Fantasia premiered on November 13, 1940, at the Broadway Theatre in New York City, New York, and ran for forty-nine consecutive weeks, finishing with a total of fifty-seven weeks. The film made its West Coast debut on January 29, 1941, at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, California, and ran for thirty-nine weeks. The film also played at the Fulton Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Geary Theatre in San Francisco, California, the Hannah Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio, the Majestic Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts, the Apollo Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, as well as being played in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Detroit, Michigan, Buffalo, New York, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. The third animated feature film released by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
The film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Composer Deems Taylor serves as the film's Master of Ceremonies, introducing each live-action segment. Fantasia opens with live-action scenes of an orchestra tuning its instruments. Master of Ceremonies Deems Taylor enters the stage and introduces the program.
