Chanticleer (partially found production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 1940s-mid 1960s)

Chanticleer duelling Poco Loco.

Status: Partially Found

Chanticleer was going to be a Disney animated movie based on Edmond Rostand's play Chantecler. It was in development from the 1940s up until the mid 1960s and never saw completion.

Though the film was cancelled, its character designs later inspired the 1973 Disney animated film Robin Hood as well as the animatronics for defunct America Sings attraction in Disneyland.

Plot

The film takes place on a Parisian farm in the late 1800s, much like the play. Chanticleer is a vain rooster who has all the animals believe that his crowing is what brings up the sun each morning. He later realizes his arrogance and makes amends to find the strength to defeat his enemies.

Development

In 1943, Walt Disney learned about the Chanticleer story and told story men, Ted Sears and Al Perkins to see what ideas they could get from the material, but they had trouble making the rooster a sympathetic character. Walt combined the project with another project going under the title Reynard the Fox, inspired by a French folktale. This gave Walt the idea to create an opposing villain character that would help boost sympathy on the rooster. Multiple films were already in development, so the project was put on hold for the majority of World War II.

In the 1960s, work was finished on the animated film 101 Dalmatians. Marc Davis and Ken Anderson decided to collaborate on a film inspired by the growing popularity of Broadway musicals. Going down to the Animation Archive Library, they both came across the Chanticleer concept art and liked what they saw. Hearing of this news, Walt urged the duo to scrap all work done on the project and start fresh, hoping that they could get it done this way. Though they were getting a significant amount of work done, other animators were more interested in The Sword in the Stone, however, Roy Disney, the headboard of the studio, was trying to convince Walt to halt production on all full-length animations in order to concentrate instead on his two theme parks in Anaheim, California, and Orlando, Florida. Although he disagreed to this proposal, Walt made the decision to cancel one of the two animated projects currently in production; Chanticleer was ultimately the animated project that got shelved due to it being cheaper to animate humans than animals.

In 1981, Mel Shaw proposed a story re-write. This would've depicted Chanticleer as "the most macho chicken in all of France". This was quickly rejected by the heads of the studio for the same reasons it had been in the past.

This Chanticleer animated movie concept was later revived and turned into the movie Rock-a-Doodle, directed by ex-Disney animator Don Bluth. Few elements from the Disney development remained, such as the Pheasant being made into Chanticleer's love interest and the fox being a villain character.

Gallery

Videos

A video discussing the movie.

Concept Art

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See Also

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• The Incredibles (found full version of McDonald's Happy Meal commercial for Pixar animated film; 2004)
• The Incredibles (found online promotional trailers for Pixar animated film; 2004)
• Pixar (partially lost early CGI animated commercials from animation studio; 1989-1998)

Animation (Disney)

• Alice in Wonderland (partially lost original draft of Disney animated film; 1939)
• Aladdin (found Howard Ashman treatment of Disney animated film; 1988)
• American Dog (partially found original version of "Bolt" Disney animated film; 2007-2008)
• The Black Cauldron (partially found deleted scenes of Disney animated film; 1985)
• Chicken Little 2 (partially found production material of cancelled sequel to Disney animated comedy film; 2006)
• Disney Circle Seven Animation (partially lost production material of cancelled Pixar sequel films; 2004-2006)
• Dumbo II (partially found production material from cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2000s)
• Fantasia 2006 (partially lost production material for cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2002-2004)
• Fraidy Cat (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2004-2005)
• Frozen (partially found early drafts of Disney animated film; 1937-2012)
• Gigantic (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2013-2017)
• The Jungle Book (lost Bill Peet version of Disney animated film; 1963-1964)
• Kingdom of the Sun (partially found original version of "The Emperor's New Groove" Disney animated film; late 1990s)
• The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (partially found production material and deleted scenes of Disney animated sequel film; 1995-1998)
• Maleficent (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2003-2005)
• Music Land (lost Disney animated anthology film; 1955)
• My Peoples (partially found production material of cancelled Disney animated film; late 1990s-early 2000s)
• Phineas and Ferb (lost production material of cancelled theatrical film of Disney Channel animated series; 2010s)
• The Search for Mickey Mouse (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2002)
• The Seven Dwarfs (partially found production material of cancelled direct-to-video prequel to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" Disney animated film; 2000s)
• Tangled (partially found early drafts of Disney animated film; 2001-2010)
• Tinker Bell (partially found first draft of Disney animated film; 2007)
• Treasure Planet II (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2002)
• Wild Life (lost production material for cancelled Disney animated film; late 1990s-2000)
• Zootopia (partially found pre-rewrite version of Disney animated film; early 2010s)

