On page 5 of the Titanic 3-D/IMAX Re-Release thread, a offshoot discussion was sparked by the following conjecture by Corpse:


...from there, the discussion proceeded as follows:


So, what are the criteria in determining the answer to the question posed in this thread?

What are people's opinions and what evidence would you use to back it up?

What is Disney's most popular animated film ever among all audiences?

Aladdin, Jungle Book, and Peter Pan (non musical) come to mind.

I'd agree with Corpse - TLK seems to be Disney's most popular animated film. Others like Snow White, Cinderalla, 101 Dalmations, Aladdin are also very popular but not as much as TLK in this day and age.

The Lion King is Disney's biggest treasure, just like Shrek is to Dreamworks and Toy Story is to Pixar

The Lion King OWNs, nothing compares, nothing will ever compare.

If we were talking about "in this day and age", I would agree with you, however this discussion is about Disney's most popular animated film "ever" and "among all audiences".

Who the fuck knows!?!?!?!?

They are all great. Even Lady & the Tramp

We are also not talking about which Disney animated films are "great" - - this discussion is about which one is "most popular".

Before TLK was re-released, were many of today's kids introduced to it? I was 7 when it came to theaters so of course it was popular to me.

I don't think any of us (unless someone here is secretly in their 80s) can gauge the popularity of Disney from the 40s and 50s. I'm sure those films were especially popular then. Not sure if they all held up as well to today's kids.

With these vague criteria:

I'm sorry but Snow White during Depression era America is without a doubt the biggest. While I love Lion King to death, its was a new age that Lion King came out during the peak, though Aladdin is better. But snow white is the holy grail when looking at accolades, and it made 4 times what any other film made in 1938. Thats the film that people went to see to forget about their lives, scrounging up nickels or whatever off the street so they could see it.

Little Mermaid is huge and the first Disney film in quite a while to do that large. Beauty and the Beast then increases 72%; cracks the top 3 of the year, and while the others were critical hits as well; it's still the only animated film when conventions remained to be nominated for Best Picture. Despite that Aladdin crushes it even further. Increases nearly 50% and becomes the first Disney film since the Sound of Music to be the #1 film of the year an tops Snow White's 55 year record to become the biggest disney film unadjusted. LIon King was able to continue this by increasing 43% over Aladdin and Disney was the juggernaut it was of the 30s-60s again. I think 4 awesome films in a row is why Lion King was so huge.

Adjusted- All time
Snow White-10
101 Dalmations- 11
Fantasia- 22

Lion King without the last rerelease is in the same range as Sleeping Beauty and The Jungle Book. It's really hard to say which Disney film was the most beloved, as I think it depends on what you like and when you grew up. Thats the whole point of disney films being as popular as they are. They are musicals, good films, great stories with fun characters, but when you have 12 films in the top 50 of all time adjusted, it doesn't really matter. But Snow White probably stopped the most younger kids and families from committing mass suicides.

Here's an article regarding Box Office Admissions as a means of analyzing movie popularity. While it doesn't cover the exact years under discussion, nor does it cover worldwide numbers, it does provide food for thought on determining some of the criteria needed to answer the question posed by this thread.



Of course, another key criteria is the popularity of the Disney animated films in other media.

As mentioned earlier in this thread, The Lion King did sell more VHS copies (30 million) compared to Snow White (20+ million).

True but one can argue that when the VHS boom happened, Snow White was already on TV. The fact that a film on TV can do over 20 million VHS is a feat on its own. People could buy blank tapes and record Snow White on there own, where as people had no choice but to buy The Lion King, I don't remember it being on TV until the late 90s.

I agree with you Thegun, I don't think the 10 million unit difference in VHS, makes up for the 100's of millions, if not billions of additional (beloved) viewings over the six decades that Snow White was available ahead of The Lion King.

Also, your point about television screenings is a good one. In the 1950's and 1960's there were really only three channels to choose from, so when The Wonderful World of Disney showed one of their feature films on a Sunday night, it might be watched by up to a third of the US population at the time (~40-50 million viewers). I can't find the number of times Snow White was shown on TV, though I'd bet some Disney fanatic somewhere has that info.

Wall-E

They KILLED a major character in The Lion King. Broaching that type of subject in a G rated Disney film wins in my book.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Came second, and I'd argue it was quite different. The visual of a kid nudging his dead dad was pretty powerful stuff.

Did a parent die in Atlantis? I can hardly remember it. My answer was mainly just to be...I don't know, sarcastic. Since Atlantis seems to be an all but forgotten film despite the hype the summer it came out.

Didn't the King die?

Probably.

Um, Bambi.

Every Disney movie kills off a parent, doesn't it?

The record as far as I know is Tarzan with three parents killed during the movie...

What would be revolutionary is a Disney movie where the protagonist's mother is alive and part of his/her life.