Of all Disney animations, 17 of them were produced by Disney himself. walt disney. Although all of them have a unique touch of the filmmaker, some conquered a special place in his life, like “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, which was his first feature, and “Cinderella”, which had his favorite princess. However, there is one film that the producer has never been able to appreciate.
The animation that disappointed Disney
The animation in question is “Alice in Wonderland”which was released in 1951. The feature was the 11th production of the studio of disney, and it didn’t please the filmmaker from the beginning, when it was still just a project. This “relationship” between the production and the producer was explained in the book “Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination”, written by Neal Gabler.
According to the work, the actress Mary Pickfordasked to disneyin 1933, adapting the novel by lewis caroll. She wanted the film to be a mix of animation and live-action, like the shorts already produced by the studio in the 1920s, such as “Alice’s Comedies”. pickford offered a considerable sum to the filmmaker to finance the project, and walt disney did not respond to the actress’s offer.
In 1938, disney purchased the publishing rights to the book illustrated by John Tennielwhich tells the story of caroll. At that time, the original work of “Alice in Wonderland” was already considered in the public domain, but that alone was not enough for the film to really begin to be made.
The production was in the development phase for many years, and had numerous changes, the main one being the fact that the story was an animation, and no longer a mixture, as pickford had requested. There were also many obstacles between the writers, not to mention the interruptions of disney in the process.
In addition to the problems with the story, the filmmaker and the animation department could not find the ideal look for Alice. disney thought the character was “very cold, without emitting heat”, as echoed by adoraCinema. In addition, animators were working at the same time on “Cinderella”, which was released a year before “Alice in Wonderland”.
the book of gabler reveals that there was a certain pressure to disney produce this story, even if he didn’t like it, since “very sophisticated people” were pushing for the production. The manuscript even reveals that, if it depended on roy disneybrother of the filmmaker and co-founder of the studio, the film about the English girl who runs after a white rabbit would never be released.
Even with the obstacles, the writers continued their work. At that time, disney he just didn’t give up on the story because “Peter Pan” wasn’t ready, and the studio needed to release something. Thus, on July 28, 1951, the animation arrived in theaters, even if against the will of the vast majority that produced the feature.
The film, which was no longer loved by its own creators, also failed to captivate the public. The box office of the animation was US$ 2 million, and its budget was US$ 3 million. According to the book of gablerafter failing at the box office, disneygave an interview and said the film was like a “huge disappointment”. In another interview, the producer also said that he and the team didn’t feel anything about the animation, but that they were forced to create this crazy universe.
However, what walt disney and his team didn’t count on is that, from the 60’s, with its release on VHS, the film would become one of the classics of the studio and considered by many nowadays, a production ahead of its time.
Source: Recreio