Animation (Pixar)

• A Tin Toy Christmas (lost production material of cancelled Pixar animated Christmas TV special; early 1990s)
• Cars 3 (lost deleted scene of Pixar animated sequel film; 2017)
• The Good Dinosaur (lost original version of Pixar animated film; 2011-2013)
• Inside Out (lost original Bing Bong death scene of Pixar animated film; 2015)
• Made in Point Richmond (found miscellaneous content from Pixar DVD; 1986-2000)
• Newt (partially found production material of cancelled Pixar animated film; early 2010s)
• Toy Story (partially found early test footage of Pixar animated film; 1992)
• Toy Story 4 (found original script of Pixar animated sequel film; 2013-2017)
• Toy Story & Toy Story 2 (partially found intermissions for 3D double feature re-release of Pixar animated films; 2009)
• Toy Story "Black Friday Reel" (partially found rough cut of Pixar animated film; 1993)
• Toy Story "Jessie" (found Patsy Montana Award acceptance speech animation of Pixar character; 2000)
• WALL·E (partially found original treatments of Pixar animated film; 1994-2008)

Audio

• Enchanted (lost deleted song from Disney live-action/animated fantasy comedy film; 2007)
• Fantasia (partially lost original audio of Disney animated film; 1940)
• Jack Wagner (partially lost Disney Park background music collection from American actor; 1970s-2001)
• Mars Needs Moms (found Seth Green vocal performance of Disney motion-capture animated film; 2011)
• The Nightmare Before Christmas (lost original Vincent Price audio of Disney stop-motion animated film; early 1990s)
• Pinocchio (lost Mel Blanc's "Gideon the Cat" dialogue from Disney animated film; 1940)
• Toy Story 2 (partially found Bullseye dialogue test footage from Pixar animated sequel film; late 1990s)

Live Action

• 101 Dalmatians (found "Spotted Landmarks" teaser trailer of Disney live-action film; 1995-1996)
• Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (found deleted scenes from Disney live-action film; 1993)
• Sleeping Beauty (partially found live action reference material for Disney animated film; 1959)
• Something Wicked This Way Comes (lost original cut of Disney dark fantasy film; 1982)
• Walt Disney (lost physical Mickey Mouse animation reference footage of animator; late 1930s)

Short Films

• Alice Comedies (partially lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1920s)
• Blowin' in the Wind (found Pixar animated short film; 1985)
• Lafflets (lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1922-1923)
• Language Arts Through Imagination (found series of Disney educational short films; 1988-1989)
• Mickey and Minnie Mouse (lost unauthorized pornographic animated short film; existence unconfirmed; 1936)
• Mickey's Man Friday (partially found production material of unproduced remake of Disney animated short film; 1939-1941)
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (partially lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1927-1928)
• Poor Papa (found "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" Walt Disney animated short film; 1927)
• The Princess Academy (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated short film; 2009)
• Short Subject aka "Mickey Mouse in Vietnam" (found unofficial animated short film; 1968)
• Tales from Radiator Springs "To Protect and Serve" (lost episode of "Cars" animated miniseries; 2015)
• Totally Twisted Fairy Tales (partially found Disney animated short series; 1997)
• Uncle Walt (lost unauthorized Disney short film; 1964)

External Links

• The Disney Wiki's page on the film.