Can you even imagine a world without Disney movies? 😱 Literally, it almost happened. When Walt Disney decided to make the world’s first full-length animated movie, everyone in Hollywood thought he was insane. They nicknamed it "Disney's Folly," convinced it would bankrupt him. Plot twist: it made him a legend.
Back in the 1930s, cartoons were just short, funny things you saw before the *real* movie. No one had ever tried to make an 83-minute animated feature. The industry was shook. They were like, "No way people will sit and watch a cartoon for that long!"
But Walt had a vision. He and his brother Roy literally mortgaged their houses to fund the movie. The budget started at $250,000 but ballooned to a wild $1.5 million. That’s like, a gazillion dollars in the 1930s. The project took three whole years, 750 artists, and nearly 2 million individual drawings. Wild.
The press had a field day, calling it "Disney's Folly" and waiting for it to crash and burn. Even the bankers got nervous. At one point, Bank of America got so scared they were about to pull the plug. They sent a vice president, Joseph Rosenberg, to the studio to see what they were spending all this money on.
Walt was panicking. Most of what he had to show were just pencil sketches. After the screening, the banker was totally silent. Walt thought it was over. 💀 But as he walked the guy to his car, Rosenberg turned and said, "That thing is going to make a hatful of money." The final loan was approved. I know, right?!
When Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered on December 21, 1937, it was a cultural earthquake. Hollywood’s biggest stars, like Charlie Chaplin and Judy Garland, were in the audience, and people were openly crying and laughing. It was so emotionally powerful that Britain actually banned kids under 16 from seeing it without an adult because the Evil Queen was too terrifying. 😱
The movie didn't just succeed; it smashed records. It raked in $8 million in its first year alone (that’s over $177 million today), making it the highest-grossing film ever at the time. "Disney's Folly" became Disney's foundation, paying for the brand-new Burbank studio and kicking off the golden age of animation. So next time you watch a Disney classic, remember it all started with a massive, crazy risk that everyone thought would fail. 🤯
How Disney’s ‘Snow White’ Elevated Animation to New Heights - HISTORY
