Release, Reception and Reputation
The film was originally released in theaters on June 22, 1955. At the time, the film took in a higher figure than any other Disney animated feature since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, earning an estimated $7.5 million in rentals at the North American box office in 1955. An episode of Disneyland called "A Story of Dogs" aired before the film's release. The film was also reissued to theaters in 1962, 1971, 1980, and 1986.
Despite being an enormous success at the box office, the film was initially panned by many critics: one indicated that the dogs had "the dimensions of hippos," another that "the artists' work is below par". However the film has since come to be regarded as a classic. The sequence of Lady and the Tramp sharing a plate of spaghetti and meatballs—climaxed by an accidental kiss as they swallow opposite ends of the same piece of spaghetti—is considered an iconic scene in American film.
Lady and the Tramp was named number 95 out of the "100 Greatest Love Stories of All Time" by the American Film Institute in their 100 Years...100 Passions special, as one of only two animated films to appear on the list, along with Disney's Beauty and the Beast (which ranked 34th).
In 2010, Rhapsody called its accompanying soundtrack one of the all-time great Disney & Pixar Soundtracks.
In June 2011, TIME named it one of "The 25 All-TIME Best Animated Films".
Read more about this topic: Lady And The Tramp
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