70 Fun Facts About 90s Disney

Which 1991 film was the first animated feature ever nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture?

It stayed the only animated Best Picture nominee for as long as the category had just five slots. It also became the first animated film to win the Golden Globe for Best Musical or Comedy.

Which Disney film held the title of highest-grossing animated film until Finding Nemo overtook it in 2003?

Its initial $763 million run made it the highest-grossing film of 1994 and second of all time behind Jurassic Park. It is still the top-grossing hand-drawn animated film ever.

Early story treatments for the 1994 film about Simba were submitted under which working title?

Linda Woolverton, who was also writing the Belle musical, drafted it as King of the Beasts before it became King of the Jungle. Lions do not actually live in jungles, hence the eventual change.

Which composer scored the 1994 Simba film after A World Apart and The Power of One?

He initially disliked the idea because he did not care for Broadway musicals, but took the job to have a film he could watch with his daughter. Lebo M arranged the African choir elements.

Which Simpsons voice actor replaced Robin Williams as the Genie in The Return of Jafar (1994)?

Williams later returned for the second sequel, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, after Disney apologized. Homer's voice also carried the Genie through the TV series.

What million-dollar gift did Disney send Robin Williams to patch up the Aladdin marketing dispute?

It did not work: the piece was a Picasso self-portrait as Vincent van Gogh, and reportedly clashed with the decor of the Williams home.

Which song was the first from a Disney film to win the Grammy Award for Song of the Year?

The Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle single also reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. As of today it remains the only Disney song to take that Grammy.

Animators aged up Aladdin mid-production, borrowing features from Calvin Klein models and which actor?

The original design, modeled on Michael J. Fox, was judged too boyish, so the character was aged up to seventeen or eighteen.

Which 1998 film was the first feature made mainly at Disney's Florida animation studio?

The Florida unit had opened in 1989 at Disney-MGM Studios with 40 to 50 staff, originally to make shorts. Lilo & Stitch and Brother Bear followed it as Florida-made features.

Whose recording of 'Reflection' from Mulan (1998) landed her a contract with RCA Records?

It was her first US release; her self-titled debut album followed in 1999 and included the song. Lea Salonga sang the character's version inside the film.

BD Wong spoke Captain Li Shang's lines in the 1998 film, but which singer performed his singing voice?

He had earlier auditioned to be the speaking voice of Hercules. Jackie Chan voiced Shang for the film's Chinese-language dubs.

Who voiced Mushu, the small dragon guardian, in the 1998 film about the Fa family's daughter?

The filmmakers first approached Joe Pesci and Richard Dreyfuss before Michael Eisner suggested the eventual choice.

Which musician wrote and recorded the songs for Tarzan (1999), winning the Oscar for Best Original Song?

Disney music executive Chris Montan recommended him in 1995. Mark Mancina composed the score around his songs.

What was the 3D painting-and-rendering system built for Tarzan's jungle backgrounds called?

The term was coined by artist-engineer Eric Daniels. The technique let the camera swoop through painted environments as Tarzan surfed the trees.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame held its June 1996 premiere in an unlikely venue. Which?

The New Orleans event came two days before the wide release. The film went on to gross over $325 million worldwide.

Who voiced Judge Claude Frollo, the puritanical villain of The Hunchback of Notre Dame?

Kline voiced the captain Phoebus and Hulce voiced Quasimodo. Frollo's musical number is often cited as the darkest song in a Disney animated feature.

Two of Quasimodo's gargoyle friends are named after Victor Hugo. What is the third called?

She was voiced by Mary Wickes, who died before the film's release; Jane Withers recorded her remaining lines.

Which 1990 film was the first feature-length sequel ever produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation?

It was also the first Disney film made entirely with the CAPS digital ink-and-paint system. Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor returned as Bernard and Bianca, Gabor in her final film role.

Disney's 1990 mouse-rescue sequel underperformed after opening the same November day as which Christmas hit?

The Disney film grossed just $47.4 million worldwide and played as a double feature with the Mickey Mouse short The Prince and the Pauper.

Before he became Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story's space toy went by which working name?

The character began as Tinny from the short Tin Toy, then a G.I. Joe-style soldier, and was finally named after astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

What did Pixar call its disastrous November 1993 screening of Toy Story story reels for Disney executives?

Disney's Peter Schneider halted production; Woody had been written as, in Thomas Schumacher's words, a jerk. Pixar rewrote the script and production resumed.

Toy Story was the first animated film to be nominated in which Academy Award category?

It received three competitive nominations plus a non-competitive Special Achievement Award, and holds a 100 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating.

Which 1998 DreamWorks film, released a month before A Bug's Life, sparked a Steve Jobs–DreamWorks feud?

Both films centre on an oddball male ant trying to win a princess by saving his colony. Pixar learned of the rival project from the trade papers.

