The film aired on the CBC as a two-part miniseries on December 1 and 2, 1985. Both parts of the film were among the highest-rated programs of any genre ever to air on a Canadian television network. On February 17 and 18, 1986, the film aired on the PBS in the United States.
Anne of Green Gables is the first film in a trilogy of movies based on the titular character. In 1987 the films' sequel, Anne of Avonlea, was released. (It was subsequently retitled Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel on home video.) In 2000 the final movie, , was aired. The final film did not receive the same critical praise as the first two films because it passed over Rilla of Ingleside - the corresponding Anne novel - in favor of a plot not featured in Montgomery's series (although it was based on one of her books).
The first two Anne films generated a spin-off television series that aired form 1989 to 1996. The Road to Avonlea series featured characters and episodes from several of Montgomery's books. Anne herself did not appear in the episodes, but Gilbert Blythe, Marilla Cuthbert, and other characters from the Anne books were included.
Kevin Sullivan was nominated for Best Director of a dramatic program or series, but lost to Donald Brittain for . The film was also nominated for Best Editing for a dramatic program or series.
The series also won an Emmy Award in 1986, for Outstanding Children's Program.
Lawsuit
Sullivan was sued by the descendants of/heirs to the novel's author, Lucy Maud Montgomery. Their contractual agreement with Sullivan said that he would pay them a flat $425,000 (CAD) fee for the right to adapt the first book (and another $100,000 to do the second movie, Anne of Avonlea), plus 10% of all the profits of both. The contract also gave them the right to examine Sullivan Entertainment's financial records. However, when Sullivan claimed that neither of the movies had earned any money (even though, as noted above, they were among the highest-rated television programs in Canadian history) and refused to allow them to audit his books, they took him to court. Sullivan counter-sued for libel, insisting that the heirs should pay him $55 Million because they had defamed his character. An Superior Court of Ontario judge dismissed his suit on January 19, 2004, saying that Sullivan's claim that the movies had never turned a profit was "a joke," and that Sullivan was "one of the most evasive witnesses [she had] encountered."
Katharine Hepburn was approached to play Marilla Cuthbert. Although she declined, she referred Sullivan to Schuyler Grant, her niece, who was cast as Diana Barry.
