Twenty-Eight Years Ago ...

July 2, 1986*- Walt Disney’s The Great Mouse Detective released in theaters .The Big Ben clockworks finale was seen as a great step forward in computer animation. ...



I remember animator Phil Nibbelink working manfully on the clockwork sequence for months on end. Although the gears were computer animated, the end-product was painted in the same way that Snow White was painted: a dedicated crew in Disney's ink-and-paint department bent over their desks and colored all the computer-generated gears with brushes and gum-based paint.



Mouse Detective grossed $25,336,794 during its first theatrical run (it cost $12 million to produce before Diz Co. tacked an extra $500,000 in Oliver and Co. development costs onto its production budget) so it probably made little or no profit during its initial run. It accumulated another $13,288,756 when it was re-released in 1992.



Besides the early use of CG animation, the picture was notable for being the first animated feature directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, who would go on to direct The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, Treasure Planet and The Princess and the Frog. The two are now at work on The Disney animated feature Moana.



* Box Office Mojo gives the movie's release date as July 4th.



H/t Tom Sito