Sleeping Beauty began development in 1950. The film took nearly a decade and $6 million (equivalent to $64,719,178 in 2024) to produce, and was Disney's most expensive animated feature at the time. Itstapestry-like art style was devised byEyvind Earle, who was inspired by pre-Renaissance European art; its score and songs, composed byGeorge Bruns, were based onPyotr Tchaikovsky's1889 ballet.Sleeping Beauty was the first animated film to use theSuper Technirama 70widescreen process and was the second full-length animated feature filmed inanamorphic widescreen, followingLady and the Tramp (1955).[3]
It was released in theaters on January 29, 1959, to mixed reviews from critics who praised its art direction and musical score, but criticized its plot and characters. The film was abox-office bomb in its initial release, grossing $5.3 million (equivalent to $57,168,607 in 2024), and losing $900,000 (equivalent to $9,707,877 in 2024) for the distributor. Many employees from theanimation studio werelaid off.Sleeping Beauty's re-releases have been successful,[4] and it has become one of Disney's most artistically acclaimed features. The film was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture at the32nd Academy Awards.
Maleficent, alive-action reimagining of the film fromMaleficent's perspective, was released in 2014, followed by a sequel,Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, in 2019. The latter year,Sleeping Beauty was selected for preservation in the United States Library of Congress'National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
In14th centuryEurope, King Stefan and Queen Leah[a] welcome their newborn daughter,Aurora, and proclaim a holiday for their subjects to pay homage to the princess. At herchristening, she is betrothed to Prince Phillip, the son of Stefan's friend King Hubert, in order tounite their kingdoms. The threegood fairies,Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, each bless Aurora with one gift. After Flora and Fauna give her beauty and song, the evil fairyMaleficent appears, angry at not being invited. She places acurse on Aurora: before the sun sets on Aurora's sixteenth birthday, Aurora will prick her finger on thespindle of aspinning wheel and die. Merryweather's magic isn't strong enough to undo the curse, so she uses her gift to change it so that Aurora will instead fall into a deep sleep untiltrue love's kiss breaks the spell.
Still fearful, Stefan orders all the kingdom's spinning wheels to be burned. Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather devise a plan to hide Aurora in a secluded location and raise her themselves until her sixteenth birthday, to which Stefan and Leah reluctantly agree. The fairies move into a forestcottage, giving up magic and living like humanpeasants; they also rename Aurora to Briar Rose.
On Aurora's sixteenth birthday, the fairies send her to gather berries so they can prepare a surprise party. In the forest, Aurora sings to heranimal friends, drawing the attention of Phillip, now a handsome young man. They fall in love without revealing their names, and Aurora invites Phillip to the cottage that evening. Meanwhile, Flora and Merryweather's argument about the color of Aurora's birthday gown attracts the attention of Maleficent's petraven, Diablo.[b] Aurora returns and tells her guardians that she has fallen in love. They reveal her true identity, which Diablo overhears, and tell her that she must never see the boy again. Meanwhile, Phillip tells his father about the girl he met and wants to marry, unaware she is the princess to whom he is betrothed. King Hubert unsuccessfully tries to dissuade him.
Shortly before sunset, the fairies bring Aurora to thecastle for her birthday celebration. Maleficent appears as aglowing ball of light and hypnotically beckons Aurora to a tower room, where Aurora pricks her finger on a spindle of a spinning wheel that Maleficent conjures and falls into a deep sleep. The fairies place the sleeping Aurora in the highest tower, and put the entire kingdom to sleep until Aurora is awakened. While doing so, Flora overhears a conversation between Hubert and Stefan, and realizes that Phillip is the boy that Aurora met. The fairies rush to the cottage, only to discover that Phillip has been abducted by Maleficent.
At her domain, the Forbidden Mountain, Maleficent reveals Aurora's identity to Phillip. She plans to lock him away until he is an old man on the verge of death before releasing him to meet Aurora, who will not have aged a single day. The fairies rescue Phillip and arm him with the magical Sword of Truth and the Shield of Virtue. Maleficent surrounds Stefan's castle with a forest ofthorns, but Phillip breaks through it. Outraged, she transforms into a giant, fire-breathingdragon, overpowering Phillip. The fairies enchant Phillip's sword, which he throws straight into Maleficent's heart, killing her.
Phillip finds Aurora and awakens her with a kiss, bringing the rest of the kingdom out of their slumber. The two descend to the ballroom, where Aurora reunites with her parents and happily dances with Phillip as the good fairies look on with joy.
