In 1993,David Stainton, then a development executive at Disney Feature Animation, conceived the idea to adapt Victor Hugo'sGothic novel into an animated feature. He subsequently pitched the idea to then-Disney Studios chairmanJeffrey Katzenberg. At Katzenberg's request, Trousdale, Wise, and Hahn joined the project in 1993. Murphy wrote the first draft of the script, and Mecchi and Roberts, who had rewritten the script forThe Lion King (1994), were soon brought in. Additional rewrites were provided by Tzudiker and White. That same year, the production team embarked on a research trip to Paris to study the Notre-Dame cathedral and additional locations for the film.[4] The musical score was composed byAlan Menken, with songs written by Menken and lyricistStephen Schwartz.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame premiered at theLouisiana Superdome in New Orleans on June 19, 1996, and was released in the United States on June 21. The film received generally positive reviews and was a commercial success, grossing over $325 million worldwide and becoming thefifth highest-grossing film of 1996. Despite the film's changes made from the original source material and adding comedic elements to ensure aG rating from theMPAA,[5] it remains more mature and darker than any Disney animated films with approach tothematic elements, including themes ofgenocide,lust,prejudice,sin, andredemption.
In 1482 Paris,Clopin, aRomani puppeteer, narrates the story of a mysterious bell-ringer to a group of children.
A group of Roma immigrating toParis are ambushed byJudge Claude Frollo, Paris' Minister of Justice, and his soldiers. One woman attempts to flee with her baby, reaching the doors ofNotre Dame pleading forsanctuary. Frollo chases her down and knocks her onto the cathedral's steps, where she fractures her skull and dies. Seeing her baby's deformed appearance, Frollo believes it to be ademon and tries drowning the child but is stopped by thearchdeacon, who scolds Frollo for murdering an innocent woman. Afraid for his soul, Frollo reluctantly agrees to raise the child as his own, naming him "Quasimodo" (meaning 'half-formed') and hiding him away in the cathedral'sbell tower.
Twenty years later, Quasimodo has grown into a kind yet isolated young man, now with a pronounced hunchback caused bykyphosis. He is also incredibly strong and agile, due to years of ringing Notre Dame's heavy bells and climbing its roofs and walls. He has lived his entire life in the cathedral with his only company being a trio of living stonegargoyles: Victor, Hugo, and Laverne. The gargoyles encourage him to attend the annualFestival of Fools, despite Frollo's warnings that he would be shunned for his appearance. Quasimodo attends and is celebrated for his appearance but then, prompted by Frollo's guards, is humiliated by the crowd. Frollo refuses Quasimodo's pleas for help, but he is rescued byEsmeralda, a kind Romani woman who stands up to Frollo for his tyranny. Intending to commit genocide against Romani people living in Paris, Frollo orders Esmeralda's arrest, but she escapes using amagic trick.
Quasimodo retreats back into the cathedral, followed by Esmeralda andCaptain Phoebus of Frollo's guard. Phoebus refuses to arrest her forwitchcraft inside Notre Dame and instead tells Frollo that she has claimedasylum. Esmeralda finds and befriends Quasimodo, who helps her escape Notre Dame out of gratitude for defending him. She entrusts Quasimodo with a pendant containing a map to the Romani hideout called theCourt of Miracles. Frollo develops an obsessive lust for Esmeralda and, upon realizing this, begs theVirgin Mary to save him from her "spell" and avoid eternaldamnation.
When Frollo discovers Esmeralda's escape, he searches for her,bribing and arresting Roma andsetting fire to houses while trying to find her. Phoebus defies Frollo when ordered to burn down a house with a family inside and Frollo orders him executed. Phoebus flees but is struck by an arrow and falls into theRiver Seine, where he is found by Esmeralda and taken to Notre Dame for refuge. The gargoyles encourage Quasimodo to confess his feelings for Esmeralda, but he is heartbroken to discover she and Phoebus have fallen in love. Realizing that Quasimodo helped Esmeralda escape, Frollo tells him he knows about the Court of Miracles and plans to attack it at dawn. Using the map Esmeralda gave him, Quasimodo and Phoebus find the court to warn the Roma, only for Frollo to follow them and capture all the Roma present.
