Bostwick-Singer, and Raymond Singer. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney...

(1998
1998 in film
-Events:* February 14 - Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein.* Former child star Gary Coleman is charged with assaulting a young female bus driver at a California shopping mall.-Top grossing films:...

) and Tarzan
Tarzan (1999 film)
Tarzan is a 1999 American animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures on June 18, 1999...

(1999
1999 in film
The year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...

).

Before the Renaissance

During production of The Fox and the Hound in 1979, long-time animator Don Bluth
Don Bluth
Donald Virgil "Don" Bluth is an American animator and independent studio owner. He is best known for his departure from The Walt Disney Company in 1979 and his subsequent directing of animated films such as The Secret of NIMH , An American Tail ,The Land Before Time , and All Dogs Go to Heaven ,...

 left Disney, taking 11 Disney animators with him, to start his own rival studio, Don Bluth Productions
Sullivan Bluth Studios
Sullivan Bluth Studios was an American animated film production company established in 1985 by animator Don Bluth. Bluth and several colleagues, all of whom were former Disney animators, left Disney in 1979 to form Don Bluth Productions, later known as the Bluth Group...

. With 17% of the animators now gone, production on The Fox and the Hound was delayed. Don Bluth Productions produced The Secret of NIMH
The Secret of NIMH
The Secret of NIMH is a 1982 animated film directed by Don Bluth in his directorial debut. It is an adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien's 1971 children's novel Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. The film was produced by Aurora Pictures and released by United Artists. While released to critical acclaim,...

in 1982, and Sullivan Bluth Studios eventually became Disney's main competitor in the animation industry during the '80s and early '90s.

Disney underwent a major shakeup in the 1980s after narrowly escaping a hostile takeover attempt from Saul Steinberg
Saul Steinberg (business)
Saul Steinberg is a former financier, insurance executive, and corporate raider. He started a computer leasing company , which he used in an audacious and successful takeover of the much larger Reliance Insurance Company in 1968...

. Michael Eisner
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner is an American businessman. He was the chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until 2005.-Early life:...

, formerly of Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

, became CEO in 1984, and he was joined by his Paramount associate Jeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg is an American film producer and CEO of DreamWorks Animation. He is perhaps most famous for his period as chairman of The Walt Disney Company's film division, and for producing DreamWorks animated films such as Shrek, Antz, The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Chicken...

, while Frank Wells, formerly of Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

, became President. After the disappointing box office performance of the 1985 PG-rated feature The Black Cauldron
The Black Cauldron (film)
The Black Cauldron is a 1985 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and originally released to theatres on July 24, 1985...

, 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
Roy E. Disney
Roy Edward Disney, KCSG was a longtime senior executive for The Walt Disney Company, which his father Roy Oliver Disney and his uncle Walt Disney founded. At the time of his death he was a shareholder , and served as a consultant for the company and Director Emeritus for the Board of Directors...

 persuaded Eisner to let him supervise the animation department in the hopes of improving its fortunes.

In 1986, the Disney Studios released The Great Mouse Detective
The Great Mouse Detective
The Great Mouse Detective is a 1986 animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, originally released to movie theaters on July 2, 1986 by Walt Disney Pictures...

and Universal released Don Bluth's An American Tail
An American Tail
An American Tail is a 1986 American animated adventure film directed by Don Bluth and produced by Sullivan Bluth Studios and Amblin Entertainment. The film tells the story of Fievel Mouskewitz and his family as they immigrate from Russia to America for freedom. However, Fievel gets lost and must...

. However, An American Tail defeated The Great Mouse Detective and became the highest-grossing film on its first release. Despite this, The Great Mouse Detective was still successful enough (both critically and commercially) that it convinced Disney that there may still be a future for their animation division. Two years later, the studios released Oliver & Company
Oliver & Company
Oliver & Company is a 1988 American animated film in which a homeless kitten named Oliver joins a gang of dogs to survive on the 1980s New York City streets. The film was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and became the twenty-seventh animated feature released in the Walt Disney Animated...

and The Land Before Time
The Land Before Time
The Land Before Time is a 1988 American animated adventure film directed and co-produced by Don Bluth , and executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Kathleen Kennedy, and Frank Marshall....

on the same weekend. 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, the Disney animated studio collaborated with Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...

