In a career that has cross more than 60 years , Don Bluth has worked as a film director , animator , production house decorator , video game interior designer , illustrator , and instructor . He has made such dear moving-picture show asThe Secret of NIMH(1982),An American Tail(1986 ) , andThe Land Before Time(1988 ) , as well as the pioneer video recording gameDragon ’s Lair .
With the recent issue of Bluth ’s autobiography , Somewhere Out There : My alive Life , andDon Bluth ’s Art of Storyboard , which was released in May , the creative person can also add “ generator ” to his ever - growing list of title .
1. Don Bluth knew he wanted to become an animator when he was 4 years old.
When Bluth was just 4 years old , his parents took him to see Disney’sSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs , and he was trance by the scene where the Evil Queen transform into a witch . He said , “ It was something that impress me,”Bluth toldDeseret Newsin July 2022 . “ ‘ Let ’s go do that again ! ’ I was very impressed with the look of it . I could n’t say for certain why I was so attracted to it . ”
2. He has some famous family members.
Bluth ’s great - grandpa wasHelaman Pratt , an former leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter - daytime Saints and one of the beginner of Prattville , Utah . One - time Republican presidential candidate and current next-to-last senator of Utah Mitt Romney is also Pratt ’s great - grandson , making Romney and Bluthsecond first cousin .
3. He worked for one of Disney’s “Nine Old Men.”
At age 18 , Bluth was engage by Walt Disney Productions as what was known as an “ in - between , ” a mortal who adds frames to the animators ’ drawings . He rose cursorily and was presently promoted to adjunct animator for John Lounsbery , one of Disney ’s famed “ Nine Old Men . ”
“ I was in what you call hog heaven , there in the studio apartment and learning so much and just loving being around that environment that I was designate to be in,”Bluth toldMeridianMagazineof the experience in 2012 . He provide Disney to go on a mission trip to Argentina for his church , much to Lounsbery ’s confusion .
4. He made his first independent film in his garage.
While still working for Disney , Bluth launched a production company called Aurora , name after the character inSleeping Beauty , which was the first feature film Bluth worked on . The first undertaking he made under the company ’s banner wasBanjo the Woodpile Cat , a unforesightful about a farm cat who run away to Salt Lake City . Like Walt Disney , Bluth start his own company in his garbage .
“ People thought we used the garage on purpose , because Walt Disney started in a garage,“Bluth toldThe Washington Postin 1982 . “ But we were n’t that calculating . We simply could n’t afford anyplace else . My keep room had blackout drapery up and was the projection way . My family room was the camera room . My bedroom had edit equipment in it for old age , and the kitchen and terrace were the commissary . Any money we had , we put into filmmaking equipment and thing that show on the silver screen . ”
5. He launched his own animation studio, three separate times.
In 1979 , after work out for Walt Disney Productions for nearly a decade — where he contributed to such films asRobin Hood , The Rescuers , andPete ’s Dragon , Bluth andseveral of his colleagues leftDisney to start Don Bluth Productions . Their first project was the animated chronological succession for the lively - activity filmXanadu(1980 ) , starring Olivia Newton - John;The Secret of NIMHwastheir first and last film .
Though it was praise by critic , The Secret of NIMHwas a box office disappointment , which — along with an animator ’s strike in 1982 — led to the studio apartment filing for bankruptcy that yr . The company then re - launched as Bluth Group , which focused on video games . Their first handout was 1983’sDragon ’s Lair , which was the first game to use pic - panache art . After complete only one other game ( 1983’sSpace Ace ) , the Bluth Group was forced into bankruptcy , primarily due to the TV biz clangor of 1983 .
In 1984 , Bluth team up up with businessman Morris Sullivan to create Sullivan Bluth Studios . The company had other success with films likeThe Land Before Time , but closed in 1995 after a train of flops induce investor to pull out . In 2020 , Bluth — now 84 year old — announced that he had protrude a new company , Don Bluth Entertainment , which focuses onhand - tie animation .
6. His first studio had the first profit-sharing contract in animation.
Don Bluth Productions had the first ever documented net profit communion accord , whichBluth toldThe Washington Postwas necessary as it was “ the only way we could hope to compensate citizenry adequately for the ritual killing and extra effort require . ”
He continued this with his next studio . At Sullivan Bluth Studios , employees partake in in up to 25 pct of the profits from each pic . “ This arranging , unique in the business , educe from Morris Sullivan ’s and Don Bluth ’s philosophy that each employee is an important member of the Studio team without which the film could not be made,”AnimatorMagazine wroteof the game - changing arrangement .
7. Bluth thinks it’s important to show darkness children’s in films.
Bluth ’s films are well - eff for containing some of the saddest and most perturbing moment in small fry ’s movies . In an consultation with Doug Walker , the YouTube personality well - known for his seriesThe Nostalgia Critic(which you could look on above ) , Bluth say , “ [ If ] you do n’t show the dark , you do n’t appreciate the luminousness . If it were n’t for December no one would appreciate May . It ’s just important that you see both sides of that . As far as a well-chosen ending … when you take the air out of the dramaturgy there ’s [ got to be ] something that you have that you get to take home . What did it teach me ? Am I a just mortal for having watched it ? ”
Steven Spielberg , who producedAn American TailandThe Land Before Time , dissent with Bluth and had 10 minutes of view cut from the latter movie because theJawsdirector felt they were “ too scary ” for baby .
8. Bluth wanted to make a Beatles movie with Michael Jackson.
Bluth has a long tilt of works that he has yet to complete ; his unfulfilled projects include a short based on The Pied Piper of Hamlin and a full - lengthThe Velveteen cony . Perhaps the oddest of Bluth ’s unmade projects isStrawberry Fields , aFantasia - esque serial of vignettes that utilized the euphony ofThe Beatles , which Bluth attempted to make in the 1980s . Michael Jackson , who had then recently purchased the rights to the Lennon / McCartney catalog , brought the idea to Bluth , which never came to pass because the subsist phallus of the band refused permission to use their similitude .
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