Aladdin (1992 Disney film)

In 1988, lyricist Howard Ashman pitched the idea of an animated musical adaptation of Aladdin. Ashman had written a 40-page film treatment remaining faithful to the plot and characters of the original story, but envisioned as a campy 1930s-style musical with a Cab Calloway/Fats Waller-like Genie.[20] Along with partner Alan Menken, Ashman composed several songs and added original characters such as Aladdin's friends named Babkak, Omar, and Kassim to the story.[21]^: 216[22] However, Michael Eisner did not think a story set in the Middle East would be commercially appealing,[23] and their project was removed from active development. Ashman and Menken were later recruited to compose songs for Beauty and the Beast (1991).[24] Linda Woolverton, who had also worked on Beauty and the Beast, used their treatment and developed a draft with inspired elements from The Thief of Bagdad (1940), such as a villain named Jaf'far, an aged sidekick retired human thief named Abu, and a human handmaiden for the princess.[25][26] Then, directors Ron Clements and John Musker joined the production, picking Aladdin out of three projects offered, which also included an adaptation of Swan Lake and King of the Jungle—that eventually became The Lion King (1994).[27] Before Ashman's death in March 1991, he and Menken had composed "Prince Ali" and his last song, "Humiliate the Boy".[28]

Musker and Clements wrote a draft of the screenplay, and then delivered a story reel to studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg in April 1991.[22] Katzenberg thought the script "didn't engage," and on a day known by the staff as "Black Friday", demanded that the entire story be rewritten without rescheduling the film's November 25, 1992 release date.[29] Katzenberg requested for Clements and Musker to not be heavily dependent on Ashman's vision,[21]^: 217 and the removal of Aladdin's mother, remarking, "Eighty-six the mother. The mom's a zero."[30] Katzenberg also influenced in changing the plot element about Jasmine's marriage, which originally had her required by law to be married by sixteen, to remove the age—the Sultan only says "your next birthday"—and make it more specific that her suitor needed to be a prince, which would also set up the ending where the Sultan, inspired by Aladdin's altruism, changes the law to make Jasmine able to marry anyone she deems worthy.[31]

Screenwriting duo Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio were brought in to rework the story,[22] and the changes they made included the removal of Aladdin's mother, the strengthening of the character of Princess Jasmine, and the deletion of several Ashman and Menken's songs.[32] Aladdin's personality was rewritten to be "a little rougher, like a young Harrison Ford,"[22][33] and the parrot Iago, originally conceived as an uptight British archetype, was reworked into a comic role after the filmmakers saw Gilbert Gottfried in Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), who was then cast for the role.[34] By October 1991, Katzenberg was satisfied with the new version of Aladdin.[20] As with Woolverton's screenplay, several characters and plot elements were based on The Thief of Bagdad (1940),[35][36] though the location of the film was changed from Baghdad to the fictional Arabian city of Agrabah.[37]

According to 1994 article in The Advocate, Katzenberg asked Thomas Schumacher, an openly gay producer, if any of the gay references in the film offended him, such as a scene where the Genie turns into an "effeminate clothier", and another in which he tells Aladdin that "I really like you too, kid, but that doesn't mean I want to pick out curtains with you". Schumacher responded that such references were in "good fun", remarking that "I know we all argue amongst ourselves, but why try to deny the fact that swishy fashion designers exist? They do! What are we running from? Show me ten hairdressers; I'll show you eight gay men".[38]

Style guide depicting the main characters. The animators designed each character based on a different geometrical shape.[39]