Mary Costa asPrincess Aurora, also known as Briar Rose and Sleeping Beauty, an innocent and romantic daughter of King Stefan and Queen Leah who is cursed by Maleficent.[9][10][11]
Bill Shirley as Prince Phillip, Aurora's bold and spirited "true love" to whom she was betrothed and King Hubert's son.[12][13][14] He is occasionally accompanied by hishorse, Samson.[15]
Eleanor Audley asMaleficent, a powerful evil fairy and self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil" who casts a curse on Aurora and is responsible for all misfortune in King Stefan's kingdom.[16][17][18]
Verna Felton asFlora, the domineering and responsible self-appointed leader of the Three Good Fairies.[4][19][20] Her signature color is red.[21]
Barbara Jo Allen asFauna, a sweet and affectionate good fairy who is a peacemaker between Flora and Merryweather.[4][23][24] Her signature color is green.[25]
Walt Disney first considered making an animated version ofCharles Perrault's 1697 fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" in 1938.[36] Preliminary artwork was submitted byJoe Grant, but the project did not move forward.[37] Disney registeredSleeping Beauty as a planned production title with theMotion Picture Association of America on January 19, 1950, after a preview audience's positive response toCinderella.[37][38] By November of that year, theLos Angeles Times officially confirmed the film's development.[39] Disney envisionedSleeping Beauty as the pinnacle of hisstudio's achievements in animation, and was willing to pool all resources needed to achieve that.[36][40] Recognizing the difficulty of producing another fairy-tale feature which would not be too reminiscent of his previous films, notablySnow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) andCinderella (1950), he repeatedly told his staff during production that it had to be different.[35][41]
Key story work was done byTed Sears,Winston Hibler,Bill Peet, andRalph Wright, who were joined by otherstory artists as production continued.[37][42] They decided to discard the second half of the original Perrault story, which describes a sleeping beauty married to a strange prince, and focus on its first half to develop a more convincing relationship between the characters.[42][43] The earliest known story outline was written by April 1951, featuring a climactic wake-up kiss and the encounter between prince and princess before she succumbs to the curse. It also included the names of the fairies, who had been reduced from eight to four, and their corresponding magical abilities: Tranquility, the Fairy of Dreams; Fernadell, the Fairy of the Forest; Merryweather, the Fairy of the Elements; and Maleficent, the Fairy of Darkness.[44] The story artists expanded the fairies' roles, turning the good fairies into comical guardians of the princess, and the evil fairy into a more powerful villain.[45][46] In this version of the story, Maleficent would conjure an indestructible spinning wheel, which the king and queen would unsuccessfully try to get rid of; they would be forced to hide their daughter in the castle walls and never let her out.[44] The princess was envisioned as a "poor little rich girl", burdened with her royal lineage and dreaming of exploring the world outside the castle.[37] Shortly before her sixteenth birthday, the princess was to switch clothes with her maidservant and secretly escape to a nearby forest (or country fair) where she would meet and fall in love with the prince.[44][47] He would travel to a faraway land and return a few years later to fight Maleficent with the help of the good fairies, find the sleeping princess and wake her up with the kiss.[44] Story ideas of that period also included the good fairies attempting to surround the castle with a protective circle and Maleficent having a comically incompetentvulture sidekick, although the earliest outline depicted him as a sinisterfalcon.[44][47][48]
We had a lot of problems. We were fighting to break away from what we had done in the past.Sleeping Beauty was tough, because it had many of the elements we had already used inSnow White andCinderella. You've got to give the creators new things to work with so they'll be able to keep their enthusiasm up. You're in trouble if they start saying, "Haven't we done this before?" We had to find out what we had and whether it would please the public. I'm never sure myself what they're going to buy.
—Walt Disney, on the difficulties of adaptingSleeping Beauty as an animated feature[49]
By June 1952, the fullstoryboard ofSleeping Beauty was completed, but Disney rejected it, stating that its approach was too similar to his studio's earlier films.[40] The story artists discarded the original version and started from scratch, deciding to retain several ideas from earlier suggestions, such as the prince's acquaintance with the princess before the curse is fulfilled, and a shorter sleep.[37][50] The story team initially developed a sequence in which the characters meet during atreasure hunt, but later abandoned it, feeling it drifted too far from the central storyline. Instead, it was written that the prince and princess would meet in the forest by chance, which had been introduced in the 1951 outline.[43][44] Striving for more serious storytelling, Disney decided to cut severalgags involving the Three Good Fairies, which he felt were more appropriate forDonald Duck shorts.[37][51] In one, the fairies (who had been renamed Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather) try to bake a birthday cake for the princess and accidentally blow up theoven.[51] The good fairies were originally intended to rule the domains indicated by their names: Flora would be in charge offlowers and plants, Fauna would oversee theanimals and birds, and Merryweather would control theclimate. Disney discarded this idea as well, feeling that it did not advance the central storyline.[15]
Part of the difficulty in production was in differentiating the studio's third princess, who had been named Aurora, fromSnow White andCinderella.[37][52] The story artists came up with an idea of the fairies raising her in a forest cottage, with Aurora unaware of her background or her curse.[50] She was also given a new, more modern personality to make her more appealing to audiences.[37] In earlier versions of the story, Aurora would encounter Maleficent, who would manipulate her into pricking her finger on the spindle, but Disney requested to rewrite the scene so that Maleficent would lure Aurora withhypnosis, stating that the "eerie, haunting presentation of a victim powerless in the hands of evil" would be a stronger choice.[53][54] The improvement of his animators' skill in drafting a realistic male figure prompted Disney to expand the role of the prince, who had been named Phillip.[37][52] To establish him as Aurora's "true love", the story artists developed a plot in which Maleficent kidnaps Phillip and plans to keep him prisoner in her castle for a century (which was also a reference to the 100-year slumber in Perrault's story).[55] Several story elements originated from discarded ideas forSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) andCinderella (1950), including the prince and princess dancing on a cloud (Disney's favorite concept) and Phillip's escape from Maleficent's domain.[56][57]