, a long-time animation fan and producer of An American Tail
An American Tail
An American Tail is a 1986 American animated adventure film directed by Don Bluth and produced by Sullivan Bluth Studios and Amblin Entertainment. The film tells the story of Fievel Mouskewitz and his family as they immigrate from Russia to America for freedom. However, Fievel gets lost and must...

and The Land Before Time
The Land Before Time
The Land Before Time is a 1988 American animated adventure film directed and co-produced by Don Bluth , and executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Kathleen Kennedy, and Frank Marshall....

, to produce Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters...

, 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 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 The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid (1989 film)
The Little Mermaid is a 1989 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name. Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, the film was originally released to theaters on November 14, 1989 and is the twenty-eighth film in...

since the 1930s and by 1988, after the success of Roger Rabbit, had decided to make it into an animated Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

-like musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

. Lyricist Howard Ashman
Howard Ashman
Howard Elliott Ashman was an American playwright and lyricist. Ashman first studied at Boston University and Goddard College and then went on to achieve his master's degree from Indiana University in 1974...

 and composer Alan Menken
Alan Menken
Alan Menken is an American musical theatre and film composer and pianist.Menken is best known for his numerous scores for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas have each won him two Academy Awards...

, who worked on Broadway years earlier on productions such as Little Shop of Horrors
Little Shop of Horrors (musical)
Little Shop of Horrors is a rock musical, by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman...

, which was later made into a feature
Little Shop of Horrors (1986 film)
Little Shop of Horrors is a 1986 American comedy musical film adaptation of the off-Broadway musical comedy of the same name by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a nerdy florist shop worker who raises a vicious plant that feeds on human blood...

 directed by Frank Oz
Frank Oz
Frank Oz is a British-born American film director, actor, voice actor and puppeteer who is known for creating and performing the characters Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear in The Muppet Show, Cookie Monster, Bert and Grover in Sesame Street, and for directing films, including the 1986 Little Shop of...

, became involved in the production, writing and composing the songs and score for the film. The film was released on November 17, 1989 and garnered a higher weekend gross than Don Bluth's All Dogs Go to Heaven
All Dogs Go to Heaven
All Dogs Go to Heaven is a 1989 Irish-English animated film directed and produced by Don Bluth and released by United Artists. The film tells the story of two dogs, Charlie B. Barkin and his loyal best friend Itchy Itchiford...

, which opened the same weekend. It went on to beat The Land Before Time
The Land Before Time
The Land Before Time is a 1988 American animated adventure film directed and co-produced by Don Bluth , and executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Kathleen Kennedy, and Frank Marshall....

s record and became the highest-grossing animated film at that time.
Little Mermaid was a critical and commercial success. It won two Academy Awards, for Best Original Score and for Best Original Song ("Under the Sea
Under the Sea
-Parodies:In 1991, this song was parodied by musician Tom Smith with his song, "On The PC". This song was re-written in 1999 as "PC99".The song was parodied on the TV show Kappa Mikey where Mikey tries to convince a squid to live on land with him....

"), earning an additional nomination for Best Original Song for "Kiss the Girl
Kiss The Girl
"Kiss the Girl" is a calypso song from Disney's 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid, composed by Alan Menken with lyrics by Howard Ashman. In the film, the song was performed by Samuel E. Wright...

."

The Rescuers Down Under
The Rescuers Down Under
The Rescuers Down Under is a 1990 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution on November 16, 1990...

was released one year later and is the first of three canon animated Disney sequels (the others being Fantasia 2000
Fantasia 2000
Fantasia 2000 is a 1999 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was the 38th feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and a sequel to 1940's Fantasia...

and Winnie the Pooh) 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. There is much debate as to whether The Rescuers Down Under
The Rescuers Down Under
The Rescuers Down Under is a 1990 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution on November 16, 1990...

should be considered part of the Disney Renaissance, mostly due to the enormous discrepancy in all-time box office revenue, lack of legacy evident in the others, and as it is the only one of the ten that was neither nominated for an Academy Award nor achieved high RIAA certification
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...

 on its soundtrack.

Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)
Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirtieth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and the third film of the Disney Renaissance period...

followed in 1991, often considered one of the best films of the Disney Renaissance, and even of all Disney animated features. It was the first animated film nominated for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...

 at the Oscars, although it lost out to
The Silence of the Lambs. However, the film won Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) at the Golden Globe Awards and won two Academy Awards for Best Original Song
Academy Award for Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...

 and Best Original Score
Academy Award for Best Original Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...

.
Beauty and the Beast also received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Sound, as well as two additional nominations for Best Original Song. The film was dedicated to Howard Ashman, who died earlier in the year, before the film's release. It became the most successful animated feature in motion picture history up to that time, with domestic box office revenues exceeding $140 million. As of 2009, Beauty and the Beast is tied with Disney/Pixar
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...

's
WALL-E
WALL-E
WALL-E, promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E, is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. The story follows a robot named WALL-E, who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future...

for the record of animated film with most Academy Award nominations, with six.

Aladdin and The Lion King
The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...

followed in 1992
1992 in film
The year 1992 in film involved many significant films. -Top grossing films:-Awards:Academy AwardsGolden Globe AwardsNational Film Awards...

 and 1994
1994 in film
1994 was a significant year in film.The top grosser worldwide was The Lion King, which to date stands as the highest-grossing traditionally-animated film of all time...

, respectively, with both films having the highest worldwide grosses of their respective release years.
Aladdin was the highest-grossing film in 1992 and 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. Along with that, the 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 finally used in the film. Tim Rice
Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus...

 joined the project and completed the score and songs with Alan Menken. Tim Rice went on to collaborate with Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...

 and Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer
Hans Florian Zimmer is a German film composer and music producer. He has composed music for over 100 films, including critically acclaimed film scores for The Lion King , Crimson Tide , The Thin Red Line , Gladiator , The Dark Knight and Inception .Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the...

 in
The Lion King.

Pocahontas
Pocahontas (1995 film)
Pocahontas is the 33rd animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and was originally released to selected theaters on June 16, 1995 by Walt Disney Pictures...

and The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996 film)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1996 American animated drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released to theaters on June 21, 1996 by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirty-fourth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, the film is inspired by Victor Hugo's novel of...

were also box-office successes and are included in the Disney Renaissance. Pocahontas received two Academy Awards for Best Score and Best Original Song for "Colors of the Wind". Both films had songs written by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz
Stephen Schwartz (composer)
Stephen Lawrence Schwartz is an American musical theatre lyricist and composer. In a career spanning over four decades, Schwartz has written such hit musicals as Godspell , Pippin and Wicked...

. Disney continued on with successes from
Hercules
Hercules (1997 film)
Hercules is a 1997 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirty-fifth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker...

with songs by Alan Menken and David Zippel
David Zippel
David Joel Zippel is an American musical theatre lyricist.-Biography:Zippel was born in Easton, Pennsylvania. He is a 1976 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. While there, he wrote a "bizarre political musical" called Rotunda...

,
Mulan with score by Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....

 and songs by Matthew Wilder
Matthew Wilder
Matthew Wilder is an American musician, composer and record producer, best known for his 1983 Top 5 hit, "Break My Stride"....

 and David Zippel
David Zippel
David Joel Zippel is an American musical theatre lyricist.-Biography:Zippel was born in Easton, Pennsylvania. He is a 1976 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. While there, he wrote a "bizarre political musical" called Rotunda...

, and
Tarzan
Tarzan (1999 film)
Tarzan is a 1999 American animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures on June 18, 1999...

with songs by Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....

.
Tarzan won an Academy Award for Best Original Song with "You'll Be in My Heart
You'll Be in My Heart
"You'll Be in My Heart" is a song by Phil Collins, from the 1999 Disney animated feature Tarzan. It appeared on Tarzan: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack as well as various other Disney compilations...

."

Post-Renaissance era

The release of
Tarzan is retrospectively seen as the end of the Renaissance era. Though Disney did continue to release small successes such as Fantasia 2000
Fantasia 2000
Fantasia 2000 is a 1999 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was the 38th feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and a sequel to 1940's Fantasia...

, Dinosaur
Dinosaur (film)
Dinosaur is a 2000 American computer-animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures on May 19, 2000, and is the 39th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...