The design for most characters was based on the work of caricaturist Al Hirschfeld,[40] which production designer Richard Vander Wende also considered appropriate to the theme, due to similarities to the flowing and swooping lines found in Arabic calligraphy.[31] Jafar's design was not based on Hirschfeld's work because Jafar's supervising animator, Andreas Deja, wanted the character to be contrasting.[41] Each character was animated alone, with the animators consulting each other to make scenes with interrelating characters. Since Aladdin's animator Glen Keane was working in the California branch of Walt Disney Feature Animation, and Jasmine's animator Mark Henn was in the Florida one at Disney-MGM Studios, they had to frequently phone, fax or send designs and discs to each other.[31] The animators filmed monkeys at the San Francisco Zoo to study their movements for Abu's character.[16] Iago's supervising animator Will Finn tried to incorporate some aspects of Gottfried's appearance into the parrot's design, especially his semi-closed eyes and the always-appearing teeth.[16] Some aspects of the Sultan were inspired by the Wizard of Oz, to create a bumbling authority figure.[16] Andreas Deja, Jafar's supervising animator, tried to incorporate Jonathan Freeman's facial expressions and gesturing into the character.[40] Animator Randy Cartwright described working on the Magic Carpet as challenging, since it is only a rectangular shape, that expresses itself through pantomime—"It's sort of like acting by origami."[31] Cartwright kept folding a piece of cloth while animating to see how to position the Carpet.[31] After the character animation was done, the carpet's surface design was applied digitally.[40]

Designed by a team led by supervising animator Glen Keane, Aladdin was initially going to be as young as thirteen, and was originally made to resemble actor Michael J. Fox. During production, it was decided that the design was too boyish and lacked appeal, so the character was made eighteen and redesigned to add elements derived from actor Tom Cruise and Calvin Klein models.[42][43]

For the scenery design, various architectural elements seen in 19th-century orientalist paintings and photographs of the Arab world were used for guidance.[44] Other inspirations for design were Disney's animated films from the 1940s and '50s and the 1940 film The Thief of Bagdad.[31] The coloring was done with the computerized CAPS process, and the color motifs were chosen according to the personality—the protagonists use light colors such as blue, the antagonists darker ones such as red and black, and Agrabah and its palace use the neutral color yellow.[16][40] Computer animation was used for several elements of the film, such as the tiger entrance of the Cave of Wonders and the scene where Aladdin tries to escape the collapsing cave.[40] Some of the software that was used was Pixar's RenderMan.

Musker and Clements created the Genie with Robin Williams in mind; even though Katzenberg suggested actors such as John Candy, Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy, Williams was approached and eventually accepted the role. Williams came for voice recording sessions during breaks while filming two other films he was starring in at the time, Hook (1991) and Toys (1992). Unusually for an animated film, much of Williams's dialogue was ad-libbed. For some scenes, Williams was given topics and dialogue suggestions, but allowed to improvise his lines.[40][45] It was estimated that Williams improvised 52 characters.[46] Eric Goldberg, the supervising animator for the Genie, then reviewed Williams's recorded dialogue and selected the best gags and lines that his crew would create character animation to match.[40]

The producers added many in-jokes and references to Disney's previous works in the film, such as a "cameo appearance" from directors Clements and Musker and drawing some characters based on Disney workers.[19] Beast, Sebastian, and Pinocchio make brief appearances,[16] and the wardrobe of the Genie at the end of the film—a Goofy hat, a Hawaiian shirt, and sandals—are a reference to a short film that Robin Williams did for the Disney-MGM Studios tour in the late 1980s.[19]

Initially, Robin Williams voiced the Genie under the condition that his voice not be used for excessive marketing or merchandising.

In gratitude for his success with Touchstone Pictures' Good Morning, Vietnam, Robin Williams voiced the Genie for SAG scale pay—$75,000—instead of his asking fee of $8 million, on the condition that his name or image not be used for marketing, and his (supporting) character not take more than 25% of space on advertising artwork, since Williams' film Toys was scheduled for release one month after Aladdin's debut. For financial reasons, the studio went back on the deal on both counts, especially in poster art by having the Genie in 25% of the image, but having other major and supporting characters portrayed considerably smaller. The Disney Hyperion book Aladdin: The Making of an Animated Film listed both of Williams's characters "The Peddler" and "The Genie" ahead of main characters, but was forced to refer to him only as "the actor signed to play the Genie."[43][47][48][49]

