Non-Classic Confusion

Prior to The Walt Disney Company's realization that releasing the animated classics on home video would usher in a successful era for both Walt Disney Home Video and the home media industry, the company kept certain animated classics out of reach from the American public. To wit, the animated classics that were always theatrically re-released every 7-10 years and never shown on television. Classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Bambi, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty and many more...

Dumbo and Alice in Wonderland were exceptions, though while Disney theatrically re-released them after the 1950s, both films were televised on Walt Disney's groundbreaking anthology series Disneyland, albeit in edited form and in black-and-white. These films were simply not part of this particular canon of Disney animated films. What else was absent from this "canon"? The package features...

In the 1950s, many of the omnibus package features were cut up and the different segments were used elsewhere from television programs to shorts needed to accompany theatrical releases, though The Three Caballeros happened to get a theatrical re-release in 1977, given the psychedelic audiences of the time and the fact that they made the 1969 re-release of Fantasia and the 1974 re-release of Alice in Wonderland successful... In fact, both films finally turned a profit thanks to these re-issues. Though I think by 1977, Disney was a little too late to keep cashing in on this.

That all being said, this is the reason why Dumbo, The Three Caballeros, Fun & Fancy Free, Alice in Wonderland and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh were the first of the canon animated classics released on home video.

I don't have this edition... Yet!

Then of course, in 1984, Walt Disney Home Video launched The Classics. The very brand that was set up to give the Disney animated classics the prestigious treatment on home video whilst differentiating the releases of those films from the rest of their titles. At a time when everything came in a thick white clamshell and would have Sorcerer Mickey and the Walt Disney Home Video logo take up the top half of the front cover artwork...

Disney had finally started experimenting with full cover artwork in 1983 with the Cartoon Classics, which paved the way for The Classics and all of the animated films being released on home media. Dumbo became the first of the 1981-1982 releases to get the Classics treatment, which would ultimately replace the previous release with full cover artwork and the Classics diamond was all over the packaging. This would street just in time for Disney's "Making Your Dreams Come True" holiday sell-through promotion which included 20 other titles all priced at $29.95. A move that also rocketed Walt Disney Home Video's profits in the coming years. Alice in Wonderland then got the Classics treatment months later, in May of 1986 as the centerpiece of the summer-long Wonderland Sale promotion. But what happened to the other three films?

The Three Caballeros' only home video release at the time was in November 1982. Walt Disney Home Video didn't re-release the title on home video until late 1987... But was it a Classics edition? By 1987, the canon had changed. The package features were now part of the official line-up, in addition to films shown on television such as Dumbo and Alice in Wonderland, but... Caballeros' 1987 release was not a Classics edition, oddly enough!

So you've got the Walt Disney's heading. Check. Full, lovely detailed artwork? Check. Donald Duck's head is in a diamond frame on the spine of the tape? Check. No Classics Diamond to be seen, it's just a regular Walt Disney Home Video release that opens with the 1986 Walt Disney Home Video logo. (The "Sorcerer Mickey" one, if you don't know.) Also, prior to 1988, all Classics editions of pre-1970 Disney animated films would have the heading "Walt Disney's" or "Disney's" (only used for The Sword in the Stone's first two packages).

So how come this package feature wasn't given the Classics treatment?

A year after The Three Caballeros was re-issued with very fully detailed packaging, Mary Poppins was re-issued and got the nice full artwork treatment!

In 1989, Bedknobs and Broomsticks also got the same treatment. Pete's Dragon was next in 1991, followed by So Dear to My Heart in 1992. Maybe Disney still considered something like Caballeros, with its live action portions, a separate entity from the other classics thus it wasn't deserving of that black diamond. Maybe they felt it was more in line with their live action films that contained animation.

Fun & Fancy Free wasn't re-released on video at all between 1984 and the mid-to-late 1990s, ditto The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. In fact, none of the other package features got released on home video. No Classics editions for those, nor any standalone editions that didn't bear the Classics name. Why was that?

I think that a certain video line introduced the same year as Caballeros' second video release was the reason you didn't see something like Fun & Fancy Free or The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad in their full complete form at the time...