, The Emperor's New Groove
The Emperor's New Groove
The Emperor's New Groove is a 2000 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures through Buena Vista Distribution on December 15, 2000. It is the 40th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics...

and Brother Bear
Brother Bear
Brother Bear is a 2003 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures, the forty-fourth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics. In the film, an Inuit boy pursues a bear in revenge for a battle that he provoked in which...

, they were all not as well-received critically or commercially as the earlier films of the 90s were, and the studio also suffered box office flops with Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a 2001 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. Written by Tab Murphy, directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, and produced by Don Hahn, it is the first science fiction film in the Disney animated features canon and the 41st overall. The film...

, Treasure Planet
Treasure Planet
Treasure Planet is a 2002 animated science fiction film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, and released by Walt Disney Pictures on November 27, 2002...

and Home on the Range. Lilo and Stitch was seen as the only major box office success during this time. In addition, Disney found itself facing a new more competitive period beginning with the rise of DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature films, television program and online virtual worlds...

 as a potent sustained rival with its successful
Shrek
Shrek
Shrek is a 2001 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. Loosely based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!...

series.

In 1995, Disney partnered with Pixar
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...

 to create
Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...

, 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
Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo is a 2003 American comi-drama animated film written by Andrew Stanton, directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich and produced by Pixar. It tells the story of the overly protective clownfish Marlin who, along with a regal tang called Dory , searches for his abducted son Nemo...

, WALL-E
WALL-E
WALL-E, promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E, is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. The story follows a robot named WALL-E, who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future...

and Up
Up (2009 film)
Up is a 2009 American computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures and presented in Disney Digital 3-D. The film premiered on May 29, 2009 in North America and opened the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first animated and 3D film...

. In 2005, Chicken Little
Chicken Little (2005 film)
Chicken Little is a 2005 computer-animated science fiction family comedy film loosely based on the fable The Sky Is Falling. It was the 46th animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation...

, the Disney Studios first full CGI animated feature, received mixed reviews from critics though it performed well at the box office, as did their second CGI feature in 2007, Meet the Robinsons
Meet the Robinsons
Meet the Robinsons is a 2007 American computer-animated family film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures on March 30, 2007. The forty-seventh animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, the film was released in both the United States and the...

. 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. Along with Princess and the Frog and Tangled, fans have been calling this period The Disney Revival.

With the success of Pixar, then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner is an American businessman. He was the chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until 2005.-Early life:...

 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. However, after John Lasseter
John Lasseter
John Alan Lasseter is an American animator, director and the chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. He is also currently the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering....

 took over the animation division with the purchase of Pixar, Disney announced they would return to traditional animation with the release of
The Princess and the Frog.

Critical reaction

Most of the films Disney released on this era was well-received, as in the film critic site Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

, the list is topped by
Beauty and the Beast with 93% of positive reviews, and Pocahontas being the bottom of the pack with 56% of positive reviews.
Film Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

Overall Cream of the Crop
The Little Mermaid 90% (52 reviews) 86% (7 reviews)  
The Rescuers Down Under 64% (50 reviews) 79% (10 reviews)  
Beauty and the Beast 93% (56 reviews) 100% (17 reviews)  
Aladdin 92% (49 reviews) 92% (9 reviews)  
The Lion King 89% (92 reviews) 93% (13 reviews) 84 (13 reviews)
Pocahontas 56% (49 reviews) 71% (14 reviews) 58 (23 reviews)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame 73% (48 reviews) 60% (14 reviews)  
Hercules 83% (48 reviews) 75% (12 reviews)  
Mulan 86% (71 reviews) 69% (13 reviews) 71 (24 reviews)
Tarzan 88% (101 reviews) 85% (27 reviews) 79 (37 reviews)
Average Ratings 84% 82% 73

Box office

Film Release date Box office revenue Budget Reference
Premiere General Domestic Foreign All time worldwide
The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid (1989 film)
The Little Mermaid is a 1989 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name. Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, the film was originally released to theaters on November 14, 1989 and is the twenty-eighth film in...

November 17, 1989 November 17, 1989 $111,543,479 $99,800,000 $211,343,479 $40,000,000
The Rescuers Down Under
The Rescuers Down Under
The Rescuers Down Under is a 1990 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution on November 16, 1990...

