The Black Cauldron is an American animated dark fantasy adventure film released on this day in 1985 by Walt Disney Pictures. The 25th film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, it is loosely based on the first two books in The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, a series of five novels which in turn is based on Welsh mythology. Set in the mythical land of Prydain during the dark ages, the film centers on the evil Horned King who hopes to secure an ancient magical cauldron and rule the world with its aid. He is opposed by a young pig keeper named Taran, Princess Eilonwy, the bard Fflewddur Fflam, and a wild creature named Gurgi who seek to prevent him from ruling the world by destroying it.
While it both was the most expensive animated film ever made at the time and costing $44 million to produce, the film was a box office bomb, grossing only $21.3 million domestically. It was so poorly received that it was not distributed as a home video release for more than a decade after its theatrical run. Adding insult to injury, the film was also beaten at the box office by The Care Bears Movie ($22.9 million domestically), which was released several months earlier by Disney's much-smaller rival animation studio Nelvana. It was also the last Disney animated film completed at Walt Disney Pictures in Burbank, California. The animation department was moved to Glendale in December 1984, and, following corporate restructuring, became a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios known as Walt Disney Feature Animation (later Walt Disney Animation Studios).