Walt Disney spent three years searching for a voice for Princess Aurora, and considered shelving the project entirely beforeMary Costa was cast by June 1952.[58][59] She was invited to audition by composerWalter Schumann, who heard her singing at a dinner party for the entertainment industry.[60] Born inKnoxville, Tennessee, Costa had a strongSouthern accent, which nearly prevented her from being cast until she proved that she could sustain aBritish accent.[61] Disney personally contacted Costa within hours of her audition to confirm that she had the role.[62][63] Before Costa was cast,LP records by forty female singers were heard by the story artists, and fifteen of them auditioned.[64] Costa recorded her lines for three years, from 1952 to 1955.[58] Twenty singers auditioned for the role of Prince Phillip, andBill Shirley, who had a highbaritone voice and experience inlight opera, was the final choice. Before Shirley and Costa were selected, they made audition records together to determine if their voices complemented each other. Disney was convinced that they did, and approved the casting.[65]
Disney personally suggestedEleanor Audley for the role of Maleficent.[40] Audley initially refused, since she hadtuberculosis and was unsure if she would be strong enough for recording sessions, but reconsidered when she began feeling better.[35] Regarding her voice work for the character, Audley later said that she "tried to do a lot of contrasting to be both sweet and nasty at the same time."[56] Disney choseBarbara Jo Allen for Fauna, who had been frequently compared by the story artists to Vera Vague (Jo Allen's character onBob Hope'sradioshow), andBarbara Luddy for Merryweather.[30][66] Many actors auditioned for the role of King Stefan, includingHans Conried, beforeTaylor Holmes was eventually cast; this was Holmes' final film role before his death in September 1959, eight months after the film's release.[56][67][68] Several of the studio's voice regulars were cast in the film, includingVerna Felton as Flora andBill Thompson as King Hubert.[30][69] Felton is also believed to have been the voice of Queen Leah, but the studio has no saved records of who voiced the character.[70]
It was very difficult for him to put his mind on this picture. I think mainly because Walt was working on Disneyland, he was occupied with that ... He just didn't have time or energy to come in as often as we'd like him to. He come in if we pressed him, but otherwise he'd just say "Well, I think you're doing okay. Why don't you go ahead, and I'll come in later" ... He just didn't have the creative juices going on this picture than he did on most of them.
—Ollie Johnston, on Walt Disney's involvement in the film's production[37]
In 1952, Walt Disney planned to releaseSleeping Beauty in 1955, but the production experienced substantial delays.[71] By April 1954, the film was scheduled for a February 1957 release, which was soon postponed toChristmas 1957.[71][72] The release was later rescheduled for Christmas 1958, with the film eventually premiering in January 1959.[72][73]
Production began in July 1953, when supervising directorWilfred Jackson started to create a pilot scene in which Aurora and Phillip meet in the forest.[71][74] Jackson recorded dialogue, assembled a story reel, and was to begin preliminary animation, but Disney was dissatisfied with the original version of the scene, and Jackson (along withTed Sears and two other story artists) had to extensively rewrite it over the next few months before Disney approved the revised version.[71] In December 1953, Jackson had aheart attack and was replaced byEric Larson, whose unit would animate the scene.[71][75] By July 1954, Disney began buildinghis own theme park and developing a number of television series (such asThe Mickey Mouse Club), and most of the studio personnel working onSleeping Beauty at the time were assigned to develop those projects.[37][50] The film's production was suspended, although the castle at Disneyland was namedSleeping Beauty Castle to promote it.[50][76]
During its dormancy,Sleeping Beauty was given toErdman Penner and Joe Rinaldi for further development, and the full storyboard was completed and to be discussed with Walt Disney by early 1955.[50][72] Production resumed in December 1956, but although Disney insisted on overseeing every aspect of the film, he remained focused on Disneyland, and animators (such asMilt Kahl) blamed him for the delays.[50][72][77][78] 2,500 feet of animation had been completed by January 1957, with 3,775 feet to be done.[72] According to studio executive Harry Tytle, after the screening of the finished footage on August 22 of that year, Disney expressed disinterest inSleeping Beauty, and "didn't give this the treatment he would have in years past, where he'd go in for a couple of days and fine-tooth comb the whole picture."[72][77] Production delays led to increased costs for the film: the $10,000 forest scene, which took several years to complete, exceeded its budget and displeased Disney.[35][79] Relatively late in production, he replaced supervising director Eric Larson withClyde Geronimi.[80] A quota system was introduced to keep costs down, requiring animators to create a specified number of drawings per day.[81]
The Unicorn Tapestries are credited for providing a starting point in the film's artistic direction.[82]
To distinguishSleeping Beauty from his previous features, Walt Disney decided to take a different approach to the film's visual design.[35][83] After one of the story meetings, he told Eric Larson that he needed a "moving illustration", and did not care how long it would take.[84] By December 1952,Kay Nielsen was the first to create styling sketches for the film, which suggested an ethereal design with soft colors.[85][86][87] The film's production designerKen Anderson was impressed with the artwork, but felt that Nielsen'spastel paintings would be difficult to translate into animation.[88] Disney taskedJohn Hench to help interpret Nielsen's artwork with opaque cel paint, but Nielsen left the studio by April 1953.[85][88] The film's style developed after Hench's visit tothe Cloisters, where he saw theUnicorn Tapestries series.[89] Hench brought reproductions of the tapestries back to the studio, and made sketches inspired by the museum visit, suggesting them as a visual template for the film's design.[86][90] Disney approved the idea, and background artistEyvind Earle made trial paintings based on Hench's sketches.[69][82] WantingSleeping Beauty to have a unified look from beginning to end, Disney made Earle both the film's color stylist and its artistic director, giving him unprecedented control of the film's visual appearance.[41][91][92]Sleeping Beauty was the first film of the studio in which background paintings defined its art direction.[93]
I wanted stylized, simplified Gothic. Straight, tall, perpendicular lines like Gothic cathedrals ... I used one-point perspective. I rearranged the bushes and trees in geometrical patterns. I made a medieval tapestry out of the surface wherever possible. All my foregrounds were tapestry designs of decorative weeds and flowers and grasses. And since it is obvious that the Gothic style and detail evolved from the Arabic influence acquired during theCrusades, I found it perfectly permissible to use all the wonderful patterns and details found in Persian miniatures. And since Persian miniatures had a lot in common with Chinese and Japanese art, I felt it was OK for me to inject quite a bit of Japanese art, especially in the close-up of leaves and overhanging branches.
