I know most say that SWATSD served the most importance for the company (which I agree with completely.) but I wanted to see what people think about these two, where there have been disagreements on which served more importance for the company, inside and outside of fanpop.

This kept Disney out of bankruptcy. Although TLM IS hugely important, I'm going with Cinderella for that reason.

As far as I know after Sleeping Beauty, began the dark age of Disney, then TLM brought the glory back.

It launched the Renaissance!

Cindy was Walt Disney's personal favorite. But after the eight or so years that it took to make Sleeping Beauty, and his passing...Disney ( the company) was facing bankruptcy following a series of lesser received movies, and was in need of a movie that would make them relevant in the animation world, again. That movie was critical-- and it was The Little Mermaid. Audreybrooke and Manu are right about TLM ushering in a good period for Disney ( now termed the Disney Renaissance movies) which were all solidly conceived, and received lots of praise one after the other. The last of these truly great movies was Tarzan.

It saved the studio from bankruptcy, and its main character later became the iconic face to the franchise we all know and love: the Disney Princesses.

@iwasneverhere--- the Little Mermaid saved the ANIMATION studios from bankruptcy, yes, but cinderella saved THE WHOLE COMPANY.

^^^ Well, it saved the animation studio from becoming extinct. Disney ( the company) as a whole is known primarily for their animation studio, right? Cindy saved them early on from one kind of bankruptcy: financial. The company was in debt. Later, The Little Mermaid saved the company from a second kind of bankruptcy: the slow loss of the audience's respect for their films/irrelevance. After all, at that time, the Disney Company was competing and giving film releases alongside Don Bluth features. And Don Bluth was winning with the audiences. You can go broke in more than one way: all at once through being in debt, or slowly, if no one wants to see your movies. BOTH CINDY and ARIEL are important for saving the company.

^You will stop at nothing. Anyway I'm sure everyone here appreciates both, there is no need to start arguments.

Seeing as it's not only an extremely iconic Disney film, but it's also the film the saved Disney from complete bankruptcy in early stages of it's development. I'm not of fan of it myself, but in levels of importance to the company I'd say this one. Without Cinderella's success there would be no further Disney movies, with The Little Mermaid even if it hadn't been successful the company wouldn't be shut down entirely.

Put it like this: Without Cinderella, no TLM. Without TLM, no renaissance. So TLM wounldn't be made without Cinderella.

Haha Cat_Woman_! "You will stop at nothing!" One of my favorite quotes, and I completely agree.


Ariel and Cindy, didn't save the company. Their movies did, and maybe I sound cranky, but I've heard people a million times before say, "How can you not love __, she saved the company!" Yeah, she walked up to the filmmakers and put the movie to production, I see. And IMO, is what somebody here forgot to say.

Cinderella inspired Walt to become THE Walt Disney, he said if Cinderella could go after her dreams after what she went through then so could he.

Disney wouldn't be what it is today without Cinderella.

People forget that Snow White took the world by storm and put Disney on the map, then they made a few really good films that didn't do as well since they lost the European market to the budding war. Then for about a decade they lost most of their art staff to WWII, and had to make a bunch of shorts, propaganda cartoons, and "good neighbor" movies honoring South America. The animation studio was also always on the verge of collapse during that time.

Cinderella was the first full-length animated movie by Disney in about a decade, and a "return" to classics like Snow White, fairy tales, and feel-good stories of hope that audiences had missed for a decade. Cinderella also pushed Disney back into priminence, helped make a fortune, paved the way for a string of their most iconic classics in the 1950's (Alice In Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp and Sleeping Beauty), and allowed Disney to expand to bigger projects like theme parks (DISNEYLAND!!), live action movies and television.

It also helped cushion the blow for when Sleeping Beauty nearly killed the company (not because it was a bad or unsuccessful movie, but because it had been stuck in production for nearly a decade and they had poured so much money into it that there was NO WAY they could have gotten the money back), Uncle Walt died, and the Disney Studio was plunged into the Dark Age of Animation.

In a way, Disney as the great powerhouse of family entertainment, fairy tale adaptations, childhood classics, etc. would not be possible without the success of Cinderella.

The Little Mermaid helped pull Disney out of the "Dark Age of Animation" and into a Renaissance of Animation by emulating the beautiful, colorful, musical, innocent, feel-good fairy tale adaptation timeless classics reminiscent of when Uncle Walt was alive, but it was still riding on the coattails of the past Disney successes. Cinderella was one of those successes.