From top: Three Santa Clarita Valley towns — Saugus, Newhall and Valencia — along with Anaheim (home of Disneyland) appear on this directional sign when Maurice is on his way to the fair in "Beauty and the Beast" (1991), produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.

Digitally enhanced version | Click to enlarge.

Co-directors Gary Trousdale (b. June 8, 1960) and Kirk Wise (b. August 24, 1963) studied animation in the early 1980s at Disney's feeder school, California Institute of the Arts in Valencia.

BATB premiered Nov. 13, 1991 in Hollywood and was released Nov. 22, 1991, in the U.S. and Canada. It grossed $145,863,363 domestically and $424,967,620 worldwide in its initial release.

BATB was the first animated film to be nomiminated for a Best Picture Oscar. It lost in the Best Picture category to "The Silence of the Lambs" but came away with Oscars for Best Original Score (Alan Menken) and Best Original Song (Menken and Howard Ashman's title song, "Beauty and the Beast"). It was actually nominated for three original songs — another Oscar first.

BATB won Best Picture/Musical or Comedy at the 1992 Golden Globes, along with Best Original Score and Best Original Song. It also won five Grammys.