Earle's distinct styling forSleeping Beauty was influenced by the pre-RenaissanceNorthern European art (including the works ofPieter Bruegel,Albrecht Dürer,Huybrecht van Eyck,Giotto di Bondone, andSandro Botticelli), as well as byGothic andPersian art,medievaltapestries, andJapanese prints.[55][91][95][96] His main inspiration was theilluminated book of hours byHerman and Jean Limbourg,Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, from which he took key colors such as the yellow-green for Maleficent's flames, and the pink and blue for Aurora's royal dress.[95] Earle also combined historical influences with amodernist vision, offering a more stylized and boldly colored appearance of backgrounds and characters, unlike anything seen in previous Disney animated features.[38][95] In his five years of working on the film, Earle created about three hundred visual-development paintings, hundreds of thumbnail scene sketches, and dozens of key background paintings, some fifteen feet long.[55][94][96][97] Over eight hundred other backgrounds in the film were created byFrank Armitage, Thelma Witmer, Al Dempster,Walt Peregoy, Bill Layne, Ralph Hulett, Dick Anthony, Fil Mottola, Richard H. Thomas, and Anthony Rizzo, who worked under Earle's supervision and followed his style to maintain consistency in the film's design.[98]
Although the layout artists and animators were impressed with Earle's paintings, they became discouraged by working in an unfamiliar style, and worried that a modernist aesthetic didn't suit the fairy tale feature.[99] Animators struggled to make the characters (which had to be stylized to match Earle's design) stand out against his detailed background paintings; they also complained that Earle's design and color styling hindered character animation.[100][101] At one point,Frank Thomas and Milt Kahl rebelled and went to Disney's office to complain, but Disney said that the animators always previously assimilated the style of the inspirational artwork (such asMary Blair's), and insisted on the visual design.[99][101] Earle's design prompted Walt Disney to filmSleeping Beauty inSuper Technirama 70 as the first animated film in this format.[40][102] This decision presented additional difficulties for animators and layout artists, who had to work with very large sheets of paper, and create twice as much art to fill the frame.[37][69]Sleeping Beauty was the last hand-inked Disney animated feature film before the studio switched to theXerox process withOne Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).[35] Xerox was partially used inSleeping Beauty to animate the forest of thorns in the final battle scene.[103]
When Clyde Geronimi became the supervising director, he had creative differences with Earle, feeling that Earle's paintings didn't "have the mood. For example, the dungeon scene: he had it all bright and too much detail. I wanted more mood, dark dungeon effect ... All that beautiful detail in the trees, the bark, and all that, that's all well and good, but who the hell's going to look at that? The backgrounds became more important than the animation. He'd made them more likeChristmas cards".[75][80] By that time, Disney felt that too much focus was on the film's design at the expense of its story.[72] In March 1958, beforeSleeping Beauty was completed, Earle left the Disney studio forJohn Sutherland Productions. Geronimi then had the background paintings softened with anairbrush so they did not compete with the animation.[80]
Before animation began, a live-action reference version with actors in costumes was filmed for the animators to study. Walt Disney insisted on this because, he said, he wanted the characters to be "as real as possible, near flesh-and-blood".[3] Several animators objected to this method as uncreative, includingMilt Kahl, who stated that "anyone worth his salt in this business ought to know how people move."[3][104] By March 1954,Helene Stanley was hired to provide live-action references for Princess Aurora, and several scenes of the Three Good Fairies.[105][106] She was chosen from over three hundred candidates interviewed for the role.[107] Stanley's costume for Aurora's woodland alias, Briar Rose, was created byAlice Estes at the behest ofMarc Davis as her first job assignment for the Disney studio.[108]
Prince Phillip was modeled byEd Kemmer.[104] For a few scenes in the final battle scene, Kemmer had to ride a wooden wagon imitating a horse which was controlled by the animators.[109]Cubby O'Brien was a model for young Phillip.[106] The live-action reference for Maleficent was provided by her voice actress,Eleanor Audley, and dancer Jane Fowler.[18][110] Among the actresses who appeared in reference footage for the Three Good Fairies wereSpring Byington,Madge Blake, andFrances Bavier.[40]Hans Conried andDon Barclay were live-action references for King Stefan and King Hubert.[111][112] The lackey who serveswine to the kings in the "Skumps" scene was modeled byFranklin Pangborn.[113]
Tom Oreb, whose designs employed a "straight-against-curve" motif similar to Earle's backgrounds, was the film's character stylist.[114] Oreb was the first Disney artist to receive a credit in that capacity.[55] He worked closely with Earle (who also had decision-making capability in character designs and color schemes), and created preliminary sketches for most of the characters, incorporating strong horizontal and vertical planes like the background paintings.[37][38][91] The studio's ink and paint department made finishedcels of Oreb's sketches, which were placed over Earle's backgrounds to ensure that they would match the film's style.[115] The animators complained that Oreb's designs, like Earle's styling, were too rigid to animate.[101] According toKen Anderson, the characters became "really, unfortunately, quite stiff. In order to fit this mannered background, they, too, took on a sort of cylindrical, geometrical shape that didn't lend itself as well to the ... Well, you might say, theBambi type of animation. It wasn't really possible just to make the characters fit the style and still be quite as attractive."[35]
