Disney Almost Made a Film Out of The Odyssey

The Disney Renaissance of the late 20th century was a time of great success for the studio, thanks to films like The Little Mermaid, Beauty And The Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King.

During this period, creative teams held 'Gong Show' pitch meetings where writers and animators had a short amount of time to pitch their ideas. One such meeting saw a Disney-fied version of Homer's epic poem The Odyssey being put forward as an idea.

In 1992, the company announced that The Odyssey was in development, but ultimately dropped the project after struggling to adapt the source material into a family-friendly animated comedy.

Directors John Musker and Ron Clements had hoped to pursue their passion project, a space-age reimagining of Treasure Island. However, studio bosses at the time weren't sold on the idea, telling them they'd need one more hit under their belts before allowing them to work on it.