Paragraphs

     Fantasia opened in November 1940.  Although the film ran for nearly a year in New York and Los Angeles, it found few admirers and failed to earn back its production cost of $2,280,000.  But like Disney's Pinocchio, which also failed when it opened earlier that year, Fantasia had legs and after seven re-releases the film became profitable. A notable release was in 1969, when Fantasia was marketed and came to be known as a movie way ahead of its time.
      More than 500 new characters were made for the Fantasia.  Among them were Pegasus and his flying horse family; Melinda, a shy centaurette; Brutus, a bashful centaur; Bacchus and Jacchus, the little horse he rides.  There's also thistle boys, orchid girls, the ostrich ballerina Upanova, a hippo, and prehistoric creatures.  The only familiar character throughout is Mickey Mouse, who made his appearance in the Sorceror's Apprentice, one of the film's seven segments.
      The film cost $2.3 million to make Fantasia, a huge amount back then considering the movie had no human actors on screen and it was just cartoons.  The only movie to compare to that kind of amount was Gone with the Wind, made the previous year at $4.1 million.  Walt Disney had already charmed audiences with films like Pinocchio and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  He, therefore, was determined to show producers and audiences that cartoons could also be great art.
     Since 1940, Fantasia has been re-released eight times.  To Walt Disney in 1940, it was classical music illustrated for the masses. To highbrow critics in 1941, it was too vulgar of taste. To hippies in 1969, it was a psychedelic freak out. And to children of the past half century, it was Mickey Mouse versus the multiplying brooms.  On October 5, 1990, a newly restored version of Fantasia was re-opened in 550 theaters.
   Back in the 40's though (during its original release date) it only opened in 14 theaters. This was due to the fact that the complicated equipment needed to reproduce the stereo soundtrack dictated playing the film in actual theatrical houses, which was too much of a costly proposition.