1961:
Disney's The Parent Trap, starring Hayley Mills, Maureen O'Hara, and Brian Keith, is released. Mills portrays twins Sharon and Susan, who are reunited years after being separated by their divorced parents. The film features the songs "For Now, For Always," and "Let's Get Together," both written by the Sherman Brothers.
Also released are the Donald Duck shorts The Litterbug (a combination live-action/animation) and the animated short Donald and the Wheel.
1985:
Singer-songwriter Kris Allen, the winner of the eighth season of
American Idol and the second Idol to ever appear in an "I'm Going
to Disney World!" TV ad, is born in Jacksonville, Arkansas.
Disney's live-action feature film Return to Oz is released in U.S.
theaters. The film's plot is a combination of L. Frank Baum's novels Ozma of Oz and The Marvelous Land of Oz, which were written as sequels to his classic novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Return to Oz is an unofficial sequel as Disney has made the film without the involvement of MGM, the studio responsible for the original 1939 film. (The film will receive an Academy Award nomination for "Best Visual Effects".)
1988:
The Touchstone/Amblin Entertainment film Who Framed Roger Rabbit premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Actor Bob Hoskins plays a private detective who investigates a murder involving the famous cartoon character, Roger Rabbit (voiced by Charles Fleischer). The film will be generally released in U.S. theaters the following day. Who Framed Roger Rabbit marks the first (and to date, only) time that characters from several animation studios - including Disney, Universal, MGM, Republic, Turner Entertainment, and Warner Bros. - appear in one film!
1991:
The Disneyland parade Celebration U.S.A. debuts.
The Rocketeer starring Bill Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin, and Timothy Dalton is released. A young pilot (Campbell) stumbles onto a prototype jetpack that allows him to become a high flying masked hero. First premiering at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood two days earlier, The Rocketeer was the first film to play at the historic movie house since the El Capitan's $14 million renovation. The feature is based on the comic book created by illustrator and comic artist Dave Stevens; co-writer and co-producer of the film as well. (The Rocketeer will later be nominated for both the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film.)
1995:
Tokyo Disneyland's Main Street Electrical Parade ends its run.
1996:
Disney's 34th animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame is
generally released the same day "The Hunchback of Notre Dame –
A Musical Adventure" debuts at Disney-MGM Studios. Featuring the voices of Jason Alexander (as Hugo), Tom Hulce (as Quasimodo), Mary Kay Bergman (as Quasimodo's Mother), and Demi Moore (as Esmeralda), the animated film's music will be nominated for an Oscar. The story is loosely based on the Victor Hugo epic novel, first published in 1831. The live stage show will run through September 2002.
2000:
DisneyQuest unveils two new attractions at the Indoor Interactive Theme Park at Disney World: "Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold" (which allows guests to fulfill their fantasy of becoming a pirate and interacting in a pirate world) and "Songmaker" (which allows guests to become a record producer and create their own song).
2002:
Disney's newest animated feature Lilo & Stitch opens in U.S. theaters the
same day ABC-TV airs Disney's Lilo & Stitch Aloha From Hollywood.
The animated feature tells the story of a Hawaiian girl who adopts an unusual pet that turns out to
be an notorious extra-terrestrial fugitive from the law.
Country singer Wynonna Judd appears on Good Morning America singing "Burning Love" - the Elvis Presley song she has recorded for the Lilo &
Stitch soundtrack.
Disney Channel premieres episode #5 of the new animated Kim Possible
series titled "Downhill."
1989:
Comedian Harvey Korman greets Walt Disney World's 300-millionth guest
Matt Gleason at the gates of Disney-MGM Studios!
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
(which premiered on this day) went on to win 4 Academy Awards, the most at that time for a Disney film since
Mary Poppins.
JUNE
1963:
Director and writer Jan Jaroslav Pinkava is born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He will go on to direct and write the Pixar Oscar-winning 1997 short film Geri's Game and originate and co-direct Pixar's Oscar-winning 2007 film Ratatouille.
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JUNE 21
JUNE 21
THIS DAY MADE
IN THE
USA
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The Rocketeer ts released
"P-p-please, Eddie! Don't throw me out. Don't you realize you're making a big mistake? I didn't kill anybody. I swear! The whole thing's a set up. A scam, a frame job. Ow! Eddie, I could never hurt anybody. Oow! My whole purpose in life is to make... people... laugh!" -Roger Rabbit
2008:
The Disney/Pixar feature WALL-E premieres at the Greek Theatre (in Griffith Park) in Los Angeles, California. (It will open in wide release June 27.) The film, set the distant future, centers on a small waste collecting robot who inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind. Special guests attending the premiere include cast members Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver and Elissa Knight.
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1997:
Disney's Nightmare Ned airs on ABC-TV with two new episodes -
"Testing...Testing..." and "The Accordion Lesson."
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1957:
Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, children's book author/illustrator, director and screenwriter Guy Berkeley "Berke" Breathed is born in Encino, California. Best
known for Bloom County, a 1980s cartoon-comic strip, Breathed's 2007 picture book Mars Needs Moms!
was released as an animated feature by Disney in 2011.
2011:
D23 holds a special event at the El Capitan Theater to celebrate the
20th anniversary of The Rocketeer.
