Line #14 Trivia/TheRescuersDownUnder


1	* ActorSharedBackground: Like his character Jake, Tristan Rogers hails from Australia.
2	* BoxOfficeBomb: The movie only grossed $5 million in its opening weekend due to Fox's ''Home Alone'' opening the same day, which led Jeffrey Katzenberg to believe the film was going to bomb. Katzenberg [[ScrewedByTheNetwork promptly ended all advertising for the movie]], but reassured the producers to try again. The movie fell $10 million short of its $38 million budget.
3	* CelebrityVoiceActor: Creator/JohnCandy as Wilbur and Creator/GeorgeCScott as [=McLeach=].
4	* CompletelyDifferentTitle: "Bernard and Bianca in the Land of Kangaroos" in France, Germany and Brazil.
5	* CrossDressingVoices: Creator/FrankWelker voices the female eagle Marahute and [=McLeach=]'s lizard, Joanna. (It's less surprising that the actor is a man then it is that the voice characterization for both characters was provided by a ''human'').
6	* CrossRegionalVoiceActing: Canadian Creator/WayneRobson voices Frank the lizard.
7	* DiedDuringProduction: Orville's actor Jim Jordan passed away at 91 right when casting for this film was getting started. Thus, the film gets to complete the Wright Brothers gag with John Candy as his brother Wilbur. Orville is PutOnABus, written as being retired rather than TheCharacterDiedWithHim.
8	* DuelingMovies: A losing battle with the box office juggernaut ''Film/HomeAlone1'' (which, incidentally, also featured Creator/JohnCandy in a minor role). As mentioned above, Jeff Katzenberg basically forfeited the duel by pulling any and all advertising for ''Down Under'' when it was clear that they were going to lose.[[note]]This wouldn't even be the first "kid empowerment" film that Disney would lose to in 1990, as ''WesternAnimation/DucktalesTheMovieTreasureOfTheLostLamp'' had been beat out at the box office by ''Film/ProblemChild'' a few months earlier. Tellingly, both Disney movies received better critical reception than the film they were pitted against.[[/note]]
9	* FakeAustralian:
10	** Norwegian child actor Adam Ryen was the voice of Cody in both the Norwegian and English versions.
11	** The very American George C. Scott as the voice of the very Australian [=McLeach=][[note]]or, as some have stated, a very ''American'' [=McLeach=], hiding from American law officers in Australia[[/note]].
12	* FollowTheLeader: [=McLeach=]'s role led to a further increase of the Evil Hunter archetype, such as [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Gaston]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}} Clayton]], [[WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit Lord Victor Quartermaine]], and [[Literature/TheLittleVampire Rookery]]. The last two are especially notable as the films they're from aren't even made by Disney.
13	* FranchiseKiller: A third film was tentatively planned, but abandoned after ''Down Under''... [[{{Pun}} er]], ''under''performed. Eva Gabor's 1995 death from respiratory failure and pneumonia closed the book on the idea for good.
14	* GenreKiller: The film's failure, which coincided with the runaway success of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid\|1989}}'' a year earlier, convinced Disney to literally figuratively put all their money exclusively on blockbuster musicals for the rest of the decade. They wouldn't produce another non-musical narrative movie until 2000's ''WesternAnimation/{{Dinosaur}}'' and wouldn't attempt action films again until 2001's ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire''.
15	* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: There were rumors that a third copy of the 1991 VHS release by Walt Disney Home Video existed[[note]]it featured a preview of Robin Hood and was allegedly the first Disney tape to use the famous "handwriting" Feature Presentation bumper used for the rest of the decade[[/note]]. To this day, it has never ever surfaced the internet.
16	* KidsMealToy:
17	** UsefulNotes/McDonalds released two different Happy Meal promotions in the US; the first featured a set of four camera-shaped viewfinders. The second featured plush ornaments of Bernard and Miss Bianca for the 1990 holiday season.
18	** In Europe, [=McDonald's=] released a set of four bendable character figures; Wilbur, Miss Bianca, Bernard, and Frank.
19	* MultipleLanguagesSameVoiceActor: Cody's voice actor Adam Ryen is a native Norwegian, and thus also voiced the character in the Norwegian dub.
20	* TheOtherDarrin: In the Japanese dub, Creator/NorikoOhara voices Miss Bianca instead of Noriko Shindo.
21	* RoleReprise:
22	** Both Creator/BobNewhart and Creator/EvaGabor (in her final film role) returned to voice Bernard and Miss Bianca, and also Bernard Fox returns as the Rescue Aid Society Chairmouse.
23	** In the Japanese dub, Creator/YasuoYamada and Creator/GoroNaya respectively reprised their roles as Bernard and the Rescue Aid Society Chairmouse from the 1981 dub of ''The Rescuers''.
24	* ScrewedByTheNetwork: When the opening box office weekend didn't live up to expectations, studio head Jeffrey Katzenberg pulled the plug on the promotional campaign. It also didn't help that the movie competed against ''Film/HomeAlone1'' (that said, ''Rescuers Down Under'' ended up getting better reviews than ''Home Alone'').
25	* SequelGap: Released in 1990, a little more than 13 years after the 1977 original.
26	* SwanSong: ''Down Under'' marked Eva Gabor's final appearance as Miss Bianca, as well as her final film role.
27	* TrendKiller: The box office failure of this film and ''WesternAnimation/DuckTalesTheMovieTreasureOfTheLostLamp'', coupled with the success of both ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid\|1989}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' is the reason why almost every animated movie throughout the 1990s was a musical (this was at a time when practically all animation was Disney, and movies by their competitors barely achieved the same level of attention).
28	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
29	** Creator/DanAykroyd, Creator/SteveMartin and Creator/JamesBelushi were considered for the role of Wilbur, while Creator/MandyPatinkin was one of the original choices for [=McLeach=].
30	** Along with Patinkin, Creator/PaulHogan and Creator/ClintEastwood were considered to voice [=McLeech=]. If the former would have accepted it would have been an ActorAllusion to his famous character while in the latter's case, well, it would have been a massive PlayingAgainstType case.
31	** Judging from [[http://www.artstormfineart.com/Disney/2-17-2013/rd0004.jpg early storyboard sketches]], Wilbur was originally going to wear a jacket instead of a scarf.
32	** [[http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-rescuers-down-under/39174/the-rescuers-down-under-the-lost-film-of-the-disney-renaissance According to this article,]] Cody was originally meant to be Aboriginal Australian, but [[ExecutiveMeddling Katzenberg insisted Cody be a white kid]] to make the film more "commercial".
33	** Versions of the script exist which have an alternate ending where [=McLeach=] survives only to be immediately arrested by the rangers who had been searching for Cody.

Context Trivia / TheRescuersDownUnder