Hunchback of Notre Dame premieres

The Hunchback of Notre Dame Premieres in New Orleans

What better place to hold a U.S. premiere of a movie about Notre Dame, than the closest thing to France in America… New Orleans, Louisiana, where The Hunchback of Notre Dame held its grand premiere on this day in 1996. And grand it was! The event featured then Disney President and CEO Michael Eisner and then New Orleans mayor Marc Morial, as well as a high-energy spectacular parade that wound from Jackson Square through the New Orleans French Quarter and on to the world’s largest stage at the Louisiana Superdome. The entire parade and event were also televised on the Disney Channel as Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Festival of Fun Musical Spectacular. Bill Rogers, the “voice of Disneyland,” was on hand to handle live announcements, and recently remembered the scene. “It was amazing because they filled the entire New Orleans Superdome with people to watch this amazing show beforehand. They had all of the Disney Princess voices such as Jodi Benson (the voice of Ariel), a choir of hundreds singing “Circle of Life”, and an 80-piece orchestra! When it came time to show the movie, as I was announcing people off the stage, they put Patrick Duffy on the floor of the Superdome and he took the Disney Channel out [to conclude the televised broadcast], so this amazing production was all done to time on top of everything else. As the announcer I was sitting in one of the luxury boxes at the top of the Louisiana Superdome with a quad split monitor, looking at four different things with four different things in my headphones and cues coming from the truck. It was amazing. Then, since the Superdome is round, they had put six giant screens over the football field and synchronized six projectors to all show the film at the same time. It was fun and just really amazing.”