inner-city kids that were guests of Fannie Mae's company attended the event; the children also made their own American Tail storybook and posed with a costume version of Fievel for pictures. Notable adult attendees includes Chuck Robb, Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, Al Gore, Marvin Bush, Margaret Bush, Fred Grandy, Elliot Richardson, and Robert Haft. Both Fievel Goes West and Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991) began their United States theater runs on November 22, 1991; this was the third instance of two animated films being released on the same day, after The Land Before Time and Oliver & Company in 1988, and The Little Mermaid and All Dogs Go to Heaven in 1989. Boston Herald noted the clash as "a testimony to the revival of interest in feature-length animation". Along with competing with an unusual number of family films with middling budgets such as The Addams Family, Curly Sue, My Girl, and Spielberg's Hook; both Beauty and the Beast and Fievel Goes West were promoted with, as of the films' release date, the most expensive set of film tie-ins ever. 40 brands licensed with Universal to promote the film, including the non-profit Reading Is Fundamental, which used the character of Fievel as a mascot for Reading Buddies kits; and Pizza Hut, which used characters from the film on designs their Pizza Packs and soft-drink cups, a decision influenced by their previous tie-in success with the Disney summer film The Rocketeer (1991). Upon the film's release, Universal Studios Tour opened the attraction Mouse Trap, a 2,500-seat interactive version of Fievel Goes West. In the summer of 1992, Universal Studios Florida opened American Tail: Fievel's Playland, a playground featuring set recreations of An American Tail and Fievel Goes West. Boxtress also released an illustrated book version of the film written by Cathy East Dubowski and Beverly Lazor-Bahr. Reception Box office Amblin Entertainment previously competed with Disney twice: in 1986 when the first American Tail competed with a re-issue of Lady and the Tramp (1955) and in 1988 when it released The Land Before Time around the same time as Oliver & Company. Amblin won both races; Fred Mound, Universal distribution president, said: "We've proven in the past that there's room for two animated features". Tom Pollock, a Universal chairman, also had faith Fievel Goes West would perform well. Spielberg and Disney's Dick Cook suggested both films would be hits, although Spielberg predicted