Which Disney executive quit in 1994 after Eisner denied him the presidency, then co-founded DreamWorks?

He sued Disney for money he said he was owed and settled out of court in 1999 for an estimated $250 million.

Disney president Frank Wells died in April 1994 in what kind of accident?

Since taking office with Eisner in 1984 he had helped grow Disney's market value from $2 billion to $22 billion. His death triggered the succession fight that split the studio.

Which Hollywood super-agent became Disney's president in August 1995, only to be fired in 1996?

He was a friend of Eisner's, but their management styles clashed almost immediately. His severance package later became the subject of a shareholder lawsuit.

In 1995 Disney announced a $19 billion takeover, then the second-largest in US history, of which company?

The deal brought Disney a broadcast network plus an 80 percent stake in ESPN and ESPN2 and half of Lifetime.

Which network had Eisner planned to buy before General Electric insisted on keeping a majority stake?

Disney's revenue hit $10 billion in 1994, and Eisner wanted a network to guarantee distribution for its programming.

Which indie film distributor did Disney buy for about $60 million in 1993 to reach adults?

The same year Disney bought 8,500 acres of Everglades headwaters with The Nature Conservancy to create the Disney Wilderness Preserve.

Euro Disney, which opened in 1992, sits about 32 km east of Paris in which new town?

The resort was renamed Disneyland Paris in October 1994. It was only the second Disney park outside the US, after Tokyo.

Which Walt Disney World theme park opened to the public in April 1998?

Marketing billed it as a new species of theme park, and Disney hired staff from 69 zoos to care for the animals. It is now the most-visited zoo in the world.

The 145-foot Tree of Life, icon of Disney's 1998 Florida park, is an artificial version of which tree?

It is also 50 feet wide, and its trunk is carved with hundreds of animal figures.

Disneyland's Indiana Jones Adventure, which opened in 1995, sends riders through the Temple of the what?

Tokyo DisneySea's near-identical 2001 version is themed as the Temple of the Crystal Skull instead.

Which nighttime show projecting Disney animation onto mist debuted at Disneyland in 1992?

Show director Barnette Ricci conceived it, combining fountains, lasers, pyrotechnics and live performers on the Rivers of America.

Which future star nearly made the cast of the 1990s Mickey Mouse Club?

Jessica Simpson also narrowly missed out. The cast that did make it included Britney Spears, JC Chasez and Ryan Gosling.

Disney's NHL expansion team, named after The Mighty Ducks, began play in which season?

Disney sold the club to Henry and Susan Samueli in 2005, and the name was shortened to the Anaheim Ducks.

In The Mighty Ducks (1992), Emilio Estevez plays a Minneapolis defense attorney with what name?

Brock Pierce plays the character as a 10-year-old. The film was retitled Champions in the UK and Australia.

Cool Runnings (1993) is loosely based on Jamaica's bobsleigh debut at the Winter Olympics of which year?

The film was first envisaged as a straight sports drama before becoming a comedy. Those Games were held in Calgary.

Who plays disgraced ex-Olympian Irving Blitzer, the Jamaican team's coach, in Cool Runnings?

Sprinter Derice Bannock, the team's leader, is played by Leon. Doug E. Doug and Malik Yoba round out the sled.

What breed is Chance, voiced by Michael J. Fox, in Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993)?

Sally Field voices Sassy the cat and Don Ameche voices Shadow; it was the last film released in Ameche's lifetime.

Hocus Pocus, a Halloween cult classic, was originally released in which month of 1993?

The summer release helped make it a box-office bomb, reportedly losing Disney around $16.5 million, before it became a cult classic on TV and home video.

What surname do the three witches in Hocus Pocus share?

They were hanged in Salem in 1693 after turning the boy Thackery Binx into an immortal black cat. Kenny Ortega, later of High School Musical, directed.

Who wrote the screenplay for Disney's 1996 live-action 101 Dalmatians, starring Glenn Close as Cruella?

Unlike the 1961 cartoon, none of the animals speak. Stephen Herek, who had made The Mighty Ducks, directed.

In The Santa Clause (1994), what is the name of the divorced marketing executive played by Tim Allen?

He accidentally causes Santa to fall off his roof and, by putting on the suit, agrees to a contract that makes him the replacement.

The voice cast of Disney's Gargoyles (1994–97) was famously packed with alumni of which franchise?

Marina Sirtis and Jonathan Frakes were principal cast members, and many other crew from the Enterprise made guest appearances.

In Gargoyles, the clan was frozen in stone after being taken from medieval where?

They wake in modern New York City and become its secret nighttime protectors. The show's third season was retitled The Goliath Chronicles.

Which DuckTales character crossed over to become Darkwing Duck's sidekick and pilot?

