A Boy Named Charlie Brown

For the unaired television documentary, see A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1963 film). For the soundtrack to the unaired television documentary, see Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown.

A Boy Named Charlie Brown
The baseball team has a conversation on the pitcher's mound on the top of the poster; on the bottom, the group sits in Hollywood set chairs; the title and credits are set in the middle.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBill Melendez
Written byCharles M. Schulz
Produced byLee Mendelson
Starring
Edited by
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed byNational General Pictures
Release date
  • December 4, 1969 (1969-12-04)
[1]
Running time
85 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.1 million[3]
Box office

A Boy Named Charlie Brown is a 1969 American animated musical comedy-drama film, produced by Cinema Center Films, distributed by National General Pictures, and directed by Bill Melendez with a screenplay by Charles M. Schulz.[5] It is the first feature film based on the Peanuts comic strip.[6] Starring Peter Robbins, Pamelyn Ferdin, Glenn Gilger, and Andy Pforsich, the film follows the titular character as he tries to win the National Spelling Bee, with Snoopy and Linus by his side. The film was also produced by Lee Mendelson. It was also distributed by National General Pictures and produced by Melendez Films.

The film was based on a comic strip storyline from February 1966, which ended differently when Charlie Brown lost his local school's spelling bee. Regular Peanuts composer Vince Guaraldi and John Scott Trotter composed the score while Rod McKuen wrote many of the songs as well as the title song "A Boy Named Charlie Brown". This film was the last time Peter Robbins provided the voice of Charlie Brown.

Releasing on December 4, 1969, A Boy Named Charlie Brown was a box-office success, grossing $12 million and was positively received by critics. The franchise would go on to produce four more Peanuts films.

  1. ^ A Boy Named Charlie Brown at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  2. ^ "A Boy Named Charlie Brown (U)". British Board of Film Classification. April 30, 1970. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
  3. ^ Warga, Wayne (March 29, 1970). "Schulz, Charlie Brown Finally Make It to the Movies: Peanuts Makes It to the Movies". Los Angeles Times.
  4. ^ Lynderey, Michael (November 5, 2015). "November 2015 Box Office Forecast". Box Office Prophets. p. 3. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015.
  5. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 169. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  6. ^ Solomon, Charles (2012). The Art and Making of Peanuts Animation: Celebrating Fifty Years of Television Specials. Chronicle Books. pp. 94–97. ISBN 978-1452110912.