How many years did it take to make the Disney masterpiece 'Bambi'?

Walt Disney purchased the rights in April 1937 and the film was finally released 5 years later in 1942.

Sidney Franklin sold the film rights to Walt Disney in April 1937. Disney began work on crafting an animated adaptation immediately, intending it to be the company's second feature-length animated film and their first to be based on a specific, recent work. However, the original novel was written for an adult audience, and was considered too "grim" and "somber" for a regular light-hearted Disney film. The artists also discovered that it would be challenging to animate deer realistically. These difficulties resulted in Disney putting production on hold while the studio worked on several other projects. In 1938, Disney assigned Perce Pearce and Carl Fallberg to work on the film's storyboards, but attention was soon drawn away as the studio began working on Fantasia.

The writing was completed in July 1940, by which time the film's budget had increased to $858,000.

Due to World War II, which began in Europe in 1939, Pinocchio and Fantasia failed at the box office. Facing financial difficulty, Disney was forced to cut 12 minutes from the film before final animation to save production costs. Bambi was released in theaters in 1942, during World War II, and was Disney's 5th full-length animated film. The film was re-released to theatres in 1947, 1957, 1966, 1975, 1982, and 1988. It was then made available on home video in 1989.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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21 Comments

LibraryLady

The question is not specific enough and leaves it open to several different answers! Once Disney purchased the rights to the story, the movie was released 5 years later. That is NOT what was asked in the original question. The "Disney masterpiece" from start to finish took up to 9 years.

billptxb

Data in different publications differ a lot, commonly from 5 to 7 years, but if you start from the very beginning, it took almost 9 years: The very first work was not done by Walt Disney, but already in 1933 by MGM director Sidney Franklin, who had bought the film rights to the story and planned to put it into a live ...

George Oliver Prince

Lots of different info on this, but common answer goes from 5 to 7 years

elizawheeler

I saw the movie when I was very young. I was traumatized by it. I cried for days over the deaths and the fire. It is not a good movie for young (under 7 or 8 I'd say) children.

Tom Knox

The correct answer, 9 years wasn't available so I went with 6.

dmarkc

Arbitrary answer at author's discretion. Bonus buster that should have been tabled.

vonlora

question asked about disney production. they did not start it, so the first fours years would not be included in this answer.

Stevan Overby

Not true. Disney purchased the rights in 1936... not 1937. Also, If you start at the very beginning, the movie "Bambi" took nearly 9 years to make. It was actually started in 1933 by MGM director Sidney Franklin, who wanted to make a live-action film. He then turned it over to Walt Disney in 1936, who finished the film in 1942.

earlepg

Lots of comments that it took 9 years. Why? What happened?

John W Shreve

I guessed right, but the author should have explained the possibility of different answers being accurate and been specific in the question as to why the correct answer is the one he/she designates. It was still very interesting. I wonder how some of the characters felt about falling victim to the film editor's slashing shears.