Marc Davis, who embraced Earle's style, was the supervising animator of Princess Aurora.[95][116] He also worked on the character's design along with Oreb, whose earlier designs of Aurora were influenced byAudrey Hepburn.[11] Stylizing the character to match the backgrounds, Oreb incorporated vertical lines into the folds of her dresses and two-dimensional swirls into her hair, while Davis sharpened her features and clothes, addingArt Nouveau andArt Deco style to her curls.[11][38][108] Aurora's final design was more refined than those of previous Disney heroines, and therefore required more attention to detail than any animated character before.[108]Iwao Takamoto, who was quality control animator of Aurora, called working with her animation drawings a "laborious job" which limitedin-betweeners such as himself to completing only six or seven drawings per day, a small fraction of the twenty-four required for each second of film.[8][108][114]
In designing Maleficent, Marc Davis experimented with flame-like shapes and triangular color patterns.[38]
Davis was also tasked with supervising Maleficent's animation and design, which was influenced by a painting in aCzechoslovakian art book that he found in his home library.[35][117] Although Davis' original designs had red trim on Maleficent's costume to highlight its flame-like shape, Earle asked to change it to lavender because red would appear too strong.[108][117] Davis also addedhorns and a collar resemblingbat wings to give the character a morediabolic look, and endowed her costume with a reptilian quality to foreshadow her dragon form.[38][118] Animating Maleficent was challenging for Davis because of the character's tendency tosoliloquize and her lack of physical contact with other characters.[119] This was resolved with the introduction of Diablo, Maleficent's raven, whom Davis also designed and animated.[55][69] Maleficent's dragon form was animated by Eric Cleworth, who based its head movements on those of arattlesnake.[55][120]
Frank Thomas andOllie Johnston, who struggled the most to adapt to Earle's style, were the supervising animators of Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather.[35][121] Walt Disney initially urged that the characters be homogeneous, but Thomas and Johnston objected, feeling that it would be more interesting for each fairy to have a distinct personality.[20][122] Oreb's early designs portrayed the characters in a stricter geometric style, reflecting the three primary shapes (square,triangle, andcircle), but this was too difficult to animate, and was discarded.[37] The final design was set afterDon DaGradi created sketches for a softer look for the fairies, but they retained angularity in their capes and headdresses to match the background styling.[35][123][124] Thomas and Johnston studied the movements of old women they saw at wedding receptions and grocery stores for help in animation, and the fairies' costume design was influenced by wardrobe books for medievalScandinavian andGerman-style attire.[122][123]
Milt Kahl animated Prince Phillip, but was displeased with the character's limited emotional range.[125][126] He also animated King Stefan, King Hubert, and Phillip's horse, Samson, whose design was influenced by the works ofRonald Searle.[56][69][127] Kahl's characters were co-animated byJohn Lounsbery, who also worked on Aurora's forest-animal friends and thepig-like leader of Maleficent's goons.[128][129][130] Among other animators working on the film wereWolfgang Reitherman, who directed the climactic dragon battle sequence;Les Clark, who directed the opening scene in which the townspeople march to the castle for Aurora's christening; and John Sibley, who animated the lackey.[69][131][132]
The use of music fromPyotr Tchaikovsky's 1889 balletThe Sleeping Beauty was discussed early in the film's development, but the idea was initially discarded due to the potential difficulty of adapting Tchaikovsky's ballet as a film score.[37][133]Jack Lawrence andSammy Fain were signed to write the film's original songs in April 1952, andWalter Schumann was the composer.[63][134] A song score was produced by late summer of that year, which included themain title song and itsreprise by Fain andVictor Young; the opening number, "Holiday", sung by the royal subjects celebrating Princess Aurora's birth, followed by "It Happens I Have a Picture", in which King Stefan and King Hubert discuss the virtues of their respective children; "Sunbeams (Bestowal of Gifts)", sung by the Three Good Fairies and Maleficent as they bestow gifts on Aurora; "Where in the World", Aurora'ssolo, followed by thelove song "Once Upon a Dream", in which she meets Prince Phillip; and "Mirage (Follow Your Heart)", in which Aurora is lured to the spinning wheel.[135][136][137][138][139]
After Eyvind Earle became the film's artistic director the following year, Walt Disney returned to the idea of using Tchaikovsky's ballet score, feeling that Lawrence and Fain'sBroadway-type songs would clash with Earle's stylized design.[69][133][135][140] Schumann unsuccessfully tried to create new arrangements for the songs which would give them a "Tchaikovsky sound", but the original song score was unusable except for "Once Upon a Dream" (which was based on the ballet's "Garland Waltz" theme).[135][140] Schumann later left the project due to creative differences with Disney, andWard Kimball recommended thatGeorge Bruns replace him.[141]Sleeping Beauty was Bruns' first collaboration with the Disney studio, and his first experience as a film composer.[133][135]
