does anyone have the story of what went wrong with disney in the 70's and 80's before eisner came aboard. also what happened between disney and lucas? just curious.
these stories intrihue me. similar problems were true for marvel comics before their strong comeback, but that's another thread for possibly another bulletin baord

Disney suffered a long drought of high quality productions. And those movies they did put out that were good, did not get seen much by a public that no longer believed Disney films were up to their former standard.

Oliver and Company - cute story, very typical Don Bluth in appearance. Animation bore a closer resemblance to Saturday morning cartoons than Snow White. Did have music, but most of it forgettable (other than Billy Joel's "Why should I worry", but even that was more pop music than Broadway show-stopper)

The Black Cauldron - great story, but characters not well developed enough in the film, (with the exception of Gurgie). No music, very dark.

Those are the two examples I remember best. It's not that *nothing* was working, but that not enough was working to carry the load. The films were doing poorly and the parks kept the company alive. The current trend (great films being ignored because of lesser outputs, eg: devaluing the brand) is very similar. Again they are experimenting with "cheaper" animation, and animated films with no music, which are not capturing the public's imagination in the way that your "typical" Disney film does. Look at Treasure Planet- stunning animation, good character development. But small audience thanks to predecessors like Atlantis; and no MUSIC. Treasure Planet would have made a great musical.

I have always been partial to the Disney films of the '70s. Great actors (Fred MacMurray, Helen Hayes, Jody Foster, Peter Ustinov, David Niven, Tony Roberts, Kurt Russell, George Lindsay, Don Knotts, Tim Conway, Slim Pickens, Bette Davis, Sandy Duncan and, of course, the ineffable Joe Flynn), great family movies (Charlie and the Angel, Million Dollar Duck, Apple Dumpling Gang, Escape from Witch Mountain, One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing, North Avenue Irregulars, et al). For Disney live action comedies, the 70s were a great period that sadly, could never be repeated. All hail the Ron Miller period! (Or, whomever was in charge.) Long live Joe Flynn!

I remain,

Originally posted by Tref
I have always been partial to the Disney films of the '70s. Great actors (Fred MacMurray, Helen Hayes, Jody Foster, Peter Ustinov, David Niven, Tony Roberts, Kurt Russell, George Lindsay, Don Knotts, Tim Conway, Slim Pickens, Bette Davis, Sandy Duncan and, of course, the ineffable Joe Flynn), great family movies (Charlie and the Angel, Million Dollar Duck, Apple Dumpling Gang, Escape from Witch Mountain, One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing, North Avenue Irregulars, et al). For Disney live action comedies, the 70s were a great period that sadly, could never be repeated. All hail the Ron Miller period! (Or, whomever was in charge.) Long live Joe Flynn!


Amen!!

I loved the Disney films of the 70s. They have a charm that recent films such as "Meet the Deedles," "Mr. Magoo," "The Country Bears" (the movie), and the long list of uninspired sequels will never be able to match.

Having said that, I think part of the problem of the 70's was that the company was afraid to do anything new. While the films and projects overall were qaulity products, the company had not kept up with society. A common battle cry that was heard in the company was "Let's not do that. I don't think Walt would have done that." What ended up happening was that they did what Walt wouldn't have done, and that was that they weren't doing any thing new. Walt was always finding new ways and new audiences to tell his stories.

It's ironic that now the company seems to have gone in completely the opposite direction. I imagine the phrase "What would Walt have done" is very rarely heard among the executives. There has to be a happy medium.

By the way, I am not one of those people who views Ron Miller harshly. He was trying to do the best job he could. He tried to change the direction of the company, but then Roy E. Disney tried to mount a take over attempt that failed. This opened the door for corporate shark to try to take over the company.

"Storming the Magic Kingdom" is an excellent book that tells of the take over attempt and many other things. I think it's out of print, but you can probably find it at the library.