---
name: "Don Hahn"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/don-hahn"
fi1m_id: "don-hahn"
imdb_id: "nm0353893"
tmdb_id: 12824
wikidata_id: "Q1072843"
roles: ["Producer","Director"]
born: "26 November 1955"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 12
average_fi1m_score: 77
average_as: "producer"
average_over: 9
updated: "2026-10-07T04:24:51.892724+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Don Hahn

## Identity

Don Hahn

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/don-hahn
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** don-hahn
- **IMDb ID:** nm0353893
- **TMDB ID:** 12824
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1072843
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Hahn, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1072843, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0353893/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/12824

Producer and director. Born 26 November 1955 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Producer, Director
- **Born:** 26 November 1955, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- **Active:** 1988–2017
- **Also known as:** Donald Paul Hahn
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 12: 1 directing, 9 producing, 2 other
- **Frequently works with:** [Irene Mecchi](https://film.one/person/irene-mecchi.md), [Gary Trousdale](https://film.one/person/gary-trousdale.md), [Jonathan Roberts](https://film.one/person/jonathan-roberts.md), [Kirk Wise](https://film.one/person/kirk-wise.md), [Linda Woolverton](https://film.one/person/linda-woolverton.md)
- **Golden Globes:** 2 Golden Globes (2 won)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 77, as producer, over 9 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 89 (1), 1990s 82 (4), 2000s 72 (2), 2010s 63 (4), 2020s 57 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 77 to 73 across 9 titles
- **Score spread:** 5 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 1 under 60
- **Genres:** Family 8, Animation 7, Fantasy 6, Comedy 3, Romance 3, Adventure 2
- **Screen time:** 14 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $4,216m across 9 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Hahn, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1072843, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0353893/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/12824

## Streaming the US now

- **Disney+:** [*Beauty and the Beast*](https://film.one/film/beauty-and-the-beast.md) (91), [*The Lion King*](https://film.one/film/the-lion-king.md) (84), [*The Nightmare Before Christmas*](https://film.one/film/the-nightmare-before-christmas.md) (82), [*The Hunchback of Notre Dame*](https://film.one/film/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame.md) (70), [*Fantasia 2000*](https://film.one/film/fantasia-2000.md) (65)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Don Hahn

> Don Hahn produced the films at the centre of Disney's early 1990s revival, and his gift is for assembling the people rather than framing the shot. The one time he stepped behind a camera himself, on *Fantasia 2000*, it showed.

A song arrives and the picture changes shape. A village sings about the girl who lives in it; a cub is held up on a rock while the whole savannah lines up to look; a skeleton in a striped suit complains in verse about doing the same thing every year. Don Hahn produced all three films, and none of those moments is his drawing or his line, which is the point of a producer. What he put in was the people: the directors, the songwriters, the animators, and the patience to let a song do the work.

He started at the studio in 1976 as a production assistant and got his first producing credit as associate producer on *Who Framed Roger Rabbit* (1988). Then came the run: *Beauty and the Beast* (1991), *The Lion King* (1994) and *The Hunchback of Notre Dame* (1996), with *The Nightmare Before Christmas* (1993), made for Henry Selick, in between. Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale directed three films for him; Howard Ashman and Alan Menken wrote the songs for two. After that the work spread out: the live-action hosts on *Fantasia 2000* (2000), *Atlantis: The Lost Empire* (2001), and two documentaries, *Waking Sleeping Beauty* (2009) and *Howard* (2018).

He has said that what he was really good at was "putting a team of the right people together to get a particular job done", and the results back him up. *Beauty and the Beast* is the one we would hand to anybody; the songs and the voice cast make its tenderness feel earned. *The Lion King* has grandeur and wit, even if it lectures. But where a team pulls in two directions the producer's job is to choose, and on *Hunchback* nobody did. Tony Jay's Frollo is a proper villain in a film that goes further into the dark than any Disney cartoon before it, and then three wisecracking gargoyles turn up to remind us it is for children. The join shows.

Then there is *Fantasia 2000*, the one time Hahn took a director's credit on a feature. The cartoons are the point, eight of them, three lovely and none dull. The links are the price. Steve Martin, Itzhak Perlman, Bette Midler, Angela Lansbury and others walk to a podium, say something about the piece to come and are wafted away, shot flat and bright against the orchestra by Tim Suhrstedt. We winced through nearly all of them. The words, which Hahn wrote with Irene Mecchi and David Reynolds, cannot decide whether they are explaining the music to children or apologising to adults for the interruption, so they do both.

Hahn's talent is for getting the right people together and keeping them there until the thing works; pointing the camera is a different job. He has lately made documentaries about the studio he started in, which suits him. Nobody has to walk to a podium.

## Biography

Don Hahn is an American film producer. Born on 26 November 1955 in Chicago, Illinois, he began his career at Walt Disney Studios in the late 1970s and worked in various production roles before becoming a producer.

He produced the animated features *Beauty and the Beast* (1991), *The Nightmare Before Christmas* (1993), *The Lion King* (1994), *The Hunchback of Notre Dame* (1996) and *Atlantis: The Lost Empire* (2001). He later served as executive producer on *Maleficent* (2014) and the live-action *Beauty and the Beast* (2017).

