'Beauty and the Beast' is an American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. It was written by Linda Woolverton and based on the classic fairy tale, 'Beauty and the Beast'. Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, it is about a beautiful woman who is entrapped in a castle by a horrific monster. Released in 1991, it was a major hit at the box office, grossing more than $171 million in domestic revenues and $377 million in worldwide revenues. Till date, this is the only animated movie to be nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Picture.

'Beauty and the Beast' has won a lot of praises and awards including the Academy Awards for Best Song, and Best Original Score. It is considered one of the best classic animated movies of all times. The highlight of the movie was its music, which was composed by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. This animated film has been deemed 'culturally significant' by the United States Library of Congress and archived in the National Film Registry. It has also been released as a Special Edition DVD by Disney. This Disney film was adapted and released for the stage, with the addition of seven new songs, by Linda Woolverton and Alan Menken.

The 'Beauty and the Beast' tale was also previously adapted for numerous stage and screen productions. A French version of this tale was made in 1946. Another version of the story was released in 1992, which was a 49-minute animation film directed by Jack Olesker. It was distributed by GoodTimes Home Video. 'Beauty and the Beast' is available in VCD as well as DVD formats.