In addition to being Disney's first full-length animated feature, 1937's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was the first film ever to have its soundtrack recording released, one of the first to have related merchandise available at its time of release and the first animated film ever to be selected for the National Film Registry. Although many Hollywood wags labeled the film "Disney's Folly" before it came out, its technical achievement was rewarded with a special Oscar that consisted of one regular size statuette and seven tiny ones.
Although 1940's "Fantasia" was a horrible flop upon its initial release, the psychedelic interpretation of famous classical pieces by composers such as Bach, Beethoven and Stravinsky attracted new attention and regard upon its re-release in 1969. The first feature film to be shown in stereophonic sound, "Fantasia" is still the only film ever shown in Fantasound, a four-track directional stereophonic system that required 60 to 90 speakers to play back in theaters. Due to wartime conditions, only 12 venues ever played "Fantasia" with the full Fantasound treatment.
"Sleeping Beauty" (1959) was the first Disney animated feature to be produced in 70 mm and was also the most expensive Disney animation to date. Although it was the second highest-grossing film of 1959 -- after "Ben-Hur" -- its box office take failed to recoup its $6 million price tag. It was also the last Disney animated feature to have hand-inked animation. Starting with "One Hundred and One Dalmatians," animated features were produced by photocopying pencil drawings.
The "Beauty in the Beast" that was released in 1991 was actually Disney's third attempt to adapt the fable into a full-length animated feature, after failures in the 1930s and the 1950s. It was the first Disney animated feature to use fully computer-generated moving backgrounds in addition to traditionally hand-drawn character animation, as well as the first -- and only, until 2010's "Up" -- full-length animated feature to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.