As you may or may not know, Walt Disney’s Pinocchio (the second film in the WDAC) premiered on February 7, 1940 before being widely released in the USA February 23 that same year. The next country where it was released was in the UK that spring (premiered in March and wide release in May). After that, it’s release worldwide was rather sporadic. While it did successful domestically, it failed to make a profit in its initial run based on the fact that the European market (45% of the box office at the time) was cut off due to WW2 being in full swing. It was released in Ireland and Portugal later in 1940, Sweden, Iceland, and Hungary in 1941, German-speaking Switzerland in 1942, Finland in 1943, and Madrid, Spain in 1944. The rest of Europe did not get it until after the war. But what if it was released all throughout Europe at the same time it was released in the USA during the Phony War or Winter War before WW2 heated up? How would that impact the Walt Disney Animation Studios from that point onward?
WI: More Successful Pinocchio Release?
- Thread starter PGSBHurricane
- Start date
A good idea is France doesn’t fall in 1940. The Western European film markets are still open. Pinocchio and Dumbo is a success in Western Europe. When Paramount’s Fleischer Studios “Mr Bug Goes to Town” is also a success, saving Fleischer Studios from decimation. This inspires other studios such as Warner Bros, Universal’s Walter Lantz, and 20th Century Fox’s Terrytoons to make their own feature films.
France didn’t get the film at all until 1946. This asks if it were released around February or March 1940 when the war hadn’t really heated up yet. And I’m not sure if Dumbo would still be made. It was the one-two punch of Pinocchio and Fantasia flopping at the box office. Granted, Fantasia didn’t make a profit until 1969 but still. And we wouldn’t have most of the package films of the 1940s (sans maybe Saludos Amigos and the Three Caballeros). Maybe we get Mickey and the Beanstalk and Wind In the Willows as their own feature-length movies as originally intended?
An idea would be for Pinocchio to be released around Christmas 1939. It was originally supposed to take place around Christmastime anyway so maybe they could've done more with that. In addition, you had comics and children's books based on the movie being released then. CBS even did a radio broadcast of the condensed version of the movie on Christmas Day in 1939. If you move up the release date a couple of months, you could potentially squeeze in more European release dates before the war resumed in April 1940. Without 45% of Disney's revenue source being cut off, you could see Dumbo and the package features not being produced and have Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Lady And The Tramp, Mickey And the Beanstalk, Bongo, Wind In the Willows, and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow be the focus of postwar production.