March 9 - Splash

Image copyright Touchstone

On this day, in 1984, the first film to be released under the Touchstone Pictures banner, Splash, hit theaters. Earlier in the year, recognizing a dire need for Disney to break out of its G-rated box while at the same time preserving the family focus of the Walt Disney name, CEO Ron Miller had created a new brand, Touchstone. While an ingenious move on his part, it didn’t keep him from losing his job later in the year. Brian Grazer, Splash’s producer, had been trying to get the film made at every studio in town with zero luck. It wasn’t until he changed his pitch from “mermaid learning to live on land” to “ordinary New Yorker falls in love with mermaid” that Miller agreed to finance the picture and decided it was perfect to launch the new label.

Only the third film directed by Ron Howard, Splash stars Tom Hanks (in his second film role), Daryl Hannah, John Candy and Eugene Levy. And because Ron loves his family, you can see his dad Rance Howard, near the beginning yelling at Tom Hanks about cherries and his brother, Clint Howard, at the wedding, being yelled at by Tom Hanks. The movie was a hit and launched Hanks’ career right towards his next blockbuster, Big. On a budget of only $8 million, Splash grossed almost $70 million by the end of its initial run. It earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay and won Daryl the Saturn Award for Best Actress.

Image copyright Touchstone

Besides just being a fun movie to watch, it’s the little things about Splash that amuse me. Daryl’s tail, for instance. It was so hard to get into and out of that she would usually just stay in it during meal breaks, but costume designer Robert Short really knew his stuff. Daryl was able to swim so quickly in it that she regularly outpaced the production team. Then there’s the name Madison. At the time of filming, it really was basically just a street name but because of Splash’s popularity it grew in popularity in real life. Shortly after Splash, it was the 216^th most popular girl’s name. Five years later it held the 29^th spot and by 2000 was third. Which I guess makes it a real name now. But my favorite tidbit is this: the beach where Tom and Daryl’s characters first meet has become a permanent part of Disney. The island in the Bahamas where that scene was filmed, formerly known as Gorda Cay, is now called Castaway Cay and welcomes guests of the Disney Cruise Line several days a week. I haven’t heard of any mermaid sightings from there just yet, but you never know…

November 22 - Toy Story

Image copyright Disney

On this day, in 1995, Pixar Animation Studios, in partnership with Walt Disney Pictures, generally released its first feature film, Toy Story. Not only is the movie a first for Pixar, it is also the first feature film to be completely computer animated.

Toy Story is directed by one of Pixar's founders, John Lasseter. John's first encounter with computer animation was with the Disney company when he worked on Tron. He became completely enthralled with the new medium and suggested that The Brave Little Toaster be done using it exclusively. Disney disagreed and fired him. John then spent some time at LucasFilm before co-founding Pixar. In 1988, he produced a short, Tin Toy, in order to show off the capabilities of a computer his company had developed, the Pixar Image Computer. Tin Toy would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short. From that point forward, Pixar stopped trying to sell computers (which, while really advanced for the time were not flying off the shelves) and began creating animation in earnest. Disney took notice of Tin Toy's success and tried to lure John back into the fold. He decided to stay with Pixar and inked a distribution deal with Disney instead.

Image copyright Disney

The original script of Toy Story looked nothing like the final film. There was a character named Woody, but he was an evil ventriloquist doll who was paired with Tinny from Tin Toy. Other than the name Woody, the only thing to survive from that first treatment was the conviction that the movie would center around the fact that a toy's deepest desire was to be played with by a child and how that desire affected their entire existence. The film's production also suffered under the interfering of Jeffrey Katzenberg, then chairman of the studio. Jeffrey's insistence that the characters be more and more edgy (Tom Hanks complained at one point that Woody had turned into a jerk) and that tons of adult references be included actually caused the whole process to grind to a halt. A three month recess was called while the script was reworked into the final product.

Image copyright Disney

The result was phenomenal. Starring Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, both in their first animated roles, the buddy film was the highest grossing movie its opening weekend (and the next two). Made on a budget of 30 million dollars, Toy Story would take in over 370 million making it the highest grossing film of the year. Universally acclaimed, it would not only give a boost of enthusiasm to animation in general (and forecast the doom of hand-drawn films) but would establish Pixar as a powerhouse studio. Toy Story would win a Special Achievement Oscar, be nominated for three other Oscars (Best Song, Best Score and Best Original Screenplay), garner two Golden Globe nominations and win eight Annies. Two sequels followed, both of which were considered as good as (or even better than) the original, as well as several shorts and television specials. Attractions based on the franchise abound at Disney parks all around the world. A fourth Toy Story movie will be released in the summer of 2019. Only time will tell if it is a worthy successor.