Working closely with animators, directors, and story artists, Bruns studied and experimented with Tchaikovsky's music for three years to make it work as a film score.[142] The opening number, "Hail to the Princess Aurora" (sung by the royal subjects going to the castle for Aurora's christening), was based on a march in the ballet's prologue.[135] The thirdstrain of the "Garland Waltz" became "I Wonder", sung by Aurora as she walks through the forest with her animal friends.[135] The suspenseful "Puss in Boots" theme from the ballet's third act was used for the scene in which Maleficent lures Aurora to the spinning wheel.[143] Bruns made several attempts to create a song from the "Silver Fairy" theme, resulting in "Riddle, Diddle, One, Two, Three" (sung by Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather as they prepare birthday presents for Aurora).[37][144][145] The song was eventually cut, but its melody remained in the scene.[37] Among other deleted songs were "Evil—Evil", which would have been sung by Maleficent and her goons, and "Go to Sleep", in which the Three Good Fairies put a sleeping spell on the castle.[144][146]
Four of Bruns' songs based on the ballet score were used in the film: "Hail to the Princess Aurora", "The Gifts of Beauty and Song", "I Wonder", and "Sleeping Beauty".[135] For "Skumps", sung by King Stefan and King Hubert as theytoast their children's upcoming wedding, Bruns composed his own tune in Tchaikovsky's style because he could not find anything suitable in the ballet.[142] The song lyrics were written byTom Adair,Erdman Penner,Winston Hibler, andTed Sears; most have the same placement and purpose in the plot as Fain and Lawrence's original songs.[135][147] Recording of the music began in theUnited States, but due to a musicians' strike, Bruns was sent to astate-of-the-art studio inBerlin which permitted a newstereo sound system for the film.[38][69][144][148]Sleeping Beauty's score was the firsttrue-stereo soundtrack.[148] It was recorded with theGraunke Symphony Orchestra from September 8 to November 25, 1958.[38]
Sleeping Beauty premiered at theFox Wilshire Theater inLos Angeles on January 29, 1959, and was simultaneously released in theaters[c] with the documentary shortGrand Canyon (1958).[73][150][151] It was shown in selected theaters which were specially equipped to project the film in large-formatSuper Technirama 70 with six-track stereophonic sound.[38] To promote the film, aDisneyland episode "The Peter Tchaikovsky Story" was aired onABC on January 30, 1959.[144][152] The episode was the first television showsimulcast in stereo, and included a loose version of Tchaikovsky's life, Walt Disney's explanation of the Super Technirama 70 process, and clips fromSleeping Beauty.[152][153][154]
With a production budget of $6 million,Sleeping Beauty was the most expensive Disney film at the time, and was over twice as expensive as each of the preceding three Disney animated features:Alice in Wonderland (1951),Peter Pan (1953), andLady and the Tramp (1955).[149] During its original release, the filmgrossed approximately $5.3 million (the distributor's share of thebox office gross) in the United States and Canada.[155] It was considered abox-office bomb, andBuena Vista Distribution (Disney's distribution division) lost $900,000.[156] Eric Larson blamed the studio's publicity department for the film's underperformance, feeling thatThe Shaggy Dog (released later that year) had a far more extensive and successful advertising campaign.[150] The production costs and box office failure ofSleeping Beauty, coupled with the underperformance of much of the studio's 1959–1960 release slate, caused Walt Disney to lose interest in animation.[77] His company posted an annual loss of $1,300,000 forfiscal year 1960 (its first in a decade), and there were massive layoffs throughout the animation department.[1][77]
Sleeping Beauty was first re-released theatrically in 1970 on standard35 mm film, earning $3.8 million (equivalent to $30,767,952 in 2024).[157] It was re-released in May 1979 in the original 70 mm format for a ten-week test engagement atSeattle's Crest Theatre before a wider release later that year in 70 and 35 mm, with stereo andmono sound.[157][158][159][160] The film was re-released in 1986, grossing $40 million in the United States and Canada (equivalent to $114,741,955 in 2024) and in 1995.[161][162][163][164] With a lifetime gross in the United States and Canada of $51.6 million from all releases,Sleeping Beauty is the second-most successful film released in1959, just behindBen-Hur.[2][40] Adjusted for ticket-price inflation, the domestic total gross is nearly $681 million, making it one of the top 40 highest-grossing films.[165]
On October 14, 1986,Sleeping Beauty was released onVHS,Betamax, andLaserDisc as part of theWalt Disney Classics collection; over one million videocassettes were sold.[166][167] The film began amoratorium on March 31, 1988.[168] Digitally restored in 1997, it was released on VHS and LaserDisc in bothfullscreen andwidescreen as part of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection on September 16 of that year.[169][170] To commemorate the release,Mary Costa (the voice of Princess Aurora) hosted a special theatrical screening of the film in her hometown ofKnoxville, Tennessee.[171]
Sleeping Beauty was released on VHS and in a two-disc Special EditionDVD on September 9, 2003.[172] The DVD edition featured the 2002 restoration of the film, presented in both widescreen (formatted at 2.35:1) andfullscreen versions.[173][174][175] It also included a making-of featurette from the 1997 VHS; theGrand Canyon short documentary film; the life-of-Tchaikovsky segment of theDisneyland episode "The Peter Tchaikovsky Story"; a 1951 story outline of the film; live-action reference clips; a virtual gallery of concept art, layout and background designs; three trailers; and audio commentary by Mary Costa,Eyvind Earle,Ollie Johnston, and others.[175][176] The release ended on January 31, 2004.[177]
