Cartoons In Theaters

[Philo & Gunge]

I was reading the "Classic Cartoons On The Big Screen" thread and I know that replying would get me in a whole lot of trouble, so I decided to start a new thread. Modern or classic, what cartoons did you see in a theater?

I saw:
Donald's Dyamite - Opera Box with Doug's First Movie
Goofy's Extreme Sports - Paracyling & CatDog: Fetch with The Rugrats Movie
Action League Now with Good Burger
The ChubbChubbs with MIIB
Early Bloomer with Daddy Day Care
Geri's Game with A Bug's Life
Luxo, Jr. with Toy Story 2
For The Birds with Monsters, Inc.
Knick Knack with Finding Nemo

What about you?

 

[Cartman]

RUNAWAY BRAIN - A Kid in King Arthur's Court/George of the Jungle

THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER - The Rescuers Down Under

DUDE DUCK - Ducktales the Movie

CHARIOTS OF FUR - Richie Rich

Out of all these, DUDE DUCK was the only classic cartoon that I have seen in a theater.

 

[J. J. Hunsecker]

I saw two of the Roger Rabbit shorts in the theater, ROLLER COASTER RABBIT and TUMMY TROUBLE.

The Pixar shorts such as GERI'S GAME, LUXO JR., TIN TOY, and KNICK KNACK I saw play before some of their features.

I once saw a Simpsons short from the Tracey Ullman show at the theater, the episode "Family Therapy", in the late 80's.

From my childhood I have vague memories of seeing UPA's THE TELL-TALE HEART and a Mister Magoo cartoon -- the title and plot of which I can't remember -- as well as a Mickey Mouse cartoon in which he boards a train, at our local theater (now since gone).

 

[Cartman]

From my childhood I have vague memories of seeing UPA's THE TELL-TALE HEART and a Mister Magoo cartoon -- the title and plot of which I can't remember -- as well as a Mickey Mouse cartoon in which he boards a train, at our local theater (now since gone).

I believe the Mickey cartoon you're talking about is MR. MOUSE TAKES A TRIP.

 

[Billy]

Well, aside from Luxo Jr (Shown before Toy Story 2 in 1999) and Knick Knack (shown before Finding Nemo in 2003) I guess you could count Whizzard of Ow, which I saw before a preview of LT:BIA earlier this year. That's it, as far as I recall.

 

[Bobby B]

In March 1996, the Tampa Theatre ran a classic cartoon marathon to tie in with the release of the "100 years of comic strips" postage stamps: (*=silent, with live music on the Mighty Wurlitzer)

*Little Nemo in Slumberland [B & W print]
*One Good Turn (Felix)
*The Great Cheese Robbery (Krazy Kat) [incomplete print]
The Merry Cafe (Krazy Kat)
*Boob McNutt (with live action footage of Rube Goldberg)
*Toonerville Trolley (with live action footage of Fontaine Fox)
Trolley Ahoy [B & W home movie print, retitled "Beach Picnic"]
Petunia National Park (Captain and the Kids)
Mickey's Grand Opera
The Bulleteers
Rabbit of Seville
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor


Individual cartoons seen at Tampa Theatre:

She-Sick Sailors (with the 1980 Popeye movie)
Betty Boop's Ker-Choo [Kit Parker Films titles] (with the documentary WILD WHEELS)
From A to ZZZZ (with BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S)


Disney cartoons with Disney features:

In the Bag (UNIDENTIFIED FLYING ODDBALL)
Golden Eggs (can't remember)
Pluto and the Armadillo (can't remember)
Chips Ahoy (THE BLACK CAULDRON)
Clock Cleaners (THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE)


Miscellaneous:

Scoutmaster Magoo (can't remember)
One Horse Town [Woody Woodpecker] (BON VOYAGE CHARLIE BROWN)

 

[Frank Flood]

Ann Arbor in the seventies and eighties was cinema heaven. Four or five student-run film cooperatives (Ann Arbor Film Co-op, Cinema Guild, etc.) showed movies all week long, different show every day, using six or seven of the theater-styled auditoriums and big classrooms on the University of Michigan campus. They showed EVERYTHING: modern, classic studio era, silents, foreign, avant-garde, short comedies and oodles and oodles of cartoons. All on big screens. I acutally have yet to see a lot of the studio era cartoons on TV, having only seen them they way they were meant to be shown.

