| The Rescuers Down Under | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by |
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| Screenplay by |
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| Based on | Characters by Margery Sharp |
| Produced by | Thomas Schumacher |
| Starring | |
| Edited by | Michael Kelly |
| Music by | Bruce Broughton |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc.[a] |
Release date |
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Running time | 77 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $47.4 million[1] |
The Rescuers Down Under is a 1990 American animated adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the sequel to Disney's 1977 animated feature film The Rescuers, which was based on the novels by Margery Sharp. In The Rescuers Down Under, Bernard and Bianca travel to the Australian Outback to save a young boy named Cody from a villainous poacher who wants to capture an endangered golden eagle for money. Directed by Hendel Butoy and Mike Gabriel (in their feature directorial debuts) from a screenplay by Jim Cox, Karey Kirkpatrick, Byron Simpson, and Joe Ranft, the film features the voices of Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor (in her final film role), John Candy, and George C. Scott.
By the mid-1980s, The Rescuers had become one of Disney's most successful animated releases. Under the new management of Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, a feature-length sequel was approved, making it the first animated film sequel theatrically released by the studio.[2] Following their duties on Oliver & Company (1988), animators Butoy and Gabriel were recruited to direct the sequel.[3] Research trips to Australia provided inspiration for the background designs. The film would also mark the full use of the Computer Animation Production System (CAPS), becoming the first feature film to be completely created digitally.[4] The software allowed for artists to digitally ink-and-paint the animators' drawings, and then composite the digital cels over the scanned background art.
The Rescuers Down Under was released to theaters on November 16, 1990, to positive reviews from critics, but it went on to become a box-office bomb and garnered $47.4 million worldwide as it opened on the same day as Home Alone (which also features John Candy) and Rocky V.
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- ^ "The Rescuers Down Under (1990)". The Numbers. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
- ^ Solomon, Charles (November 16, 1990). "Fantasy, Animation Soar in 'Rescuers Down Under'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 28, 2015.
- ^ Taylor, Drew (December 18, 2020). "'The Rescuers Down Under': The Untold Story of How the Sequel Changed Disney Forever". Collider. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
- ^ "First fully digital feature film". Guinness World Records. Guinness World Records Limited. Retrieved December 27, 2018.