The Mini-Classics line was launched in 1987 alongside the next wave of Cartoon Classics editions (or the "2nd Wave"), a line where featurettes and longer short subjects would get a video edition of their own. Mickey and the Beanstalk was one of the premiere titles, Bongo got the Mini-Classics treatment two years later in fall 1989. The versions of the short subjects were different; Beanstalk was presented in its 1962 form that Ludwig von Drake narrated for the anthology television series, which was by that time was called Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. In the original 1947 feature film, it's narrated by Edgar Bergen along with Luana Patten, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd.



Bongo is narrated by Jiminy Cricket, as this version was televised in 1955 on the anthology series. In fact, the back cover of the VHS mentions that the program consists of "Jiminy Cricket presents Bongo" and Fun & Fancy Free! The original was narrated by Dinah Shore, a pop singer and actress from the era. Another version (with the original narration) would later be attached to Disney's live action film The Wild Country in 1971. (More on this short subject on Jerry Beck's Cartoon Research, a very interesting read that includes the press kit from the short film's 1971 theatrical release!)

Maybe Disney just felt that having the two shorts out was all they needed, instead of restoring and re-releasing the full film. Maybe they just felt in 1989-1990, "Who wants Fun & Fancy Free when we can give them Bambi?" Also, Mickey and the Beanstalk was always the main attraction anyways, as the original 1982 of the film cover totally stresses. Another possible reason is that Disney felt like milking the cash cow with the individual shorts that made up the films, selling 2-3 short subjects from each film for a good price.

So with Bongo and Mickey and the Beanstalk available separately on home video in the late 1980s, when did Fun & Fancy Free finally get it's second ever home video release? 1997.

Notice it was part of a line that included the other canon animated classics? Well by the mid-1990s, things were different. Disney retired the Classics brand in 1994 and replaced it with the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection, which would not only include package features, but also live action films that contained animation. So Dear to My Heart, Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Pete's Dragon were among the nine premiere titles. All four of those films hadn't been retired to the vault, so Disney just updated the packaging for each film, ditto all the Classics editions that were still in print at the time. (i.e. Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland.) Oh, and the cover totally leaves poor Bongo out. It's all about Mickey and the Beanstalk... Sheesh, the cover almost implies that this film is just about Mickey, Donald and Goofy. Well hopefully a full-length film about Mickey is coming... You know... That one that Burny Mattinson confirmed a couple years ago.

Anyways, to get back on topic, the VHS was a 50th Anniversary release so Disney did give it the treatment it deserved. The VHS even had a behind-the-scenes special at the end, like most other VHS releases of Disney classics in the late 1990s. Fun & Fancy Free got one more home media release 3 years later as a Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection, on both VHS and DVD. The fact that it hasn't seen a new release in over 13 years is kind of upsetting, but hopefully it'll get the Blu-ray treatment soon. (Along with the other package features!)

Now we get to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Disney didn't update the packaging in the mid 1980s like they did to several of their in-print films, so I'm assuming Winnie went into the vault sometime in 1983 or 1984, much like Alice in Wonderland. In the mid 1980s, Disney gave a lot of their films slight packaging makeovers. In late 1984/early 1985, clamshell covers would replace the EPCOT-style font for "HOME VIDEO" with a less 1980s-styled one.

In late 1985, Disney began using bigger cover images surrounded by a white border with the Mickey and WDHV logo at the top of the artwork, albeit a lot smaller. This style stuck until 1987, though it didn't apply to every release.

Yet The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was never re-issued or updated with cover artwork like that. But we did get the individual shorts, some way or another!

In 1984, Disney released Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore on a VHS and Laserdisc called Winnie the Pooh and Friends...

The other three bear-themed shorts included are two classics with Humphrey the Bear - Hooked Bear and In the Bag - and the 1950 Goofy cartoon Hold That Pose, a funny entry in the "How To" series where he attempts to photograph a bear... Or essentially an early version of Humphrey. I never really considered that bear in question to be Humphrey. With over 43 minutes of content on the program, it seemed like a suitable release.

In 1986, all four Winnie the Pooh shorts got their own editions, which came in cardboard slipcover cases. This made sense, since the Classics line was just getting warmed up. Maybe the full feature would be released sometime later? The possibility of that happening was shot down in 1990, when all four of the shorts were re-released as Walt Disney Mini-Classics editions. Fans and consumers had to wait until 1996 to get the full feature again, but Disney didn't slack off on giving it good treatment!

