Fantasia
Seven classical music pieces are visualized through animation segments ranging from abstract color sequences set to Bach's Toccata and Fugue to the narrative of Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer's Apprentice to a prehistoric vision of dinosaurs set to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. The film was designed as a "living" entity to be periodically updated with new segments. Disney developed Fantasound — the first commercial stereophonic sound system — specifically for its release, installing 90-speaker arrays in select theaters.
Fantasia is the most formally ambitious theatrical animated film ever produced, attempting to create a new art form by fusing classical music, abstract visual expression, and character animation in a single work. Its commercial failure nearly bankrupted Disney and was used as evidence that artistic ambition and box office success were irreconcilable in animation — a conclusion the industry accepted for 55 years until Pixar began its run.
Disney conceived Fantasia after developing a Sorcerer's Apprentice short with conductor Leopold Stokowski, whose enthusiasm for acoustic technology inspired Fantasound. The film's release in 1940 coincided with the beginning of World War II, which destroyed the European market Disney counted on, turning an ambitious artistic investment into a devastating financial loss that forced Disney to accept military production contracts to survive.