Disney Dark Age

The Disney Dark Age refers to an era in the Disney Animated Canon where there weren't as many critically successful animated films, minus a few exceptions at the time, reaching the critical praise as most of the films that Uncle Walt produced while he was still alive. However, most of these films still preformed well at the box office (mostly due to the fact that their performance at the domestic box office is documented, but their performance at the foreign box office isn't documented; as well as few other films that were released when Walt Disney was alive) and a few films were even nominated for several film awards. The only critical and financial failure from this time period was The Black Cauldron.

It is predicted that the era started after the death of Walt Disney in December of 1966, beginning with The Aristocats in 1970 and ending in 1989 with The Little Mermaid, which is also said to be the start of another era known as the Disney Renaissance.

The animated features released during this period include The Aristocats (1970), Robin Hood (1973), The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977), The Rescuers (1977), The Fox and the Hound (1981), The Black Cauldron (1985), The Great Mouse Detective (1986) and Oliver & Company (1988).

History
With the deaths of Walt and Roy O. Disney, Walt Disney Productions was left in the hands of Donn Tatum, Card Walker and Ron W. Miller. At this time, Disney's Nine Old Men, aging animators of the company, began training new animators in prospect of retiring. In the 1980s, Don Bluth and eleven animators, who were friends of Don, left Disney to establish their own company, Don Bluth Productions, which proved to be a great rival towards Disney in the 1980s and 1990s, with their own feature films such as The Secret of NIMH (a film that Don originally pitched to Disney, but was scrapped due to its overly mature and dark tone; thus being one of the reasons why Bluth and his friends left the studio to begin with), An American Tail, The Land Before Time and All Dogs Go to Heaven.

Along with The Jungle Book, The Aristocats was one of the last animated films Walt Disney had approved, although he did not live to see either one completed. Taking four years to finish, The Aristocats was released to theaters on December 24, 1970. Despite favorable reviews and solid box office performance, the film did not match the successes of past Disney films such as One Hundred and One Dalmatians. Because of this, the film is seen as a modest success in Disney's Animated Canon. However, it should be noted that this film is still considered to be very iconic.

Beginning production before Walt's death, Robin Hood began as an adaptation of Reynard the Fox. This idea was scrapped after Disney deemed Reynard a non-suitable hero. After Walt's death, the film was updated to be an adaptation of the Robin Hood stories. The film was released on November 8, 1973 to mixed reviews. While popular with audiences, along with a sizable fanbase, and a commercial success, the film was criticized for its heavy use of recycled animation from films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Jungle Book and The Aristocats. It should also be noted that this film was nominated for an Oscar award at the time, ironically enough, regarding its mixed critical reception.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was comprised of three segments (Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too!), all of which had been released to theaters in years prior to the film's release. This was due to Walt Disney's intentions of making a full-length Winnie the Pooh feature film, instead settling on short features.

Taking four years to complete, The Rescuers was a great critical and commercial success, even breaking the record for largest financial amount made for an animated film on opening weekend, a record it held until 1986 by Don Bluth's An American Tail. The film was Disney's most successful film at the time, regaining people's faith towards the studio's future. The film was a critical success, making it one of the most popular films of the Dark Age which allowed the film to spawn a sequel, The Rescuers Down Under in 1990.

Although beginning production in 1977, The Fox and the Hound wasn't released until July 10, 1981, due to a delay in production after 17% of Disney's animators left the studio. The film was a financial success, but was met with mixed reviews from fans of the original story and critics, who were disappointed with the story changes. However, the film has managed to earn its own fanbase as time would move on from its original release.

Released on July 26, 1985, The Black Cauldron was both a critical and commercial failure. To add insult to injury, it lost to The Care Bears Movie. Despite this, Lloyd Alexander, the author of the books in which the film was based on, recognized no similarity between the books and film, but has still stated that he actually enjoyed the film.

Released on July 2, 1986, The Great Mouse Detective was met with critical and financial success. This gave Disney their confidence back, leading to their concepts for future projects like Aladdin and The Little Mermaid (ironically, producers John Musker and Ron Clements had worked on all of these three films). It should also be noted that this film's modest success had literally saved the animation studio from going bankrupt, and that this movie is sometimes considered to be the unofficial start of the Disney Renaissance, mostly due to the fact that this is considered to be the more successful film of the Dark Age.

The final film of the Dark Age, Oliver & Company, was a commercial success, but was met with mixed reviews from critics. Despite this, the film managed to earn a Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing and was even nominated for a Golden Globe Award.