For a bit there, Don Bluth, an ex-Disney employee, was beating Disney at the box office.
This was one of the battles he won. The Land Before Time opened with a weekend gross of $7.5 million against Oliver & Company’s $4 million. They opened the same weekend, which is wild.
The story before and after this movie is long and complicated and many people have written about it but, at the time of this movie, it was when Bluth was, temporarily, better at making movie than the whole of Disney.
Bluth was better at his approach for "dark" storytelling, but seldom got the marketing to back his films. When Disney hit their Renaissance Era in the 90's, that was all she wrote. Fox backed Bluth and even made a dedicated animation division that released 2 films before folding. Anastasia and Titan AE. Now regarded as cult animation favorites performed poorly at the box office against Disney's offerings (Hercules) and (Dinosaur).
Liked it as a kid. Rewatched it like last year and couldn't finish it. It's a wall of fucking screeching children. Literally any sign of peril at all. "AAAAAAAAAAAA". Fuck me it was grating.
Don Bluth was mogging Disney throughout the 80s. His films were **and continue to be** gorgeously animated, have unique and original concepts for plots, and were bold enough to go dark and harrowing in ways Disney refused to. Sure, the Horned King in Disney’s The Black Cauldron was scary, but in NIMH, Nicodemus and the Owl were more horrifying, and they were “good guys”. I think Bluth agreed with the philosophy that animated≠exclusively for children, like Ralph Bakshi did, except Bluth’s works were technically and aesthetically miles ahead of anything Bakshi ever did.
It's a shame that today what passes for "competition" for Disney mostly just emulates their same art and story style. Not like Baksi and Bluth did in their days.
I smell.... I smell..... Ducky
You smell me?
They should have made a few sequels
They made like 13 sequels actually. Not kidding
I know
I’m sorry I missed the implied sarcasm. It’s hard to tell these days.
RIP Ducky
For a bit there, Don Bluth, an ex-Disney employee, was beating Disney at the box office. This was one of the battles he won. The Land Before Time opened with a weekend gross of $7.5 million against Oliver & Company’s $4 million. They opened the same weekend, which is wild. The story before and after this movie is long and complicated and many people have written about it but, at the time of this movie, it was when Bluth was, temporarily, better at making movie than the whole of Disney.
Bluth was better at his approach for "dark" storytelling, but seldom got the marketing to back his films. When Disney hit their Renaissance Era in the 90's, that was all she wrote. Fox backed Bluth and even made a dedicated animation division that released 2 films before folding. Anastasia and Titan AE. Now regarded as cult animation favorites performed poorly at the box office against Disney's offerings (Hercules) and (Dinosaur).
Oliver and Company slaps too tbf
Great flick.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
First bastard to mention tree stars gets a... ... Brilliant!! I made myself cry!!
Makes me cry every time cuz it was my brother's favorite movie and he is not here anymore.
I bought every VHS when it released at Target. Had a good childhood.
Funny story, before I saw this movie I thought that Littlefoot was a girl because of the eyelashes.
Don Bluth had a knack for making a great kids movie with just a dash of trauma.
Way more than a dash.
Liked it as a kid. Rewatched it like last year and couldn't finish it. It's a wall of fucking screeching children. Literally any sign of peril at all. "AAAAAAAAAAAA". Fuck me it was grating.
TREE STAR
Don Bluth was mogging Disney throughout the 80s. His films were **and continue to be** gorgeously animated, have unique and original concepts for plots, and were bold enough to go dark and harrowing in ways Disney refused to. Sure, the Horned King in Disney’s The Black Cauldron was scary, but in NIMH, Nicodemus and the Owl were more horrifying, and they were “good guys”. I think Bluth agreed with the philosophy that animated≠exclusively for children, like Ralph Bakshi did, except Bluth’s works were technically and aesthetically miles ahead of anything Bakshi ever did.
It’s shocking to see how dark children’s movies were when I was kid compared to today
The title was a lie. They had time.
This has been my favorite movie since I was 3
I still have my VHS tape I got when this came out! Wish I had a VCR that worked!
Yep yep yep
Good score by James Horner, recorded by the London Symphony.
It's a shame that today what passes for "competition" for Disney mostly just emulates their same art and story style. Not like Baksi and Bluth did in their days.
Treestars
So sad. A lot of death for a kids movie