''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' is a

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

media franchise A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program ...

, commencing in 1996 with the release of ''

The Hunchback of Notre Dame ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (french: Notre-Dame de Paris, translation=''Our Lady of Paris'', originally titled ''Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482'') is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. It focuses on the unfortunate story ...

''. The franchise is based on the 1831 novel of the same name by

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

Overview

'' is one of the few Disney films of their

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

era of animation (along with ''

The Rescuers Down Under ''The Rescuers Down Under'' is a 1990 American animated adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 29th Disney animated feature film and the second movie to be produced during the Disne ...

'', ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance ...

'', ''

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the ...

'', and ''

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

'') to not have a female protagonist featured in the

Disney Princess ''Disney Princess'', also called the ''Princess Line'', is a media franchise and toy line owned by the Walt Disney Company. Created by Disney Consumer Products chairman Andy Mooney, the franchise features a lineup of female protagonists who ha ...

franchise that was created in the early 2000s, due to its female protagonist Esmeralda not being classified as a princess. This has resulted in the franchise having to rely on films, video games, and other merchandise that includes its characters and story alone. York Vision argues the relatively less successful nature of this franchise is "perhaps owing to the lack of a definable ‘Princess’ character," although some people classify her as a princess.

Films

''The Hunchback of Notre Dame''

''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' is a 1996 American animated musical drama film produced by

Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fr ...

and released to theaters on June 21, 1996 by

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit ...

. The film is based on

's 1831 novel of the same name. The plot centers on Quasimodo, the deformed bell-ringer of Notre Dame, and his struggle to gain acceptance into society while rebelling against his ruthless and bigoted master, Judge

Claude Frollo ''Monseigneur'' Claude Frollo () is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Victor Hugo's 1831 novel ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (known in French as ''Notre-Dame de Paris''). He is the Archdeacon of Notre Dame, as well as an Alche ...

''The Hunchback of Notre Dame II''

''The Hunchback of Notre Dame II'' is a 2002 American animated romantic musical comedy-drama film and a

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy w ...

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to the 1996 Disney animated film ''

''. It was produced by Walt Disney Animation Japan. Some years after the events of the first film, Quasimodo is pitted against a group of circus thieves led by the narcissistic Sarousch.

Live-action remake

A live-action remake of ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' was announced in January 2019. The script will be penned by

David Henry Hwang David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957) is an American playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and theater professor at Columbia University in New York City. He has won three Obie Awards for his plays '' FOB'', '' Golden Child'', and '' Yel ...

with Menken and Schwartz returning to write the music.

Josh Gad Joshua Ilan Gad (born February 23, 1981) is an American actor. He is known for voicing Olaf in the '' Frozen'' franchise, playing Elder Arnold Cunningham in the Broadway musical '' The Book of Mormon'', and playing Le Fou in the live-action ada ...

is set to produce and is possibly considered to play Quasimodo. In 2023, Menken suggested that development on the live-action remake was stalled owing to the original movie's content and themes, commenting that "the ''Hunchback'' movie, ''Hunchback'' story involves a lot of real, real issues that are important issues and should be explored to be discussed. And there has to be an agreement about how we deal with those issues. You know, do we do a ''Hunchback'' without ' Hellfire'? I don't think so ... So it sits in this limbo right now."

Stage musical

''The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Der Glöckner von Notre Dame)''

''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' is a musical based on the 1996 Disney film of the same name, which in turn was inspired by the 1831 Victor Hugo novel of the same name. It has music by

Alan Menken Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American composer, best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores and songs for '' The Little Mermaid'' (1989), '' Beauty and the Beast'' (1991), ' ...

, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and book by

James Lapine James Elliot Lapine (born January 10, 1949) is an American stage director, playwright, screenwriter, and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for ''Into the Woods'', '' Falsettos'', and '' Passion''. He ...

. The musical premiered in 1999 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

as ''Der Glöckner von Notre Dame'' (literally translated in English, The Bellringer of Notre Dame). It was produced by

Walt Disney Theatrical Disney Theatrical Productions Limited (DTP), also known as Disney on Broadway, is the flagship stageplay and musical production company of the Disney Theatrical Group, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios, a major business unit of The Walt Di ...

, the company's first musical to premiere outside the U.S. It ran for three years, becoming one of Berlin's longest-running musicals. A significantly revised version of the musical, with a new book by

Peter Parnell Peter Parnell (; born 1953) is an American Broadway and Off-Broadway playwright, television writer, and children's book author. Parnell is also Vice-President of the Dramatists Guild of America, the professional association of playwrights, compo ...

, premiered at the

La Jolla Playhouse La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. History La Jolla Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Mel Ferrer. In 1983, it was revived under ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

in 2014. Both versions of the musical restore Victor Hugo's darker ending and are in general closer to the tone of the novel.

''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' studio cast recording

''The Hunchback of Notre Dame: A New Musical'' is a 2016 studio cast recording of the 2015

Paper Mill Playhouse Paper Mill Playhouse is a regional theater with approximately 1200 seats, located in Millburn, New Jersey on the Rahway River. Due to its relatively close location to Manhattan, it draws from the pool of actors (and audience members) who live i ...

production of ''Hunchback''. It was released by Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight Records. Unprecedented for a non-Broadway cast recording, the album sold 10,000 copies, hitting No. 1 on the Cast Albums chart, No. 17 on Top Album Sales, and No. 47 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart.

