Disney Sequel Mania
Walt Disney was supposedly opposed to making sequels to his animated movies, other than his original plans for Fantasia, that is. And none were made during his lifetime.
But starting with The Rescuers Down Under in 1990, and really picking up steam with the direct-to-video Return of Jafar in 1994, Disney has turned incredibly sequel-friendly. Sometimes it seems that they are leaving no property untouched in their search for fodder to exploit for a DTV release.
How many films in their catalog has Disney used to spawn spin-offs in the last decade and a half? What follows is a list of Disney's full-length animated features (not including CGI movies or films done by the TV animation department), with reference to their respective spin-offs.
1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Sequel planned but scrapped.
2. Pinocchio
3. Fantasia - Theatrical sequel
4. Dumbo - Sequel begun but scrapped. See Dumbo DVD for preview.
5. Bambi - Upcoming sequel
6. Saludos Amigos
7. The Three Caballeros
8. Make Mine Music
9. Fun and Fancy Free
10. Melody Time
11. The Adventures of Ichabod Crane
12. Cinderella - DTV Sequel
13. Alice in Wonderland
14. Peter Pan - Theatrical Sequel
15. Lady and the Tramp - DTV Sequel
16. Sleeping Beauty
17. 101 Dalmatians - DTV Sequel & TV series
18. The Sword in the Stone
19. The Jungle Book - Theatrical Sequel & TV series
20. The Aristocats - Upcoming Sequel
21. Robin Hood
22. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - A veritable empire of spin-offs, though this was also preceded by the famous Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day cartoon.
23. The Rescuers - Theatrical Sequel
24. The Fox and the Hound - Upcoming Sequel
25. The Black Cauldron
26. The Great Mouse Detective
27. Oliver & Company
28. The Little Mermaid - DTV Sequel & TV series
29. The Rescuers Down Under - This *is* a sequel.
30. Beauty and the Beast - Two DTV Sequels
31. Aladdin - Two DTV Sequels & TV series
32. The Lion King - Two DTV Sequels & TV series
33. Pocahontas - DTV Sequel
34. The Hunchback of Notre Dame - DTV Sequel
35. Hercules - TV series & kinda-sorta DTV release
36. Mulan - DTV Sequel
37. Tarzan - Two DTV Sequels & TV series
38. Fantasia 2000 - This *is* a sequel.
39. The Emperor's New Groove - Upcoming Sequel & Possible TV series
40. Atlantis: The Lost Empire - DTV Sequel (actually remnants of scrapped TV series)
41. Lilo & Stitch - Two DTV Sequels & TV series
42. Treasure Planet
43. Brother Bear - Upcoming Sequel
44. Home on the Range
By my count, that's 28 sequels (29 with Dumbo II) and 9 TV series.
It's a pity that one of the movies that I'd like to see a sequel to, and which I think could support a good TV series, hasn't been touched at all. I'm speaking of The Great Mouse Detective. It's one of my favorite Disney films, and though it's sorely underappreciated, its characters are ready-made for re-use. After all, if Sherlock could support multiple stories, Basil could easily do the same.
6 Comments:
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I've been a Disney fan all my life. It's interesting to see your list and realize just how many of these movies they've decided to "recycle". My faves on the list:
1) The Aristocats
2) The Fox & the Hound
3) Aladdin
"My foot, my only foot!" Although Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie, Basil and Miss "Flamjammer? Whatever." are in my top five.
I forgot to mention this -- the Cinderella sequel is also a scrapped TV series. Three 22-minute animated segments are set in a frame of the mice telling stories to each other. You can even pick out where they were supposed to cut to commercials. Overall, it's awful.
What I find surprising is that Disney appear to have done few sequels to the movies whose original version actually had a sequel:
Alice in Wonderland, but no Through the Looking Glass.
The Sword in the Stone, but no Queen of Air and Darkness, Ill Made Knight, Candle in the Wind, or Book of Merlyn
Robin Hood, but no, well, other Robin Hood stuff.
The Black Cauldron, but none of the other Chronicles of Prydain.
There were also theatrical live action Disney versions of 101 Dalmations and The Jungle Book.
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