FILM · 1988 · USA
Oliver & Company
70 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (70)
- #001
Oliver & Company was the first Disney film to have its own department created specifically to produce computer animation.
- #002
To capture a dog's point of view, the animators took reference photographs of New York streets using cameras placed 18 inches above the ground.
- #003
Oliver & Company is one of the few animated films to include a front-and-center shot of New York City's Twin Towers. After the September 11 tragedy, when footage of the iconic towers was removed from many films so as not to upset people, Disney chose not to alter the towers, largely because doing so would have ruined the film's original main title card and would have been too time-consuming and costly. By 2001, Oliver & Company had already been widely distributed on VHS, so there was no point in editing it. Many New Yorkers later praised Disney for not changing the film, feeling it was a good depiction of pre-September 11 New York and wanting the towers to remain visible.
- #004
Oliver & Company was the last animated Disney Classic to use full cel overlay, also known as cel coating, a technique that makes the backgrounds match the lines of the xeroxed objects in the film.
- #005
Early drafts of the story opened with Oliver's parents and siblings being killed by Sykes's dogs Roscoe and DeSoto. Oliver's reason for joining Dodger's gang would then have been to avenge his family. This plotline was later abandoned because it was too dark.
- #006
After Oliver falls asleep on a truck tire and wakes up, he sees people passing through the alley where he slept. One of these people is Roger from One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) (look for the man with brown hair, a blue shirt and blue pants).
- #007
The license plate on Sykes's car reads DOBRMAN.
- #008
While Georgette sings her song, among the framed pictures behind her is a picture of Professor Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective (1986).
- #009
The film featured the logos and brand names of 30 different companies, including McDonald's and Sony. According to an interview with the filmmakers, this was not paid product placement. They felt they could not present a realistic image of New York City without depicting the advertising that is always present in the city.
- #010
As of 2021, Oliver & Company (1988) remains the only film in which Billy Joel acted as a character other than himself. In all his other credited roles, including starring in music videos, Joel performed as himself.
- #011
The dogs' dances were based on Bob Fosse's choreography.
- #012
Like many Disney films before 1989, the home video release of Oliver & Company (1988) was delayed for years. Despite the film's 1988 release and commercial success, Walt Disney Home Video did not distribute the film on VHS until 1996.
- #013
Dom DeLuise had already appeared in several other animated films by this point, namely Don Bluth's films, but this was the only time he got the chance to voice a character in a Disney film. He loved the role so much that he kept improvising lines that were included in the film. He even chose to be in Oliver & Company (1988) over Bluth's The Land Before Time (1988), which was released on the same day.
- #014
Animator Peter Young, who also worked on the story, was planned to direct alongside George Scribner, but he died at the age of 37 just before production began.
- #015
Animator Mark Flood said that this film and The Lion King (1994) are his favorite Disney films.
- #016
This was Cheech Marin's first feature-length animated film. He had previously voiced the character Tyrone Shoelaces in Cheech & Chong's Basketball Jones (1973). He went on to voice Stump in FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992), the hyena Banzai in The Lion King (1994), Ramone in Cars (2006), Mad Hog the Pig in Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil (2011), Pancho Rodriguez in The Book of Life (2014) and the Prison Warden in Coco (2017).
- #017
Initially, Roy Edward Disney wanted the story to involve Fagin and his gang having to steal a panda from the zoo to pay off Sykes's debt, with Oliver being a rare Asian cat. However, Jeffrey Katzenberg dropped this idea so that the story would stay faithful to the source material.
- #018
After Dumbo (1941), One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) and The Rescuers (1977), it is the fourth Disney animated film set in the present day at the time of its original release.
- #019
Billy Joel auditioned for the role of Dodger over the phone.
- #020
The film was reported to be the first animated film to gross 100 million dollars worldwide upon its original release. Its success encouraged Disney to release its animated films faster than before.
- #021
HIDDEN MICKEY: Among the other clocks Fagin owns, there is also a Mickey Mouse clock.
- #022
Patrick Stewart was considered to voice Francis, but he was busy with the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). The role of Francis ultimately went to Roscoe Lee Browne. Stewart would eventually voice Mr. Woolensworth in Chicken Little (2005).
- #023
Most of the inanimate objects in the film were created and animated on computers: cars, taxis, buses, Sykes's limousine, Fagin's tricycle (half scooter and half shopping cart), a cement mixer, a sewer pipe, a spiral staircase, a piano, subway tunnels and trains, cityscapes and even the Brooklyn Bridge.