November 16, 1990 November 16, 1990 $27,931,461 $19,500,000 $47,431,461 $37,931,000
Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)
Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirtieth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and the third film of the Disney Renaissance period...

November 15, 1991 November 22, 1991 $171,350,553 $206,000,000 $377,350,553 $25,000,000
Aladdin November 13, 1992 November 25, 1992 $217,350,219 $286,700,000 $504,050,219 $25,000,000
The Lion King
The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...

June 15, 1994 June 24, 1994 $421,138,076 $499,800,000 $920,938,076 $45,000,000
Pocahontas
Pocahontas (1995 film)
Pocahontas is the 33rd animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and was originally released to selected theaters on June 16, 1995 by Walt Disney Pictures...

June 16, 1995 June 23, 1995 $141,579,773 $204,500,000 $346,079,773 $55,000,000
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996 film)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1996 American animated drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released to theaters on June 21, 1996 by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirty-fourth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, the film is inspired by Victor Hugo's novel of...

June 21, 1996 June 21, 1996 $100,138,851 $225,200,000 $325,338,851 $100,000,000
Hercules
Hercules (1997 film)
Hercules is a 1997 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirty-fifth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker...

June 15, 1997 June 27, 1997 $99,112,101 $234,600,000 $334,712,101 $85,000,000
Mulan June 19, 1998 June 19, 1998 $120,620,254 $183,700,000 $304,320,254 $70,000,000 ,
#27(A)
Tarzan
Tarzan (1999 film)
Tarzan is a 1999 American animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures on June 18, 1999...

June 18, 1999 June 18, 1999 $171,091,819 $277,100,000 $448,191,819 $130,000,000
Total $1,489,260,286 $1,987,900,000 $3,682,660,286 $612,931,000 List indicator(s)
  • A light grey cell indicates information is not available.
  • (A) indicates the budget of the film was estimated by IMDB
    Internet Movie Database
    Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...

    .

Academy Awards

Nine of the ten films in the Disney Renaissance were nominated for Academy Awards:
Year Title Oscar nominations Oscar win
1989
1989 in film
-Events:* Batman is released on June 23, and goes on to gross over $410 million worldwide.* Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million...

The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid (1989 film)
The Little Mermaid is a 1989 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name. Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, the film was originally released to theaters on November 14, 1989 and is the twenty-eighth film in...

3 2
1991
1991 in film
The year 1991 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*April 28 - Bonnie Raitt marries actor Michael O'Keefe in New York* Terminator 2: Judgment Day, became one of the landmarks for science fiction action films with its groundbreaking visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic.*November...

Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)
Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirtieth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and the third film of the Disney Renaissance period...

6 2
1992
1992 in film
The year 1992 in film involved many significant films. -Top grossing films:-Awards:Academy AwardsGolden Globe AwardsNational Film Awards...

Aladdin 5 2
1994
1994 in film
1994 was a significant year in film.The top grosser worldwide was The Lion King, which to date stands as the highest-grossing traditionally-animated film of all time...

The Lion King
The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...

4 2
1995
1995 in film
-Top grossing films:-Events:* March 22 - The Dogme 95 movement is officially announced in Paris by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg.* March 28 - Actress Julia Roberts and singer Lyle Lovett announce their plans for separation....

Pocahontas
Pocahontas (1995 film)
Pocahontas is the 33rd animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and was originally released to selected theaters on June 16, 1995 by Walt Disney Pictures...

2 2
1996
1996 in film
Major releases this year included Scream, Independence Day, Fargo, Trainspotting, The English Patient, Twister, Mars Attacks!, Jerry Maguire and a version of Evita starring Madonna.-Events:...

The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996 film)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1996 American animated drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released to theaters on June 21, 1996 by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirty-fourth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, the film is inspired by Victor Hugo's novel of...

1 0
1997
1997 in film
-Events:* The original Star Wars trilogy's Special Editions are released.* Production begins on Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.* Titanic becomes the first film to gross US$1,000,000,000 at the box office making it the highest grossing film in history until Avatar broke the record in 2010.*...

Hercules
Hercules (1997 film)
Hercules is a 1997 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirty-fifth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker...

1 0
1998
1998 in film
-Events:* February 14 - Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein.* Former child star Gary Coleman is charged with assaulting a young female bus driver at a California shopping mall.-Top grossing films:...

