There have been manyunfinished moviesover the years, but only one had the potential to be a masterpiece that could rival Disney. As apassion projectthat sought to revolutionize the world of animation, the story behind this ambitious release is truly tragic and showcases how creativity, passion, and persistence don’t always lead to success.
While it could have been lauded as one ofthe best animated movies ever made, a troubled production got in the way, and the three-time Academy Award winner Richard Williams never got to finish his most inspired work. As a sad tale that ends in financial ruin,it’s disappointing things didn’t work out forThe Thief and the Cobbler.
The Thief & The Cobbler’s Troubled Production Explained
The story of this troubled production dates back to the 1960s when the Canadian-British animator Richard Williams began work on a movie he intended to be the best animated feature of all time that was to bebased on the tales of the folklore character Mulla Nasrudin(via Guardian.) By 1973, this had evolved intoThe Thief and the Cobbler.
Williams privately developed this project over a decade while working on other film and television animation, and slowly his vision for intricate character designs and complex visuals started to come together. Having run into copyright issues with the Nasrudin concept, he repurposed his designs for a new story loosely based on the Middle Eastern folktaleArabian Nights.
Despite having a strong concept and the ingenious vision needed to develop the project, Williams struggled to gain the required financial backing. That was until he found major success through his work on the groundbreaking live-action-animation hybrid comedyWho Framed Roger Rabbitin 1989. With this success, Warner Bros. agreed to putThe Thief and the Cobblerinto full production.
While this might sound like a happily-ever-after for Williams' passion project, the worst was yet to come forThe Thief and the Cobbler(via Culture Cartel.) Despite having gained support from Steven Spielberg and being lauded with two Oscars forRoger Rabbit, the production of this long-gestating movie was plagued by delays and financial setbacks.
With most of Williams' original animators deceased or having moved on to other projects, he hired new artists to work onThe Thief and the Cobblerand started to painstakingly animate three-dimensional sequences by hand without the use of CGI. The project became so unwieldy thatWarner Bros. pushed Williams out of his own production.
In 1992, Williams was ousted from the project he spent decades developing, and while Terry Gilliam was at one point going to be brought in as a consultant, Warner Bros. instead opted for the much cheaper Fred Calvert to come as a replacement director (via LA Times.) Calvert even later said, “I really didn’t want to do it.”
Having been brought in to finish the film as quickly and cheaply as possible,Calvert cut 18 minutes of beautifully finished animation that Williams had overseendue to its repetitiveness. With a hastily put-together version of the film completed, the end result ofThe Thief and the Cobblerwas a movie that nobody was proud of.
The Thief & The Cobbler Has 2 Official Cuts, But Neither Is The True Version
The production ofThe Thief and the Cobblerwas a total disaster, and it didn’t help that Disney released a hugely successful, similarly themed film withAladdinin 1992.The influence of that Disney musical can be felt inThe Princess and the Cobbler, a retitled version released by Allied Filmmakers in South Africa and Australia in 1993.
The version released in the United States wouldn’t come out until 1995 and was eventually released by Miramax Films, then a subsidiary of Disney, under the titleArabian Nights. With a reputation as a cheapAladdinripoff, most were unaware of the decades of work that went into the project, and it bombed at the box office.
The Thief & The Cobbler Could Have Been An Animated ’90s Classic
The most tragic thing about the story ofThe Thief and the Cobblerwas just how much potential the film had to transform the modern animation landscape.Richard Williams had a vision that he nurtured for decades on end, and if it were not for delays and budgetary concerns, he could have helmed an animated classic of the 1990s.
From Williams' work onWho Framed Roger Rabbit, it was clear he had the talent needed to lead a production that could stand toe-to-toe with the legacy of classic releases like Disney’sThe Lion King. Instead, the result was a film that few have seen and most agree does not live up to its potential.
One person who did not see the film was Williams, who was so heartbroken by the whole fiasco that he never watched the released versions of his movie. They say the road to Hollywood is paved with broken dreams, andThe Thief and the Cobblerstands as a sad reminder that potential masterpieces don’t always come to fruition as planned.