They not only showed what you'd expect (Looney Tunes and Tex Avery, and a lot of that) but also early Fleischer (lots of Talkartoons, Betty Boop, and Popeye), silents, Harman-Isings, Fables, UPA, Lantz, Terrytoons, all kinds of things. Sometimes these were put together in special shows, and sometimes they ran cartoons with features. I saw a lot of great classic thirties and forties movies because I wanted to see the cartoon. Which is sort of why the things were made in the first place, isn't it?

Misty-eyed nostalgia aside, there were few better places for a cinema buff than A-Squared from 1976-83.

 

[duck dodgers]

I've Seen:

The Prince And The Pauper
Roller Coaster Rabbit
Trail Mix-up
Pluto's Playmate(i Remember Very Well It Was Showed With Ducktales:the Movie)

Too Bad Mine Is A So Short List

 

[Larry T]

Cartoons in theatres

Not counting the numerous animation screenings I attended in Toronto and at College (run by students ), the only ones I remember seeing were:

Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century before Star Wars
Chips Ahoy before the Black Cauldron
Clock Cleaners before the Great Mouse Detective
Some Hector Heathcote cartoon- before The Poseidon Adventure

I also saw a whole mess of great animation at the Spike And Mike's twisted animation festivals, like a handful of Tracey Ullman Simpsons shorts (uncut), Big House Blues (Ren and Stimpy), and various PD Warner cartoons.

However, I'll never forget the time I went to the movies sometime in the early 80s, and I can't remember the picture I went to see (it was probably that bad), but I was treated to a showing of a 35mm WB cartoon. This theatre had the habit of pulling out old stock cartoons and stuff unannounced and just featuring one along with a regular showing of a similar studio's movie.

Well, anyway, the token trailers to advertise coming attractions were playing, and everyone in the audience started talking by about the third or fourth one, as they always do. But right after the sixth one, amidst all the murmuring, on the big screen we saw the familiar WB target and zooming shield suddenly appear- the whole place went quiet instantly as if they were suddenly stunned- and in a matter of seconds the shield dissolved into Bugs' face and the entire congregation cheered so loudly that I could hardly hear the music anymore. It turned out to be "The Old Grey Hare", and boy, was it well received!!! People laughed and shouted, and when the cartoon ended, the applause drowned out the first two minutes of the opening of the feature attraction.

 

[ThePeterNetwork]

There were some cartoons that I saw appear before main features, tho' specifics are fuzzy (can't even remember what I did this morning, let alone specific details of things long ago). All I know is that classic cartoons need to be shown more with main features.

I should also go see more movies to see which films get cartoons before them.

 

[mac]

I've only ever seen Disney and Pixar shorts at the cinema.

I once saw the Donald short "Lighthouse Keepers", but I can't remember with what film (it would have been a rerelease of an animated Disney feature)
"Puss Cafe" (I think it was with "Beauty and the Beast")
"The Old Mill" (with "Bambi")
"Rollercoaster Rabbit" (with "Toy Story")
"Runaway Brain" (with "The Goofy Movie")

 

[STASHONE]

In first run, all scheduled independant screenings aside, I've see the following theatrical shorts on the big screen:

- Tummy Trouble
- Roller Coaster Rabbit
- The Prince And The Pauper
- Puss Cafe
- Tin Toy
- Knick Knack

And I'm sure I'm missing others as I've seen a number of Disney features upon rerelease (SOTS, Snow White, Lady & The Tramp, Fantasia, Bambi, Cinderella, 101 Dalmations, Rescuers Down Under, Fox & The Hound, Oliver & Company, Little Mermaid, BATB, Aladdin, Lion King, etc) which were rpobably paired with earlier theatrical shorts.

Does anyone know of an online resource which lists the Disney films and their accompanying shorts by year as well as theatrical reissues?

 

[Philo & Gunge]

Puss Cafe

What movie was that with?
I'm sure Clown Of The Jungle would have been a good lead-in to The Lion King.

