Did you know that ‘The Little Mermaid’ was crucial to the release of ‘Beauty and the Beast’? Know the story!
It’s no secret that, since its release in 1991, “Beauty and the Beast” has become one of Disney’s biggest hits. The feature, however, had been shelved in the company’s archives since the 1950s and was almost discarded – but was saved thanks to another princess film: “The Little Mermaid”.
During an interview for The Hollywood Reporter, the directors trousdale It is wisealong with former presidents of the disney animation, Peter Schneider It is bill lauchprofessionals revealed how the resounding success of the film about the mermaid Ariel had a direct impact on the production of Bela’s story.
They revealed that, in the 1950s, the walt disney tried to carry out the production of “Beauty and the Beast”, which ended up not working out very well and the plot was shelved.
“The story is that Walt Disney tried to make Beauty and the Beast in the 50s, and they kicked the story but they couldn’t make it work, so they shelved it. It was somewhere in the studio attic for a long time,” Trousdale said.
Years later, the studio decided to give the plot a new chance, hiring the animator Richard Purdum to develop the story. Second Schneider“we send Don Hahn with him to London. When they came back a few months later and showed us the first 20 minutes, we realized we had a problem.”
The problem occurred because, after checking the presented section, the professionals were not impressed with the work presented. to the director wise, “I think they thought it was too slow, boring and not fun at all. It wasn’t even a musical at that point.”
the solution of the problems
As said by bill lauch during the interview, while the producers discussed what should be done so that the animation does not fail, they simply asked themselves “Why aren’t we doing more of this?”, in relation to the success of “The Little Mermaid”.
The phrase would have been enough for everyone to agree to change the plot, trying to use a little of the successful formula presented in the film about Ariel in the new animation.
It is worth remembering that “The Little Mermaid” was not only important for the creation of “Beauty and the Beast”, but also to save Disney from an extremely complicated phase, established shortly after the death of walt disney in 1966, popularly known by fans as the Bronze Age, or Dark Era.
At that time, the studio was experiencing major problems with the narrative structure of its films, in addition to presenting a new form of animation that was not well received by the public. The result was that films like “The Aristocats”, “The Hound and the Fox”, “The Black Cauldron” and “The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” became huge failures at the box office, being forgotten by most people.
However, everything changed with the arrival of “The Little Mermaid”, in 1989, which marked the end of a turbulent and tumultuous era, and the beginning of the great Renaissance Era, one of the most popular and beloved by fans. In addition to the plot of Ariel and Bela, this period is also marked by the release of works such as “Aladdin”, “The Lion King” and “Mulan”.
Source: Recreio
