Rock & Rule

This is the 1983 Canadian adult animated musical science fiction fantasy film. It was the Nelvana animation studio's first ever feature film. Rock & Rule was produced and directed by Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert, and Clive A. Smith with John Halfpenny, Patrick Loubert, and Peter Sauder at the helm of its screenplay. The film also features the voices of Don Francks, Greg Salata, and Susan Roman.

Centring upon rock and roll music, Rock & Rule includes songs by Cheap Trick, Chris Stein and Debbie Harry of the pop group Blondie, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Earth, Wind & Fire. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic United States populated by mutant humanoid animals. Though initially unsuccessful at the box office, the movie has gone on to become a cult classic.

The film was a heavily derived spinoff of Nelvana's earlier TV special from 1978, The Devil and Daniel Mouse. United Artists was to distribute the movie, but when they were purchased by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the new management team had no interest in it. As a result, it was never released in North America except for a limited release in Boston, Massachusetts. It received minor attention in Germany, where it was screened at a film festival. It was funded in part by the CBC, which had obtained the Canadian TV rights. A hard-to-find VHS was released at that time, followed by a laserdisc release. The film developed a cult following from repeated airings on HBO and Showtime and the circulation of bootleg VHS copies at comic book convention booths (with Ralph Bakshi incorrectly named as director). In 2005, Unearthed Films released a special two-disc edition DVD of the film.