- #024
Marlon Brando was offered the role of Sykes by Michael Eisner, president of The Walt Disney Company. However, Brando turned down the offer because he was afraid the film would be a bomb.
- #025
Early in the film's development, it was decided that it would be a sequel to The Rescuers (1977). The producers later decided the story was not convincing and started over from scratch. All that remained was the New York setting and a few similarities between Jenny and Penny, though Jenny was always meant to be named Jenny, a name taken from the daughter of screenwriter Peter Young. The sequel to that film would eventually be titled The Rescuers Down Under (1990).
- #026
Bette Midler voiced a character in a theatrical film for the first time. She would go on to voice the Sphynx cat Kitty Galore in Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (2010) and Grandmama Addams in The Addams Family (2019) film series.
- #027
Dodger's appearance was inspired by Billy Joel.
- #028
Despite having his name in the film's title, Oliver is not named until roughly the 33rd minute of the film.
- #029
The Dobermans Roscoe and Desoto were likely named after Roscoe Boulevard and Desoto Boulevard, located in the San Fernando Valley a few miles from the Walt Disney Studios.
- #030
Along with Aladdin (1992), this is the only Disney animated film in which Frank Welker does not perform only animal sounds. In this film, Welker even voices the Hot Dog Vendor Louie.
- #031
The man to whom Fagin tries to pawn the Mickey Mouse watch is a caricature of Peter Schneider, who was then vice president of Walt Disney Feature Animation.
- #032
Although trade publications reported high demand in the video market, the film was not made available for home video until 1996. It was one of the most requested Disney films.
- #033
Howard Ashman was hired as the film's lyricist because of his well-received work on the rock musical Little Shop of Horrors (1986).
- #034
Whitney Houston was considered for the role of Rita.
- #035
Cheech Marin was reportedly encouraged to improvise lines for the role of the energetic chihuahua Tito. He claimed that only 75% of his spoken lines were part of the film's script.
- #036
Steve Martin and Burt Reynolds were considered for the role of Dodger, but Reynolds chose to voice Charlie in All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), which also starred Dom DeLuise.
- #037
It was the first Disney animated film to be dubbed in Quebec.
- #038
Unlike previous films, which were planned entirely in storyboards, this was the first Disney animated film to have a written script.
- #039
This was the first film to enter production under the oversight of the then-new Disney CEO Michael Eisner and new studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg. Both men had joined The Walt Disney Company in 1984 and had previously worked as executives at Paramount Pictures.
- #040
The film's supervising animators, Glen Keane, Ruben A. Aquino, Mike Gabriel, Hendel Butoy and Mark Henn, were part of what was called the new generation of Disney artists. Disney's Nine Old Men, a group of core animators, had worked on nearly every Disney animated film between 1937 and the early 1980s, but all of them had died or retired before production on Oliver & Company (1988) began. The last to retire was Eric Larson, whose final film was The Great Mouse Detective (1986).
- #041
In the United Kingdom, Oliver & Company (1988) was not distributed by Buena Vista International. Theatrical distribution rights were given to Warner Bros.
- #042
The scene in which Oliver and Jenny ride in a horse-drawn carriage and Oliver runs and plays with the driver's hat is a tribute to a similar scene in The Aristocats (1970).
- #043
It is the 27th feature-length animated film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios.
- #044
Richard Rich worked as co-director on the film before being fired by Peter Schneider during production. Schneider claims Rich was aggressive toward him.
- #045
According to the calendar on the wall, Oliver first meets Dodger and his gang on April 21. The film's opening scene is set in spring and depicts rainy weather.
- #046
The film was officially released on November 18, 1988. The date was chosen because it was the 60th anniversary of the premiere of Steamboat Willie (1928) and Mickey Mouse's debut.
- #047
Oliver & Company (1988) is the only Walt Disney Animation Studios film released in the 1980s that was not directed by either the team of Ted Berman & Richard Rich or the team of John Musker & Ron Clements. The pair also did not direct The Brave Little Toaster (1987), but Disney only distributed that film and did not produce it as a Walt Disney Animation Studios film.
- #048
Dom DeLuise had previously voiced an orange cat named Tiger in An American Tail (1986); he would reprise the role in future sequels and TV series.
- #049
The film features two voice actors/actresses also known for their singing careers: Billy Joel and Bette Midler.
- #050
About 11 minutes of the film used computer-generated imagery, including shots of skyscrapers. Walt Disney Animation Studios had previously used computer-generated imagery in both The Black Cauldron (1985) and The Great Mouse Detective (1986), and the technique was thought to have improved the visuals of both films.
