What was the first Disney movie?
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was Disney's first full-length animated movie. Before that, Disney made hundreds of short cartoons, starting in the 1920s.
Many people in Hollywood doubted that audiences would sit through a feature-length cartoon, and the project was nicknamed Disney's Folly. It took about three years and cost around 1.5 million dollars, a huge sum at the time.
Snow White premiered in Los Angeles on December 21, 1937, and became a massive success. For a short time it was the highest-earning sound film ever. It introduced the songs Heigh-Ho and Someday My Prince Will Come.
Before Snow White
Disney's earliest work included the Laugh-O-Grams series in Kansas City and the Alice Comedies in Hollywood. The Silly Symphonies shorts, such as Flowers and Trees and The Three Little Pigs, tested techniques later used in Snow White.
Snow White also pioneered new technology. Disney used a multiplane camera that filmed painted layers at different distances, giving the backgrounds a sense of depth that earlier cartoons lacked.
Did You Know?
Snow White received an honorary Oscar in 1939: one full-size statuette and seven miniature ones, one for each dwarf.