Disney, while not using Williams' name in commercials as per the contract, used his voice for the Genie in the commercials and used the Genie character to sell toys and fast food tie-ins, without having to pay Williams additional money; Williams unhappily quipped at the time, "The only reason Mickey Mouse has three fingers is because he can't pick up a check." Williams explained to New York magazine that his previous Mork & Mindy merchandising was different because, "the image is theirs. But the voice, that's me; I gave them myself. When it happened, I said, 'You know I don't do that.' And they [Disney] apologized; they said it was done by other people."[50] Disney attempted to assuage Williams by sending him a Pablo Picasso painting worth more than $1 million at the time, but this move failed to repair the damaged relationship, as the painting was a self-portrait of Picasso as the artist Vincent van Gogh and apparently really "clashed" with the Williams' wilder home decor.[51] Williams refused to sign on for the 1994 direct-to-video sequel The Return of Jafar, so it was Dan Castellaneta who voiced the Genie. When Jeffrey Katzenberg was replaced by Joe Roth as Walt Disney Studios chairman, Roth organized a public apology to Williams.[52] Williams would, in turn, reprise the role in the second sequel, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, in 1996.[53]

Aladdin was the third—after The Little Mermaid (1989) and Beauty and the Beast (1991)—and final Disney film Alan Menken and Howard Ashman had collaborated on, with Tim Rice taking over as lyricist after Ashman had died in March 1991.[54] Although fourteen songs were written for Aladdin, only seven are featured in the film, three by Ashman and four by Rice.[55] Menken, Ashman, and Rice were praised for creating a soundtrack that is "consistently good, rivaling the best of Disney's other animated musicals from the '90s."[56] The Special Edition soundtrack released in 2004 included four songs in early animation tests, and a music video of one, "Proud of Your Boy", performed by Clay Aiken,[57] which also appears on the album Disneymania 3.[58] The version of the song "A Whole New World" performed by Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle, which plays over the end credits, is, as of 2019, the only Disney song to win a Grammy Award for Song of the Year.[59][60]

A large promotion campaign preceded Aladdin's debut in theaters, with the film's trailer being attached to most Disney VHS releases (including One Hundred and One Dalmatians in April 1992 and Beauty and the Beast in October that year), and numerous tie-ins and licensees being released.[63] Aladdin was released on November 11, 1992 in two theatres (the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles and the City Cinemas 1, 2 and 3rd Avenue in New York City) and grossed $196,664 in its first 5 days.[64][65] The film expanded to 1,131 theaters on November 25, 1992, grossing $19.2 million for the weekend, finishing second at the US box office, behind Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.[66] It took eight weeks for the film to surpass Beauty and the Beast as the most successful animated Disney film at the domestic box office (surpassed by The Lion King in 1994).[67]

For its eighth week of release, Aladdin collected $15.6 million and reached the number one spot at the box office, beating A Few Good Men.[68] By February 1993, it would go on to surpass Batman Returns to become the highest-grossing 1992 film domestically.[69] In the United States, the film held the top spot for five times weekly and breaks the record for the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve with $32.2 million during its 22-week run.[70] Aladdin was the most successful film of 1992, grossing $217 million in the United States and over $504 million worldwide.[5] It was the biggest gross for an animated film until The Lion King two years later, and was the first full-length animated film to gross $200 million in the United States and Canada. Additionally, it was the first film to cross that mark since Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).[71]

Outside of the United States and Canada, the film grossed $200 million in 1993,[72] and $250 million by January 1994.[73] In Europe, Aladdin defeated Jurassic Park to become the continent's box office leader.[74] It set an opening weekend record in South Africa.[75] By 2002, the film had grossed $287 million overseas and $504 million worldwide.[76] Currently, it is the 35th highest-grossing animated film and the third highest-grossing traditionally animated feature worldwide, behind The Lion King and The Simpsons Movie (2007).[77] It sold an estimated 52.4 million tickets in the United States and Canada.[78] When adjusted for inflation (in 2022 dollars), its domestic gross totals $491.4 million.[79]

The film was first released in VHS on September 29, 1993, as part of the Walt Disney Classics line, although, it was not officially advertised until October 1.[80] In its first three days of availability, Aladdin sold 10.8 million copies,[81] setting the fastest sales record[82] and grossing about $265,000,000 (equivalent to $537,000,000 in 2022) in the United States.[83] In less than three weeks, the VHS release of Aladdin sold over 16 million units and grossed over $400,000,000 (equivalent to $810,000,000 in 2022) in the United States.[84] Upon release of the Sega Genesis video game adaptation in November, Aladdin sold about 30 million home video units,[81] earning over $500,000,000 (equivalent to $1,010,000,000 in 2022) in the United States.[85] It was the best-selling home video release up until its record was later broken by The Lion King.[86] This VHS edition entered moratorium on April 30, 1994.[87] A THX-certified widescreen LaserDisc was issued on September 21, 1994,[88][89] and a Spanish-dubbed VHS for the American market was released on April 14, 1995.[90] In Japan, 2.2 million home video units were sold by 1995.[91][92]

