History Trivia / OliverAndCompany

** Jenny was originally a boy named Jimmy.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Far more than most of Disney's animated films (which are either timeless or set in the far past). This film is undeniably set in TheEighties, and obviously ''made'' in the 80's. The clothing, hairstyles, and general environment drive home the era the film is from. As mentioned on the main page, this could be a reason why Disney didn't release it on video until the late 90's. Also, since municipal animal control cracked down on them in the 1990's, street dogs are much rarer in New York now than they were when this film was released in 1988. Cats, however, are still everywhere.

** The film was originally going to open with Sykes's Dobermans killing Oliver's parents and deal with Oliver attempting to exact revenge. However, this concept was dropped.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Far more than most of Disney's animated films (which are either timeless or set in the far past). The film is undeniably set in TheEighties, and obviously ''made'' in the 80's. The clothing, hairstyles, and general environment drive home the era the film is from. As mentioned on the main page, this could be a reason why Disney didn't release it on video until the late 90's. Also, since municipal animal control cracked down on them in the 1990's, street dogs are much rarer in New York now than they were when this film was released in 1988. Cats, however, are still everywhere.

* 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, the film ultimately was a box-office success however in spite of opening in fourth place against ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'' becoming 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.

* 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, but a combination of a middling-at-best critical response, poor overseas performance, and it being released on the same day as ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'', meant it only barely broke even, and has since received little attention among the wider Disney canon. If nothing else, however, many future Disney and Pixar (and, by extension, [=DreamWorks=]) veterans 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.

* TroubledProduction: The movie had a troublesome start to production, firstly 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 with the production barely a month old. Richard Rich, one of the co-directors of ''The Black Cauldron'', 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, but a combination of a middling-at-best critical response, poor overseas performance, and it being released on the same day as ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'', meant it only barely broke even, and has since received little attention among the wider Disney canon. If nothing else, however, many future Disney and Pixar veterans 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.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Far more than most of Disney's animated films (which are either timeless or set in the far past). The film is undeniably set in the 1980s and obviously made in the 1980s. The clothing, hairstyles, and general environment drive home the era the film is from. As mentioned on the main page, this could be a reason why Disney didn't have a home rerelease until the late 90s. Also, since municipal animal control cracked down on them in the 1990s, street dogs are much rarer in New York now than they were when this film was released in 1988. Cats, however, are still everywhere.

** Originally Oliver was a rare and valuable Asian cat, which would’ve been the reason why Fagin kept him in the gang to pay off his debts.

** Sykes was originally going to be TheFaceless, ala [[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.

* DivorcedInstallment: Originally this movie was going to be a pseudo-sequel/spinoff 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.

** Robert Loggia as Sykes.

!!General

* ImageSource:
** FluffyDryCat
** IAmGreatSong
** RightHandAttackDog

** Richard Mulligan, mostly remembered from ''Series/{{Soap}}'' and ''Series/EmptyNest'', as Einstein.

* TroubledProduction: The had a troublesome start to production, firstly 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 with the production barely a month old. Richard Rich, one of the co-directors of ''The Black Cauldron'', 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, but a combination of a middling-at-best critical response, poor overseas performance, and it being released on the same day as ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'', meant it only barely broke even, and has since received little attention among the wider Disney canon. If nothing else, however, many future Disney and Pixar veterans 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.

* IronyAsSheIsCast:
** Joey Lawrence is a professional singer; Oliver doesn't sing in the movie.
** Taurean Blacque is a spokesperson for the County of Los Angeles Adoption Services office, having ten adopted children himself. And here plays a villain in an Oliver Twist adaptation.
** Old Louie, "a well-known enemy of the four-legged world", is voiced by Creator/FrankWelker, ''the'' animal sounds man.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Far more than most of Disney's animated films (which are either timeless or set in the far past). The film is undeniably set in the 1980s and obviously made in the 1980s. The clothing, hairstyles, and general environment drive home the era the film is from. As mentioned on the main page, this could be a reason why Disney didn't have a home rerelease until the late 90s.
** That's to say nothing of the presence of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center all throughout the film, further dating the time at which the movie takes place.
** Since municipal animal control cracked down on them in the 1990s, street dogs are much rarer in New York now than they were when this film was released in 1988. Cats, however, are still everywhere.

