History Trivia / OliverAndCompany

* ChannelHop: In North America, this film has always been with Disney; however, in most international territories, it was initially released in theatres by Creator/WarnerBros, and in other global regions, United International Pictures handled this due to output deals Disney made for international theatrical distribution.

** At one point, Jenny was to be a boy named Jimmy. Later, the writers considered making the film a StealthSequel to ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'' by making the little girl ''Penny'', post-getting adopted by wealthy parents. The near-identical names and the fact that the finished film's Jenny is just Penny with different hair color and a new haircut attest to this idea's influence on the final picture.

* KidsMealToy: Was featured at Burger King ''twice'' in 1996. One to promote the re-release of the movie, and another to promote the VHS release.

%%* AllStarCast
* {{Blooper}}:
** The scratch marks on [=DeSoto=]'s nose after Oliver scratches him vanish and reappear in some following shots.
** The first shot of Jenny, Oliver, and the dogs falling after Sykes cuts the hook's power shows Jenny still tied to the chair; however, the chair is suddenly gone in the next shot when they slide down the chute.
** Despite being full in the previous shot, Fagin's scooter is empty going up the Brooklyn Bridge support cable during the shot of Skyes throwing off Dodger and Oliver.
* CelebrityVoiceActor: Several examples. To name a few...
** Music/BillyJoel as Dodger. Seriously.

** It's ''very'' subtle, and may not have even been intentional, but while Roscoe and [=DeSoto=] are on Fagin's boat, a day-to-day calendar appears in a "blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot", which shows that the current date is April 21, 1988. The previous day is the audience's introduction to Oliver, and [[Creator/JoeyLawrence Joey Lawrence's]] birthday is on April 20th.

* ActorSharedBackground: Like Dodger, Music/BillyJoel is a native of New York City.

* AllStarCast: See CelebrityVoiceActor below

* ImageSource:
** RightHandAttackDog

* VideoSource:
** OhCrap
** SignatureSong

!!ImageSource for:
* AbandonedPetInABox
* ArtisticLicenseAnimalCare
* ACatInAGangOfDogs
* FluffyDryCat
* IAmGreatSong
* RightHandAttackDog
* SensationalStaircaseSequence
* ThisIndexBarks

* ContinuityError:
** The scratch marks on [=DeSoto=]'s nose after Oliver scratches him vanish and reappear in some following shots.
** The first shot of Jenny, Oliver, and the dogs falling after Sykes cuts the hook's power shows Jenny still tied to the chair; however, the chair is suddenly gone in the next shot when they slide down the chute.
** Despite being full in the previous shot, Fagin's scooter is empty going up the Brooklyn Bridge support cable during the shot of Skyes throwing off Dodger and Oliver.

* ReferencedBy: Mad Dog's defeat in the ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' episode "The Mask" is similar to Sykes's. [[spoiler:Being too caught up in his fight with TheHero to realize his car is heading right into an oncoming train until it's too late, the crash itself happening offscreen]]. Mad Dog is even the same breed as Fagin's dogs, Roscoe an [=DeSoto=].

** The film was initially meant to be much darker, with the opening scene featuring Roscoe and Desoto ''killing Oliver's parents'' and him wanting to get revenge.

* ReferencedBy: Mad Dog's defeat in the ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' episode "The Mask" is similar to Sykes's. [[spoiler:Being too caught up in his fight with TheHero to realize his car is heading right into an oncoming train until it's too late, the crash itself happening offscreen]].

