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.

WINNIE THE POOH

1977

Based on the stories by Alan Milne, Winnie the Pooh is Disney's 22nd animated feature. Even though now it is considered a feature film (since it has been released as a single movie) the original version was divided three separate short films, Winnie the Pooh and the honey tree, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, Winnie the Pooh and the Tigger Too, released from 1966.

Pooh was created by AA Milne based on his son (Christopher Robin) favourite stuffed animal, and named after the bear Winnipeg from the London Zoo. The various stories of Pooh and his friends started as bedtime stories for Christopher, but soon where compiled in a book called "When we were very young". Accompanied by the beautiful illustrations by EH Shepard, the book has a huge success in the UK.

ROBIN HOOD

1973

Based on the XIII century legend, usually told over ballads, Robin Hood is Disney's 21st animated feature. The story was originally proposed as an animated version of Reynard the Fox by Ken Anderson, but Walt thought it wouldn't be good to portray Reynard as a hero. The same character design was used as reference years later.

Ken was the main person responsible for the use of the Xerox process in Disney's previous animated features, and was also one of the main character designers from the studio, and even though Walt hated the aesthetics of the Xerox movies, the studio continued to use this process due to the low budget that was needed to produce them.

ARISTOCATS

1970

The Aristocats is Disney's 20th animated feature film, and the first one entirely produced after Walt Disney's death in 1966. Since the 50's, Walt had started working on other projects like amusement parks and tv programs, so the animation team was used to his absence (which grew bigger with each year), and had learned to think like Walt, so when he was gone, they could still work on a new feature that Walt would be proud of.

 But Walt wasn't completely unaware of what the studio's next feature would be. He actually gave the thumbs up to the team to start work on the Aristocats story.
The film was originally intended as a 2-part live-action film for Disney's weekly tv programme, but Walt decided it would be better as an animated feature.

JUNGLE BOOK

1967

The Jungle Book is the nineteenth animated feature in the Disney Classics collection, and the last movie in which Walt Disney worked. Even though Walt had left the animation department to focus more on Disney's amusement parks and tv series, the idea of working on an adaptation of this story led him to be as involved as ever in an animated project.

After completing the production of 101 dalmatians, Walt asked Bill Peet () to choose a new project for their next animated feature. It was Peet who advised Walt on acquiring the rights to The Jungle Book, since he considered that it would be a good opportunity to develop great animal characters.

Based on the novel by Rudyard Kipling, the script was originally Bill Peet's last screenplay for Disney, but his version of it was too dark, closer to the original story. So Walt didn't like it very much, since he preferred simpler tory lines with richer characters. In the end, the script was scrapped and Larry Clemmons stepped in to work on the new version.