Kenversations™
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King of the Box Office
After the success of "Aladdin", how could Disney top itself again? Well, "The Lion King" was in production and, instead of coming a year after "Aladdin", it was given more time and wasn't released until the Summer season of 1994. Clearly, the folks at Walt Disney Feature Animation had learned something from Genie, including how characters other than the male and female romantic leads could make a movie, and what a celebrity voice could mean for the box office.

"The Lion King" was different from the other recent releases. There wasn't a single human in the film. Howard Ashman's work wasn't in it. Instead, it featured the talents of such people as Tim Rice, who helped finish "Aladdin", Elton John, and Hans Zimmer. There was no shortage of celebrity voices, with such people as Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, and James Earl Jones taking their shots behind the microphone.

As you know, "The Lion King" turned out to be enormously popular and a huge financial boon for Disney. It became one of the highest grossing films of all time as it had something for everyone in the family. The music was catchy, the sidekicks were funny, the animation, artwork, and special effects were all breathtaking. Not only was the soundtrack popular, but with inherently merchandisable characters, Disney was raking in the cash.

Along Came the Bandwagon
After "The Lion King" other studios thought they could make a fortune in animation. Jeffrey Katzenberg left The Walt Disney Studios, teaming up with Steven Spielberg (remember Roger Rabbit?) and David Geffen to form a new studio that would have an animation team. They managed to lure away some folks from Disney. 20th Century Fox set up Don Bluth, a former Disney animation man who had met with mix success since leaving Disney, with a studio in Arizona.

Suddenly animators had more real choices of where to work, and their salaries went up, as did their profiles, with some getting celebrity status.

Yes, 1994 was a big year for animation. But fast-forward to the present day.

Things aren’t so dreamy at Dreamworks. Don Bluth’s animation studio has been kicked out of its Fox hole. Disney’s “Emperor” has found a new groove, but not one that has generated the synergy, excitement, critical praise, or revenue that many of the previous Eisner-era animated features have.

Wither the animated feature? No, it is just morphing. I'll talk about that in the next issue of Kenversations™…

-- Ken Pellman

Kenversations™ are the varied musings and observations of an individual who has been a collector and enthusiast of all things Disney, a Disneyland annual passholder and a Disneyland Cast Member. Ken has a B.A. in Thematic Environmental Design. He's a writer with interests in theme park design, The Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney, animation, and film. He can be reached directly at [email protected] and has his own website (which includes a page on just what Thematic Environmental Design is) at http://www.Pellman.com

Kenversations is posted on the second Monday of each month.

The opinions expressed by Ken Pellman, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future of the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.

-- Posted January 8, 2001

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Kenversations™
Page 2 of 2