- #051
Although the film states that Fagin owes Sykes money, it never specifies exactly how much the debt is or when Fagin borrowed it. However, in an earlier version of the script, Fagin borrowed money from Sykes to bet in an illegal poker tournament, possibly to help cover living expenses before losing it all. Assuming the situation is the same in the film, Fagin may have convinced Sykes that he would get his money back after collecting his winnings.
- #052
Bette Midler, who voices Georgette, lives at 1125 Fifth Avenue, New York. This is the address written on Oliver's tag.
- #053
The film was director George Scribner's first feature film. He had previously worked in television animation as both an animator and a storyboard artist but had never had the chance to direct a film.
- #054
Contrary to popular belief, this film — along with The Great Mouse Detective (1986) and Walt Disney Television Animation's Gummi Bears (1985) — was not part of Disney's Dark Age, but was the true beginning of the Disney Renaissance because it was a major success, which increased confidence at the studio that they could continue producing successful animated films — The Little Mermaid (1989) was literally one of the best.
- #055
Disney was eager to cast New York native actors such as Bette Midler, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Roscoe Lee Brown in the film to convincingly represent a broad cross-section of the city.
- #056
The film presents accurate images of the New York City skyline during its production. Disney reportedly used the database of the architecture firm "Skidmore, Owings & Merrill" to create a realistic image of the skyline.
- #057
J. A. C. Redford was hired as the film's theme composer on the strength of his previous work on the television series St. Elsewhere (1982).
- #058
This is the first Walt Disney Animation Studios film produced in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio.
- #059
This was Richard Mulligan's last theatrical film.
- #060
It is the last film made by Walt Disney Animation Studios to be scored by a composer who did not return until The Rescuers Down Under (1990). Alan Menken and Danny Elfman later became recurring composers starting with The Little Mermaid (1989) and The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), after Frank Churchill, Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith, Oliver Wallace, George Bruns and Buddy Baker, and before Hans Zimmer, Mark Mancina, James Newton Howard, John Debney, Alan Silvestri, Henry Jackman, Christophe Beck and Alexandre Desplat.
- #061
Oliver & Company (1988) was the favorite film of the character Bailey Kane in the 2017 novel Bittersweet Symphony (ISBN 978-1975874513). In Rebecca McNutt's story, the traumatized corporate lawyer recounts going to see the film in theaters during his childhood.
- #062
Oliver & Company (1988) was criticized for the large amount of product placement and advertising throughout the film. Disney responded by pushing back against everyone who said it had never been to New York, because advertising slogans are everywhere you look.
- #063
It is the first Disney animated film to be released in November since Robin Hood (1973), the first Disney animated film not to be released in July since The Rescuers (1977), and the first Disney animated feature not to be released in the summer since The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977).
- #064
In the film, Fagin breaks the mirror of one of Sykes's cars twice. The first time is when Sykes parks at the pier, and the second is in Sykes's office, but that time it was a miniature model car instead of the real one.
- #065
Dodger never addresses Oliver by name. He always refers to the kitten as "kid" or some variation of the word child.
- #066
CASTLE THUNDER: It is initially heard briefly once as the film's first thunder, and again briefly toward the end during DeSoto's electrocution.
- #067
The uptown market appears. Billy Joel (Dodger) sang the famous song Uptown Girl.
- #068
Oliver & Company was originally intended to be the plan for the Disney Renaissance. Greenlit on exactly the same day as The Little Mermaid (1989) during Disney's "Gong Show" presentations in late 1984, the film faced major obstacles behind the scenes. Executives heavily discussed delaying the film to 1989 or even 1993 to fix production problems, but a delay to 1989 would have made it Disney's first double release year since 1977. Despite the chaos, 1987 model sheets show that animators pioneered a new, three-dimensional "volumetric" layout. This style gave characters detailed irises and pupils for extra emotional weight, a standard directly inherited by Ariel and Prince Eric. Although the final theatrical cut looks grainy and flat due to the outdated Xerox process in 1988, original production records confirm it was meant to look like its famous successor.
- #069
Released in May 1997, the Mexican VHS of Oliver & Company differs from the American version; it includes the Disney VHS promo, the Disney Videos logo from 1995 to 2001, the theatrical trailer for Hercules (1997), VHS trailers for 101 Dalmatians (1996) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), and after the film the repeated Disney Videos logo, Disneyland and Walt Disney World ads, and an anti-piracy warning in Spanish.
- #070
In Mexico, the VHS premiered in May 1997, and the DVD was released in April 2005 and April 2009.
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