When Esmeralda again rejects Frollo's advances, he attempts to burn her at the stake atPlace du Parvis, but Quasimodo swoops down and carries her to the cathedral tower, crying "Sanctuary!" from the ledge. When Frollo attempts to seize the cathedral, Phoebus releases the Roma and rallies the Paris citizens against Frollo's guards. Quasimodo and the gargoyles pour molten lead onto the streets to prevent anyone entering, but Frollo himself manages to break into the cathedral beforehand. Violating the tradition of sanctuary, he pursues Quasimodo and Esmeralda to the bell tower with the intent of killing them both. He and Quasimodo fight, eventually both falling from a ledge. Frollo plummets to his death in the molten lead while Quasimodo is saved by Phoebus. Afterwards, Quasimodo accepts Phoebus and Esmeralda's love, and he gives them his blessing. They encourage him to leave the cathedral; when he does so, the people of Paris hail him as a hero.
Kevin Kline asCaptain Phoebus, a gallant war veteran summoned by Judge Claude Frollo to assist in the eradication of Paris' Romani community.
Paul Kandel asClopin, the leader of theRomani people residing in Paris and is exceedingly protective of their headquarters, the Court of Miracles. He also serves as the narrator of the film, telling the film's events to a group of children at the beginning.
Jason Alexander,Charles Kimbrough, andMary Wickes as Hugo, Victor, and Laverne respectively, a trio of sentient gargoyles belonging to Notre Dame. This was Wickes' final acting performance as she died a year before its release, at age 85.Jane Withers provided Laverne's remaining dialogue for the film.
The idea to adaptThe Hunchback of Notre Dame came from development executiveDavid Stainton in 1993, who was inspired to turn Victor Hugo's novelThe Hunchback of Notre-Dame into an animated feature film after reading theClassics Illustrated comic book adaptation.[7] Stainton then proposed the idea to then-studio chairmanJeffrey Katzenberg. After the release ofBeauty and the Beast (1991),Gary Trousdale had taken a sabbatical break from directing, instead spending several months developing storyboards forThe Lion King (1994).[8] Following this, Trousdale and his directing and writing partnerKirk Wise subsequently developed an animated feature based on the Greek myth ofOrpheus and Eurydice titledA Song of the Sea, adapting it to make the central character a humpback whale and setting it in the open ocean.[9][10] While they were working on the project they were summoned to meet with Katzenberg. "During that time," explained Trousdale, "while we working on it, we got a call from Jeffrey. He said, 'Guys, drop everything – you're working onHunchback now.'"[11] According to Wise, they believed that it had "a great deal of potential... great memorable characters, a really terrific setting, the potential for fantastic visuals, and a lot of emotion."[12]
Production onThe Hunchback of Notre Dame began in the summer of 1993.[13] In October 1993, directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, art director David Goetz,Roy Conli, Ed Ghertner,Will Finn, Alan Menken, and Stephen Schwartz took a trip to Paris for ten days; three days were devoted to exploring the Notre Dame cathedral where the team took photographs and sketched areas of the religious site, included passageways, stairwells, towers, and a hidden room.[14] The team also located books that documented the cathedral's restricted areas, including one about Victor Hugo's watercolor paintings. Goetz stated, "It turned out that his paintings were very similar in tone to what we were coming with for our early visual development work ... We were a little tentative because it seemed like an un-Disney thing. Then we went to Paris and saw the Hugo paintings and the work of other illustrators of the time. We felt they were so similar that we were really on a track that was appropriate ... We thought, heck, let's go with it."[4] The team also visited thePalace of Justice and an original location of theCourt of Miracles.[14]
Writing
We knew it would be a challenge to stay true to the material while still giving it the requisite amount of fantasy and fun most people would expect from a Disney animated feature. We were not going to end it the way the book ended, with everybody dead.
