BLACK CAULDRON

1985

The Black Cauldron is Disney's 25th animated feature, and the first one done entirely without any of the Nine Old Men as part of the animating team.

Based on the series of novels Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, the adaptation was thought of since 1971 when Walt bought the writes to the books. From that point, the story was adapted in many ways, with different characters, but production was never completed until almost a decade later, in 1980 the final production started with the final story.

FOX AND THE HOUND

1981

The Fox and the Hound is Disney's 24th animated feature film. Based on Daniel P. Mannix's novel, this movie was the most expensive production in Disney's history at that moment and definitely a huge turning point in Disney Animation's history.

By that time, only three of the Nine Old Men were still working at Disney. For Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston and Wolfgang Reitherman the Fox and the Hound would be their last feature. They knew beforehand that they would leave the studio for retirement before the production was even finished. So they worked on developing the characters' design and personalities and when it was time, they passed the baton to the new generation of animators at Disney.

THE RESCUERS

1977

The Rescuers is Walt Disney's 23rd animated feature, which was based on the series of books by Margery Sharp. The original idea of an adaptation of the series was placen in the early 60s, but it was until a decade later (after more of The Rescuers' books were published) that production started.

It marks the end of an era, as it is the last film directed by Wolfgang Rietherman, who had been head of the previous 6 Disney Animated features, and was also the last film on which Eric Larson worked on as Animation Director, and in which Ollie Johnston, Milt Kahl and Frank Thomas worked on together.

But it is also the start of a new generation of animators that would later go on to make brilliant movies for Disney, such as Glen Keane, who we see for the first time in the credits.