The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996 film)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1996 American animated musical period drama film loosely based on the 1831 novel by Victor Hugo, and produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, produced by Don Hahn, and written by Tab Murphy, Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and the writing team of Bob Tzudiker and Noni White, the film stars Tom Hulce, Demi Moore, Tony Jay, and Kevin Kline. The film follows Quasimodo (Hulce), the deformed and confined bell-ringer of Notre Dame, and his yearning to explore the outside world and be accepted by society, against the wishes of his cruel, puritanical adoptive father Claude Frollo (Jay), who also wants to exterminate Paris' Romani population.

In 1993, David Stainton, then a development executive at Disney Feature Animation, conceived the idea to adapt Victor Hugo's Gothic novel into an animated feature. He subsequently pitched the idea to then-Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg. At Katzenberg's request, Trousdale, Wise, and Hahn joined the project in 1993. Murphy wrote the first draft of the script, and Mecchi and Roberts, who had rewritten the script for The Lion King (1994), were soon brought in. Additional rewrites were provided by Tzudiker and White. That same year, the production team embarked on a research trip to Paris to study the Notre-Dame cathedral and additional locations for the film. The musical score was composed by Alan Menken, with songs written by Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame premiered at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans on June 19, 1996, and was released in the United States on June 21. The film received generally positive reviews and was a commercial success, grossing over $325 million worldwide and becoming the fifth highest-grossing film of 1996. Despite the film's changes made from the original source material and adding comedic elements to ensure a G rating from the MPAA, it remains more mature and darker than any Disney animated films with approach to thematic elements, including themes of genocide, lust, prejudice, sin, and redemption.

A stage adaptation of the film was produced by Walt Disney Theatrical in 1999. A direct-to-video sequel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, was released in 2002.