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh hit home video again as a Masterpiece Collection edition on March 27, 1996. 

A deluxe edition was released alongside it, so Disney gave the film the treatment it deserved. Gone were the days where you had to find the out-of-print 1981 VHS or watch all the shorts in order without the tacked on ending. Man, did the Masterpiece Collection fulfill fans' wishes or what?

The other package features weren't ever released on home video in the United States and Canada during the 1980s and early 1990s. Disney only opted to release The Three Caballeros and Fun & Fancy Free in 1982, re-releasing the former in 1987 while leaving the latter one to sit in the vault. Individual segments from the films did, however, appear on video. Melody Time's Little Toot segment was on the 1982 compilation Storybook Classics. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow segment from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad was the main attraction of its own spooky-themed compilation tape in 1983. With the advent of the Mini-Classics line a few years later, more segments were released on video between 1987 and 1991: Peter and the Wolf and Willie the Operatic Whale from Make Mine Music, and finally The Wind in the Willows segment from Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

It seemed like Disney knew something was going to work out for them. They couldn't cut The Three Caballeros up, since the sequences were mostly under 10 minutes in length or weren't really stories per se, unlike some of the segments from other package features. With them being over 10-15 minutes, Disney saw some opportunities there. With the Mini-Classics line, Disney could easily make a good amount off of 2-3 segments on their own VHS tapes from a package film rather than a single VHS containing the full film. Smart strategy, and they continued this with the Favorite Stories line in the 1990s until calling it quits and finally releasing the full films (well, almost all of them) in the Masterpiece Collection. It didn't matter whether it was a package feature or a live action film containing animation, they'd find a home in this line.

About the Masterpiece Collection... Well, two particular home video releases from the early 1990s were always rather... Strange. What are they?

The 1991 video release of Fantasia and the 1993 video release of Pinocchio...

Remember, the Classics line was retired in 1994... But these two releases don't have the Classics diamond anywhere on the packaging, though the characters' heads are in a diamond. Both have a "Walt Disney's Masterpiece" heading. Oddly enough, however, they both open with the Walt Disney Classics logo!





Fantasia was one of two films that Walt Disney Home Video didn't plan on ever releasing on any home media formats. The other one was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, this was probably due to their popularity (they always did well in re-releases, even after the video boom starting firing up) or their status as two of Walt's finest. Anyways, Fantasia seemed like it would never come out. Even in 1991, the year it was released, it seemed like it wouldn't be released. Some early plans supposedly had One Hundred and One Dalmatians pegged as the holiday 1991 tape release (following its very successful summer 1991 re-release that grossed $24 million less than The Little Mermaid on its initial release!), since everything else was set in stone... The Jungle Book in spring, Robin Hood and The Rescuers Down Under in the summer.

Other rumors suggested that Dalmatians would compete with Down Under or Fantasia for the holiday spot. All three ended up being released within the same timeframe: Down Under was a very late summer release (as in three days away from the first day of autumn in 1991), Fantasia was the holiday release and Dalmatians appeared in spring 1992.

Fantasia wasn't given the Classics treatment in the packaging department. In fact, this would be the first time Disney released a lavish deluxe set for an animated film. Maybe because it was given such grand treatment, Disney didn't feel the need to make it part of a line... Maybe they just wanted it to be its own special entity.

But why does the Classics logo precede the film? Mistake, maybe? Or was this release going to be a Classics edition? A long time ago (I want to say mid-2006), I saw a scan of the cover artwork that actually had the "Walt Disney's Classic" heading... Haven't seen it since, but it's possible that it was a fake. If it's real, then it's proof that it was going to be a Classics edition with the diamond and all. But the logo's inclusion already tells me that it in fact was going to be a Classics edition. Do you think so?

Pinocchio was first released as a Classics edition in 1985 (the second, the first being Robin Hood), and that film went on moratorium in 1987 (not counting it's brief stay in the vault from early to late 1986). It wouldn't be released on home video again until March 1993, following its final theatrical re-release. This re-release presented a fully restored version of the film to audiences, but it didn't really gross much at the box office, probably because many people already had the VHS. On an interesting side note, a fully restored Sleeping Beauty was supposed to re-released in spring 1993... But those plans fell through, probably because the Pinocchio re-release didn't do so well. Have a look at the trailer for this scrapped re-release, which came from the Beauty and the Beast VHS...



Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' fully restored print that was first re-released in 1987 would be re-released in fall 1993, but this re-release happened because the last one did well and it wasn't ever released on home video at the time. Pinocchio, again, most likely did poorly in 1992 because it was already on video. Disney probably figured that the same would've happened to Sleeping Beauty, since it was released on home video before and sold very well.

Back to the Pinocchio VHS...

Like the Fantasia VHS, the diamond is nowhere to be found nor any mention of "The Classics". The tape opens up with the Classics logo... But unlike Fantasia's VHS, there is firm evidence that this was in fact a Classics release at one point.

A good friend of mine and fellow Disney VHS collector Nick William (YouTube) found a demo/sales/in-store tape VHS for this release (from late 1992) back in September...



As you can see, the spine has the Classics and WDHV logo scheme that the other Classics editions from 1986-onwards have... But the heading says "Walt Disney's Masterpiece". Strange indeed. For some reason, Disney instead made it a standalone edition and also gave it a lavish box set edition.

But why for this film? It had been released on home video before, unlike Fantasia. Maybe Disney was getting ready to retire the Classics line early on? It couldn't have been for films that got box set editions, because Beauty and the Beast also had a box set and that was an actual Classics edition. (The film was released on video in October 1992, between Fantasia and Pinocchio.) Aladdin, the second-to-last Classics edition, also got a box set edition.

Us collectors might not have cracked this nut yet (has anyone ever viewed a Fantasia demo tape, by the way?), but this is a rather interesting tidbit in Walt Disney Home Video's history. In fact, it kind of repeated itself in 2010. Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 were going to be a two-movie collection Blu-ray in the Diamond Edition collection line. The trailer touted it as a Diamond Edition, and when you insert the disc into a PlayStation 3 (or any BD player that shows you the name of the content), it says "Diamond Edition". But the packaging doesn't mention "Diamond Edition" anywhere, it's just a standalone release. 1991 all over again?

So package features didn't get the Classics treatment, yet they could've. (This calls for an alternate Walt Disney Home Video history!) A few titles were going to be Classics editions, but then became weird hybrid editions... Looking into these things is a daily thing for us collectors, because the many VHS tapes released from the 1980s to the mid 1990s have their oddities and errors. These cases are just one of many!

Bringing The Magic Home

Walt Disney Home Video certainly got off to a rather slow start, but in the mid-1980s, the launching of the Classics line would start a new, successful era for the company and for their animation studio...

The Disney executives saw how successful an animated feature could be on home video, as opposed to a theatrical re-release. However, Pinocchio ultimately grossed $13 million on home video, less than what the latest re-release took in ($21 million), but Disney was satisfied nonetheless. It was withdrawn and put on moratorium in February 1986, a month after a certain promotion ended. One that would help the video sell.

The $29.95 price drop for Pinocchio would apply to 20 other titles, which would all be part of a special holiday promotion Disney launched called “Making Your Dreams Come True”. The other titles consisted of re-issues of live-action titles that were currently available, but in a new packaging scheme. The Walt Disney Home Video logo and Mickey Mouse artwork would be significantly smaller compared to the earlier releases, and the artwork would take up more of the cover.

Other titles were special-made collector’s videos that featured sequences of Disney films, both animated and live-action. One of these releases is the rather odd The Walt Disney Comedy and Magic Revue, which feels like a cheesy variety program showcasing clips from classic Disney films. It’s as if Walt Disney Home Video was flat out saying, “Yeah some of these aren’t yet, but here’s some footage!” See for yourself.

The most notable title in this promotion was the repackaged release of Dumbo, which was now a Classics edition with deluxe treatment artwork and the diamond all over the packaging.

I felt I'd show my Betamax copy,
my VHS copy has faded artwork.

However, I always felt that this was turned into a Classics release at last minute: The tape itself opens with the Walt Disney Home Video logo, as opposed to the Classics logo. Perhaps it was nothing more than an editing mistake, but it could’ve been scheduled for a non-Classics releases. Needless to say, this is the first release of “that older pink cover”. Perhaps at such a lower price (it retailed for $84.95 up until then), it was easier for consumers to add to their collection alongside the seemingly out-of-reach Robin Hood and Pinocchio.

