(More cheaply made than Disney’s other releases, it had to get Dan Castellaneta to sub in for Robin Williams.) Yet it grossed $100 million domestic on a $3.5 million budget, and so Disney embraced the straight-to-video sequel.

It was Disney’s first-ever direct-to-video animated sequel, and it looked and sounded like it. Execs were unenthusiastic about the concept. Disney shrouded these films in an air of prestige and rarity, nesting them under its “Classics Collection” or “Masterpiece Collection,” and releasing them from the “Disney Vault” for a limited time only.īut The Return of Jafar was neither prestigious nor rare, and wasn’t given the “Classics” imprimatur. Its ’92 rerelease of 101 Dalmatians and initial home release of Beauty and the Beast were two of the best-selling VHSs of all time (they would soon be surpassed by Aladdin). Home video had become a reliable moneymaker for Disney.

In lieu of kicking it off with a few episodes bridging the events of the movie and those of the spinoff, its directors pitched an idea: string the first episodes together into a “movie” and release it on VHS before the series premiere. In 1994, Disney premiered a cartoon spinoff series of its two-year-old hit, Aladdin, understanding the Pandora’s box ( cave of wonders?) the show would open. The team behind the straight-to-DVD movie banged on the wall between Disney feature animation and Disneytoon Studios until a perfect sequel fell out.

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