Tab Murphy was brought on board to write the screenplay, and it was decided early on that Quasimodo would be the center of the story, as he was in preceding live-action film adaptations. In the early drafts, Quasimodo served as aCyrano between Phoebus and Esmeralda, but it was discarded to focus more on Quasimodo.[16] Meanwhile, a love story between Quasimodo and Esmeralda was also conceived, according to Murphy, but "we decided to makePhoebus more heroic and central to the story. Out of that decision grew the idea of some sort of a triangle between Quasimodo, Esmeralda and Phoebus."[17] Some of the novel's key characters were jettisoned entirely. The gargoyles of Notre Dame were added to the story by Trousdale and Wise. Their portrayal as comedic friends and confidantes of Quasimodo was inspired by a portion of the novel, which reads: "The other statues, the ones of monsters and demons, felt no hatred for Quasimodo…The saints were his friends and blessed him; the monsters were his friends, and protected him. Thus he would pour out his heart at length to them."[18][19]
One of the first changes made to accommodate Disney's request was to turn the villainous Claude Frollo into a judge rather than an archdeacon, thus avoiding religious sensibilities in the finished film.[20] "As we were exploring the characters, especially Frollo, we certainly found a lot of historical parallels to the type of mania he had:the Confederate South,Nazi Germany, take your pick," explained Wise. "Those things influenced our thinking."[17] ProducerDon Hahn evaluated that one inspiration for Frollo was found inRalph Fiennes's performance asAmon Goeth inSchindler's List (1993), who had murdered Jews yet lusted after his Jewish maid.[15]
For the opening sequence, Disney story veteranBurny Mattinson constructed an effective sequence that covered much exposition, although Katzenberg felt something was missing. Following Stephen Schwartz's suggestion to musicalize the sequence, French animatorsPaul and Gaëtan Brizzi storyboarded the sequence to Menken and Schwartz's music resulting in "The Bells of Notre Dame".[21] Schwartz also worked closely with the writing team even suggesting that the audience should be left wondering what the outcome of what Phoebus would do before he extinguishes the torch in water in retaliation against Frollo.[22]
Casting
In late 1993, pop singerCyndi Lauper was the first actor cast during the film's initial stages. She had been hired one week after reading for a part with the directors, who felt her performance was "hilarious and sweet". Thinking she had been cast as Esmeralda, Lauper was startled to learn she was to voice a gargoyle named Quinn.[23][24] The development team had come up with the names of Chaney, Laughton and Quinn—named after the actors who portrayed Quasimodo in precedingHunchback film adaptations. However, Disney's legal department objected to the proposed names of the gargoyles, fearing that the estates ofLon Chaney,Charles Laughton, orAnthony Quinn would file a lawsuit over the unauthorized use of their names, so the idea was dropped.[23] Trousdale and Wise then suggested naming the characters Lon, Charles, and Anthony, which would have resulted in the same legal concern. Instead, they would name the first two gargoyles after Victor Hugo, and the third gargoyle afterAndrews Sisters singerLaVerne Andrews as suggested by Wise.[23]
Now cast as Laverne, Lauper was deemed too youthful for a friend who would provide wise counsel to Quasimodo. At the same time,Sam McMurray—best known for his work onThe Tracey Ullman Show—was hired for Hugo. Meanwhile,Charles Kimbrough was cast as Victor, who was initially unimpressed at an animated adaptation ofHunchback, but later became rather impressed at the level of research that went into the film and how the story ideas transitioned from the novel to the screen.[25] After several recording sessions and test screenings, Lauper and McMurray were called by the directors who released them from their roles.[23] At one point, Jeffrey Katzenberg had consideredArsenio Hall,David Letterman, andJay Leno to voice the gargoyles,[24] but he eventually castJason Alexander, due to his previous role inThe Return of Jafar (1994). After a suggestion by supervising animatorWill Finn,[24] Laverne was then re-envisioned into a wiser, mature character withMary Wickes cast in the role.[23] Following Wickes' death in October 1995,[26]Jane Withers was hired to voice her six remaining lines.[15][27]
Animation work onThe Hunchback of Notre Dame was partially done at 1400 Air Way inGlendale, California, which was one of several headquarters for Walt Disney Feature Animation.
