‘Cinderella’ at 70: How a Magical Makeover Movie Saved Disney from Disaster

Disney’s cultural dominance is unquestionable in 2020. Thanks to the addition of the Marvel and Star Wars franchises to their already successful kingdom, seven of the top 10 highest-grossing films of 2019 came from Disney. Even without the Marvel movies, Disney still crushed it with their own stories (Aladdin, Frozen II, The Lion King). That’s why it’s remarkable to think that the company could have gone in a completely different, downward direction 70 years ago. If you love Disney as it exists today, you have one movie to thank: Cinderella.

Cinderella opened in Boston theaters 70 years ago today, beginning its march to box office success. Time has, of course, been kind to Cinderella. The film is regarded as a masterpiece and it’s prominent placement in the Disney Princess franchise keeps the characters relevant generation after generation. But since Disney has always been great about lionizing its back catalogue, all of the classic films seem about as groundbreaking as all the rest. You’d never know from their high status in pop culture that Pinocchio, Dumbo, and Bambi were all flops during their initial theatrical runs. That’s why even if you love Cinderella, you may not be aware that the film accomplished something remarkable. The film saved Disney.

Disney’s output did not fare well after the massive success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. That film, the first animated feature film of all time, grossed $7.8 million at the box office (that’s $139.3 million adjusted for inflation). But audiences at the time no doubt viewed the feat as a stunt, 83 minutes of special effects spectacle to be admired before moving back to traditional, live-action fare. Making matters worse (for Disney and also, like, the world), World War II broke out a few months before Pinocchio opened. Cut off from an international market and faced with an audience that felt animated features were a fad, 1940’s Pinocchio only grossed $1.4 million ($26 million adjusted). 1940’s Fantasia made even less money than Pinocchio, and 1941’s Dumbo made even less than Fantasia. Disney was able to turn Dumbo into a moneymaker, though, by slashing the budget to a third of what Pinocchio cost. The company kinda turned it around with 1942’s Bambi, which at least outperformed Fantasia and Dumbo. Still, the company hadn’t had an actual hit since Snow White, its first film.

With feature-length films clearly not working, Disney turned to a curious partnership in order to stay afloat, one with the United States Department of State. The U.S. government reached out to Disney and sent a team of animators on a tour of Central and South America with the intention of making a film showcasing the countries’ cultures. Why? Because the government feared that Latin America was veering towards the Nazi Party and they knew that people in those countries loved Mickey Mouse! Seriously! The resulting film, 1943’s Saludos Amigos, kicked off a stretch of cheap-to-make anthology films that kept the company active during WWII and the aftermath. The Three Caballeros (1945), Make Mine Music (1946), Fun and Fancy Free (1947), Melody Time (1948), and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) didn’t wow audiences like Snow White did, but at least they weren’t all flops. On average, those movies made around $2.5 million each ($31.4 million adjusted), which is at least an improvement on Pinocchio.

This is why Cinderella is a big deal. Walt Disney wanted to make Cinderella earlier, right after Snow White by some accounts, but financial struggles kept the film on the back burner as those anthology films dug the company out of debt. Then Walt, wanting to get back to making feature-length animated movies, officially greenlit Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Alice in Wonderland. He chose Cinderella as the priority due to its similarities to Snow White, and he made the right call.

The film was a hit, with critics and audiences. The film earned $8 million at the box office ($84.9 million adjusted), which is a bigger haul than the previous three Disney films combined. In its initial box office run, Cinderella became the third biggest hit of 1950 (after King Solomon’s Mines and All About Eve). It was by far Disney’s biggest hit since Snow White, and the company put those profits to work.

Because of Cinderella’s box office success, in addition to all of the profits raked in from Cinderella merchandise, Disney was able to fund its 1950s slate. That streak—Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty—is probably the greatest stretch of Disney films of all time, at least outside of the Disney Renaissance. The success also funded Disney’s move into television and, in a game-changing move, it gave the company the boost they needed to start building Walt Disney World.

Cinderella, Disney’s first full-length animated feature in almost 8 years, proved that the company wasn’t a one-hit wonder and it put Disney on track to accomplish everything we know it for today. The magic was supposed to last until midnight, but its been going for 70 years.

Stream Cinderella on Disney+