The Hunchback of Notre Dame was released in 1996.
Disney’s animated adaptation premiered at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans on June 19, 1996, before its United States theatrical release on June 21. The film was directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise and produced by Don Hahn, the team behind several major Disney animated successes of the period.
The story is loosely based on Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel Notre-Dame de Paris. Disney retained the characters of Quasimodo, Esmeralda, Claude Frollo, and Captain Phoebus, but reshaped Hugo’s much darker tragedy into a musical adventure intended for a broad family audience. Alan Menken composed the music, while songs such as “The Bells of Notre Dame” and “Out There” helped establish its dramatic tone.
The film is often remembered as one of Disney’s more mature animated features because it addresses prejudice, religious fanaticism, lust, guilt, and social exclusion. Its gargoyle characters and comic elements provide lighter moments, but the central conflict remains unusually serious for a Disney musical.
A common mix-up comes from the film’s originally planned schedule: it was once expected to arrive in late 1995, but production delays pushed the release into the summer of 1996. A direct-to-video sequel followed in 2002.