Aladdin - The Most Popular Movie of 1992
Author: SteveCollins Total views: 6 Word Count: 421
Aladdin is the multi-award-winning feature from Walt Disney Pictures. Released to rave reviews in 1992, Aladdin was the thirty-first animated feature released by Disney Studios. It was released at the peak of the Disney renaissance that had begun with the release of The Little Mermaid. It was the most successful movie of 1992, earning over $217 million domestically and $504 million worldwide.
The film was based on the collection of stories gathered by various authors over centuries, famously translated by Richard Francis Burton, known collectively as The One Thousand and One Nights. Also known as The Arabian Nights, this source material includes the story of Aladdin, a beggar boy living in a Chinese city, who is recruited by an evil sorcerer to retrieve a magic lamp from a perilous cave. Rounding out the story are fundamentals taken from The Thief of Baghdad (1940). Indeed, many of the characters and plot elements were altered, including moving the Chinese city of the source material to the fictional Arabian city of Agrabah.
The most prominent actor involved with the production was the famous comic and actor, Robin Williams. His association helped increase the visibility of film, catapulting it from a B level movie to an A movie. His involvement would later make celebrity involvement a marketable feature for future animated features. The production of Aladdin was an passionate process that involved extensive revisions. Studio chief at the time, Jeff Katzenberg received the script in 1991, only to have it immediately rewritten. He felt Aladdin's mother should be taken out of the story, the character of Jasmine toughened, and Aladdin's personality should more resemble a young Harrison Ford. Moreover, the parrot Iago, who was originally written as a calm, British character, was made into a manic vehicle for the comic Gilbert Gottfried.
The musical score was written by Alan Menken, garnering him the 1992 Academy Award for Best Original Music Score. The lyrics of the songs were written by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, with the title song "A Whole New World" sung notably by Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle. The song won the Oscar for the Best Original Song as well a Grammy Award for Best Song from a Soundtrack.
Aladdin was succeeded by two direct-to-video sequels: The Return of Jafar (1994) and Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996), and an animated television series, Aladdin, set between the two sequels. In 1988, it was suggested Disney make an animated musical adaptation of Aladdin, but that idea proved less fashionable than a musical based on The Lion King.
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About the Author
Steve Collins is an Author and Journalist based in Encino, CA. A big Disney fan, he uses the Disney Movie Club to complete his collection. Read his reviews of the Disney Movie Club
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