The Prequel to (Almost) Every Movie Ever
How The Land Before Time Built Hollywood and Makes Any Story a Series About Dinosaurs
Originally published at Medium on January 6, 2023.
The Prequel to (Almost) Every Movie Ever
How The Land Before Time Built Hollywood and Makes Any Story a Series About Dinosaurs
The Prequel to (Almost) Every Movie Ever
How The Land Before Time Built Hollywood and Makes Any Story a Series About Dinosaurs
The Land Before Time is not just a classic, it is an integral piece of American storytelling. With its carefully crafted storyline combined with its commercial success, The Land Before Time paved the way for a massive expansion in Hollywood. The plot, skillfully engineered by titans of the industry, is an airtight compliment to the vast majority of blockbuster hits.
The film seemingly unlocked a passion for movies that was unseen until then. It was a powerful catalyst that invigorated a love and passion of motion pictures in movie-goers and filmmakers alike. Many movies still borrow from the robust world-building, character development, and plot resolution constructed by The Land Before Time. The film’s in-depth and noncontradictory portrayal of historical events makes it a simple and effective canvas that other movies use as a starting template while the self-contained story and lack of loose ends provide a high-octane springboard to boost movies riding the coattails of The Land Before Time.
Upon the foundation that The Land Before Time laid, an empire was built. Many major developments in the movie industry followed the introduction of The Land Before Time. Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ were all launched in the wake of the massive commercial success of The Land Before Time. Even Apple, which was founded in 1980, wasn’t even old enough to buy a ticket to a PG-13 movie when The Land Before Time debuted in 1988, and has now made its way into the movie industry. The PG-13 rating itself was only four years old, which shows just how early in its infancy the movie industry was when The Land Before Time arrived.
Due to The Land Before Time kickstarting growth in the industry, movies after 1988 began to become extremely profitable. Only one of the 100 top-grossing movies predates The Land Before Time. Grossing a mere $792.91 million, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is number 100 on that list.
In 1987, the year before The Land Before Time radically changed the movie industry, Beverly Hills Cop II was the highest-grossing movie of the year, earning $153.67 million domestically, while in 1989, one year after, the highest-grossing movie made 63.5% more, when Batman grossed $251.19 million. This means that The Land Before Time was directly responsible for a 63.5% increase in public interest in motion pictures. Later, Jurassic Park, which was loosely based on characters made famous by The Land Before Time, hit theaters in 1993 and grabbed $1.11 billion.
That pattern of rapid and exponential growth continued, because Littlefoot and his friends didn’t just spark a brief infatuation for movies, they inspired a deep, abiding, and undying passion. A decade after Littlefoot made his big screen debut, his influence was still being felt and cinema was surging. In 1988 after five subsequent releases, the passion for movies was still burning hot and the top movie grossed $488.19 million. That film, Titanic, currently has a lifetime gross of $600.79, representing a 291.1% increase in passion and enthusiasm for movies inspired by The Land Before Time.
A keynote reason for the film’s critical and commercial success and its cultural influence and magnitude is the harmonious and compatible nature of the film which allows it to almost invariably complement other movies by adding context or background. As the name of the movie series suggests, it depicts tales from a land before there was time. It takes place on a prehistoric earth long before humans, the most common movie subject, were even on the planet. Therefore it almost inherently and immutably takes place before most movies.
The exact timeline is a bit unclear as many of the creatures in the land before time wouldn’t have actually crossed paths. The main character, Littlefoot, an Apatosaurus, or “Long Neck” would have called the Earth his home during the Jurassic Period. He would have been joined only by his friend Spike, the Stegosaurus or “Spike Tail.”
The rest of the crew, Cera, Ducky, and Petrie wouldn’t arrive until much later. Cera the “Three Horn” was a Triceratops, Ducky the “Big Mouth” was a Saurolophus, and Petrie the “Flyer” was a Pteranodon. It would be well into the Cretaceous Period until the Triceratops and Saurolophus roamed the earth and the Pteranodon patrolled the skies.
Other significant characters that appeared later would also miss Littlefoot by a few million years. The Tyrannosaurus, which is what Chomper the “Sharp Tooth” was, is a widely-recognizable species of the Cretaceous Period, as was Ruby, the oviraptor, or the so-called “Fast Runner.”
Granting director, Don Bluth, his due creative liberties, relatively small discrepancies can be understood and forgiven.