Katzenberg had also wantedMeat Loaf for the role of Quasimodo, but he passed on the role after Disney could not come to an agreement with his record company.[24]Mandy Patinkin was also approached for the title role, but his style of portraying Quasimodo collided with the producers' demands, and Patinkin stated,"'I [was] just there at the audition [and I] said, 'I can't do this.'"[28]Tom Hulce was cast as Quasimodo following his first audition for the role, and according to the actor, he noticed during the audition that the Disney executives, producers, and directors "were staring at the floor. It looked like everyone was at a memorial service" until he noticed the floor was lined with storyboard sketches. According to Wise, the filmmakers "like to audition the voices with our eyes closed, so we see the character's face."[29] Quasimodo was originally portrayed as older and with more of a speech impediment during the early rehearsals, but Hulce commented that "we experimented, endlessly. At one point I was ready to call in and say 'Things just aren't happening'."[30] Ultimately, the directors desired to portray Quasimodo with a younger voice different from the previous portrayals since "[Victor] Hugo described Quasimodo as 20."[11] Additionally, Hulce was permitted to do his own singing after performing a demo recording of "Out There".[31]
Due to her deeper voice than actresses who had previously played Disney heroines,[32]Demi Moore was cast as Esmeralda, and met with Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz on singing. After several singing demos, the actress said, "You'd better get someone else," according to Schwartz. New York City cabaret singer Heidi Mollenhauer was selected to provide the singing voice.[33] For the role of Phoebus, co-director Kirk Wise explained that "As we're designing the characters, we form a short list of names...to help us find the personality of the character." Subsequently, the filmmakers modeled his portrayal on the personalities ofErrol Flynn andJohn Wayne, and "One of the names on the top of the list all the time wasKevin Kline."[11] Moore and Kline were the only actors to have the role directly offered to them instead of auditioning.[24] British actorTony Jay, who declared his role as Frollo as his "bid for immortality",[34] was cast after the directors had worked with him inBeauty and the Beast (1991).[32]Anthony Hopkins was originally considered for the role, but he turned down the offer.[24] After watching his portrayal as Uncle Ernie in the musicalThe Who's Tommy, Broadway actorPaul Kandel was selected to voice Clopin.[32]
Animation
AlongsidePocahontas (1995), storyboard work onThe Hunchback of the Notre Dame was among the first to be produced for an animated film on the new Disney Feature Animation building adjacent to the main Disney lot in Burbank, which was dedicated in 1995.[12][35] However, most animators were occupied withThe Lion King (1994) andPocahontas (1995) at the time, and as a result, more animators were hired fromCanada andUnited Kingdom to join the production team for the film.[36] As the development phase furthered along, most of the entire animation team moved out into a large warehouse facility on Airway inGlendale, California. As the Disney story artists, layout crew, and animators moved in their new quarters, they decided to name the building "Sanctuary".[37]
SinceWho Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), other animators hired by Disney Feature Animation were fromGermany,France,Ireland, and additional ones from Canada were involved in providing animation duties at the recently opened satellite studio,Walt Disney Animation Paris.[21] Supervised by coproducerRoy Conli,[38] 20 percent of the film was done there.[39] To coordinate with the Burbank studio, the Brizzis traveled there with storyboards and conferred with the directors, animators, and layout team. Back in Paris, they discuss their animation dailies via video conferences provided by Compression Lab Industries' (CLI) video system.[40] Meanwhile, at theFeature Animation Florida studio, which had been working onMulan (1998), their first in-house production, at least seven animators penned about four minutes of screen time, which mostly involved Frollo and Quasimodo. The studio had also provided additional layout, cleanup, and special-effects animation.[41]
During early development, Trousdale and Wise realized they needed crowds of people, but for this time, they wanted them to move as opposed to being traditionally drawn as painted backdrops. Recalling the wildebeest stampede inThe Lion King (1994), they landed on the idea of using computer animation to generate them. For that reason, the CGI department, headed by Kiran Joshi, created the softwareCrowd to achieve large-scale crowd scenes,[42] particularly for the Feast of Fools sequence and the film's climax. The software was used to create six types of characters—males and females either average in weight, fat, or thin—which were programmed and assigned 72 specific movements ranging from jumping and clapping.[43] Digital technology also provided a visual sweep that freed Quasimodo to scamper around the cathedral and soar around the plaza to rescue Esmeralda.[17]
Editing
Although the film did deviate from the source material's darker elements to receive a G rating from theMotion Picture Association of America (MPAA), it initially received a PG rating after being submitted to the rating board. The reasons were a scene in which Frollo sniffs Esmeralda's hair and Frollo saying the word "sin" in the song "Hellfire". Hahn suggested toning down the sniffing sound effect and making the word less obvious by turning up the background sound effects. In turn, this resulted in the film receiving a G rating after its resubmission.[5]