* ChannelHop: In North America, this film has always been with Disney; however, in most international territories, it was originally released in theatres by Creator/WarnerBros, and in other international territories this was handled by United International Pictures. This is due to output deals Disney made for international theatrical distribution.
* DivorcedInstallment: Originally this movie was going to be a pseudo-sequel/spin-off of ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'' that followed Penny after she was adopted. You can still see some traces of it, namely the main character's name being changed to "Jenny" and both films being set in New York City. The idea of a sequel to ''The Rescuers'' eventually came to fruition with ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder'', though it focuses on Bernard and Miss Bianca's continuing adventures instead of Penny's new life.
* DuelingMovies: The 1980s were a very tumultuous time in animation. Creator/DonBluth had very publicly split with Disney and started his own studio, which naturally was in competition with Disney. ''Oliver'' had ''two'' rivals from Bluth: ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'', which came out on the same day; and ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven'', released the following year but also featuring a roguish talking dog and a heartwarming little girl. ''Oliver'' did better than either in theaters (though "Time" had the higher opening weekend and worldwide gross), though it's now a somewhat forgotten member of the Disney canon while ''The Land Before Time'' and ''All Dogs Go To Heaven'' went on to spawn long-running video franchises.
* NonSingingVoice: Jenny Foxworthy and Rita (voiced respectively by Natalie Gregory and Sheryl Lee Ralph) each had a singing double (respectively Myhanh Tran and Ruth Pointer).
* ReferencedBy: Mad Dog's defeat in the ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' episode "The Mask" is rather similar to that of Sykes, [[spoiler:being too caught up in his fight with TheHero to realize his car is heading right into an oncoming train until it's too late, the crash itself happening offscreen]].
* SoMyKidsCanWatch: Music/BillyJoel took the role of Dodger because he had just had a daughter and wanted to be involved something she could connect with immediately.

* TroubledProduction: ''Oliver & Company'' got off to a bumpy start, first by having its budget drastically reduced as a result of the spectacular box-office failure of ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'', and then having one of its co-directors, Peter Young, die barely a month into production. Richard Rich, one of the co-directors of ''The Black Cauldron'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound'', was put on the project to replace Young, but busied himself feuding with the new Disney management rather than actually getting anything useful done, resulting in him being fired from the company altogether. Things smoothed out once the remaining co-director, George Scribner, was allowed to take over as sole director and the film ultimately was a box-office success in spite of opening in fourth place against ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'', as it was the first ever animated film to make over 100 million dollars and it's success did prompt Disney's Senior Vice President of Animation, Peter Schneider, to announce the company's plans to release animated features annually. Though despite this it has since received little attention among the wider Disney canon. It was also an entry point for many future Disney and Pixar (and, by extension, [=DreamWorks=]) veterans who managed to break into the industry by working on this movie, meaning that it did at least help lead to longer-term success for the company.

** At one point, Jenny was to be a boy named Jimmy. Later, the writers considered making the film a StealthSequel to ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'' by making the little girl ''Penny'', post-getting adopted by rich parents. The near-identical names, combined with the fact that the finished film's Jenny is basically just Penny with a different hair colour and a new haircut, attest to this idea's influence on the final picture.
** The film was originally meant to be much darker, with the opening scene featuring Roscoe and Desoto ''killing Oliver's parents'' and him wanting to get revenge as a result.
** Oliver was initially conceived as a rare and valuable Asian cat, which would’ve been the reason why Fagin kept him in the gang to pay off his debts.
** Early concept art shows that Dodger was a puppy (basically the same age as Oliver) but he was aged up to match with the appearance of the more grown up actors like Billy Joel.
** Concept art also shows that there were some cats in the gang of dogs but they were scrapped or changed into dogs themselves to not drive attention away from Oliver.
** One of the early subplots considered was Fagin planning a heist to steal a rare valuable baby panda from the Central Park Zoo, but this was scrapped to keep it accurate to the original story.
** Sykes was originally going to be TheFaceless, ''à la'' [[WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget Dr. Claw]], but the producers were forced to abandon that idea when the story development for the climax called for more physical action and involvement on Sykes' part.

* ReferencedBy: Mad Dog's defeat in ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' is rather similar to that of Sykes, [[spoiler:being too caught up in his fight with TheHero to realize his car is heading right into an oncoming train until it's too late, the crash itself happening offscreen]].