On October 7, 2008, a Platinum Edition ofSleeping Beauty was released as a two-disc DVD and onBlu-ray.[178] It was the first installment in the Platinum line released inhigh-definition video.[179] This release was based on the 2007 restoration of the film from its originalTechnicolor negatives (interpositives, several generations removed from the original negative, were used for other home-video releases) in its full-negative aspect ratio of 2.55:1, which is wider than both prints shown at the film's original Technirama engagements (2.20:1), and theCinemaScope-compatible reduction prints for general release at 2.35:1.[180][181] It included an online featureBD-Live; a new behind-the-scenes documentaryPicture Perfect: The Making of Sleeping Beauty; a virtual recreation of theSleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough atDisneyland; an alternate opening of the film; four deleted songs; and bonus features from the previous DVD release.[182] The set returned to theDisney Vault on January 30, 2010.[183]
Sleeping Beauty was re-released on Diamond Edition Blu-ray andDVD and onDigital HD on October 7, 2014, including the documentary shortArt of Evil: Generations Of Disney Villains (dedicated to animators and the legacy of villains in Disney features), three deleted scenes from the film, karaoke, and extras from the Platinum Blu-ray release.[184][185] For its 60th anniversary on September 24, 2019,Sleeping Beauty was re-released for HD digital download and on Blu-ray as part of the Walt Disney Signature Collection.[186]
In May 1989, Mary Costa suedthe Walt Disney Company for royalties of $2 million owed to her since the 1986 home-video release ofSleeping Beauty.[187] Costa said that her contract with the studio prevented it from producing "phonograph recordings or transcriptions for sale to the public" without her permission.[188] The case wassettled out of court by June 1991, with Costa receiving an undisclosed sum.[189]
Sleeping Beauty initially received mixed reviews from critics, with many praising its art direction, voice acting, and musical score, but criticizing its plot and characters.[150][190] Ren Grevatt fromBillboard called the film a "Disney best", and complimented its score, colors, and the final battle scene, which he described as a "hair-raiser for the youngsters and grown-up alike."[191]Variety praised the vocal work of Mary Costa and Bill Shirley, and called the scenes involving the Three Good Fairies "some of the best parts of the picture."[192] Kate Cameron wrote forThe New York Daily News that the film "will charm the young and tickle adults" and praised its story, voice acting, and character animation.[193] George Bourke of theMiami Herald described the film as a "magnificent achievement, offering suspense, action and happy humor, in a truly giant-size package."[194] Writing for theSt. Petersburg Times, Lorna Carroll called the film a "masterpiece and the last word in the art of animation"; however, althoughSleeping Beauty is "far more magnificent, far more advanced, it does not touch the heart as didSnow White."[195] Henry Ward ofThe Pittsburgh Press praised the film's art direction, and said that children "undoubtedly will find the film completely enchanting", adding that a more-mature audience "may find this new effort somewhat of a carbon copy" of previous Disney animated features.[196]
Bosley Crowther wrote forThe New York Times that "the colors are rich, the sounds are luscious and magic sparkles spurt charmingly from wands", but felt that the film's plot and characters were too similar toSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).[197] Philip K. Scheuer of theLos Angeles Times praised the film's visual design, animation quality, and the Three Good Fairies and Maleficent, but criticized its "stereotyped" human characters and found himself more impressed by the accompanying short filmGrand Canyon (1958).[198] In thePittsburgh Post-Gazette, Harold V. Cohen praised the film's "sharp and unmistakable" art style and animation, but found the characters underdeveloped and "not exactly memorable".[199]Harrison's Reports also noted the film's similarity toSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), saying that althoughSleeping Beauty is "unquestionably superior from the viewpoint of the art of animation", it lacked the "unforgettable" characters, songs, and the overall entertainment appeal ofSnow White.[200]Time harshly criticized the film, particularly its design: "Even the drawing inSleeping Beauty is crude: a compromise between sentimental, crayon-book childishness and the sort of cute, commercialcubism that tries to seem daring but is really just square."[201]
When the film was re-released in 1979,Gene Siskel on theSneak Previews admitted that he was not a fan of it, criticizing the animation (which he found flat) and stating that the film "is not in the same league asBambi,Pinocchio, orDumbo"; on the other hand,Roger Ebert praised the animation, describing the film as a "lively and playful retelling a favorite fairy tale."[202] In 1985,Dave Kehr of theChicago Reader describedSleeping Beauty as "the masterpiece of the Disney Studios' postwar style"; he praised its use of the Super Technirama 70 process, particularly in the final battle scene.[203]Charles Solomon wrote for theLos Angeles Times that the film "represents the culmination of Walt Disney's effort to elevate animation to an art form". Solomon praised its visual design, the character of Maleficent, and the finale battle scene, but felt that it lacks "the strong story line of the other Disney features" (particularly the "not very interesting" romance between Aurora and Phillip).[204] Ed Gonzalez ofSlant Magazine praised the film's "limber, giddy" art style, calling it "one of [Disney's] studio’s most under-cherished works."[205] ATime Out reviewer wrote that althoughSleeping Beauty "rarely achieves the heights of classics likeSnow White andDumbo, it still has its moments", highlighting its "polished if sometimes stodgy" animation, soundtrack, and the final confrontation between Maleficent and Phillip.[206]
