Disney’s Hercules, and the challenge of casting

Jack Nicholson was originally in line for Disney’s Hercules – but 1989’s Batman movie scuppered it…

If you believe the rhetoric, then between The Lion King and the current resurgence for Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney didn’t release an animated movie of any merit. I’ve long been one of those calling bobbins on this. Between The Lion King and, say, Tangled, we had The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Mulan, Tarzan, The Emperor’s New Groove, Atlantis, Lilo & Stitch, Treasure Planet, Meet The Robinsons and The Princess & The Frog, for example. I’d argue there’s a mix of underappreciated and flat-out excellent movies in that lot.

And we also had Hercules.

1997’s Hercules wasn’t a raging box office success, and it was the first Walt Disney Animation Studios project to fall shy of $100m at the American box office since The Rescuers Down Under in 1990. Granted, it only just missed that mark, bringing in $99m in the US, and a grand total of $252m worldwide. Still, Disney’s stock price dropped nearly 10% in the aftermath of the movie’s box office opening.

The glory years for Disney animation’s resurgence, at least financially, appeared to be over, following the slightly depressed box office of The Hunchback Of Notre Dame and Pocahontas too.

Goto Gallery……