Theme park attractions

Festival of Fools

Festival of Fools commenced in 1996 and held its last show on April 18, 1998. LaughingPlace cited a review of the final show that said: "In the pantheon of great Disneyland parades and shows, the Festival of Fools resides in the top echelon. It operated on so many levels (history, humor, and heart felt emotion to name a few), stirred a passion seldom seen among its most faithful (of which I am no doubt one), and brought 1239 fun filled energetic performances to the wondrous eyes of children young and old, that it's very difficult to sum up the run or my feelings toward it".

Video games

''The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Topsy Turvy Games''

In 1996, to tie in with the original theatrical release, ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Topsy Turvy Games'' was released by

Disney Interactive Disney Interactive is an American video game and internet company that oversaw various websites and interactive media owned by The Walt Disney Company. History 1995–1996: Formation and beginnings In December 1994, Disney announced that it wa ...

for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for se ...

and

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same t ...

, which is a collection of mini games based around the Festival of Fools that includes a variation of Balloon Fight.

''Disney's Animated Storybook: The Hunchback of Notre Dame''

''Disney's Animated Storybook: The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' is a point-and-click video game released by Disney Interactive for the PC. It retells the film's plot in an abridged animated storybook form.

''Kingdom Hearts''

A world based on ''

'', La Cité des Cloches (The City of Bells), made its debut appearance in the ''

Kingdom Hearts is a series of action role-playing games developed and published by Square Enix (originally by Square). It is a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company and is under the leadership of Tetsuya Nomura, a longtime Square ...

'' series in '' Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance''. It was the first new Disney world confirmed for the game. Quasimodo, Esmeralda, Phoebus, Claude Frollo and the three gargoyles appear as characters in the world.

''Disney Magic Kingdoms''

The world builder video game ''

Disney Magic Kingdoms ''Disney Magic Kingdoms'' is a 2016 city building game developed and published by Gameloft for iOS, Android, and Windows. It is themed off the Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. The game was officially launched on March 17, 2016. Storyline The game ...

'', during a limited time Event based on ''

'', introduced Quasimodo, Esmeralda, Phoebus, Claude Frollo and Djali as playable characters, as well as Bells of Notre Dame and Clopin's Puppet Wagon as attractions, in a storyline serving as a continuation after the events in the film.

Music

Soundtrack

''The Hunchback of Notre Dame: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack'' is the soundtrack to the 1996 Disney animated feature film, ''

''. It includes songs written by

and Stephen Schwartz with vocals performed by

Paul Kandel Paul Kandel (born February 15, 1951) is an American musical theatre actor and tenor singer best known for his film role in Disney's ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (1996) as the voice of the Roma leader Clopin Trouillefou. He also has appeared on ...

David Ogden Stiers David Allen Ogden Stiers ( ; October 31, 1942 – March 3, 2018) was an American actor and conductor. He appeared in numerous productions on Broadway, and originated the role of Feldman in '' The Magic Show'', in which he appeared for fou ...

Tony Jay Tony Jay (2 February 1933 – 13 August 2006) was a British actor. A former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he was known for his voice work in radio, animation, film, and video games. Jay was particularly noted for his distinctive bari ...

Tom Hulce Thomas Edward Hulce (; born December 6, 1953) is an American actor and theater producer. He is best known for his portrayal of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the Academy Award-winning film '' Amadeus'' (1984), as well as the roles of Larry "Pinto" K ...

, Heidi Mollenhauer,

Jason Alexander Jay Scott Greenspan (born September 23, 1959), known professionally as Jason Alexander, is an American actor, comedian, host and director. An Emmy and Tony winner, he is best known for his role as George Costanza in the television series '' ...

Mary Wickes Mary Wickes (born Mary Isabella Wickenhauser; June 13, 1910 – October 22, 1995) was an American actress. She often played supporting roles as prim, professional women, secretaries, nurses, nuns, therapists, teachers and housekeepers, who made ...

, and Mary Stout, along with singles by

All-4-One All-4-One is an American male R&B and pop group best known for their hit singles " I Swear", "So Much in Love" and "I Can Love You Like That". The group is composed of Jamie Jones, Delious Kennedy, Alfred Nevarez, and Tony Borowiak, all from t ...

Eternal Eternal(s) or The Eternal may refer to: * Eternity, an infinite amount of time, or a timeless state * Immortality or eternal life * God, the supreme being, creator deity, and principal object of faith in monotheism Comics, film and television * ...

, and the film's score composed by

. * "

The Bells of Notre Dame "The Bells of Notre Dame" is a song from the 1996 Disney film, ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'', composed by Alan Menken, with lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. It is sung at the beginning of the film by the clown-like gypsy, Clopin. It is set mainly ...

" * " Out There" * " Topsy Turvy" * " God Help the Outcasts" * " Heaven's Light" * " Hellfire" * "

A Guy Like You "A Guy Like You" is a song from Disney's 1996 film ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame''. It is performed by the three gargoyles as they try to console Quasimodo. The song was also featured in the German stage musical version, but was replaced with ...

" * " Someday"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunchback of Notre Dame Walt Disney Studios (division) franchises Film series introduced in 1996