So what would come next? Sleeping Beauty was considered, since the theatrical re-release was coming up for March 1986. In the meantime, they released what was planned to be the second Classics release: The Sword in the Stone. The packaging was a bit different this time around. The clamshell wasn’t padded, and the diamond logo was not embossed inside. However, the logo is still all over the packaging. It was quietly released on March 25, 1986 for the typical price, $79.95.

Two months later, Disney launched the “Wonderland Sale” promotion, and the centerpiece was the fifth Classics release: Alice in Wonderland. This was the first time it hit home video after dropping out of print three years earlier. For the first time, it was in a cardboard slipcover case. The other titles in the sale (live-action titles and cartoon compilations) would also be packaged this way.

Disney was in need of another hit to replicate Pinocchio’s success, something that would be a hot seller. Sleeping Beauty took in $15 million, which wasn’t anything to write home about. Re-releases had been garnering less and less over the last couple of years, and Pinocchio did take in a good amount. The next big release in the Classics line would be none other than Sleeping Beauty, but unlike Pinocchio, it’s release would be closer to the holidays. Disney literally took full advantage of this.

In "Hi-Fi Stereo"!

They went all out with a $6 million marketing campaign for the release and all the other titles around it: “Bring Disney Home For Good!”

The promotion kicked off on October 14, 1986 when Sleeping Beauty hit stores. Disney adapted a new packaging scheme: White clamshell cases with removable artwork.

And the spine artwork was slightly changed for the Classics editions...

This would the norm for all future clamshell releases. The previous Classics editions were also re-issued, some of which had been in the vault such as Pinocchio and Robin Hood. All of them were priced at $29.95, like Sleeping Beauty. Disney also released all six of them in a collector’s box set, one that’s not too easy to find these days. It cost a whopping $179.70 back then, and this artwork was never again released.

The artwork itself on the box is a bit questionable, almost like watered down versions of the character models from the cover artwork. The images feel a bit cluttered too, but the best thing about this box is the top.

The Classics logo looks nice and eye-catching, though the font for Classics does look a bit like the Coca-Cola font. Ironically, Disney would do promotional tie-ins with them, which included a Classics box set in 1988. Other titles surrounded the Classics title premiere, such as the first volume in the highly successful Disney Sing Along Songs line (what 90s kid didn’t own at least one?) and more obligatory cartoon compilations alongside live action classics.

Sleeping Beauty completed trumped Pinocchio in sales. Over one million units were sold, becoming one of the best-selling home video titles of all time. The other titles in the promotion added to that, making it the biggest and most successful home video campaign in history. The Disney executives saw that the industry had changed. Consumers were willing to buy these films, especially families, on home video. The overall gross of the Sleeping Beauty video doubled what it made in its last theatrical re-issue, unlike Pinocchio.

With a lower price and lots of marketing, a Disney animated classic would sell extremely well and even possibly break few records and compete with the current blockbuster hits on home video. From there, the mindset changed. The next Classics releases would be backed by massive marketing campaigns, and as such, they would do exceptional business.

Next in line was Lady and the Tramp, which did take in $31 million in its 1986 theatrical re-release, more than what most of the Disney classics were making at the time. It was the logical choice for the fall 1987 title. What happened? It broke records for pre-orders (over one million) and ultimately became the best-selling home video title at the time with over three million units sold.

The video sales of the Classics were certainly a big help to the animation industry, and Disney’s quest to get their critical and box office power back. They were especially enthusiastic after Don Bluth’s An American Tail not only became the highest grossing animated film on initial release, but also sold over one million units on home video months later, rivaling Sleeping Beauty. Disney executives should’ve listened to Roy E. Disney, he knew it was wise to keep the animation studio alive.

Lady and the Tramp’s sales certainly showed that there was a large audience for animation, one that Disney didn’t get with The Black Cauldron or most of the re-issues of their classics. With that, and An American Tail beating them at the box office, the company had to strike back with an all-new animated film. That particular film would be Oliver & Company, which debuted in November 1988, months after the runaway success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Meanwhile, Cinderella was released on home video on October 4, 1988, following its successful 1987 theatrical re-release.

