Babe is a 1995 Australian-American comedy-drama film directed by Chris Noonan, produced by George Miller, and written by both. It is an adaptation of Dick King-Smith's 1983 novel The Sheep-Pig, also known as Babe: The Gallant Pig in the US, which tells the story of a pig raised as livestock who wants to do the work of a sheepdog. The main animal characters are played by a combination of real and animatronic pigs and Border Collies.
History with the Parade[]
The Babe franchise made it's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade debut through the 1998 Parade, as the titular character Babe was transformed into a Giant Balloon. The giant piglet was there to promote the sequel to the 1995 film, entitled Babe, Pig in the City. The balloon's weight was 364 lbs, required 14,000 cubic feet of helium, was 37 feet in height, 60 feet in length and 38 feet in width. The Babe balloon was one of the balloons to start the change of Utility Vehicles, Larger Handling Bones, Size Limits and the expansion of handlers. Following the balloons' 1998 appearance, for unknown reasons, the balloon was retired.
In the early 2000s, the Babe balloon was later refurbished into Hamlet the Balloon School Pig, being used exclusively for test flights from 2003-2008.
The Hamlet balloon was later disposed of by late 2019.