With Disney and Universal both leaning into existing properties for their animated blockbusters, has the original cartoon gone the way of the VHS?
This article first appeared in Film Stories #51.
When Disney released The Rescuers Down Under in 1990, the studio was taking a surprisingly big swing. The first Rescuers had out-grossed Star Wars in France in 1977, and subsequent re-releases in the 1980s had convinced the house of mouse that audiences might be looking for more of the same.
But releasing a sequel 13 years after the previous instalment was a risk. More to the point, making an animated theatrical follow-up in the first place was unprecedented – Disney had never done it before.
So, when Down Under opened fourth at the US box office – behind Home Alone, Rocky V and Child’s Play 2 – it’s hard to imagine anyone was surprised. Tom Sito, the President Emeritus of Hollywood’s Animation Guild who was working at Walt Disney Feature Animation at the time, remembers studio head Peter Schneider was pretty decisive in his analysis of what had gone wrong.
“Well, obviously sequels aren't a good idea,” he said.