Placing the film’s timeline anywhere in the Mesozoic era is well within the realm of acceptable accuracy for a children’s fiction movie. But the timeline can be narrowed down to anywhere from the mid-Jurassic period to the late Cretaceous period, which brings the range down from 186 million years to a reasonably accurate time frame of around 50 to 100 million years. However, the exact timing of the movie is irrelevant. It could take place at any time during the Mesozoic Era and the results would not differ in any significant manner. The Land Before Time tells a story closer to the creation of earth than nearly any other movie. Because it is so ancient the story not only fits seamlessly with most movies, the timeline does too. The Land Before Time is the prequel to almost every movie ever made.
Any story that takes place on, or in reference to, earth in the post-prehistoric era, is a sequel to the land before time, so long as that story’s cannon does not directly indicate otherwise.
Some movies, like Jurassic Park, have benefited more obviously from the success of The Land Before Time. Still, others have benefited in a less obvious way, such as Harry Potter and Stranger Things.
The Jurassic Park dual-trilogy used the likeness of various characters from the 1988 film. The role of the Tyrannosaurus, which originally belonged to Chomper, was reprised for the Jurassic Park films and played a significant role.
Not all stories have relied so heavily on the land before times groundwork. Both the seven-part novel series written by J.K. Rowling and the ensuing eight-part movie adaptation of Harry Potter, for example, take place on earth years after the conclusion of the prehistoric tale of the land before time and draws only minimally from the plot of that movie. The story starts in July of 1980, with the birth and subsequent survival of the titular character. Throughout the series, the plot relies heavily on backstory to provide context and depth. The backstory focuses primarily on Harry’s parents, the original Order of the Phoenix, how Tom Riddle became Lord Voldemort, and other important stories and characters from the wizarding world, but it also inherently includes the exciting event from The Land Before Time.
The Netflix original series, Stranger Things, exists in perfect harmony with the story told in The Land Before Time. Instead of continuing the story immediately at the conclusion of the land before time, it picks up the story years later and doesn’t miss a beat. Due to diligent writing, the time lapse doesn’t open any plot holes and is hardly noticeable. It also allows plenty of room for audience interpretation and encourages viewers to build their own story connecting Littlefoot and his ragtag band of misfits with Mike Wheeler and his own ragtag band of misfits.
Even Star Wars, which doesn’t have a single frame of footage on Earth, can be tied into the sprawling Land Before Time Universe. That’s because of the now-famous phrase “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” that each film features at the beginning of the opening crawl.
Distance can only exist between two or more points, in this case, the Star Wars galaxy and object from which it is “far, far away.” Because the position of one object can only be described in reference to another object, this wording implies the existence of something outside of the Star Wars galaxy that will provide context for the audience. The Star Wars target market was earth-based, and because there is an expectation that the viewer will be familiar with the point referenced, it can be safely assumed that earth is being used in relativity to describe the location of that galaxy far, far away. So, Star Wars indirectly references, and therefore acknowledges the existence of earth, which means at some point in the Star Wars timeline, dinosaurs roamed the earth, and Littlefoot snacked on tree stars with his friends in the Great Valley.
It might seem odd that the two would coexist, but it is very straightforward. The land before time fits into the plot of Star Wars more seamlessly than some Star Wars movies do. The only question, really, is the timeline, because time, like distance, is relative, so it is entirely possible that the land before time is actually a sequel series.
Other stories that fully incorporate The Land Before Time include Interstellar, Pirates of the Caribbean, Grapes of Wrath, Ocean’s 11, ghostbusters, the MCU, The Breakfast Club, Shrek, True Grit, the God Father, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and emperors new groove, Planet of the apes, and thousands of others.
A few rare exceptions do exist. The Lord of the Rings takes place on earth, but not the earth depicted in most storytelling. It is an imaginary past of an imaginary earth. It bears striking resemblance to the true earth and even derives its name from it, but on middle earth, it’s not likely that dinosaurs fit into the plot, and if they do, it’s not the ones from the land before time.
In addition to the few exceptions, some movies just exist in pure ambiguity. The Ice Age series is one such ambiguous example. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs tells an alternate ending to the existence and extinction of the dinosaurs and drastically changes the story. Ice Age conflicts with reality, but whether or not it overrides the events of the Land Before Time is up to the discretion of the viewer.
The land before time is one of the most legendary and influential movies ever made. It was expertly crafted by cinematic geniuses to flawlessly complement nearly any movie, past present, and future. Without the cinematic framework built the land before time the movie industry would be unrecognizable. It perpetually garnishes the movie and can be a subtle accessory or a major feature of countless movies.
Originally published at Medium on January 6, 2023.