On October 5, 2004, Aladdin was re-released onto VHS and for the first time released on DVD, as part of Disney's Platinum Edition line. The DVD release featured retouched and cleaned-up animation, which had been prepared for the film's planned but ultimately cancelled IMAX reissue in 2003,[93] and a second disc with bonus features. Accompanied by a $19 million marketing campaign,[94] the DVD sold about 3 million units in its first month.[95] The film's soundtrack was available in its original Dolby 5.1 track or in a new Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix.[57] The DVD went into moratorium in January 2008, along with its sequels.[96]

According to an insert in the Lady and the Tramp Diamond Edition release case, Aladdin was going to be released on Blu-ray as a Diamond Edition in Spring 2013. Instead, Peter Pan was released on Blu-ray as a Diamond Edition on February 5, 2013, to celebrate its 60th anniversary.[97] A non-Diamond Edition Blu-ray was released in a few select European countries in March 2013. The Belgian edition (released without advertisements, commercials or any kind of fanfare) comes as a single-disc version with its extras ported over from the Platinum Edition DVD. The same disc was released in the United Kingdom on April 14, 2013. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released the film on a Diamond Edition Blu-ray on October 13, 2015. The film was released on Digital HD on September 29, 2015.[98][99][100] Upon its first week of release on home media in the United States, the film topped the Blu-ray Disc sales chart and debuted at number 2 at the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert chart, which tracks overall disc sales behind the disaster film San Andreas.[101] The film's Blu-ray release sold 1.81 million units and grossed $39 million, as of 2017.[102]

Aladdin was re-released on HD and 4K digital download on August 27, 2019, with a physical media re-release on Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray on September 10, 2019, as part of the Walt Disney Signature Collection.[103]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 95% of 79 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The site's consensus reads, "A highly entertaining entry in Disney's renaissance era, Aladdin is beautifully drawn, with near-classic songs and a cast of scene-stealing characters."[104] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 86 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[105] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare "A+" grade.[106]

Most critics praised Robin Williams's performance as the Genie,[104] with Janet Maslin of The New York Times declaring that children "needn't know precisely what Mr. Williams is evoking to understand how funny he is."[107] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times commented that Williams and animation "were born for one another."[108] Warner Bros. Cartoons director Chuck Jones called the film "the funniest feature ever made."[22] James Berardinelli gave it 3+1⁄2 out of 4 stars, praising the "crisp visuals and wonderful song-and-dance numbers."[109] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said the comedy made the film accessible to both children and adults,[110] a vision shared with Desson Howe of The Washington Post, who also said "kids are still going to be entranced by the magic and adventure."[111] Brian Lowry of Variety praised the cast of characters, describing the expressive magic carpet as "its most remarkable accomplishment" and considered that "Aladdin overcomes most story flaws thanks to sheer technical virtuosity."[112]

Some aspects of the film were widely criticized. Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine wrote a negative review, describing the film as racist, ridiculous, and a "narcissistic circus act" from Robin Williams.[113] Ebert, who had generally praised the film in his review, considered the music inferior to its predecessors The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, and claimed Aladdin and Jasmine were "pale and routine". He criticized what he saw as the film's use of ethnic stereotypes, writing: "Most of the Arab characters have exaggerated facial characteristics—hooked noses, glowering brows, thick lips—but Aladdin and the princess look like white American teenagers."[108]

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

• 2000: AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs – Nominated[127]
• 2004: AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:[128]
  • "Friend Like Me" – Nominated
  • "A Whole New World" – Nominated
• 2006: AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals – Nominated[129]