It topped Lady and the Tramp, over seven million units were sold. Like the last two titles, it was backed by a huge campaign that would be a collaboration with Coca-Cola. Disney had their guns loaded, big time. Tons of cassettes were sold, and they even had a nice limited edition box set like the ones they released in 1986 and 1987 respectively. This box set, however, also contained some non-Classics titles.

The packaging scheme changed for Cinderella. The headings would no longer say “Walt Disney’s” (Robin Hood was the exception with “Walt Disney Productions’” and The Sword in the Stone with just “Disney’s”, later issues had the “Walt Disney’s” heading), they would say “Walt Disney’s Classic”. For post-Walt films, it would say “A Walt Disney Classic”. The big Classics diamond logo wouldn’t be on the back cover. The videos also sported a lovely new introduction, with its opening animation taken from their then-new Walt Disney Home Video logo.



This is actually an early version of the logo that was only used for this one release, though it did randomly show up on titles released years later. Perhaps Disney didn’t care for the color scheme, that’s why the next Classics release would contain a slightly altered one.

More importantly, the videocassette featured a trailer for Oliver & Company. The Classics release of Pinocchio contained a trailer for The Black Cauldron, but Sleeping Beauty didn’t contain any trailers because: a) Most Disney videocassettes didn’t have previews at the beginning, and b) Disney didn’t have anything new for the holiday 1986 season, animation-wise. With Cinderella, it was perfect timing.

Oliver & Company would prove to be a box office smash, beating out Don Bluth’s An American Tail and his latest film, The Land Before Time at the domestic box office with an enormous amount for its time. So with the runaway success of that, would Disney release it on home video? They didn’t...

Seems strange, doesn’t it? Universal didn’t hesitate to release An American Tail on home video right after its theatrical release, and it was a huge success for them. Again, the tape rivaled Sleeping Beauty’s record-breaking home video gross. Disney still had felt like the newer films had to be more exclusive events. It’s no surprise that the most recent Disney animated film available on home video happened to be a film that was over a decade old.

The Fox and the Hound wasn’t released on video because Disney didn’t release the animated films on video in the early 1980s and they were just getting into the market, and The Black Cauldron wasn’t released on home video for obvious reasons. The Great Mouse Detective? Also kept from video. Disney wouldn’t release a recent animated film on home video, they wanted to focus on the older films. They felt that re-releasing the recent films would benefit them, despite being released in the era of home video. Many 80s kids have mentioned this before, remembering the days when they wondered “Where’s Oliver & Company? How come it’s not on video?” in 1988 and 1989. This is why you 80s kids had to wait another eight years for the film to come out on home video.

You’d think with the success of An American Tail on home video, Disney would do the same for their current animated blockbuster. Oliver & Company wouldn’t appear again until a theatrical re-release in 1996, which wasn’t much of a success. When it came to home video months later, it didn’t do particularly. Disney learned a lesson, they should’ve released it as a Classics edition sometime in 1989 while the film was still a hot property. By 1996, the film was seriously dated. If they released it on home video in 1989, they could’ve sold millions of units and built up buzz for the next film.

For fall 1989, Disney released Bambi, since it did well in its recent theatrical re-release (1988). It streeted on September 28th, and once again it was backed by a huge marketing campaign. Over ten million units were moved, making it one of the top-selling home video titles of all time. The top spot happened to be held by Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Bambi would also be the first title to have promotional tie-ins: A rebate was offered if a consumer were to send in two proofs of purchase of Crest toothpaste. Who would’ve thought it?

Gotta love the pandering, but hey... Prototype artwork at the end!

The Bambi videocassette also contained a trailer for The Little Mermaid, much like the Cinderella video. The trailer has what sounds like a rough mix of “Under the Sea” and an early logo for the film that was originally used in a demo reel in 1988. This can be seen on the film’s 2006 Platinum Edition DVD.

Then in the holidays of 1989, we all know what happened...

The Little Mermaid became the highest grossing animated film on initial release, got two Oscars and got rave critical reception. Disney did some research at various movie theaters, finding out that consumers were willing to buy on home video whenever, holidays or not. Disney missed that with Oliver & Company, so for the spring of 1990, they would release The Little Mermaid as the next Classics title.

