The Land Before Time
Orphaned brontosaurus Littlefoot sets out to locate the fabled Great Valley, a safe haven of abundant food, while teaming with four unlikely dinosaur friends and battling treacherous predators and harsh terrain that threaten their very survival.
“It is the dawn of time, the land of the dinosaur. Lost and alone, Littlefoot and his friends are about to embark on the journey of a lifetime.”
Synopsis
Littlefoot, an orphaned brontosaurus, embarks on a journey to find the Great Valley, a mythical land said to be filled with abundant vegetation where dinosaurs can live in safety and harmony. During his travels, he encounters four other young dinosaurs, each from a different species, and together they face various challenges. As they navigate these obstacles, the group learns the importance of cooperation and teamwork in order to survive.
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
A crew of 131+ credited
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by John K CarrShot by David R AnkneyScored by James HornerDesigned by Don BluthSound by John Falcini
Box Office
1988 · Box office
💰 Box-office hit — grossed 6.8× its budget
Why 2.5×?
Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).
Worldwide gross
$84.7M
US & Canada: $48.5M — 57% of worldwide · International: $36.2M (43%)
Opening weekend: $7.5M — 16% of its US run.
Opening week (7-day): $10.4M — 21% of its US & Canada run.
Peak 1,395 theaters
Also known as
- In einem Land vor unserer Zeitde
- In einem Land vor unserer Zeit: Die Dinos kommende
- Le Petit Dinosaure et la Vallée des merveillesfr
- Alla ricerca della Valle Incantatait
- (Flemish)Platvoet en zijn vriendjes
Release dates around the world3 countries · showhide
- United StatesNov 12, 1988
- CanadaNov 18, 1988
- MexicoDec 5, 1988
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Cast & Crew
131 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Pat Hingle
as Narrator, Rooter
Gabriel Damon
as Littlefoot
Helen Shaver
as Littlefoot's Mother
Bill Erwin
as Grandfather
Candace Hutson
as Cera
Burke Byrnes
as Daddy Topps
Judith Barsi
as Ducky
Will Ryan
as Petrie
Barbara Horpen
as Grandmother
Jennifer Kedeya
as Cera's Mother
Nina Keitha
as Flyer Family
Eva Kooplin
as Petrie's Mother
Supporting cast
2Directors
1Writers
6Producers
8Other crew
106Thomas J O Connell
adr recordist (as Tom O'Connell)
Aidan Farrell
animation camera
David R Ankney
animation camera
Emma Miller
animation camera
Fiona Mackle
animation camera
Gary Hall
animation camera
Gary Jones
animation camera
John Fitzgerald
animation camera
Scott Mccartor
animation camera
Eimear Joyce
animation camera (as Éimear Joyce)
Anne Marie Bardwell
animator
Moya Mackle
apprentice assistant director
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