Aladdin - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[tamara]

Scheduling conflicts with Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) forced Patrick Stewart to turn down the role of Jafar. He has said in interviews that this is his biggest regret.

[ruby]

This was the second Disney animated feature to use fully-rendered and textured 3-D CGI-moving backgrounds in combination with the traditionally animated character animation, a technique that was expanded upon in the Disney short Off His Rockers (1992) and previously in Beauty and the Beast (1991). This led to the creation of "Deep Canvas," a brand-new technique created by Disney seven years later for use in Tarzan (1999), which allows 2-D hand-drawn characters to exist seamlessly in a fully 3-D environment.

[willard]

Studio trademark: Habitually barefoot character(s): Aladdin is barefoot whenever he's not disguised as Prince Ali.

[melinda]

During his first song, the Genie mentions Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. This is, of course, another story from the Arabian Nights, and was used as the basis for the direct-to-video sequel, Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996).

[richard]

When the film was first released on VHS in October 1993, it sold over 10.8 million copies in its first week and went on to sell over 25 million in total. This record stood for only two years when it was beaten by the release of The Lion King (1994).

[lynn]

When Aladdin realizes that he might become the next sultan he worries and the Genie tries to cheer him up by saying, "Aladdin, you've just won the heart of the princess! What are you going to do next?", setting him up for the popular Disney advertising campaign line, "I'm going to Disney World!" Aladdin does not say this, but we hear the Disney theme music in the background. Similarly, when the Genie gets ready to leave at the end of the film, he is wearing a Disney souvenir Goofy hat.

[ruby]

Whenever Aladdin tells a lie, the big purple feather on his turban falls and covers his face.

[claude]

The idea of adapting the Aladdin story as a Disney animated musical was first proposed by Howard Ashman in 1988, at the time that he and Alan Menken were still working on The Little Mermaid (1989) and before work had begun on Beauty and the Beast (1991). Ashman wrote an initial treatment for the project and collaborated on six songs with Menken. When John Musker and Ron Clements finished directing duties on The Little Mermaid (1989), they turned their attention to writing a first draft of this film's script, and eventually became its directors.

[beth]

Bill Plympton turned down a seven-figure offer to work on this film, because any ideas and concepts he developed for his other projects while under contract with Disney would become their intellectual property.

[nicholas]

The lyrics of the opening song, "Arabian Nights", were changed for all home video releases due to pressure from groups who were offended by the original lyrics. The original lyrics were: "Where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face. It's barbaric, but hey it's home." The new lyrics are: "Where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense, it's barbaric, but hey it's home". The original version of "Arabian Nights" is on the film's original soundtrack album and was indeed present on original 35mm prints.

[michele]

In eighth century Arabia there was a famous magician and alchemist named Geber. His real name was Djafar, pronounced Jafar.

[nora]

Jonathan Freeman says the voice of Jafar is a mix of Boris Karloff and Vincent Price.