Having worked onPocahontas (1995) for a year,Alan Menken andStephen Schwartz were offered multiple film projects to collaborate on when they chose to work onThe Hunchback of Notre Dame. According to Schwartz, they had both been attracted to underlying themes of social outcast and Quasimodo's struggle to break free of thepsychological abuse of Frollo.[44]
The film has many musical motifs that carry throughout the film, weaving their way in and out of various pieces of music, and having varying timbres depending on the action in the story at that point. The film's soundtrack includes a musical score composed by Menken, and songs written by him and Schwartz. The film's songs include "The Bells of Notre Dame" for Clopin, Frollo, and the Archdeacon, "Out There" for Quasimodo and Frollo, "Topsy Turvy" for Clopin, "God Help the Outcasts" for Esmeralda, "Heaven's Light" for Quasimodo, "Hellfire" for the Archdeacon and Frollo, "A Guy Like You" for the gargoyles, and "The Court of Miracles" for Clopin and the other Roma.
Three songs written for the film were discarded for the storyboarding process. Trousdale and Wise were not certain what musical number could be placed for the third act, though Menken and Schwartz conceived two love songs, "In a Place of Miracles" and "As Long as There's a Moon", between Esmeralda and Phoebus in the film. However, Trousdale and Wise felt the song took too much focus off of Quasimodo,[45] and ultimately decided to have Clopin sing about sentencing Phoebus and Quasimodo to death for finding their Roma sanctuary.[46] Menken and Schwartz had also written "Someday" originally for the film, but the directors suggested that a religious song be sung in the cathedral. The song was instead featured in the end credits.[47] R&B groupAll-4-One recorded the song for the end credits of theNorth American English release,[48] and by the British R&B girl groupEternal in the British English version.Luis Miguel recorded the version for the Latin American Spanish version, which became a major hit.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame was the first—and currently only—Disney animated feature to have a major focus on traditional religious faith; in this case, pre-ReformationCatholicism. In fact, the words "God," "Lord", and "Hell" are uttered more times in the film than in any other produced by Disney.[citation needed] The bookThe Gospel According to Disney explains that "it is the church... that interposes, or attempts to interpose itself between the villain and his evil intentions." During production, the studio executives expressed concerns about various aspects of the film, especially those relating to the religious content in the story, "for their failure to defend the poor and the powerless" and concerns that the story was "too controversial".[50] Another bookDeconstructing Disney notes that the studio "approached the name of God with an almost Hebraic zeal (that it should never be stated) yet here it is invoked in a manner both pious and puritan." Many of the songs were adapted from genuine Latin prayers and chants, such as "Hellfire", which uses theTridentine form of theConfiteor as a counterpoint melody.The Gospel According to Disney includes a quote that says "religion... appears as an impotent, irrelevant caricature [and] Disney refuses to admit a serious role for religion." At one point, the archdeacon says to Esmeralda, "You can't right all the wrongs of this world by yourself... perhaps there is someone in here who can," referring either to God or Mary. This questions the power religious people actually have in making the world a moral and happy place, according to Pinsky.[50]
The Gospel According to Disney explains that "while Frollo's stated goal is to purge the world of vice and sin, according to the opening song, he 'saw corruption everywhere except within.'" Because "killing the woman on the steps has put Frollo's soul in mortal danger," he has to take the child and look after him as penance. Even then, he absolves himself of agency in the murder by claiming "God works in mysterious ways," and ponders whether "the child may be of use to him one day." During the song "God Help the Outcasts", Esmeralda wonders if "Were you once an outcast too?" while looking at a statue of Mary with the infant Jesus, referencing theFlight into Egypt.[50]
According to the film's production notes, Quasimodo is "symbolically viewed as being an angel in a devil's body." He is "trapped between heaven above [and] the gritty streets of urban Paris viewed as Hell." The version of the alphabet Quasimodo recites in a daily ritual reflects Frollo's view of the world – full of abominations and blasphemy. He is also constantly called deformed, ugly, a monster, and an outcast who would be hated if he ever left the confines of the church.[50]
Release
In 1994, the film was scheduled for a Christmas 1995 release,[51][52] though the film was reportedly delayed following the departure of Katzenberg fromThe Walt Disney Company.[53] By January 1995, it was later pushed back to a summer 1996 release.[54][55] The film premiered on June 19, 1996, at theLouisiana Superdome in New Orleans, where it was played on six enormous screens. The premiere was preceded by a parade through theFrench Quarter, beginning atJackson Square and utilizing floats and cast members fromWalt Disney World.[56] The film was widely released two days later.
