Watership Down (film)

Watership Down
A sunset depicting Bigwig in a snare, with the title in fancy font and the credits below.
U.S. theatrical release poster
Directed by
Written byMartin Rosen
Based onWatership Down
by Richard Adams
Produced byMartin Rosen
Starring
Narrated byMichael Hordern
Edited byTerry Rawlings
Music by
Production
company
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 14 October 1978 (1978-10-14) (Sweden)
  • 19 October 1978 (1978-10-19) (United Kingdom)
Running time
102 minutes[2]
CountryUnited Kingdom[3]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2.4 million
Box office$3.5 million (US and Canada distributor rentals)[4]

Watership Down is a 1978 British animated adventure-drama film, written, produced and directed by Martin Rosen and based on the 1972 novel by Richard Adams.[5] It was financed by a consortium of British financial institutions and was distributed by Cinema International Corporation in the United Kingdom. Released on 19 October 1978, the film was an immediate success and it became the sixth-most popular film of 1979 at the UK box office.[6]

It features the voices of John Hurt, Richard Briers, Harry Andrews, Simon Cadell, Nigel Hawthorne and Roy Kinnear, among others, and was the last film work of Zero Mostel, as the voice of Kehaar the gull. The musical score was by Angela Morley and Malcolm Williamson. Art Garfunkel's hit song "Bright Eyes" was written by songwriter Mike Batt. Since release, the film has gained a cult following.[7]

  1. ^ Wood, Linda. "British Films 1971-1981" (PDF). British Film Institute. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Watership Down". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  3. ^ "Watership Down (1978)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 19 February 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  4. ^ Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American film distribution : the changing marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 294. ISBN 978-0-8357-1776-2.
  5. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 212. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  6. ^ "Watership Down". Toonhound. Retrieved 18 December 2006.
  7. ^ 22 Animated Cult Classics Worth Checking Out - MovieWeb