I love the Lion King and Pocahontas, but in the defense of Pocahontas, I feel the reason it didn't do too well because it was in an impossible high standard moment and other factors. Let me explain, in 1994, one year before the release of Pocahontas and the Lion King in a few months, Frank Wells died and things went from bad to worse for the two men involved, Katzenburg really wanted Wells position as President but Micheal said no, and to people thinking Eisner made a bad call, it really depends because Katzenburg was an asshole to his employees, and Eisner got so many complaints that he brushed it off for awhile, but when Wells died, he knew it was not going to be good morale and the stories that would come (Before Cancel Culture became a thing) out of this. So, betraying his best friend for better or worse, he told Jeffrey no, and that was the last straw. Jeffrey wasn't fired, he quit because of this. He actually was the one that said that Pocahontas was going not only nominated, but winning best picture. Another factor, the World Premiere in NYC Central Park, no it wasn't a failure as 100,000 people showed up but this was a factor as nobody paid to see a free movie and even if they liked it, there was no point in going back to the theater to watch it (I'm not saying this happened but hear me out) and given that California and New York were the biggest theater chain states at the time, this was not a good idea. This one is minor so I'll just say it, protest (It wasn't nationwide so it didn't get people far). Disney sabotage the film unintentionally, two scenes were changed and that was the real ending scene to Mine, Mine, Mine where the camera zoomed out to show the destruction the Virginia Company did. And this one, the biggest fucking mistake Disney ever made was cutting If I Never Knew You from the film. Yes, Menken was the one that said to take it out, but he wished he didn't do it and somebody should had stopped him. Goldberg (I think he said it) stated that Disney should have released the film under touchstone if they were worried about as this was not a kids movie as there was more sexual tension between Pocahontas and John Smith, the story was more darker than the finished film (The ending was the same), But Disney added too many notes. In the end, I'm happy Pocahontas was made, I grew up on the film and hearing the behind the scenes stuff makes me love it even more, especially the Special Edition with the added scenes. However, the film wasn't a flop or disappointment, or was it responsible for the downfall of the Disney Renaissance, as Micheal Eisner at an investor meeting in 96 said that because of the merchandise sales Pocahontas was a success, and he wasn't really wrong as she had two shows in Disney World, is featured on multiple Princess Gear for the Company, got featured in RBTI with Irene Bedard returning, and so far surviving Cancel Culture (They got the Redskins and Indians), had a terrible soul crushing sequel (Fuck John Rolfe), was part of SOTMK card game and park attraction, and is rumored to be in an upcoming video game (not Kingdom Hearts but that would have been so awesome), and a rumored live action film (Please God No!) on the way, she's not going anywhere for the time being.
During production of The Lion King (1994), Frank Wells was killed from helicopter crash. Jeffery Katzenberg and Michael Eisner are both mourned to Frank Wells's death because Frank Wells was a good friend to Michael Eisner and Jeffery Katzenberg. After that, Jeffery Katzenberg was fired by Michael Eisner, and Jeffery Katzenberg left Disney, and Jeffery Katzenberg founded Dreamworks.
Thank you for sharing Michale! I always loved the music and animation in Pocahontas, but felt that it wasn't as memorable (or captivating) as The Lion King 😀
Yeah, Pocahontas was a good movie, no doubt. Still, Lion King was surprisingly better with better songs, better themes, and things like that. Isn’t it interesting that twenty-two headers after Lion King’s release, Disney would come out with both Zootopia, and Moana, the former of which was probably as good as 1994’s The Lion King? While I do think that Zootopia is slightly better than Moana, I do think that unlike Pocahontas, Moana comes in really close with Zootopia and Lion King, due to how there were one, or two characters that may have been slightly underdeveloped. Anyway, great video!
The Lion King is probably one of the biggest examples of Disney's tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AndYouThoughtItWouldFail moments. Yeah, the B-Team really gave it all and made a movie that is still held up as one of the greatest influential animated movies of all time. On the other hand, Pocahontas is an example of what happens if you try too hard to be grand and as a result end up falling flat. As you said, Pocahontas becomes more boring because the focus is on bashing you with a message and the other parts of the movie suffers for it. The funny thing enough that years later the same thing would happen with Moana and Zootopia. The supposed filler animal movie gets more acclaim and sets records for Disney. However, unlike the last time, Zootopia has the anti-racist message while Moana is more of a traditional musical like Lion King. And Moana gets more critical and audience acclaim and money back due to not having a overtly preachy message.
You make some really good points! I also felt that Pocahontas was overly preachy (and serious). Disney desperately wanted to make this epic, best picture contender and it ultimately resulted in an animated film that was trying too hard to be a live action film. I actually remember thinking that Zootopia was going to be "just another talking animal movie" when I first saw the teaser trailer...and boy was I pleasantly surprised! The film was smart, funny, and surprisingly deep...just like The Lion King 😀 When you really think about it, Moana has some striking similarities to Pocahontas. The grandmother character, two animal sidekicks, cultures connected to nature/family, rebellious daughters of chiefs. But similarities aside, I have to agree that Moana was the much better film! Unlike Pocahontas, it didn't take itself too seriously, but still had powerful messages about family, nature, and heroism.
