Originally conceived by
Richard Williams as an attempt to make the greatest animated film of all time, it later became his own "reason for living." After failing to secure funds from private investors or a studio to make the film, Williams decided to finance the film on his own, taking small jobs on television commercials or Saturday morning cartoons and using the proceeds to hire his own group of animators. The production moved in fits and starts until the success of
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) allowed Williams to make a deal with Warner Bros. to finance and distribute the film. As the production continued, however, it became obvious that Williams would not meet the 1991 release date originally set by the studio due to numerous delays, not the least of which were the director's insistence on absolute perfection and hesitation in using storyboards - two circumstances which often resulted in whole sequences being scrapped and re-shot. With Warner Bros. nervous over the release of Disney's
Aladdin (1992), which resembled _Thief and the Cobbler, The (1993)_ in story, tone and style (many of the animators on the Disney feature had also worked for
Richard Williams), the studio turned over completion of the film to the Completion Bond Company, which promptly fired
Richard Williams and brought on animator 'Fred Calvert (I)' to finish the film as cheaply and quickly as possible. Calvert heavily re-edited the film and altered the story, bringing in
Matthew Broderick,
Jennifer Beals and
Jonathan Winters to re-dub the lead characters. Eventually distributed by Miramax, the film was cut even further before debuting in theaters (See the Alternate Versions page for more details). Though bootleg copies of
Richard Williams' original work-print continue to circulate and several restoration attempts have been proposed, an official "Directors Cut" has yet to be released.
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