Marketing
As part of the promotion of the film,Walt Disney Records shipped two million products, including sing-along home videos, soundtrack CDs, and the "My First Read Along" novelized version of the film.[citation needed] Upon release,The Hunchback of Notre Dame was accompanied by a marketing campaign of more than $40 million with commercial tie-ins withBurger King,Payless Shoes,Nestlé, andMattel.[57] By 1997, Disney earned approximately $500 million in profit with the spin-off products based from the film.[58][59]
Home media
The Hunchback of Notre Dame was first released onVHS, standard CLVLaserDisc, and special edition CAV LaserDisc on March 4, 1997, under theWalt Disney Masterpiece Collection label. By mid-1998, the operating income of the VHS release had accumulated to $200 million.[60][61] It was originally planned for aDVD release in December 2000 as part of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection,[62] but instead, it was re-issued on March 19, 2002, as a special edition along with its direct-to-video sequel,The Hunchback of Notre Dame II (2002).
The Hunchback of Notre Dame grossed $21.3 million during its opening weekend, ranking in second place at the box office behindArnold Schwarzenegger'sEraser.[64] At the time, bothWarner Bros. and Disney already had big summer hits withTwister andThe Rock respectively.[65] In a new box office strategy, Disney also included ticket sales which were sold fromDisney Stores nationwide, which added about $1 million to the box office numbers.[65] However, the film had earned slightly less when compared toPocahontas, which had grossed $29 million the year previous.Buena Vista Pictures Distribution presidentDick Cook defended the results, claiming it was comparable toBeauty and the Beast (1991), which opened in half as many theaters, and grossed about $9 million.[65] In its second weekend,The Hunchback of Notre Dame dropped into third place behindThe Nutty Professor andEraser with a 32% decline, but it still made a total $14.3 million and outgrossed another Demi Moore film,Striptease.[66]
In France, the film collected an opening gross of $6.5 million within its first five days of release, which was the country's third-highest opening of 1996, afterMission: Impossible andIndependence Day.[67]
Ultimately, the film grossed just over $100.1 million domestically. In foreign markets, by December 1996, the film became the fifteenth film that year to gross over $100 million, and went on to accumulate $225.2 million, surpassingPocahontas' $204.5 million international gross.[68] Worldwide,The Hunchback of Notre Dame grossed over $325.3 million, making it the fifth highest-grossing film of 1996.[3]
Critical reception
The Hunchback of Notre Dame received generally positive reviews from film critics.[69][70]Review aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes gave the film an 80% positive rating based on 112 reviews, along with an average rating of 7.5/10. The consensus reads, "Disney's take on the Victor Hugo classic is dramatically uneven, but its strong visuals, dark themes, and message of tolerance make for a more-sophisticated-than-average children's film."[71]Metacritic, which assigns anormalized rating out of 100 from top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 74 based on 28 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[72] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[73]
Chicago Sun-Times film criticRoger Ebert rewarded the film 4 stars, calling it "the best Disney animated feature sinceBeauty and the Beast – a whirling, uplifting, thrilling story with a heart touching message that emerges from the comedy and song."[74] In his review for theChicago Tribune,Gene Siskel awarded the film3+1⁄2 (out of a possible 4) stars, describing the film as "a surprisingly emotional, simplified version of the Victor Hugo novel" with "effective songs and, yes, tasteful bits of humor."[75]Owen Gleiberman ofEntertainment Weekly graded the film an A, labeling it as "the best of Disney's 'serious' animated features in the multiplex era, (...) an emotionally rounded fairy tale that balances darkness and sentimentality, pathos and triumph, with uncanny grace."[76]
