theatre stage shows in both Disneyland and the Walt Disney World Resort, using Stephen Sondheim and Danny Elfman's music. The New York Times also wrote in June 1990 of Disney Stores "selling nothing but Tracy-related merchandise". Max Allan Collins lobbied to write the film's novelization long before Disney had even greenlighted Dick Tracy in 1988. "I hated the idea that anyone else would write a Tracy novel," Collins explained. After much conflict with Disney, leading to seven different printings of the novelization, the book was released in May 1990, published by Bantam Books. It sold almost one million copies prior to the film's release. A graphic novel adaptation of the film was also released, written and illustrated by Kyle Baker. Reruns of The Dick Tracy Show began airing to coincide with the release of the film, but stations in Los Angeles and New York pulled and edited the episodes when Asian and Hispanic groups protested that the characters Joe Jitsu and Go Go Gomez were offensive stereotypes. A theme park ride for Disneyland, Disney-MGM Studios and Euro Disney Resort called Dick Tracy's Crime Stoppers was planned but ultimately never built. Another tie-in for the movie was an ingenious plan where 1,500 movie theatres were shipped T-shirts with the film's title art on them, which fans could then buy for $12 to $20 and wear into the movie in lieu of buying tickets at the box office. Reception Release Dick Tracy had a benefit premiere at a small 300-seat theater in Woodstock, Illinois (the hometown of Tracy creator Chester Gould), on June 13, 1990 while the production premiere occurred the next day at the Walt Disney World Village's Pleasure Island in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The film was released in the United States in 2,332 theaters on June 15, 1990, earning $22.54 million in its opening weekend, including an estimated $1.5 million of t-shirt sales. This was the third-highest opening weekend of 1990 and Disney's biggest ever. Dick Tracy eventually grossed $103.74 million in the United States and Canada and $59 million elsewhere, coming to a worldwide total of $162.74 million. Dick Tracy was also the ninth-highest-grossing film of America in 1990, and number twelve in worldwide totals. Although Disney was impressed by the opening weekend gross, studio management was expecting the film's total earnings to match Batman (1989). Prior to its overseas release (and other revenue streams), the film was