Hercules Strikes Manhattan (June 15, 1997)

Starting with Pocahontas, the Walt Disney Company kept trying to top the release events of each successive film. The Hunchback of Notre Dame had an epic release in New Orleans with a parade and a stage show before the film's premiere in the New Orleans Superdome. For Hercules, Disney brought the recently dismantled Main Street Electrical Parade out of retirement, trucked it to New York City, and held an epic event there. This would be the final of these epic premieres for a Disney animated feature as both Hunchback and Hercules each just broke 100 million dollars. At the time, there was a boycott going on against Disney by multiple Christian groups that never gets mentioned in the history books but, by the timing, it must have had an impact.

Although Hercules was a departure from the animated epics that Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame had been, it was still set in epic settings with a cast of thousands. In some ways, it was a return to the animated comedies of the Disney animated films from the late 80's and early 90's. As a film, it's a solid story with actor James Woods stealing the show as Hades. This was the first of the animated features to have a stylized look that many audiences thought made the Disney animated features look cheap instead of having a unique artistic style. It took a lot more effort to successfully pull off the look of these stylized films but audiences didn't appreciate that effort. They wanted the more traditional Walt Disney look.

Hercules had the largest marketing campaign of any 1990's animated feature, starting nearly a year before the release and including numerous tie-ins. After the dismal returns on the film, Disney scaled back the scope of their releases after this. When Mulan debuted the following summer, it was a much smaller release with a more modest marketing campaign. This was the last of an era as the decline of Walt Disney Feature animation by the politically correct management would eventually march it off a cliff and finally close its doors in the early 2003.

Hercules Strikes Manhattan is the Disney Channel special that aired the festivities of the film's premiere. Like the previous two events, there were interviews and behind the scenes segments about the making of the film. These film premieres were major cultural events like a holiday and these television special broadcasts were a big part of that. Hercules isn't a bad film and worth revisiting by future generations if only to enjoy the performance of James Woods as Hades.

Original air date June 14, 1997

Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.