Understand why it took Disney 13 years to release a new movie about princesses after ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’
Becoming the first animated film released in the feature film format in the history of cinema, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” hit the big screen in 1937, drawing a shower of praise from the public and specialized critics.
The success of the production was such that, 85 years later, the animation accumulated more than 418 million dollars in international box office — and, at the time it was developed, the film cost Disney studios an amount of 1.5 million dollars .
The premiere of the film about the first princess created by Walt Disneymarked the beginning of the so-called “Golden Age”, a period that marks great achievements, innovations carried out by Casa do Mickey in its productions, such as the improvement of animation techniques, the creation of the Fantasound System, the first Oscar awards, and much more.
During the Golden Age, films such as “Pinocchio”, “Bambi”, “Dumbo” and “Fantasia” were also released, features that became Disney classics. However, throughout this period, no princess film was released other than Snow White.
Until a new fairy tale made its debut, the public had to wait exactly 13 years, until the arrival of “Cinderella” in 1950. But why did this happen?
War period
The Second World War is largely responsible for this long delay in the release of a new Disney princess film. In 1941, the United States officially entered the conflict, and the nation was showing no interest in fairy tale films — after all, their country was at war.
Furthermore, as said in the book “Disney Princess: Beyond the Tiara: The Stories. The Influence. The Legacy.”, by the authors Emily Zemler It is Jodi BensonAmerican troops requisitioned part of the Disney studios in Burbank during the confrontation, where everyone who worked there ended up helping with the confrontation efforts.
It was at this time that Disney launched military advertisements to encourage the population to defend their nation with appearances by characters such as Donald Duck, in addition to developing films for military training, insignia and even educational shorts.
With the country at war, its employees serving in the army, and the public’s lack of interest in its productions due to the country’s situation, the studio reached the end of the confrontation with an accumulated debt of 4 million dollars, and was on the verge of bankruptcy.
That way, Walt Disney decided it was time to take a risk again, and repeat the successful formula launched in 1937: a new princess film.
“All the things Walt had tried for seven years hadn’t actually happened for one reason or another, he had to go back to something that was the most foolproof thing he could do: something like Snow White — a beautiful young girl in trouble, a fairy tale fairy tale — and popular.”, recalls animator Frank Thomas in the book ‘Disney Princess: Beyond the Tiara’.
A light at the end of the tunnel
“Cinderella”, Disney’s next bet, began production in 1948, adapting a French tale written by Charles Perrault, and which bore the same name. Due to the financial problems faced by the studio, it was necessary for the animation to remain low-cost, and Gata Borralheira’s feature film was completed with a budget of 2.9 million dollars.
But plans for Walt Disney They couldn’t have worked out better. The premiere of “Cinderella” in 1950 was a huge success, saving the studio from bankruptcy. Today, the animation has accumulated more than 263.6 million dollars, and has had re-releases in 1957, 1965, 1973, 1981 and 1987, in addition to receiving two sequels, “Cinderella II: Dreams Come True”, in 2002, and “Cinderella III: A Twist in Time”, in 2007.
Source: Recreio
