{ "id": "epe6fjekg3", "slug": "a-boy-named-charlie-brown", "title": "A Boy Named Charlie Brown", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts", "label": "Animated and short films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject", "label": "Animated films by source material and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject.films-based-on-comics-and-games", "label": "Films based on comics and games", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject.films-based-on-comics-and-games" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Animated films by source material and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts", "label": "Animated and short films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject", "label": "Animated films by source material and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject" } ] } ], "excerpt": "A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969) is the first theatrical Peanuts feature film, directed by Bill Melendez, written by Charles M. Schulz, opened at Radio City Music Hall, Oscar-nominated for its song score, and distinct from the 1963 unaired documentary of the same name.", "snippet": "A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969) is the first theatrical Peanuts feature film, directed by Bill Melendez, written by Charles M. Schulz, opened at Radio City Music Hall, Oscar-nominated for its song score, and distinct from the 1963 unaired documentary of the same name.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject.films-based-on-comics-and-games", "markdown": "# A Boy Named Charlie Brown\n\n**A Boy Named Charlie Brown** is a 1969 American animated musical comedy film, the first theatrical feature based on [Charles M. Schulz](https://www.edgepedia.org/charles-m-schulz)'s comic strip *Peanuts*, directed by Bill Melendez and written by Schulz. Produced by Lee Mendelson and Melendez for Cinema Center Films and distributed by National General Pictures, it follows [Charlie Brown](https://www.edgepedia.org/charlie-brown) as he enters a school [spelling bee](https://www.edgepedia.org/spelling-bee) and advances to the national finals in New York City.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/boy_named_charlie_brown)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | Opened 4 December 1969 as the Christmas attraction at Radio City Music Hall, New York City[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) |\n| Significance | First theatrical feature film based on the *Peanuts* comic strip, first published in 1950[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) |\n| Key personnel | Director Bill Melendez; producers Lee Mendelson and Melendez; writer Charles M. Schulz[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) |\n| Principal voices | [Peter Robbins](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-robbins-actor) (Charlie Brown), Pamelyn Ferdin (Lucy), Glenn Gilger (Linus), Bill Melendez (Snoopy)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) |\n| Box office | Single-day house record of $60,124 and opening-week record of $252,558 at Radio City Music Hall; seventeenth highest-grossing picture of 1970 with $6 million in film rentals[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) |\n| Budget | $1.1 million, cited in a 29 March 1970 Los Angeles Times article[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) |\n| Honors | Nominated for an Academy Award for Music (Original Song Score) and a Grammy Award for Best Recording for Children[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) |\n| Runtime and rating | 85 minutes (AFI catalog; The Numbers lists 86 minutes), rated G[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) • [3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Boy-Named-Charlie-Brown-A) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story\n\nAfter his football team suffers its ninety-ninth consecutive loss, second-grader Charlie Brown consults Lucy, the neighborhood psychiatrist, who advises him to build confidence by place-kicking, then pulls the ball away when he tries. He enters his school's spelling contest and, helped by Snoopy and Lucy's brother Linus, wins it, having been given such words as \"failure\" and \"insecure.\" Sponsored by \"Lucy Van Pelt Inc.,\" he travels to a national spelling bee in New York City, where his misadventures in the big city form the film's climax; he loses the bee, and his friends welcome him home.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) • [5](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/A_Boy_Named_Charlie_Brown?hl=en_US&id=jx_HuuxP1Xc.P)\n\nThe main storyline, involving the spelling bee, was taken from a sequence that originally appeared in the comic strip.[6](https://www.classicmoviehub.com/facts-and-trivia/film/a-boy-named-charlie-brown-1969/) The film spends its first half hour introducing the characters with strip gags about kite flying and baseball before the spelling bee plot begins, and it gives Snoopy two fantasy sequences, as a World War I pilot and as a skater.[7](https://drgrobsanimationreview.com/2015/02/20/a-boy-named-charlie-brown/)\n\n## Production\n\nBefore the film, CBS had aired five *Peanuts* television specials, beginning with *A Charlie Brown Christmas* on 9 December 1965.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) • [4](https://schulzmuseum.org/timeline/) CBS Theatrical Film Division was initially set to produce the picture, but the credit went to the CBS subsidiary Cinema Center Films, working with United Features Syndicate.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) Production began on 12 July 1968. Schulz, who wrote the film, drew \"key panels\" on which fifty-two animators based their work.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN)\n\nThe film was made as a hand-animated production in [Technicolor](https://www.edgepedia.org/technicolor), with photography by Nick Vasu and editing by Robert T. Gillis, Charles McCann, and Steve Melendez.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) • [3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Boy-Named-Charlie-Brown-A)\n\n## Music\n\n[Vince Guaraldi](https://www.edgepedia.org/vince-guaraldi), who had scored the *Peanuts* television specials since 1965, wrote the original music score, arranged and conducted by John Scott Trotter.