The Little Mermaid hit home video on May 18, 1990. The release was highly successful, a whopping ten million units were sold. And before you make a joke about the cover artwork, no this release was not banned. There was a small controversy surrounding the artwork because a single person wanted it banned from her local supermarket. Now let’s put that to rest and stop claiming that the release was banned. It wasn’t. Also, unlike Bambi, there were no promotional tie-ins, oddly enough.

This would also be the first time since 1986 where there would be more than one new Classics release. On September 21st, Walt Disney Home Video released Peter Pan, fresh off of its successful 1989 theatrical re-release. There was a promotional tie-in with Nabisco, which Disney would later use for future home video releases.

Now Disney released this as the fall 1990 title for obvious reasons, but in all honesty, they should’ve released The Rescuers instead. That’s right, The Rescuers, the little 1977 film from Disney that people seem to forget. That was theatrically re-released in 1989 as well, probably to get audiences geared up for The Rescuers Down Under. Had they released this in fall 1990, it could’ve helped The Rescuers Down Under score a bigger opening weekend than it did.

Of course, The Rescuers Down Under would be an underperformer at the box office. Jeffrey Katzenberg saw the disappointing opening weekend take, and he had all the marketing for the film pulled. It could’ve garnered word of mouth and made a good amount, but he had no faith in it. Competition was heavy on top of it. It was a premature decision, and one that held a very ambitious film back from being the success it should’ve been. This is why The Rescuers oddly appeared on home video after its sequel. In Europe, it was the other way around.

Peter Pan was also a massive success, selling seven million units. Both The Little Mermaid and Peter Pan went into moratorium in April 1991. This strategy would prove to be highly successful.

This was the birth of the vault. Like the theatrical re-releases, putting them out for a limited time paved the way for successful sales. Titles like Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland and The Sword in the Stone weren’t put on moratorium. They were constantly re-issued with slightly changed packaging schemes, and were given brand new artwork (sans Alice) in 1989. Initially hesitant with the home video market, it proved to be a great success for the company and played a great role in shaping the Second Golden Age of Animation which of course lead to... The Disney Renaissance.

The Main Attraction

Perhaps a lot of home video consumers in the early 1980s wondered why they couldn’t own or rent the Disney animated classics. The very films that defined Disney, the first things you think of when someone brings up Disney. As said BEFORE, Walt Disney didn’t believe in showing the animated classics on the small screen. He believed that re-releasing them in theaters every seven to ten years was the way to go, because he wanted these films to be those rare events. Keeping them out of reach would only increase demand, and when they’d return to theaters, people would flock to see them.

This strategy saved former flops like Pinocchio and Bambi, which broke even by the mid 1950s and got more fans and audiences. Dumbo already turned a profit on its initial release and its 1949 re-release, so Walt showed an abridged version on the Disneyland television series in 1955. Alice in Wonderland was shown on the first episode in 1954, a film that got poor reception and bombed at the box office. It wasn’t theatrically re-released in Walt’s lifetime, and he also wasn’t too fond of the film himself.

This is why they were also released on home video first in the early 1980s. In fact, Disney gave them a rental only release first in 1981, before releasing sales only versions in 1982. Since there was no established Disney animated classics “canon” back then, Dumbo and Alice in Wonderland simply weren’t in the league of animated films that wouldn’t appear anywhere else except theaters.

Ditto the package anthology features. Saludos Amigos was only theatrically re-released once, in 1949 on a double-bill with Dumbo. The Three Caballeros got a brief re-release in 1977 due to its popularity with the young adult audience like Fantasia and Alice in Wonderland. The package features were broken up, and the different segments would be released elsewhere or shown on television. The Three Caballeros and Fun & Fancy Free were released on home video in 1982, for both sale and rental.

Then-current Disney CEO Ron Miller finally had plans to release the animated classics on home video, since the home video market was changing. In 1983, Disney launched the Cartoon Classics series, a line for compilations of the classic short films. Boasting full artwork as opposed to the typical Walt Disney Home Video cover scheme, the volumes all sold well. Disney followed the series up the next year with the Limited Gold Editions and used a campaign that was the beginning of their traditional home video practices. It kept reminding consumers, “When they are gone, they’re gone.” Over 600,000 videocassettes were sold.