One of the verses of the opening song "Arabian Nights", in which the speaker uses the lyric "where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face" to describe his homeland, was altered to "where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense" following complaints from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). The revision first appeared on the 1993 video release.[130][131] The original lyric was intact on the initial CD soundtrack release, but the re-releases use the edited lyric. The Broadway adaptation also uses the edited line.[132] The subsequent line however, "It's barbaric, but hey, it's home," was left intact. Entertainment Weekly ranked Aladdin in a list of the most controversial films in history, due to this incident.[133] The number has been described in reviews as "simultaneously glamorizing and barbarizing the Arab world."[134] The ADC also complained about the portrayal of the lead characters Aladdin and Jasmine. They accused the filmmakers of anglicizeing their features and giving them Anglo-American accents, in contrast to the other characters in the film, which have foreign accents, grotesque facial features, and appear villainous or greedy.[131] In October 2020, as a response to the criticism and in acknowledgment of racial stereotypes in the wake of the George Floyd protests, Disney added a disclaimer to many of their features, including Aladdin, on Disney+, acknowledging the content as racist.[135]

Concerns were also raised to another scene. When Aladdin is threatened by the tiger Rajah on the palace balcony, Aladdin quietly says a line that some people reported hearing as "Good teenagers, take off your clothes,"[136] which they considered a subliminal reference to promiscuity. However, according to the commentary track on the 2004 DVD, while Musker and Clements did admit Scott Weinger ad-libbed during the scene, they claimed "we did not record that, we would not record that," and said the line was "Good tiger, take off and go..." and the word "tiger" is overlapped by Rajah's snarl.[137] After the word tiger, a second voice can be heard which has been suggested was accidentally grafted onto the soundtrack.[138] Later editions of the movie edit out the line to avoid further speculation.

Animation enthusiasts have noticed similarities between Aladdin and Richard Williams' unfinished film The Thief and the Cobbler (also known as The Princess and the Cobbler under Allied Filmmakers and Arabian Knight under Miramax Films). These similarities include a similar plot, similar characters, scenes and background designs, and the antagonist Zig-Zag's resemblance in character design and mannerisms to Genie and Jafar.[139][140] Though Aladdin was released first, The Thief and the Cobbler initially began production much earlier in the 1960s, and was mired in difficulties including financial problems, copyright issues, story revisions and late production times caused by separate studios trying to finish the film after Richard Williams was fired from the project for lack of finished work.[141] The late release, coupled with Miramax purchasing and re-editing the film, has sometimes resulted in The Thief and the Cobbler being labeled a rip-off of Aladdin.[140]

On July 15, 2015, the studio announced the development of a live-action comedy adventure prequel called Genies. The film was being written by Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, while Tripp Vinson was on board to produce via his Vinson Films banner. It was intended to serve as a lead to the live-action Aladdin film.[146] On November 8, Disney revealed it had originally planned to use Robin Williams' unused lines from the 1991–92 recording sessions for the film, but his will prohibited the studio from using his likeness for 25 years after his death in 2014.[147]

In October 2016, it was reported that Disney was developing a live-action adaptation of Aladdin with Guy Ritchie signed on to direct the film. John August wrote the script, which will reportedly retain the musical elements of the original film, while Dan Lin was attached as producer.[148] Lin revealed that they were looking for a diverse cast.[149] In April 2017, Will Smith entered talks to play the Genie.[150] The following month, Jade Thirlwall entered talks to portray the role of Jasmine. Alan Menken said filming was slated to begin August 2017.[151] Production had originally been scheduled to begin in July, but was delayed due to Disney having trouble finding the right people to play Aladdin and Jasmine. British actress Naomi Scott and Indian actress Tara Sutaria were being considered to play Jasmine. For the role of Aladdin, British actors Riz Ahmed and Dev Patel were initially considered, but it was later decided that a newcomer should be cast in the role.[152] In July 2017, it was announced that Egyptian-Canadian actor Mena Massoud had been cast as Aladdin, Scott as Jasmine, and Smith as the Genie.[153][154] At the 2017 D23 Expo, Menken announced that he would be co-writing new songs for the film with Academy Award winners Pasek and Paul[155] while Vanessa Taylor would re-write the script.[156] In August 2017, Marwan Kenzari, Nasim Pedrad, and Numan Acar joined the cast as Jafar, Dalia, and Hakim, respectively.[157][158] The following month, Billy Magnussen and Navid Negahban were cast as Prince Anders and the Sultan, respectively.[159][160] Filming began on September 6, 2017, at Longcross Studios and concluded on January 24, 2018.[161][162] The film was released on May 24, 2019.[163]