Doug’s 1st Movie opened on this day 25 years ago. The film was intended as a straight-to-video production, initially titled The First Doug Movie EVER, but at the last minute, Disney decided to send it to theaters after The Rugrats Movie brought in a ton of big cash for Nickelodeon (ironically, that was Doug’s original home!). Some people like to claim that Doug’s 1st Movie was a box office flop since it brought in a modest $19 million, but we’re talking about a project that only cost the Mouse House $5 million to make that was never even intended to be viewed on the big screen. So really, that theatrical money was just gravy.

Evidence of the low budget origins are very apparent with the framing, since it was produced in a “square” 1.33:1 aspect ratio. This meant that when it played in theaters, the tops and bottoms of the image were cropped in order for it to appear “widescreen.” This kind of makes everything in the theatrical cut look crowded, as though characters don’t even fit on the screen. It shouldn’t shock you to learn the “widescreen” version never got a home video release.

Doug’s 1st Movie kicked off a brief period where Disney would send a smaller animated feature to theaters every spring, and the years that followed would see The Tigger Movie, Return to Never Land, and The Jungle Book 2 all bringing in a decent profit. It also had a Happy Meal promotion, which I am required by law to tell you about, although it didn’t happen until Doug came to VHS in the fall. Also, this commercial features an appearance by Grimace’s aunts!

Have a great day, y’all!