In 2008 he founded Stone Circle Pictures. He directed the documentary *Waking Sleeping Beauty* (2009) and has executive produced several Disneynature films.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (12)

### Directed (1)

- *Fantasia 2000* (2000), Fi1m 65, Director, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/fantasia-2000.md)

### Produced (9) — the average rests on these

- *Beauty and the Beast* (2017), Fi1m 65, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/beauty-and-the-beast-2017.md)
- *Maleficent* (2014), Fi1m 55, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/maleficent.md)
- *Frankenweenie* (2012), Fi1m 79, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/frankenweenie.md)
- *The Emperor's New Groove* (2000), Fi1m 80, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-emperors-new-groove.md)
- *The Hunchback of Notre Dame* (1996), Fi1m 70, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame.md)
- *The Lion King* (1994), Fi1m 84, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-lion-king.md)
- *The Nightmare Before Christmas* (1993), Fi1m 82, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-nightmare-before-christmas.md)
- *Beauty and the Beast* (1991), Fi1m 91, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/beauty-and-the-beast.md)
- *Who Framed Roger Rabbit* (1988), Fi1m 89, Associate Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/who-framed-roger-rabbit.md)

### Also credited (2) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited

- *Mufasa: The Lion King* (2024), Fi1m 57, Thanks — [page](https://film.one/film/mufasa-the-lion-king.md)
- *The Lion King* (2019), Fi1m 52, Thanks — [page](https://film.one/film/the-lion-king-2019.md)

## Complete filmography (42)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Huz: Drawn to Life* (2026), Director, Writer
- *Mufasa: The Lion King* (2024), Thanks — Fi1m 57, [page](https://film.one/film/mufasa-the-lion-king.md)
- *Not Just a Goof* (2024), Executive Producer
- *The Garfield Movie* (2024), Thanks — Fi1m 47, [page](https://film.one/film/the-garfield-movie.md)
- *The Inventor* (2023), Executive Producer
- *The Lion King* (2019), Thanks — Fi1m 52, [page](https://film.one/film/the-lion-king-2019.md)
- *Wonder Park* (2019), Executive Producer
- *Great Bear Rainforest: Land of the Spirit Bear* (2019), Writer
- *Howard* (2018), Director, Producer, Executive Producer
- *Beauty and the Beast* (2017), Executive Producer — Fi1m 65, [page](https://film.one/film/beauty-and-the-beast-2017.md)
- *Tyrus* (2015), Executive Producer
- *Aria for a Cow* (2015), Thanks
- *Maleficent* (2014), Executive Producer — Fi1m 55, [page](https://film.one/film/maleficent.md)
- *High Ground* (2012), Writer, Producer
- *Miniatures in Motion: Bringing Frankenweenie to Life* (2012), Executive Producer
- *Frankenweenie* (2012), Executive Producer — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/film/frankenweenie.md)
- *Chimpanzee* (2012), Executive Producer
- *Junior On The Job* (2012), series, as Theme Song Performance
- *Oceans* (2010), Executive Producer
- *Hand Held* (2010), Director
- *Christmas with Walt Disney* (2009), Director, Writer
- *Waking Sleeping Beauty* (2009), Director
- *The Little Matchgirl* (2006), Producer
- *One by One* (2004), Producer
- *Lorenzo* (2004), Executive Producer
- *Home on the Range* (2004), Thanks
- *The Haunted Mansion* (2003), Producer
- *Foreign Correspondents* (2001), Scoring Mixer
- *Atlantis: The Lost Empire* (2001), Producer
- *The Emperor's New Groove* (2000), Executive Producer — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/the-emperors-new-groove.md)
- *Fantasia 2000* (2000), Director, Writer — Fi1m 65, [page](https://film.one/film/fantasia-2000.md)
- *The Hunchback of Notre Dame* (1996), Producer — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame.md)
- *The Lion King* (1994), Producer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/the-lion-king.md)
- *The Nightmare Before Christmas* (1993), Producer — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/the-nightmare-before-christmas.md)
- *Beauty and the Beast* (1991), Producer — Fi1m 91, [page](https://film.one/film/beauty-and-the-beast.md)
- *Tummy Trouble* (1989), Producer
- *Who Framed Roger Rabbit* (1988), Associate Producer — Fi1m 89, [page](https://film.one/film/who-framed-roger-rabbit.md)
- *The Black Cauldron* (1985), Production Manager
- *Mickey's Christmas Carol* (1983), Production Assistant
- *The Fox and the Hound* (1981), Assistant Director
- *Hunchback*, Executive Producer
- *Wish List*, Executive Producer

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 2 nominated

- 2007: Best Animated Short Film (nominated), for *The Little Matchgirl*
- 1992: Best Picture (nominated), for *Beauty and the Beast*

### Golden Globes — 2 won

- 1994: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (won), for *The Lion King*
- 1991: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (won), for *Beauty and the Beast*

### Other awards — 2 won

- Disney Legends 2022: Disney Legends (won)
- June Foray award 2016: June Foray award (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/don-hahn