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) The film is a musical with nearly two dozen songs, including \"A Boy Named Charlie Brown,\" \"Champion Charlie Brown,\" and \"Failure Face,\" with music and lyrics by [Rod McKuen](https://www.edgepedia.org/rod-mckuen), and \"I Before E\" by John Scott Trotter.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) • [5](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/A_Boy_Named_Charlie_Brown?hl=en_US&id=jx_HuuxP1Xc.P) A highlight is Schroeder's performance of the second movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata no. 8, op. 13, the *Pathétique*, performed by Ingolf Dahl.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) • [7](https://drgrobsanimationreview.com/2015/02/20/a-boy-named-charlie-brown/) This was the only *Peanuts* feature film for which Guaraldi wrote an original score.[6](https://www.classicmoviehub.com/facts-and-trivia/film/a-boy-named-charlie-brown-1969/)\n\n## Release and reception\n\nThe film opened on 4 December 1969 at [Radio City Music Hall](https://www.edgepedia.org/radio-city-music-hall), only the third animated film to play that theater, after *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* (1938) and *Bambi* (1942). It was the first animated feature for both Cinema Center Films and distributor National General Pictures.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) Its $60,124 in one day's ticket sales set a house record for a single day, and its $252,558 gross set another house record for opening week; the film then finished as 1970's seventeenth top-grossing picture, accumulating $6 million in film rentals.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) Producer Lee Mendelson later described one December evening in 1969 when Charlie Brown simultaneously played before a sellout crowd for the stage show *You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown*, a sellout audience for the feature at Radio City Music Hall, and a repeat network broadcast of *A Charlie Brown Christmas* seen by fifty-five million Americans.[4](https://schulzmuseum.org/timeline/)\n\nCritical response has been generally favorable in retrospect: the film holds a 95% Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 21 reviews.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/boy_named_charlie_brown) The film earned Academy Award nominations in the Music (Original Song Score) category, as well as a Grammy Award nomination for Best Recording for Children.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN)\n\n## Title and legacy\n\nThe title had been used before: a 1963 unaired half-hour television documentary about Schulz, produced by Lee Mendelson with about two minutes of *Peanuts* animation by Bill Melendez and music by Vince Guaraldi, was also called *A Boy Named Charlie Brown*. It failed to find a network sponsor and was never broadcast, but Mendelson's satisfaction with Guaraldi's music led him to hire the pianist again for *A Charlie Brown Christmas*.[8](https://ir-api.ua.edu/api/core/bitstreams/cf6a5e10-a5bc-4fab-976c-3ef106c2aa0b/content) • [9](https://api.drum.lib.umd.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/f3404eb7-48db-4592-82d7-8a8b7ff47531/content)\n\nThe feature launched a series of theatrical *Peanuts* films: *[Snoopy, Come Home](https://www.edgepedia.org/snoopy-come-home)* (1972), *[Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown](https://www.edgepedia.org/race-for-your-life-charlie-brown)* (1977), *Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!)* (1980), and *The Peanuts Movie* (2015).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) In March 1970 Schulz said Cinema Center Films wanted another *Peanuts* film \"right away,\" but that it would take at least two years to make.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN) The film was released on home video on 20 February 1992 by 20th Century Studios, received a special theatrical re-release on 18 August 2019, and is available on digital platforms.[3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Boy-Named-Charlie-Brown-A) • [10](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/a-boy-named-charlie-brown)\n\n## References\n\n1. [A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23632-A-BOY-NAMED-CHARLIE-BROWN)\n2. [A Boy Named Charlie Brown, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/boy_named_charlie_brown)\n3. [A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Boy-Named-Charlie-Brown-A)\n4. [Timeline Archive, Charles M. Schulz Museum](https://schulzmuseum.org/timeline/)\n5. [A Boy Named Charlie Brown, Google Play Movies](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/A_Boy_Named_Charlie_Brown?hl=en_US&id=jx_HuuxP1Xc.P)\n6. [Facts about A Boy Named Charlie Brown, Classic Movie Hub](https://www.classicmoviehub.com/facts-and-trivia/film/a-boy-named-charlie-brown-1969/)\n7. [A Boy Named Charlie Brown, Dr. Grob's Animation Review (2015)](https://drgrobsanimationreview.com/2015/02/20/a-boy-named-charlie-brown/)\n8. [Charlie Brown's America dissertation, University of Alabama (2017)](https://ir-api.ua.edu/api/core/bitstreams/cf6a5e10-a5bc-4fab-976c-3ef106c2aa0b/content)\n9. [Sonic Movie Memories dissertation, University of Maryland (2016)](https://api.drum.lib.umd.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/f3404eb7-48db-4592-82d7-8a8b7ff47531/content)\n10. [A Boy Named Charlie Brown streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/a-boy-named-charlie-brown)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Animated and short films › Animated films by source material and subject › Films based on comics and games*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/a-boy-named-charlie-brown", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/a-boy-named-charlie-brown.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"A Boy Named Charlie Brown\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/a-boy-named-charlie-brown. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[A Boy Named Charlie Brown](https://www.edgepedia.org/a-boy-named-charlie-brown)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/a-boy-named-charlie-brown](https://www.edgepedia.org/a-boy-named-charlie-brown). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"A Boy Named Charlie Brown\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/a-boy-named-charlie-brown. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "A Boy Named Charlie Brown is the first theatrical Peanuts feature film, directed by Bill Melendez, written by Charles M." }