Mulan
Mulan
Mulan is a 1998 American animated film directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook, with story by Robert D. San Souci and screenplay by Rita Hsiao, Philip LaZebnik, Chris Sanders, Eugenia Bostwick-Singer, and Raymond Singer. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney...

1 0
1999
1999 in film
The year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...

Tarzan
Tarzan (1999 film)
Tarzan is a 1999 American animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures on June 18, 1999...

1 1

Soundtracks

Year Title US
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 
RIAA certification
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...

1989
1989 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1989.-Events:*January 14 – Paul McCartney releases Снова в СССР exclusively in the USSR...

The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid (soundtrack)
- Unreleased Songs/Score :Several pieces of music from the movie remain unreleased in any format from Disney. The most important and most puzzling is a short reprise of Ursula's song Poor Unfortunate Souls which appears in the movie right before Eric and Vanessa's wedding. This song has been...

32 6× Platinum
1991
1991 in music
See also:* 1991 in music Record labels established in 1991-Summary:The year 1991 is the year that grunge music made its popular breakthrough. Nirvana's Nevermind, led by the surprise hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit", becomes the most popular U.S. album of the year...

Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast (soundtrack)
Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack of Disney's 1991 Academy Award-winning animated feature Beauty and the Beast...

19 3× Platinum
1992
1992 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1992.-January–February:*January 11**Nirvana's Nevermind album goes to #1 in the US Billboard 200 chart, establishing the widespread popularity of the Grunge movement of the 1990s....

Aladdin
Aladdin (soundtrack)
-Arabian Nights:"Arabian Nights", performed by The Peddler , opens the film. Initially a longer composition, Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's 1990 score treatment incorporated several reprises allowing The Peddler to comment on plot developments....

6 3× Platinum
1994
1994 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1994.-January–February:*January 25 – Alice in Chains release their Jar of Flies album which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the first ever EP to do so....

The Lion King
The Lion King (soundtrack)
The Lion King: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the original motion picture soundtrack for Walt Disney's 1994, 32nd animated feature The Lion King. It contains songs from the film written by Elton John and Tim Rice, and a score composed by Hans Zimmer. Elton John has a dual role of performer...

1 Diamond
1995
1995 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1995.- January–February :*January 18 – Jerry Garcia crashes his rented BMW into a guard rail near Mill Valley, California, USA, but is not injured in the accident....

Pocahontas
Pocahontas (soundtrack)
Pocahontas: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack is the soundtrack to Disney's 1995, thirty-third animated feature Pocahontas. It contains songs from the film written by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, conducted by David Friedman, and performed by Judy Kuhn, Mel Gibson, Linda Hunt, Jim...

1 3× Platinum
1996
1996 in film
Major releases this year included Scream, Independence Day, Fargo, Trainspotting, The English Patient, Twister, Mars Attacks!, Jerry Maguire and a version of Evita starring Madonna.-Events:...

The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (soundtrack)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack is the soundtrack to Disney's 1996 animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame...

11 Platinum
1997
1997 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1997.-January:*January 9 – David Bowie performs his 50th Birthday Bash concert at Madison Square Garden, New York City, USA with guests Frank Black, The Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith of The Cure, Lou Reed, and Billy...

Hercules 17 Gold
1998
1998 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1998.-Events:*January 28 – "Weird Al" Yankovic gets LASIK surgery to cure his myopia...

Mulan
Mulan (soundtrack)
Mulan: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack is the soundtrack for the 1998 Disney animated film, Mulan. Released on June 2, 1998, the album featured songs by Matthew Wilder and David Zippel, conducted by Paul Bogaev, and score composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith...

25 Gold
1999
1999 in music
-Events:*January 7**After eight years of marriage, Rod Stewart and supermodel wife Rachel Hunter announce their separation.**Paul McCartney attends the first of his stepdaughter Heather's first housewares collection in Georgia....

Tarzan
Tarzan (1999 film soundtrack)
Tarzan: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack is the soundtrack for the 1999 Disney animated film, Tarzan. The songs on the soundtrack were composed by Phil Collins, and the instrumental score by Mark Mancina...

5 Platinum

External links

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