50 Fun Facts About Animated Movies

Which princess starred in the 1937 film that Hollywood insiders mocked as "Disney's Folly"?

Snow White carried the first cel-animated feature film, a project Walt Disney's own wife and brother tried to talk him out of making.

Which Shakespeare play about a prince whose uncle kills the king inspired Disney's The Lion King?

Hamlet was the model: studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg told the filmmakers to "put in as much Hamlet as you can".

In Pixar's Finding Nemo, what kind of fish are Marlin and his son Nemo, who live in a sea anemone?

Clownfish got the part because director Andrew Stanton saw a photograph of two of them peeking out of an anemone.

Which film, voiced by Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, was the first entirely computer-animated feature?

Toy Story was also the first feature Pixar ever produced, and it earned director John Lasseter a Special Achievement Academy Award in 1996.

Which 2001 film beat Monsters, Inc. to win the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature?

Shrek won the inaugural award, and the American Film Institute named it one of the top ten films of 2001, the first animated film it had ever listed.

Which tech entrepreneur funded the 1986 spin-off of Lucasfilm's graphics group that became Pixar?

Steve Jobs, the Apple co-founder, became majority shareholder of the new company, which until then had been known simply as the Graphics Group.

What does costume designer Edna Mode refuse to add to any superhero suit in Pixar's The Incredibles?

Capes are out because they have a history of getting superheroes killed, a belief confirmed by the fate of the film's villain, Syndrome.

Which voice of Darth Vader also played Mufasa in both The Lion King and its 2019 remake?

James Earl Jones was the only member of the original cast to reprise a role when the remake arrived 25 years later.

Which comedian was allowed to improvise many of his lines as the Genie in Disney's Aladdin?

Robin Williams was handed topics and dialogue suggestions and set loose, and he is estimated to have improvised 52 characters.

Which Broadway star, the original Elphaba in Wicked, sings "Let It Go" as Elsa in Disney's Frozen?

Idina Menzel took "Let It Go" to number five on the Billboard Hot 100, and the song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Which Oscar-winning Studio Ghibli film follows a girl whose parents are turned into pigs by a witch?

Spirited Away became the first hand-drawn, non-English-language animated film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Which creator of the Broadway musical Hamilton wrote songs for both Moana and Encanto at Disney?

Lin-Manuel Miranda landed his first Billboard Hot 100 number one with a song from Encanto, "We Don't Talk About Bruno".

Which Disney film set animation to classical music, with Mickey Mouse as a sorcerer's apprentice?

Fantasia grew out of a single Mickey Mouse cartoon that Walt Disney had planned in order to revive the character's declining popularity.

Which Disney film gave the company its signature song, "When You Wish Upon a Star"?

Pinocchio's big number won the 1940 Academy Award for Best Original Song and now plays over the production logos that open many Disney films.

Which Disney villain curses the infant Princess Aurora and was later played by Angelina Jolie?

Maleficent, the self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil", casts her curse in revenge for not being invited to the royal christening.

Which crab sings "Under the Sea" to keep Ariel in the ocean in Disney's The Little Mermaid?

Sebastian started out in early drafts as an English-butler lobster named Clarence, until songwriter Howard Ashman proposed a Jamaican crab instead.

Which comedian voiced Mushu, the small dragon guardian of the heroine in Disney's Mulan?

Eddie Murphy recorded his lines from his home studio, and the animators kept Mushu small so he would not overwhelm Mulan on screen.

Which Disney musical was the first animated film nominated for the Best Picture Oscar?

Beauty and the Beast remained the only animated nominee until the Best Picture field was widened to ten films.

Which Pixar film is famous for its opening montage of Carl and Ellie Fredricksen's married life?

Up won two Academy Awards, Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score, and lost its Best Picture nomination to The Hurt Locker.

Which Mexican holiday is the setting for Pixar's Coco, in which Miguel's family bans all music?

Day of the Dead is when Miguel bumps the family ofrenda and finds he can interact with his skeletal relatives, who are visiting for the holiday.

Which new orange emotion, voiced by Maya Hawke, pushes Joy aside in Pixar's Inside Out 2?

Anxiety decides Riley must change to fit in with the older players, so she has the old emotions bottled up and thrown into a vault.

Which action star voices Maui, the shape-shifting demigod of the wind and sea, in Disney's Moana?

Dwayne Johnson starred opposite Auliʻi Cravalho, who was making her feature film debut in the title role.

Which pop star voices Gazelle and sings "Try Everything" in Disney's Zootopia?

Shakira also voices Gazelle in the Spanish dubs for Spain and Latin America, and her song for the film was written by Sia and Stargate.

Which supervillain is the boss of the Minions and adopts three orphan girls in Despicable Me?

Gru goes from malevolent schemer to reformed parent once Margo, Edith and Agnes move in with him.

Which Kung Fu Panda star sang the ballad "Peaches" as Bowser in The Super Mario Bros. Movie?

Jack Black sang it as a sentimental ballad, though a co-director had first planned a heavier metal track in the vein of Tenacious D.

Which New York teenager becomes the new Spider-Man in Sony's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse?

Miles Morales, voiced by Shameik Moore, is drawn with hand-drawn comic techniques inspired by the work of his co-creator, artist Sara Pichelli.

What name does Hiccup give the Night Fury he befriends in DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon?

Toothless is named for his retractable teeth, and Hiccup builds him a harness and a prosthetic fin so the pair can fly together.

Which creature, offered an umbrella by a girl in the rain, became Studio Ghibli's mascot and logo?

Totoro has only a leaf on his head to keep off the rain, which prompts young Satsuki to offer him her father's umbrella.

Which Studio Ghibli co-founder directed Princess Mononoke and The Boy and the Heron?

Hayao Miyazaki retired from feature films in 2013, then came back to make The Boy and the Heron, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Which song from Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters became the first K-pop song to win an Academy Award?

Golden is performed by the fictional girl group Huntrix, and off screen it was also the first K-pop song to win a Grammy Award.

Which stop-motion filmmaker, rather than Tim Burton, directed The Nightmare Before Christmas?

Henry Selick took the director's chair to expand a poem by Tim Burton, whose name is so attached that the film is also known as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.

What does the Other Mother want to sew over Coraline's eyes in Laika's stop-motion film Coraline?

Buttons are the price of staying in the Other World forever, where button-eyed doubles of her parents lavish Coraline with food and attention.

Which Aardman comedy, inspired by The Great Escape, cast Mel Gibson as an American named Rocky?

Chicken Run is set on an oppressive Yorkshire egg farm, where the hens see the rooster Rocky Rhodes as their only hope of escape.

Which Hollywood musical does the robot in Pixar's WALL-E watch on a video cassette at home?

Hello, Dolly! shapes the robot's idea of romance: a clip of its song "It Only Takes a Moment" inspires him to hold hands with EVE.

What is the name of Pixar's mascot, the desk lamp from a two-minute short by John Lasseter?

Luxo Jr. plays so exuberantly with a ball that it deflates, while the larger lamp, Luxo Sr., looks on.

Which Hollywood legend voiced Doc Hudson, the mentor to Lightning McQueen, in Pixar's Cars?

Paul Newman died in 2008, so when Doc returned in flashbacks for Cars 3, Pixar used archival recordings of his voice.

Into which animal is Emperor Kuzco accidentally transformed in Disney's The Emperor's New Groove?

Llama was a mistake: Kronk takes the wrong vial from Yzma's secret laboratory, so the potion meant to kill the emperor changes his shape instead.

In which city does Tiana dream of opening her own restaurant in Disney's The Princess and the Frog?

New Orleans of the 1920s is the backdrop, and the voodoo witch doctor Facilier plans to rule the city.

In Disney's Bambi, what kind of animal is the friend whom the young deer mistakenly calls Flower?

Skunk, and a delighted one: he is so flattered at being called Flower that he keeps the name.

Which Kipling adaptation was the last animated feature Walt Disney supervised before his death?

The Jungle Book was still in production when Walt Disney died in December 1966, and it reached cinemas the following year.

Which studio built an animation facility in Phoenix, Arizona, to make the 1997 musical Anastasia?

20th Century Fox put more than $100 million into the new studio, and Anastasia repaid it as the most profitable film made there.

Which animator quit Disney on his 42nd birthday and later directed The Land Before Time?

Don Bluth took Gary Goldman, John Pomeroy and nine other Disney animators with him when he resigned in 1979 to start his own studio.

Gints Zilbalodis, director of the dialogue-free Oscar winner Flow, comes from which country?

Latvia co-produced the film with France and Belgium, and its wordless tale of a cat in a rising flood was animated with the free software Blender.

Which country produced Ne Zha 2, the first animated film to gross more than $2 billion?

China gave the film its launch on the first day of Chinese New Year 2025, and it went on to gross $2.2 billion on a budget of about $80 million.

Which anime film follows biker gang leader Kaneda through the futuristic metropolis of Neo-Tokyo?

Akira turns on Kaneda's childhood friend Tetsuo, who gains telekinetic powers after a motorcycle accident and ends up threatening an entire military complex.

Which code, a CalArts classroom number, is hidden as an inside joke in almost every Pixar film?

A113 was the room where students such as John Lasseter, Pete Docter and Brad Bird learned character animation before they began hiding it in their films.

Which New York zoo is home to Alex the lion and Marty the zebra in DreamWorks' Madagascar?

Central Park Zoo bills Alex as its star attraction, the "King of New York", alongside Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippopotamus.

Which band's music inspired Yellow Submarine, the film in which the Blue Meanies attack Pepperland?

The Beatles composed and performed the songs but left their cartoon voices to actors, appearing in person only in the closing scene.

What kind of orphaned bird does the shipwrecked robot Roz raise in DreamWorks' The Wild Robot?

Goose it is: Roz accidentally crushes a nest while fleeing a grizzly bear, and the gosling from the one surviving egg imprints on her.

Which German animator made The Adventures of Prince Achmed, the oldest surviving animated feature?

Lotte Reiniger invented the technique herself, moving cardboard cutouts and thin sheets of lead under a camera for the 1926 film.