50 Fun Facts About Oliver & Company

In what year was Oliver & Company released?

It opened on November 18, the day Disney marked the 60th anniversary of Steamboat Willie.

Which Charles Dickens novel inspired the film?

It also borrows from Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, and relocates the story from Victorian London to 1980s New York.

Where is the film set?

Director George Scribner photographed real streets with cameras 18 inches off the ground to get a dog's-eye view.

What kind of animal is Oliver?

His design was based on the kitten from the 1941 Mickey Mouse short Lend a Paw.

Who voices Dodger?

He was the fifth person to audition, read his lines over the telephone, and had turned down film roles for years.

What breed of dog is Dodger?

He is the leader of Fagin's gang and boasts what he calls 'street savoir-faire'.

Which comedian voices Tito the Chihuahua?

He was encouraged to ad-lib but recorded about 75 percent of his lines as written, and did fifteen sessions instead of four.

What is the Chihuahua's full name?

He falls for Georgette, who is initially repulsed by him.

Einstein, the dim-witted member of Fagin's gang, is what breed?

His name is ironic; Richard Mulligan of Soap and Empty Nest voiced him.

Francis the bulldog detests being called what?

Tito does it constantly; Francis prefers Shakespeare and the theatre, voiced by Roscoe Lee Browne.

What breed is Rita, the street-wise female member of the gang?

Sheryl Lee Ralph spoke her lines and Ruth Pointer sang 'Streets of Gold' for her.

Which singer was originally considered to voice Rita, who briefly shared her first name?

The name went through Tina, then Nancy, before settling on Rita in August 1986.

Who voices Fagin, the kindly thief who lives on a barge with his dogs?

Character animator Glen Keane designed both Fagin and the villain Sykes.

What is Sykes's profession in the film?

Robert Loggia voiced him; he gives Fagin three days to repay his debt.

What are the names of Sykes's two Dobermans?

They meet their end on the third rail of the subway during the climactic chase.

Who voices Georgette, the Foxworths' prize-winning poodle?

Thirty-four actresses auditioned for the 'brassy, extroverted' part before it was offered to Midler.

What is the name of the girl who adopts Oliver?

She frets that her parents won't be back from a business trip in time for her eighth birthday.

Which future teen star voiced Oliver, starting the role at age ten?

His voice deepened over two and a half years of recording, making the high pitches a struggle.

What is the name of the Foxworths' clumsy butler?

William Glover voiced him, and the character was redrawn slightly heavier after Glover recorded.

Who provided the uncredited voice of Louie the hot dog vendor?

Dodger calls Louie 'a well-known enemy of the four-legged world'.

How does Sykes die at the end of the film?

The chase runs into the subway tunnels and out onto the Brooklyn Bridge.

Which two new Disney executives oversaw the film's start, the first made under them?

Both had come from Paramount in 1984, as chairman and head of production respectively.

What was the nickname of the pitch meeting where the film was proposed?

Ron Clements pitched The Little Mermaid and Treasure Planet at the same session.

Which story artist pitched 'Oliver Twist with dogs'?

He was made story supervisor but died unexpectedly in late 1985.

Who ended up as the film's sole director after his co-director was fired?

Richard Rich was let go about six months into production.

Which future director of Logan and Walk the Line co-wrote the screenplay?

He shares the credit with Jim Cox and Tim Disney.

Roy E. Disney's dropped subplot had the gang stealing what from the Central Park Zoo?

The idea survived until August 1986 before being replaced with the kidnapping of Jenny.

A cut character named Kaminski was what kind of animal?

He would have kept asking Dodger whether he was staying out of trouble.

Which 1930s tough-kid actor did Joel use as inspiration for Dodger?

Joel saw him as the epitome of a tough kid who deep down was a nice guy.

Joel had been too scared to audition for which director's Once Upon a Time in America?

His then-wife Christie Brinkley had tried to persuade him he might be a good actor.

Which two artists were the film's main character designers?

An animal trainer brought in each breed so the animators could study them in person.

Oliver's design was based on a kitten from which Mickey Mouse short?

Dodger's design, meanwhile, came to resemble Billy Joel once his lines were recorded.

Scribner borrowed his street-level photography technique from which earlier Disney film?

The 1955 film's team had likewise shot streets from a dog's height to guide the animators.

About how many minutes of computer-generated imagery does the film contain?

Michael Cedeno and Tina Price animated the Brooklyn Bridge, the subway, Sykes's limo and Fagin's trike in CGI.

What was the first object tested in CGI for the film?

The three-wheeler was built from 18 separate computer parts.

Which character did the animators cite as the hardest to animate?

Audiences judge human animation more harshly than animals; the team was also warming up for The Little Mermaid.

Which architecture firm's database supplied the New York skyline?

The skyline was recreated for the film's backgrounds.

Which song does Dodger sing in the film?

Critics picked it as the catchiest number; Bette Midler sang Georgette's 'Perfect Isn't Easy'.

Who sings the opening number, 'Once Upon a Time in New York City'?

Katzenberg had wanted a roster of pop singer-songwriters rather than a single unifying score.

Where in New York did the film premiere on November 13, 1988?

Five days later it opened wide, the first film in Katzenberg's plan for a new animated feature every year.

Oliver & Company was the first Disney animated film to include what?

More than 30 logos appear, including Kodak, Sony, Diet Coke, McDonald's and USA Today.

Which Don Bluth film opened on the same weekend and beat it to number one?

Oliver eventually out-grossed it domestically, $53 million to $46 million.

Roughly what was the film's production budget?

It grossed $121 million worldwide, the first animated film to pass $100 million in its initial release.

Which Bluth film did it surpass as the top-grossing animated initial run in the US?

The success prompted Peter Schneider to announce annual animated releases.

Against which sequel was the film re-released in direct competition in March 1996?

The reissue added $21 million, taking the lifetime domestic gross to $74 million.

How many VHS copies had the 1996 home-video release sold by 1997?

Despite its box-office success, the film had gone unreleased on video for eight years and was one of the most requested titles.

Which fast-food chain promoted the film with Christmas ornaments and finger puppets?

Burger King handled the 1996 re-release campaign; Sears sold Oliver clothes through its Christmas catalogue.

Which singer did several critics say Midler's Georgette sounded like?

'Perfect Isn't Easy' was widely called a show-stopper.

In House of Mouse, Dodger fronts a dog band with what name?

They perform 'Everybody Wants to Be a Woof', a parody of The Aristocats' big number; Jess Harnell voices Dodger there.

Approximately how many animation cels were produced for the film?

About 300 artists and technicians worked on it over two and a half years.