 

[BillC]

LarryT great story

Similar thing happend on a smaller scale this past Christmas
at a childrens church christmas party. I was asked to show
some films, so I started the projector for "Bedtime for Sniffles and "GIFT WRAPPED" then I screened looney, looney, looney, bugs bunny movie
and everyone in the place was in ahw and started applauding
when the titles came on. both adults and children alike it was like they were seeing something mythical in front of them.
billc

 

[STASHONE]

What movie was that with?
I'm sure Clown Of The Jungle would have been a good lead-in to The Lion King.

I honestly don't remember, perhaps accompanying Oliver & Company as I think that's included as a supplemental on the DVD?

 

[Tom41]

I've seen Disney's Prince and the Pauper in a theater, before some Disney feature film I can't remember the name of. Also seen Knick Knack and Luxo Jr before some Disney Pixar films. I don't usually mention these three in topics like this, because they're not really classic-era theatrical cartoons.

Aside from that, the only time I've ever seen theatrical cartoons actually on a projector, instead of on TV, was when somebody brought in a 16mm projector and reel of cartoons on the last day of school term.
It was such a long time ago I can't remember the titles, but I remember there were some Looney Tunes and a couple of Popeye cartoons (AAP prints)

I think one of the Looney Tunes was "Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24 1/2th century" - with original ending! Even when BBC showed it in the 80s, they chopped off the Marvin That's All Folks card and replaced it with a regular one, after the missile flew into the screen!

 

[J. B. Warner]

I remember seeing "Runaway Brain" quite unexpectedly before "George of the Jungle", and it was a pleasure to do so (since I hadn't seen it upon its original 1995 release and Disney wasn't promoting the rerelease). I also saw "Chariots of Fur" before "Richie Rich" (in fact, it was the only reason I saw the movie) but I can barely remember any of it now - everything except the "Surgeon General" gag escapes me.

Nickelodeon also plugged two of their new Nicktoons with the releases of two of their earlry movies - "Hey Arnold" first saw the light of day in a twelve-minute short before "Harriet the Spy" in 1996, though the short itself was eventually reanimated and shown on TV. And "CatDog" debuted before "The Rugrats Movie" in 1998 in a four-minute short called "Fetch" which was also later stitched into a regular episode of the show and aired on TV.

And of course, every "Pokémon" movie is released in both Japan and America with a 22-minute long (yes, you read that right) animated short prior to each film. If you've never seen them before - and if you haven't, I don't blame you - they're told from the POV of Pikachu and the other Pokémon, as they go off on their own little adventures together. The shorts are mostly dialogueless, save for the beginnings and endings where Ash, Misty, Brock, Tracey, May, or whoever's involved appear, and of course for Meowth's endless Brooklynite blitherings. None of them are all that entertaining IMO.

 

[Philo & Gunge]

Nickelodeon also plugged two of their new Nicktoons with the releases of two of their earlry movies - "Hey Arnold" first saw the light of day in a twelve-minute short before "Harriet the Spy" in 1996, though the short itself was eventually reanimated and shown on TV. And "CatDog" debuted before "The Rugrats Movie" in 1998 in a four-minute short called "Fetch" which was also later stitched into a regular episode of the show and aired on TV.

The Action League Now! episode Rock-A-Big-Baby was shown theatrically before the 2nd Nickelodeon film Good Burger. I think it was much more funny then the film it was attached to. I bet it was released in theaters because it had KISS in it and adults would like to see KISS during the movie.

 

[BobChief]

One of you mentioned the Roger Rabbit shorts, I went out of my way to see both of those, not that the films accompanying them appealed to me (I definitely didn't care for Honey I Shrunk the Kids...)

There was a time in the late 70s, at a drive-in theater (ain't too many of them anymore!) we went to, probably Shankweiler's outside of Allentown PA, they showed a post-1966 Woody Woodpecker before the movie (forgot either's title) A pleasant surprise, as the theatrical 'toons by that time were a daily fixture on area TV stations.

Other than that, can't remember any since the Boyd Theater, in North 3rd Street, Easton (THE place to see anything D*sn*y!) was demolished around 1970...

 

[Philo & Gunge]

I've seen Disney's Prince and the Pauper in a theater, before some Disney feature film I can't remember the name of.

That movie would be The Rescuers Down Under.

I'm so sad, I didn't see any Roger Rabbit shorts or Looney Tunes in theaters (this is why I was looking forward to the new shorts).