BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Before Pixar ushered in a sleek new era of animation, traditional hand-drawn features ruled the box office – and in the early ’90s, Disney was at the beginning of a renaissance. Starting with 1989’s The Little Mermaid and 1990’s The Rescuers Down Under, the studio’s animation wing – led by newly installed chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg – had reached a success sweetspot that hadn’t been seen since Walt’s golden age three decades earlier. By focusing on musical fairytales and experimental computer animation, the company had achieved critical and commercial acclaim – and they wanted to keep it up.

With a new decade looming, Katzenberg delved into Walt’s back-catalogue to pick their next project, one that even the studio’s eponymous leader had struggled to bring to the screen. Over the years, – the story of a young woman who’s unlikely love for a cursed prince earns the couple a happily ever after – had many filmmakers sit at its helm, with all leaving frustrated. However, it