Richard Corliss ofTime magazine praised the film, stating that "the result is a grand cartoon cathedral, teeming with gargoyles and treachery, hopeless love and tortured lust" and also said "Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz have written the largest, most imposing score yet for an animated film."[77]Charles Spencer ofThe Daily Telegraph gave it a positive review, saying "it is thrillingly dramatic, and for long stretches you forget you are watching a cartoon at all... A dazzling treat."[78]Variety also gave the film a positive review, stating that "there is much to admire inHunchback, not least the risk of doing such a downer of a story at all" and also saying: "the new film should further secure Disney's dominance in animation, and connoisseurs of the genre, old and young, will have plenty to savor."[79] Janet Maslin wrote in herThe New York Times review: "In a film that bears conspicuous, eager resemblances to other recent Disney hits, the filmmakers' Herculean work is overshadowed by a Sisyphean problem. There's just no way to delight children with a feel-good version of this story."[80]
Russian authorAleksandr Solzhenitsyn criticizedHunchback for "vulgarizing" the original novel byVictor Hugo, in particular by "provid[ing] Esmeralda with a happy end and blissful marriage instead of a tragic demise."[81]
Upon opening in France in March 1997, reception from French critics towardsHunchback was largely positive.[82] French critics and audiences found resonance in the film which recounted a real-life incident from August 1995 when French police raided a Parisian church and seized over 200 immigrants seeking refuge from deportation under France's strict expulsion laws. "It is difficult not to think of the undocumented immigrants ofSt. Bernard when Frollo tries to sweep out the rabble," wrote one reviewer.[83]
Audience response
Arnaud Later, a leading scholar on Hugo, accused Disney of simplifying, editing, and censoring the novel in numerous aspects, including the personalities of the characters. In his review, he later wrote that the animators "don't have enough confidence in their own emotional feeling" and that the film "falls back on clichés."[84] Descendants of Hugo bashed Disney in an open letter to theLibération newspaper for their ancestor receiving no mention on the advertisement posters, and describing the film as a "vulgar commercialization by unscrupulous salesmen."[85][86][87]
Some audiences expressed concerns about whether the film was appropriate for children.[88] Jason Alexander said that while "Disney would have us believe this movie's like theRingling Bros., for children of all ages," he would not take his then-four-year-old child to view the film.[15] However, some newspaper publications reported child audiences being unaffected by the mature content and praising the film.[88][89] Some audiences criticized the film for having "homosexual undertones", noticeably with the song "Out There", being the name of a gay pressure group and as a call tocome out of the closet.[90][91]
In June 1996, theSouthern Baptist Convention voted overwhelmingly to urge its sixteen million members to boycott Disney films, theme parks, and merchandise, saying the company "disparages Christian values."[92] The cause of the protests—unrelated to the film—stemmed from the company's domestic partnership policy andgay and lesbian theme days atWalt Disney World.[93] Trousdale also claimed that Southern Baptists were outraged over the casting of Demi Moore as Esmeralda, as she had just come off of the filmStriptease (1996), in which she played an exotic dancer.[94] Disney officials would not comment on the motivation for the religious content displayed in the film beyond comments on the subject included in the film'spress kit, with Disney vice president John Dreyer commenting, "The film speaks for itself."[95] Nevertheless, there was praise from religious organizations for its portrayal of religion in the film.Louis P. Sheldon, aPresbyterian pastor and chairman of the Anaheim-basedTraditional Values Coalition, said two months before its premiere: "I am thrilled at what I hear aboutHunchback, that Disney is seeking to honourChristianity and its role in Western civilization. I only pray that it will accomplish much good in the minds and hearts of its viewers."[96]
Following protests in the United States, thousands of British parents banned their kids from seeingThe Hunchback of Notre Dame.[97] In reaction to the controversy, Walt Disney Feature Animation presidentPeter Schneider said, "The only controversy I've heard about the movie is certain people's opinion that, 'Well, it's OK for me, but it might disturb somebody else." Schneider also stated in his defense that the film was test-screened "all over the country, and I've heard nobody, parents or children, complain about any of the issues. I think, for example, the issue of disabilities is treated with great respect." and "Quasimodo is really the underdog who becomes the hero; I don't think there's anything better for anybody's psychological feelings than to become the hero of a movie. The only thing we've been asked to be careful about is the word hunchback, which we have to use in the title."[98]
