The Renaissance Age of Animation: Difference between revisions

'''Modern animation of the United States''' from the mid-1980s onward is sometimes referred to as the "American animation renaissance". During this period, many large American entertainment companies reformed and reinvigorated their [[animation]] departments following a general decline during the 1970s and 1980s. The United States has had a profound effect on animation worldwide.

In 1993, Disney released ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]'', the first feature-length [[stop motion|stop-motion]] animated film. Disney's success peaked in [[1994 in film|1994]], when ''[[The Lion King]]'' grossed $328,541,776 (${{formatprice|{{Inflation|US|328541776|1994|r=-2}}}} in today's dollars). As of 2010, ''The Lion King'' ranked as the 22nd highest grossing motion picture of all time in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|title=All Time Domestic Box Office Results |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/domestic.htm |work=Box Office Mojo |accessdate=2010-09-15}}</ref> Subsequent Disney films such as ''[[Pocahontas (1995 film)|Pocahontas]]'', ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'', ''[[Hercules (1997 film)|Hercules]]'', ''[[Mulan (1998 film)|Mulan]]'' and ''[[Tarzan (1999Disney film)|Tarzan]]'' were box office and critical successes as well, albeit modestly so when compared to Disney's early-1990s releases.

In 1994, the death of Disney President and Chief Operating Officer [[Frank Wells]], and the departure of studio chairman [[Jeffrey Katzenberg]] to co-found [[DreamWorks]], left Michael Eisner in full control of the company. At the turn of the century, films such as ''[[Atlantis: The Lost Empire]]'', ''[[Treasure Planet]]'', and ''[[Home on the Range (2004 film)|Home on the Range]]'' failed to meet the critical and commercial expectations set by the 1990s phenomena, in spite of exceptions such as ''[[Lilo & Stitch: The Series|Lilo & Stitch]]'' and ''[[The Emperor's New Groove]]''. At the same time, the high level of popular acclaim bestowed upon ''[[Toy Story]]'', the first film animated entirely using [[computer-generated imagery]] (CGI), sparked an industry trend. Based on the commercial success of [[Pixar]]'s computer-generated animated films and other CGI fare (especially DreamWorks' ''[[Shrek]]'', which contained numerous jabs at Katzenberg's former workplace and boss), Disney came to believe that CGI was what the public wanted—so it ceased producing traditional two-dimensional animation after ''Home on the Range'', and switched exclusively to CGI starting with 2005's ''[[Chicken Little (2005 film)|Chicken Little]]''.

[[Robert Iger]] succeeded Eisner; one of his first acts as CEO was to regain the rights to Walt Disney's first star [[Oswald the Lucky Rabbit]] from [[NBCUniversal]] (Iger did so by offering NBC the services of [[Al Michaels]], a play-by-play host then under contract to Disney subsidiary [[ESPN on ABC|ABC Sports]], as a trade). After Disney's acquisition of Pixar in 2006, Pixar executive producer [[John Lasseter]] became Chief Creative Officer at both Pixar and Disney, with a plan to reintroduce two-dimensional animation, starting with ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]'' in 2009.

====Television animation {{See also|Disney Television Animation}} {{Anchor|Television and Direct to Video Sequels}} ====

After 30 years of resisting offers to produce television animation, Disney finally relented once Michael Eisner, who had a background in TV, took over. The first TV cartoons to carry the Disney name, CBS's ''[[The Wuzzles]]'' and NBC's ''[[Adventures of the Gummi Bears|Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears]]'', both premiered in the fall of 1985. Breaking from standard practice in the medium, the productions enjoyed substantially larger production budgets than average, allowing for higher-quality writing and animation, in anticipation of recouping profitably in rerun syndication. While ''The Wuzzles'' only lasted a season, ''The Gummi Bears'' was a sustained success with a six-season run.

In 1987, the TV animation division adapted [[Carl Barks]]' [[Scrooge McDuck]] comic books for the small screen with the syndicated hit ''[[DuckTales]]''. Its success spawned a 1990 theatrical film entitled ''[[DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp]]'' and an increased investment in syndicated cartoons. The result of this investment was ''[[The Disney Afternoon]]'' in 1990, a two-hour syndicated television programming block of such animated shows as ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'' (1989–91), ''[[TaleSpin]]'' (1990–91), ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' (1991–93, also airing on ABC), ''[[Goof Troop]]'' (1992–94, also airing on ABC), ''[[Bonkers (TV series)|Bonkers]]'' (1993–94), and ''[[Gargoyles (TV series)|Gargoyles]]'' (1994-96). TV animation also brought some animated feature film characters to Saturday morning, including ''The Little Mermaid'' and ''Aladdin'' both on CBS.