** Joey Lawrence as Oliver.

* TroubledProduction: The had a troublesome start to production, firstly having its budget drastically reduced as a result of the spectacular failure of the aforementioned ''The Black Cauldron'', and then having one of its co-directors, Peter Young, die with the production barely a month old. Richard Rich 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, but a combination of a middling-at-best critical response, poor overseas performance, and it being released on the same day as ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'', meant it only barely broke even, and has since received little attention among the wider Disney canon. If nothing else, however, many future Disney and Pixar veterans 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.

* SoMyKidsCanWatch: Billy Joel took the role of Dodger because he had just had a daughter and wanted to be involved something she could connect with immediately.

* TroubledProduction: A ''much'' milder case than a lot of Disney's other films from this period, but production got off to a rocky start when co-director Peter Young suddenly died in the first months of production, at the age of just 37. Young was replaced by ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'' co-director Richard Rich, who was in turn fired after repeatedly feuding with the new management at Disney, resulting in the film's other director, George Scribner being allowed to helm the film entirely by himself, something very rare for a post-1980 animated Disney movie.

** Creator/MarlonBrando was offered the role of Sykes by Michael Eisner himself. Brando, however, turned it down, fearing the movie would bomb. Creator/EddieMurphy was also considered.
** Creator/TomCruise, Creator/RobertDeNiro, Creator/TomHanks, Creator/SteveMartin, Creator/BurtReynolds were all considered for the part of Dodger.

** Creator/JodieFoster, Music/WhitneyHouston and Creator/JaneSeymourActress were considered for Rita.
** Creator/JohnCleese and Creator/MichaelJFox were considered for Tito.
** Creator/ScottBakula, Creator/JamesCoburn and Creator/RickMoranis were considered for Fagin.
** Creator/LyndaCarter and Creator/AnjelicaHuston were considered for Georgette.
** Creator/SylvesterStallone was considered for Einstein.

** Originally dodger was a puppy (basically the same age as Oliver) but he was aged up to match with the appearance of Billy Joel when he was cast.
** Concept art also shows that there were some cats in the gang of dogs but they were scrapped or changed into dogs to make Oliver look more out of replacing.

** One of the early subplots considered was Fagin planning a heist to steal a baby panda from a zoo, but this was scrapped to keep it accurate to the original story.

** Originally Oliver was a rare and valuable Asian cat would have lead to the reason why Fagin kept hem in the gang to pay off his debt.
** One of the early subplots considered for the film was Fagin planning a heist to steal a baby panda from a zoo but this was scrapped to keep it accurate to the original story.

** Originally Oliver was a rare and valuable person cat would have lead to the reason why Fagin kept hem.

** Sheryl Lee Ralph, the original Broadway Deena Jones in ''Theatre/{{Dreamgirls}}'', as Rita's speaking voice, with Ruth Pointer, one of the Pointer Sisters, as Rita's singing voice.

* DivorcedInstallment: Originally this movie was going to be a pseudo-sequel/spinoff of ''Disney/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 ''Disney/TheRescuersDownUnder'', though it focuses on Bernard and Miss Bianca's continuing adventures instead of Penny's new life.

* TroubledProduction: A ''much'' milder case than a lot of Disney's other films from this period, but production got off to a rocky start when co-director Peter Young suddenly died in the first months of production, at the age of just 37. Young was replaced by ''Disney/TheBlackCauldron'' co-director Richard Rich, who was in turn fired after repeatedly feuding with the new management at Disney, resulting in the film's other director, George Scribner being allowed to helm the film entirely by himself, something very rare for a post-1980 animated Disney movie.

* DivorcedInstallment: Originally this movie was going to be a pseudo-sequel/spinoff of ''Disney/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.

** Old Louie, "a well-known enemy of the four-legged world", is voiced by Frank Welker, ''the'' animal sounds man.

** Robert Loggia (Frank Lopez in ''Film/{{Scarface|1983}}'') as Sykes.