Cedric Verhaegen from Hasselt has taken up the challenge to watch every Disney film ever made. In total, there are 438 films that have been produced and released by Walt Disney Productions between 1937 and the present day and the list will keep growing. The film lover has been working for four years now and has now reached the mark of 100 films.
"An ambitious/extremely stupid quest," is how the 25-year-old from Hasselt calls his mission to watch every Disney film that has ever been made. "The idea actually originated in a podcast," Cedric told VRT.
"I used to have a podcast about movies with a friend, and through the podcast I discovered older, unknown movies. I find old Hollywood production houses extremely fascinating. Disney is the frontrunner there, not because I'm a huge fan, but Disney has made more films than any other. You can't compare it to other films or production houses. And so, I decided to watch all the movies ever made by Disney."
So far, that’s 438. If the average movie lasts 90 minutes, the movie fan would spend more than 27 days watching the Disney catalogue non-stop. But no matter how driven Cedric is to succeed in his intention, he does not go that far. Cedric is a primary school teacher and therefore watches 1 to 2 Disney films a week. After four years on his quest, he recently watched his 100th Disney movie.
From 1937 onwards
"I watch them in order,” he said. “I started with the very first Disney movie ever: 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' from 1937, followed by Pinocchio from 1940, and so on. I then ended up with Disney films from the 70s, such as 'The Biscuit Eater' and 'The Million Dollar Duck' from 1971."
The fact that some older Disney films are no longer so well-known is an extra challenge for the film freak. "That's the biggest and perhaps the most fun part of the challenge," said Cedric.
"I have to look at for the obscure titles on even more obscure websites. Often, these are the films that Disney wants nothing to do with anymore. The film 'Song of The South' is a good example of this. You could call it Disney's 'racist film'. You can only find it with people who burn the DVD themselves."
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Cedric also keeps a scoreboard of all the Disney films he watches. "Just because they’re Disney movies that doesn’t mean there’s not a few rubbish ones in there,” he laughed.
“Many films I've seen so far, I haven't given more than 2.5 stars. We often say that a lot of junk is now appearing on the streaming services. But I think all the rubbish from the past has just been erased from our collective memory."
Cedric has no idea when his quest will be over. "It depends on my enthusiasm and the previous film,” he concluded. “If Disney continues to produce films at this rate, it won't be until 2035."
