Disney Production Troubles About This Page:

[Jciambor]

I've read extensively that Disney has attempted to make several un-produced animated features that never came to fruition. Some of the ideas have been deemed to adult by Disney standards also some of them didn't receive the financial support that successful Disney films had. Or the project was given up on for any lack of faith.

I have also read that the company at some point has been in production hell with films especially in the seventies and eighties. Example conceptual work for The Black Cauldron began in the early seventies the film wasn't released until 1985. Also Sleeping Beauty began work almost a decade before it was released.

The longest production hell has to be Beauty and The Beast Walt had been interested in making an adaption since the thirties believe it or not. Then it was put on hiatus for quite a few decades, production re-initialized when Little Mermaid proved that Disney could go back into the fairy tale department. Destino has been mentioned as one of Disney's longest production periods. However Disney has a tendency to pick up on films it shelved decades earlier so Destino shouldn't really be a surprise in my opinion.

In fact Disney may resume production on film sometime soon that was shelved decades ago for all we know.

Whats your take on this?

[Jciambor]

Production on Disney features can be traced back to 1933 when Walt told his staff about the idea and first began work on Snow White. After unsuccessfully trying to make a live-action animated hybrid of Alice In Wonderland starring Mary Pickford.

However in the process many of the concepts have been shelved for decades. Sometimes moved to other companies. Or still have yet to be produced after decades of development.

[Jciambor]

Anyone going to respond.

[wheatenwalker]

Interesting, I dont know anything about this, but find it interesting to read about

[Julian]

I suppose "market research" has a lot to do with it.

I often feel that movies have changing "fads" and once a "blockbuster" with a particular theme comes out, then a few "similar" movies will be seen over the next year or so. I guess Disney follows similar trends, and if a movie they are "planning" is too much of a contrast to the current "market trend" then they may shelve it until the market changes again.

Also I suppose some concepts may be developed which may be seen as being "politically motivated" for that particluar moment in time, so the concept is shelved until it appears to be less "political" or "controversial".

I'm no expert in this field, these are just my thoughts!

[happyhedgehogs]

I wonder if this is the case for most movie companies, as far as having movies that they've been interested in then never actually completed. I hear of screenplays that were purchased then never filmed, or movies that actually got into filming but either never finished or just never released. Can't think of any offhand, but it's one of those things I hear about occasionally...

[Beautiful Mother]

Walt was known to have many ideas "vaulted". Movie ideas often take long periods of time to come to the silver screen. It took decades for Tolkien's work to make it into production as well. I'm not sure you could always call it production hell however.

[Jciambor]

Originally Posted by Beautiful Mother

I'm not sure you could always call it production hell however.

Production Hell is a the term that professional producers in Hollywood use when a film is in production for more than 10 years or longer. Though the term was coined much more recently. So it may not fit in with the Disney films that have been in production for decades.

[Beautiful Mother]

The Little Mermaid was also one of the stories in Walt's vault for decades. He had a number of fairy tales that he was interested in animating/creating. I believe that some of the problems surrounding Sleeping Beauty dealt with world issues.

[Jciambor]

Originally Posted by Beautiful Mother

The Little Mermaid was also one of the stories in Walt's vault for decades. He had a number of fairy tales that he was interested in animating/creating. I believe that some of the problems surrounding Sleeping Beauty dealt with world issues.

Walt wrote a screenplay for the Little Mermaid before his death but I'm not sure when he wrote it. Also the producers of the 1989 version revised Walt's original version several times.

Walt began Sleeping Beauty in early 1950 almost a decade before its release. They were aiming for a sooner release date but the project was put on hiatus to pave way for Disney Land. Also for its budget and several production changes. The early pre-production work on the film looks nothing like the finished project.