Watership Down is a 1978 British animated adventure-drama film, written, produced and directed by Martin Rosen and based on the 1972 novel by Richard Adams. It was financed by a consortium of British financial institutions and was distributed by Cinema International Corporation in the United Kingdom. Released on October 19th, 1978, the film was an immediate success and it became the sixth-most popular film of 1979 at the UK box office.
It features the voices of John Hurt, Richard Briers, Harry Andrews, Simon Cadell, Nigel Hawthorne, and Roy Kinnear, among others, and was the last film work of Zero Mostel, as the voice of Kehaar the gull. The musical score was by Angela Morley and Malcolm Williamson. Art Garfunkel's hit song "Bright Eyes" was written by songwriter Mike Batt.
History with the Macy's Parade[]
To promote the movie that would come out the next year, Manfred Bass and his team would work on a float based on the movie. The float featured a garden where all the animals would stand. Manny and his crew flew all the way to London and adopted three bunnies to study them for the float. Months later, the float was completed and debuted in the 1977 Parade. Accompanying the float was a toy float which featured the villains from the movie. The float reappeared in 1978 but was retired after the procession and It was disposed of. The rabbits would later make an appearance at the 1983 edition of the White House Easter Egg Roll (accompanying Olive Oyl).