In his book,The Disney Films,Leonard Maltin praised the film's design: "The fantastic effort and phenomenal expense do show up on the screen; it is unquestionably Disney’s most elaborate cartoon film."[207] Its animators,Frank Thomas andOllie Johnston, said on their website thatSleeping Beauty was "dazzling in color and design but lacked warmth."[208] Thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes reported that the film had an 89% approval rating based on 46 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. According to its consensus, "This Disney dreamscape contains moments of grandeur, with its lush colors, magical air, [and] one of the most menacing villains in the Disney canon."[209] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100 from 12 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[210]Sleeping Beauty was awarded several nominations by theAmerican Film Institute in such categories as100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains (2003),Greatest Movie Musicals (2006), and10 Top 10 (2008).[211][212][213]
Since its original release in 1959,Sleeping Beauty has become one of the most artistically acclaimed animated films ever produced; its artistic direction, background and color styling, and character animation have been praised.[38][69][95][221] It is considered one of the most influential Disney features by the animation industry, with animators such asMike Gabriel and Michael Giaimo citing the film as inspiring them to enter the business.[40][222][223]Sleeping Beauty's background and color styling heavily influenced the design of later animated films, such asPocahontas (1995),Frozen (2013),Frozen II (2019), andWish (2023).[95][224][225][226]Andreas Deja,Glen Keane, andRuss Edmonds were inspired by the film's design and animation for their characters inAladdin (1992),Pocahontas (1995), andThe Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996).[95][117][227] In 2019,Sleeping Beauty was selected for preservation in the United States'National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[228]
A retrospective exhibition,Awaking Beauty: The Art of Eyvind Earle, was presented at theWalt Disney Family Museum from May 18, 2017, to January 8, 2018.[229] With over 250 works such as thumbnail paintings, concept artworks, and commercial illustrations, the exhibit reflected Eyvind Earle's biography and his work at theWalt Disney Studios (including his contribution toSleeping Beauty).[230] Anexhibition catalog was published byWeldon Owen on August 8, 2017.[231]
Originally conceived asSnow White's, Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland was named to help promote the film.[232]
In 1955, while the film was still in production, theSleeping Beauty Castle opened atDisneyland as a symbol of the park and a promotional tool for the film.[76] In 1957, Walt Disney andShirley Temple opened an indoor walk-through exhibit with a series ofdioramas depicting the story ofSleeping Beauty (which were designed byEyvind Earle andKen Anderson).[233][234] The walk-through was redesigned in 1977, replacing the original hand-painted displays with three-dimensional sets and doll-like figurines.[234] It was closed in 2001 due to declining attendance, although theSeptember 11 attacks are also believed to be a factor.[235] The exhibit reopened in 2008, refurbished to recreate the original 1957 dioramas.[235][236] The film's characters (particularly Princess Aurora and Maleficent) make regular appearances in the parks and parades, with Maleficent as a villain in the nighttime showFantasmic! at Disneyland andDisney's Hollywood Studios.[237]
A 2014live-action adaptation of the film,Maleficent, tells the story from the perspective of the antagonist (played byAngelina Jolie).[251] It was followed by a sequel,Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, in 2019.[252] Live-action versions ofSleeping Beauty characters are featured in the 2011–18 fantasy television seriesOnce Upon a Time (produced by Disney-ownedABC Studios), including Maleficent, Aurora, Prince Phillip, and King Stefan.[253][254][255][256] Maleficent is a main villain in the 2015 television filmDescendants, which follows the teenage children of Disney's iconic heroes and villains (including Mal, Maleficent's daughter, and Audrey, the daughter of Aurora and Phillip).[257][258] A teenage version of Maleficent appears as a character in thefranchise's fourth installment,Descendants: The Rise of Red (2024).[259]
^The Queen is unnamed in the film, likely due to her minor role.[5][6] She is referred to as Leah in the film's 1993 book adaptation byA. L. Singer.[7]
^The raven's name is not mentioned in the film. He was referred to as Diablo by the animators during the film's production.[8]
^Michael Barrier, on the other hand, indicates that the film did not reach theaters until April 1959.[149]
^abcdefgOnce Upon a Dream: The Making of Sleeping Beauty (Documentary film) (Sleeping Beauty Fully Restored Limited VHS ed.).Walt Disney Home Video. 1997.
^Korkis, Jim (September 2, 2022)."The Animated Hans Conried".Cartoon Research.Archived from the original on October 31, 2023. RetrievedOctober 31, 2023.
^abHistory of the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough Attraction (Documentary film) (Sleeping Beauty Platinum Blu-ray and DVD ed.).Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. 2008.
Ghez, Didier (2018).They Drew As They Pleased Vol 4: The Hidden Art of Disney's Mid-Century Era (The 1950s and 1960s).Chronicle Books LLC.ISBN978-1-4521-6413-7.
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