The film was adapted into a musical theatre production, re-written and directed byJames Lapine and produced byWalt Disney Theatrical, inBerlin, Germany. The musicalDer Glöckner von Notre Dame (translated in English asThe Bellringer of Notre Dame) was successful and played from 1999 to 2002, before closing. Acast recording was recorded in German. An English-language revival of the musical, with a revised book byPeter Parnell, premiered inSan Diego, California on October 28, 2014.[109]
Sequel and spin-offs
In June 1998, Disney had announced production had begun on a sequel titledThe Hunchback of Notre Dame Deux: The Secret of the Bells, and was slated for release in fall 1999.[110] However, the sequel was delayed from its planned fall release in order to accommodate the recording of "I'm Gonna Love You" byJennifer Love Hewitt.[111] The sequel reunited its original voice cast, with Hewitt,Haley Joel Osment, andMichael McKean voicing new characters.[111] In 2002, thedirect-to-video sequel,The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, was released on VHS and DVD.
Quasimodo, Esmeralda, Victor, Hugo, Laverne and Frollo all made guest appearances on the television seriesHouse of Mouse. Frollo could also be seen amongst a crowd of Disney villains in the direct-to-video filmMickey's House of Villains.[citation needed]
Live-action remake
Alive-action remake ofThe Hunchback of Notre Dame was announced in January 2019. The script was set to be penned byDavid Henry Hwang with Menken and Schwartz returning to write the music.Josh Gad,David Hoberman, andTodd Lieberman were set to produce, with Gad being possibly considered to play Quasimodo.[112] The film, titledHunchback, would draw elements from both the animated film and Hugo's novel.[113][114] In January 2021, Gad stated that the project was still in the works and that he and the studio were "getting closer" to making it happen.[115]
In May 2023, Menken suggested that development on the live-action remake had stalled owing to the original film's content and themes: "It's a tough one, because theHunchback movie,Hunchback story involves a lot of real, real issues that are important issues and should be explored to be discussed. And there has to be an agreement about how we deal with those issues. You know, do we do aHunchback without 'Hellfire'? I don't think so ... So it sits in this limbo right now."[116]
In 2022, content of the film was made available within theDisney Magic Kingdoms game byGameloft, introduced in a limited time event with a storyline that takes place after the events of the film.[118][119]
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^abDon Hahn; Gary Trousdale; Kirk Wise (2002).The Making of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (Documentary film).Burbank, California: Walt Disney Home Entertainment. B00005TN8K.
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^abcGary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, and Don Hahn (2002).The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Audio commentary).Burbank, California: Walt Disney Home Entertainment.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Daly, Steve (July 8, 1994)."Mane Attraction".Entertainment Weekly. p. 2.Archived from the original on July 16, 2014. RetrievedDecember 6, 2014.They've increased the worldwide animation staff from a worn-down 150 to nearly 1,000, with swanky new digs nearly ready back in Burbank and no end to expansion in sight (six features are due by 1998, includingPocahontas next summer andThe Hunchback of Notre Dame for Christmas 1995).
^Weinraub, Bernard; Fabrikant, Geraldine (October 9, 1994)."Dismissal Stuns Magic Kingdom".The New York Times.Archived from the original on July 2, 2021. RetrievedFebruary 16, 2015.
^Bates, James; Eller, Claudia (June 12, 1998)."Bridled Optimism".Los Angeles Times. Archived fromthe original on July 12, 2015. RetrievedDecember 22, 2014.
^Fitzpatrick, Eileen (July 11, 1998)."Kid Vid Business Isn't All Play".Billboard. Vol. 110, no. 28. p. 85.Archived from the original on July 2, 2021. RetrievedDecember 22, 2014 – via Google Books.
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