Disney Renaissance

The Disney Renaissance is the era from 1989 to 1999 during which Walt Disney Feature Animation (renamed Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2006) experienced a creative resurgence in producing successful animated films based on well-known stories, which restored public and critical interest in The Walt Disney Company as a whole. During this decade, the studio produced and released 10 animated films: The Little Mermaid (1989), The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), and Tarzan (1999).

Pre-renaissance era (1977–88)
After the deaths of Walt and Roy O. Disney (in 1966 and 1971, respectively), The Walt Disney Studios was left in the hands of Donn Tatum, Card Walker, and Ron Miller. The films released over an eighteen-year period following this change of management did not perform as well commercially as their prior counterparts. An especially hard blow was dealt during production of The Fox and the Hound when long-time animator Don Bluth left Disney to start his own rival studio, Don Bluth Productions, taking eleven Disney animators with him. With 17% of the animators now gone, production on The Fox and the Hound was delayed. Don Bluth Productions produced The Secret of NIMH in 1982 (whose story idea Disney had originally rejected for being too dark), and the company eventually became Disney's main competitor in the animation industry during the 1980s and early 1990s. Disney made major organizational changes in the 1980s after narrowly escaping a hostile takeover attempt from Saul Steinberg. Michael Eisner, formerly of Paramount Pictures, became CEO in 1984, and he was joined by his Paramount associate Jeffrey Katzenberg, while Frank Wells, formerly of Warner Bros., became President. After the box office failure of the 1985 PG-rated feature The Black Cauldron, the future of the animation department was in jeopardy. Going against a thirty-year studio policy, the company founded a television animation division (now Disney Television Animation) which was much cheaper than theatrical animation. In the interest of saving what he believed to be the studio's core business, Roy E. Disney persuaded Eisner to let him supervise the animation department in the hopes of improving its fortunes.

Post-renaissance era (2000–Present)
The release of Tarzan is retrospectively seen as the end of the Renaissance era. Though Disney did continue to release such animated features Fantasia 2000, The Emperor's New Groove, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire, they were all not as well-received critically or commercially as the earlier films of the 1990s were, and the studio suffered significant box office losses with Treasure Planet and Home on the Range. Dinosaur, Lilo & Stitch, and Brother Bear were (and are) seen as the only major box office successes during this time, Lilo & Stitch being the most prestigious film of the three (spawning multiple sequels, including a TV series on Disney Channel). In addition, Disney found itself facing a new more competitive period beginning with the rise of DreamWorks Animation as a potent sustained rival with their films and its successful Shrek series.

In 1995, Disney partnered with Pixar to create Toy Story, the first fully computer-animated feature. In the early 2000s, many of Pixar's films, such as Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Monsters, Inc., garnered the same box office results and critical acclaim that the '90s Disney Renaissance films had, while Disney's own animated films in the same period were much less successful, with analysts suggesting that Disney was relying heavily on Pixar for creative content that could be used for consumer products and television. Pixar was responsible for creation and production, while Disney handled marketing and distribution, with profits and production costs split 50-50, plus Disney also collected a distribution fee. However in this partnership agreement Disney exclusively owned all story and sequel rights, which soon became the most onerous aspect to Pixar and set the stage for a contentious relationship. The contract between Disney and Pixar expired in 2004, and that year negotiations on a new agreement stalled, as Pixar insisted on control over films already in production under their old agreement including The Incredibles and Cars, which Disney had refused, and Pixar declared that it was actively seeking partners other than Disney.

With the success of Pixar, then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner decided that public tastes had changed, and that it was time to get out of hand-drawn animation altogether ending with Home on the Range. In 2005, Chicken Little, the Disney Studios' first full CGI animated feature, received mixed to negative reviews from critics though it performed well at the box office, whereas their second CGI feature in 2007, Meet the Robinsons received favorable reviews, but had a modest box office performance. Chicken Little's success suggested that Disney did not need to depend entirely upon Pixar for quality CGI films, and gave Disney some leverage during negotiations to continue their partnership. 

In 2006, Disney purchased Pixar for $7.4 billion, and Pixar executives Edwin Catmull and John Lasseter became, respectively, president and chief creative officer of Disney Animation (in addition to also continuing to manage Pixar). In 2008, Disney's first CGI feature made after the Pixar acquisition, Bolt, was released to critical acclaim and was a box office success.

Possible Second Renaissance
When Lasseter took creative control of the animation division with the purchase of Pixar, Disney announced they would return to traditional animation with the 2009 release of The Princess and the Frog, which was largely well received by critics and audiences alike and a financial success (grossing over $270 million). In retrospect, after they went on to produce several more successful films at Disney Animation, The Princess and the Frog is seen as a modern turning point for the studio, and the beginning of the new Disney Revival era of films. In 2010, Disney released its 50th animated feature Tangled, which marked a new direction for the studio, blending 3D CGI animation with traditional techniques. Following the tradition of the 1990s animated films, Tangled was a musical fairy tale loosely based on the story of "Rapunzel." The film was a highly critical and commercial success, earning more than $500 million worldwide and reigniting interest in Walt Disney Animation Studios. Winnie the Pooh followed in 2011 and was critically acclaimed, but received modest returns at the box office. In 2012, Disney saw another critical release with Wreck-It Ralph, which was released to similar critical and commercial success as Tangled. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars and the Golden Globes. In 2013, the studio released Frozen, a musical film loosely based on the fairy tale The Snow Queen, which was released to widespread acclaim and broke box office records during its first weekend of release. It went on to become the first film from Walt Disney Animation Studios to gross $1 billion worldwide and also the highest-grossing animated film of all time. Frozen also won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature as well as the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Let it Go." Some journalists believe that Frozen signified a second Disney Renaissance.

Critical reaction
Most of the films Disney released in the Renaissance era were well-received, as in the film critic site Rotten Tomatoes, four out of the first five—The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King—have the best critical reception (with over 90% positive reviews), while Pocahontas has the lowest reception of Disney's "renaissance" films (with 56% of positive reviews).

Academy Awards
Nine of the ten films in the Disney Renaissance were nominated for Academy Awards, six of which won at least one Academy Award: