| Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | |
|---|---|
&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Snow_White_1937_poster.png) Theatrical release poster by Gustaf Tenggren | |
| Directed by | Supervising Directors David Hand Sequence Directors
|
| Story by |
|
| Based on | "Snow White" by the Brothers Grimm |
| Produced by | Walt Disney |
| Music by | |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 83 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1.5 million[1] |
| Box office | $418 million[2] |
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Based on the 1812 German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, the production was supervised by David Hand, and was directed by a team of sequence directors, including Perce Pearce, William Cottrell, Larry Morey, Wilfred Jackson, and Ben Sharpsteen. It is the first animated feature film produced in the United States and the first cel animated feature film.[3]
Snow White premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, California, on December 21, 1937, and went into general release in the United States on February 4, 1938. Despite initial doubts from the film industry, it was a critical and commercial success, with international earnings of more than $8 million during its initial release against a $1.5 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1938 and briefly held the record of the highest-grossing sound film of all time. It was also the highest-grossing animated film for 55 years. The popularity of the film has led to its being re-released theatrically many times, until its home video release in the 1990s. Adjusted for inflation, it is one of the top-ten performers at the North American box office and is still the highest-grossing animated film. Worldwide, its inflation-adjusted earnings top the animation list.[4]
Snow White was nominated for Best Musical Score at the Academy Awards in 1938, and the next year, producer Walt Disney was awarded an honorary Oscar for the film. This award was unique, consisting of one normal-sized, plus seven miniature Oscar statuettes. They were presented to Disney by Shirley Temple.[5]
Its prototypical animated feature and use of fairy tale adaptations as well as technical innovation became a major milestone of the early animation industry, Snow White is widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made and creating the new form of the golden age of animation; Disney's take on the fairy tale has had a significant cultural effect, resulting in popular theme park attractions, a video game, a Broadway musical, and an upcoming live-action film.
In 1989, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it as one of the first 25 films for preservation in the National Film Registry.[6] The American Film Institute ranked it among the 100 greatest American films, and also named the film as the greatest American animated film of all time in 2008.
- ^ Barrier 1999, p. 229.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
grosswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Chaffee, Keith (October 28, 2019). "A Week to Remember: International Animation Day". Los Angeles Public Library. Archived from the original on August 11, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
- ^ Records, Guinness World (2014). Guinness World Records. Vol. 60 (2015 ed.). Guinness World Records. pp. 160–161. ISBN 978-1-9088-4370-8.
The 2015 edition of Guinness World Records does not provide an explicit figure for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. However, it does state that it is one of only two pre-1955 films—the other being Gone with the Wind—that are among the adjusted top ten. It placed tenth in the 2012 edition, and the eleventh highest-grossing film according to the 2015 edition is The Exorcist, which has grossed $1.794 billion adjusted to 2014 prices. The adjusted grosses for the other films on the chart increased by 4.2 percent between 2011 and 2014 according to Guinness and using this apparent rate of inflation would take the adjusted gross for Snow White from $1.746 billion at 2011 prices to $1.819 billion at 2014 prices.
- ^ Gabler 2006, pp. 277–278.
- ^ "Film Registry Picks First 25 Movies". Los Angeles Times. Washington, D.C. September 19, 1989. Archived from the original on May 5, 2020. Retrieved April 22, 2020.