Foster: A Wish of Little Orphan Annie (1948):
Following the perceived failure of
Wreck-It-Ralph 2, it was decided that Disney would no longer do package features. At this point, one such film was already in production and had to be retooled to fit the standards of a low-budget single-story feature. It was going to be an original package film about the daily lives of people in New York City. At the end of the war in late 1944 or early 1945, Walt Disney himself received the film rights to the
Little Orphan Annie comic strips after hearing about and watching the film adaptations by RKO from 1932 and Paramount from 1938. It was originally meant to be a package film based on the various segments from the comic strips. But, with less than a year left in production, those package segments were condensed into a single plot. Among the child actors considered for the role of Annie, Luana Patten was one of the top choices. Disney had hoped that her reputation would help this film at the box office upon its release, as it would be one of the major tests for the viability of Disney’s animation studio in the coming years. He had also hoped to learn from the mistakes of RKO and Paramount and make it into an animated film for everyone to enjoy, even the toughest of critics.
Set in New York City in 1924 (the year the first
Little Orphan Annie comic strip was published), the story opens at Hudson Street Orphanage where Annie has been routinely abused by a pair of evil matron sisters named Miss Asthma and Miss Treet since her parents left her on the orphanage doorstep as a baby. She keeps hope by believing that her wish of being adopted by a loving family will come true. After escaping the orphanage, Annie meets a dog named “Sandy” and temporarily works at a beanery before being caught by the sisters and sent back. Near Christmastime, the wealthy and eccentric Oliver Warbucks (who had taken note of Annie at her time at the beanery) writes to the orphanage that he would like to foster Annie in his mansion for the Christmas season. Mrs. Warbucks arrives to relieve Annie but soon reveals her true nature as a cold-hearted member of the nouveau rich upon arrival at the mansion. Fortunately, the staff takes a great liking to Annie and Sandy. Before Mr. Warbucks can return from his business trip, his wife devises a plan behind his back to stop her “social ruin” by scheming a plan to get rid of Annie for good once Christmas is past. Her plan is exposed, and Warbucks’ right-hand men named Asp and Punjab try to rescue Annie, but can they rescue her before Mrs. Warbucks can find them?
The film’s working title was
Litte Orphan Annie but the writers changed it to
Foster: A Wish of Little Orphan Annie just weeks before sending it to RKO Radio Pictures for distribution. The film was released in the United States in August 1948 without a formal premiere like Disney’s previous features. It was ultimately a mild box office success, earning $2.6 million in rentals. At the time, it received generally favorable reviews, with praise for Luana Patten’s voice acting, the animation, and the action-oriented sequences mostly in the second half of the film. Nowadays, while it’s generally considered by fans of the
Little Orphan Annie franchise to be a decent adaptation, reception is generally more mixed among critics and audiences. Most find Annie herself endearing but at the same time take problem with the fact that most of the film’s villains are female while Asp and Punjab are criticized for their stereotypical portrayal of Asians. There has been some pushback against this, however, with fans noting that the antagonists here are some of Disney’s most realistic and well-written and citing Asp and Punjab as progressive for their time due to the importance of their roles and their ethnicities not being their sole character traits.
Foster: A Wish of Little Orphan Annie has gone on to become a cult classic.
A/N: The working title that the WDAC 2023 film OTL had was Foster and since it hasn't been released yet, I decided to use the word Foster to think of a different plot for the film and the first thing to come to mind when thinking of that word that's iconic in American culture is the Annie franchise based on the Little Orphan Annie comics which date back to the 1920s OTL. I didn't realize it at the time but Foster was re-titled to Wish before the D23 Expo 2022 and since I already had everything already set I decided to incorporate more of the concept behind the word Wish here and include it in the title so it's the best of both worlds.