Darkwing's own alter ego is suburban dad Drake Mallard, who lives in St. Canard with adopted daughter Gosalyn.

Darkwing Duck's civilian name, Drake Mallard, parodies Kent Allard, the alter ego of which pulp hero?

The series was the first Disney Afternoon show built around action rather than adventure, with a rogues' gallery including Negaduck and Megavolt.

In TaleSpin, what is the name of the seaplane Baloo flies for Higher for Hire?

The show reimagines the 1967 Jungle Book cast in an aviation setting, operating out of the fortified coastal city of Cape Suzette.

Recess and Pepper Ann both premiered on September 13, 1997, as part of which new ABC block?

Recess ran 65 episodes and got a theatrical film, Recess: School's Out, in 2001. Pepper Ann was the first Disney animated series created by a woman, Sue Rose.

TGIF's Boy Meets World followed Cory Matthews growing up in which city?

Michael Jacobs had produced Dinosaurs for TGIF and was asked to create a show for 12-to-14-year-olds. Ben Savage was already under contract with ABC.

On which network did Doug originally premiere in 1991, before moving to ABC in 1996?

It was one of the first three Nicktoons, alongside Rugrats and Ren & Stimpy. Doug Funnie's hometown is Bluffington.

Which Hollywood veteran played Grandma Aggie Cromwell in Halloweentown (1998)?

Kimberly J. Brown played Marnie, who learns she is a witch on her 13th Halloween. Director Duwayne Dunham had also made Homeward Bound.

Fantasia 2000 was the first major Hollywood film released in which format?

It played 75 such theaters worldwide from January to April 2000 before general release. The premiere was part of a concert tour that also visited London, Paris and Tokyo.

Under which label did Disney release The Nightmare Before Christmas in 1993, fearing it too dark?

Tim Burton wrote the original poem in 1982 while an animator at Disney. Danny Elfman wrote the songs and sang Jack Skellington's parts.

Newsies (1992), starring a young Christian Bale, dramatizes a New York newsboys' strike from which year?

It flopped, grossing $3 million on a $15 million budget, then built a cult following on video and became a Tony-winning Broadway show.

Lyricist Howard Ashman, who died in March 1991, had earlier written which Off-Broadway musical with Alan Menken?

Ashman was born in Baltimore. His partner Bill Lauch accepted his posthumous Oscar in 1992.

Who directed the 1997 stage musical of the Simba story with costumed actors and giant puppets?

It tried out in Minneapolis in the summer of 1997 before opening at Broadway's New Amsterdam Theatre that November.

In Hercules (1997), the story is narrated by which group of five singers?

Calliope, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Thalia and Clio were voiced by Lillias White, Cheryl Freeman, LaChanze, Roz Ryan and Vaneese Thomas in a gospel style.

Pocahontas held its June 1995 premiere at which New York location?

Disney had hoped it would follow the Belle musical to a Best Picture nomination, but critics were mixed on its story despite praise for the animation and music.

An unfinished Beauty and the Beast, with 70 percent of its animation done, screened at which September 1991 event?

It was a first for Disney. Siskel and Ebert called the finished film a legitimate contender for Best Picture, and they were right.

Which R&B singer voiced pop star Powerline's songs in A Goofy Movie (1995)?

Campbell performed 'Stand Out' and 'I 2 I' for the fictional idol Max Goof worships.

In Toy Story 2 (1999), who voices Stinky Pete the Prospector?

Disney originally planned the film as a direct-to-video sequel; Joan Cusack joined as Jessie and Wayne Knight as toy collector Al McWhiggin.

Which British cartoonist served as production designer on Hercules (1997)?

Scarfe, famous for his Pink Floyd work, produced over 700 character designs; James Woods's Hades drew particular praise.

Who provided the singing voice of Pocahontas in the 1995 film?

Irene Bedard spoke the role while Kuhn sang; 'Colors of the Wind' won the Oscar for Best Original Song.

Who directed Disney's stop-motion James and the Giant Peach (1996)?

Selick had wanted to adapt Roald Dahl's book for years; Tim Burton and Denise Di Novi produced.

The Rocketeer (1991) was based on a comic character created by which artist in 1982?

Joe Johnston, a fan of the comic, volunteered to direct once he learned Disney held the rights.

Which British comedian voiced Zazu, the hornbill majordomo, in The Lion King?

The plot draws on Shakespeare's Hamlet, and Jeremy Irons voiced the scheming uncle Scar.

In Aladdin (1992), the Cave of Wonders will only admit whom?

Jafar, the vizier of Agrabah, needs the street urchin to fetch the lamp for him.

Which Law & Order actor voiced the candelabra Lumière in Beauty and the Beast (1991)?

David Ogden Stiers played Cogsworth the clock and Angela Lansbury was Mrs. Potts.