Walt Disney Home Video then created “The Classics” in 1984, a special line where these titles would premiere. So with all that waiting, what would Disney give us as the first prestigious Classics edition? Snow White? Bambi? Cinderella? Peter Pan? What out-of-reach Disney animated classic hit video stores on the cold morning of December 4th in 1984?

Robin Hood?

Seems like an odd choice, but the Disney management felt that Robin Hood was the most suitable title to start this new but risky line. But why? Robin Hood, out of the Disney classics, wasn’t a film that was met with great critical reception or one that was considered a “classic”. It was a title that was mostly popular with the younger set, as opposed to the best Disney classics.

Robin Hood’s lack of praise was exactly why it was the first title in this line. It was a “test the waters” experiment, to see if this new line were to work in their favor. The film also hadn’t fared particularly well in its last and only theatrical re-release in 1982 and amongst the other titles, the demand wasn’t high. It retailed for $79.95, which seems like a high price to any of us born after 1990, but high prices for videocassettes was the norm back in the 1980s. Despite being more of a rental hit than a sales hit, Robin Hood did manage to be one of the top 15 sell-through titles "ever"... Or so Disney says, according to my promotional VHS for the home video premiere of Pinocchio. (We'll get to that later!)

Since it was an animated "classic", and one of the titles that wasn't going to be shown on the small screen, it was given the tip top treatment in terms of packaging. The full, detailed artwork would be in a black, soft padded clamshell case.

Open up the clamshell case, and you see this on the inside...

Pretty neat, isn't it? The diamond was everywhere on this package. The case spine, the back of the case, the inside of it, the label itself, and it even got its own animated introduction! However, this logo definitely does not hold up and it was quickly replaced almost four years after it debuted.



Disney was taking this seriously, they knew their animated classics deserved this kind of presentation. It's own special line. Since Robin Hood did well enough, what was next? Richard Fried, who was a marketing director for Walt Disney Home Video at the time, stated that The Sword in the Stone would be next...

The Sword in the Stone, like Robin Hood, also wasn't one of the classics that was held in high regard despite its fans and the fact that it appealed more to young children than the whole family. Plus, its then-current theatrical re-release in 1983 didn't really rake in as much despite having a new Winnie the Pooh featurette attached to it. However, this plan ultimately did not go through...

The management changed at Disney in 1984. We all know the story, Michael Eisner was now CEO of the company and so forth. The rookie executives didn't share the beliefs of the veterans. Pinocchio was brought up shortly after its latest theatrical re-release occurred in Christmas of 1984. It was successful, but no hit by any means. Michael Eisner and the new executives understood where the veterans were coming from, but they realized that the re-releases weren't bringing in as much revenue as they did before and there was a demand for them. They basically felt that something like Pinocchio wouldn't make much being locked up for years until another re-release. The same went for the other titles.

Disney finally agreed to release Pinocchio on home video, and they backed it up with an impressive $1 million campaign.

A while back, I obtained a promotional VHS for the home video release that details the campaign, the marketing and interviews from everyday consumers. It's cornball enough and it smacks of Disney's rather short-sighted advertising of their classics, but it's worth a watch. I uploaded this to Dailymotion a while back so others could see what was on this rarity...


Pinocchio Promo Tape by Imaxination1980

The quality is mediocre. I apologize...

It basically shows how ready Disney was to release it. It finally hit stores on July 16th. Like Robin Hood, the cover artwork was fully detailed and it was quite beautiful.

However, the artists took the background and extended it to the spine and the back. Robin Hood only used a black background.

The videocassette even contained an exclusive trailer for The Black Cauldron, which contains a few seconds of the infamous deleted footage.

The video release was ultimately out of reach. With a $79.95 price tag, 125,000 units were moved during the summer. Disney announced a price drop for the holiday season, only to irritate consumers who bought it at the full price along with video retailers. The price dropped to $29.95, and it was promoted alongside twenty other titles. More on this next time, but the promotion helped the film. 250,000 units were sold in total, exceeding Disney's expectations. It was put on moratorium on February 28, 1986. With the success of this release, Disney was confident to really go through with the Classics plan.

They were only getting started...

~

On a related side note, Sleeping Beauty was released on home video on this day in 1986. It was an even more successful release and one that really set things into motion.