[[DisneyToon Studios]] was founded in Paris in the late 1980s to produce ''DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp'', which is not considered by the studio to be part of the Disney animated "canon".<ref>{{cite web|title=Walt Disney Animation Studios: History |publisher=Walt Disney Animation Studios |url=http://www.disneyanimation.com/aboutus/history.html}}</ref> The practice of making non-canon [[direct-to-video]] sequels to canon films began in 1994 with ''[[The Return of Jafar]]'', a sequel to ''Aladdin''. This was a reversal of the long-standing studio policy against sequels to animated films (which did not apply to live-action films); Walt Disney has often been quoted on the subject as saying "you can't top pigs with pigs", a reference to how the ''[[Three Little Pigs (film)|Three Little Pigs]]'' short managed to get more than three sequels.<ref name="Von Busack">{{cite web|last=Von Busack |first=Richard |title=In Walt's Vaults |work=Metroactive |date=2006-05-24 |url=http://www.metroactive.com/metro/05.24.06/disneyland-0621.html}}</ref> Because of strong video sales, the studio continued to make these films in spite of negative critical reaction; 2002's ''[[Cinderella II: Dreams Come True]]'' received a rare zero-percent rating from the review-aggregating website Rotten Tomatoes.<ref>{{cite web|title=Cinderella II: Dreams Come True |work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cinderella_ii_dreams_come_true/}}</ref>

DisneyToon also produced several non-canon entries that ''did'' receive theatrical releases, such as ''[[A Goofy Movie]]'' and ''[[The Tigger Movie]]''. The latter brought the [[Sherman Brothers]] back to the studio for their first Disney feature film score since ''[[Bedknobs and Broomsticks]]'' in 1971.

Bluth formed [[Sullivan Bluth Studios]] with backing from businessman [[Morris Sullivan]], while film director [[Steven Spielberg]]—a long-time animation fan who was interested in producing theatrical animation—helped Bluth to produce 1986's ''[[An American Tail]]''. The film was a hit, grossing $47,483,002 (${{formatprice|{{Inflation|US|47483002|1986}}}} in today's dollars).<ref>{{cite web|title=An American Tail (1986) |work=Box Office Mojo |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=americantail.htm}}</ref> During its production, the studio relocated to Ireland, taking advantage of government tax breaks for film production. Bluth's 1988 follow-up ''[[The Land Before Time]]'' was a slightly bigger hit, grossing $48,092,846 (${{formatprice|{{Inflation|US|48092486|1988}}}} in today's dollars)<ref>{{cite web|title=The Land Before Time (1988) |work=Box Office Mojo |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=landbeforetime.htm}}</ref> and spawning [[The Land Before Time (series)|12 sequels]] and a [[The Land Before Time (TV series)|TV series]]. Neither Bluth nor Spielberg were involved with any of the ''Land Before Time'' sequels; Spielberg produced the 1991 sequel ''[[An American Tail: Fievel Goes West]]'' without Bluth.

The early 1990s were difficult for the studio; it released several box office failures. In 1992, ''[[Rock-a-Doodle]]'' was panned by critics and ignored by audiences; its dismal box-office performance of $11,657,385 (${{formatprice|{{Inflation|US|11657385|1992}}}} in today's dollars)<ref>{{cite web|title=Rock-a-Doodle (1992) |work=Box Office Mojo |url= http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=rock-a-doodle.htm}}</ref> contributed to Sullivan Bluth's bankruptcy. Bluth's next feature, 1994's ''[[Thumbelina (1994 film)|Thumbelina]]'' fared no better critically or commercially, while ''[[A Troll in Central Park]]'', also released in 1994, barely got a theatrical release, grossing $71,368 against a budget of $23,000,000 (or ${{formatprice|{{Inflation|US|71368|1994}}}} against ${{formatprice|{{Inflation|US|23000000|1994|r=-2}}}} in current terms).<ref>{{cite web|title=A Troll in Central Park (1994) |work=Box Office Mojo |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=troll_in_central_park.htm}}</ref> Bluth and his partner [[Gary Goldman]] pulled out of 1995's ''[[The Pebble and the Penguin]]'' before it was completed due to disagreements with its distributor, [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]]. The remaining work needed to complete the film—thirty percent of the total—was finished by a Hungarian studio, and Bluth and Goldman took their names off the film.{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}}