The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996 film) June 21, 1996 to generally positive reviews and was a commercial success, grossing over $325 million worldwide and becoming the fifth highest-grossing release of 1996. The film received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for Menken's musical score. A darker, more Gothic stage adaptation of the film, was rewritten and directed by James Lapine and produced by Walt Disney Theatrical in Berlin, Germany, as "Der Glöckner von Notre Dame", and ran from 1999 to 2002. A direct-to-video sequel, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame II", was released in 2002. In 1482 Paris, Clopin, a gypsy puppeteer, narrates the origin of
Pierre Gringore the little bells sound. When Gringoire fails the test, he is about to be hanged under Clopin's orders until Clopin gives him another option to save his life: to marry a Gypsy woman present in the Court. Esmeralda comes to Gringoire's rescue and accepts him as her husband. Afterwards, Gringoire and Esmeralda have a wedding night together, and finds out that Esmeralda doesn't truly love him and merely tolerates him, and that he cannot touch her ever. In fact, the one whom Esmeralda truly loves is Captain Phoebus. Likewise, Gringoire becomes more fond of Esmeralda's pet goat, Djali, than of