Aladdin is a 1992 American animated musical fantasy film based on the Middle Eastern folk tale "Aladdin" from One Thousand and One Nights and produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. The film was produced and directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, both of whom co-wrote the screenplay with Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. Featuring the voices of Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, Linda Larkin, Jonathan Freeman, Frank Welker, Gilbert Gottfried, and Douglas Seale, the film follows an Arabian street urchin named Aladdin, who discovers a magic lamp containing a genie, with whose help he disguises himself as a wealthy Prince and tries to impress the Sultan of Agrabah to win the heart of his free-spirited daughter, Princess Jasmine, as the Sultan's evil vizier, Jafar, plots to steal the magic lamp.
Lyricist Howard Ashman pitched the film's idea to Disney president Jeffrey Katzenberg and the screenplay went through three drafts before Katzenberg agreed to its production. The animators based their designs on the work of caricaturist Al Hirschfeld, and computers were used to both finish the hand-drawn artwork and create some additional animated elements. Composed by Alan Menken, the film's musical score features six songs with lyrics written by both Ashman and Tim Rice (who took over following Ashman's death in 1991).
Aladdin was released by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution through the Walt Disney Pictures banner on November 11, 1992, to critical and commercial success. Critics praised the animation and Williams' performance as the Genie, and it became the highest-grossing film of the year, with an earning of over $504 million in worldwide box-office revenue. On release, the film became the first animated feature to reach the half-billion-dollar mark, and was the fifth highest-grossing film at the time of its release and the highest-grossing animated feature of all time until it was surpassed by The Lion King (1994).
Aladdin garnered two Academy Awards, as well as other accolades for its soundtrack, which had the first number from a Disney feature to earn a Grammy Award for Song of the Year, for the theme song "A Whole New World", which was performed by Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle and reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100. The film's home VHS release set a sales record, grossing approximately $500million in the United States. success led to various derived works and other material inspired by the film, including two direct-to-video sequels, The Return of Jafar (1994) and Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996); an animated television series (1994–1995); and in 2011 a stage musical adaptation. A live-action film adaptation directed by Guy Ritchie was released in 2019.
Plot
Jafar, a sorcerer and the royal vizier of the fictional Middle Eastern city of Agrabah, seeks a magic lamp hidden within the Cave of Wonders that only "the diamond in the rough" can retrieve. Meanwhile, Princess Jasmine is unsatisfied with her sheltered life in the palace, so she escapes in disguise and encounters a young kind-hearted street urchin named Aladdin, who steals bread daily alongside his pet monkey Abu. Aladdin rescues Jasmine from an altercation in the marketplace and the two develop a bond, but Jafar has the palace guards capture and imprison Aladdin, who learns Jasmine's identity. Jasmine demands that Jafar release Aladdin, but he lies that Aladdin has already been beheaded.
Understanding Aladdin to be the "diamond in the rough", Jafar disguises himself as an elderly beggar, frees Aladdin and Abu and orders them to retrieve the lamp from the cave. The cave's guardian grants Aladdin entry, but warns him to touch only the lamp. Aladdin finds both the lamp and a flying magic carpet inside, but Abu grabs a large jewel and triggers a cave-in. They flee to the entrance and give the lamp to Jafar, who attempts to kill Aladdin, but throws the pair into the cave after Abu bites his hand. While trapped underground, Abu reveals to Aladdin that he stole the lamp back. Aladdin rubs the lamp, from which the Genie emerges. The Genie grants Aladdin three wishes, although Aladdin tricks him into freeing them from the cave without using a wish. Upon learning the Genie's desire to be released from servitude, Aladdin promises to use his last wish to free him. To woo Jasmine, Aladdin uses his first wish to become a prince.
Jafar plans to marry Jasmine and then kill both her and her father, the Sultan. Meanwhile, Aladdin arrives in Agrabah as Prince Ali, but Jasmine is uninterested in his advances. That night, Aladdin takes Jasmine on a romantic ride on the carpet. After she deduces that Aladdin is the boy she had met earlier, he lies that he sometimes dresses as a commoner to escape palace life. Aladdin brings Jasmine home, but Jafar's guards ambush him and throw him into the sea, where the Genie uses Aladdin's second wish to rescue him. Returning to the palace, Aladdin reveals Jafar's plot to Jasmine and the Sultan, but Jafar realizes Aladdin's identity and escapes from the guards.
With everything seemingly resolved, the Genie requests his freedom; Aladdin declines, worried that he needs the Genie's facade to stay with Jasmine. The heart-broken Genie retreats into his lamp, which is later stolen and brought to Jafar by his parrot sidekick, Iago. Now the Genie's master, Jafar uses his first two wishes to become sultan, then a powerful sorcerer, and sends Aladdin to a frozen wasteland. Using the magic carpet, Aladdin escapes and returns to Agrabah, where he fights Jafar for the lamp. Aladdin taunts Jafar for being less powerful than the Genie, tricking him into using his last wish to become a genie himself. This causes Jafar to become trapped in his new lamp, taking Iago with him. The Genie throws Jafar's lamp into the Cave of Wonders.
The Genie encourages Aladdin to use his third wish to regain his royal title and legally marry Jasmine. Aladdin instead decides to keep his promise, wishing the Genie free, and they both reconcile afterwards. The Sultan allows Jasmine to marry whomever she chooses, and she gladly chooses Aladdin. The Genie bids the group a fond farewell and leaves to explore the world, while Aladdin and Jasmine start their new life together.
Voice cast
Scott Weinger as Aladdin, an impoverished but kind-hearted Agrabah thief and street urchin who is in love with Princess Jasmine. For his audition, Weinger sent a homemade audition tape as Aladdin, with his mother playing the Genie, and after several callbacks, found out six months later that he had been cast as the title character. Aladdin's supervising animator was Glen Keane. Brad Kane provides Aladdin's singing voice. Robin Williams as the Genie, a hyperactive jinn who has the power to grant three wishes to whoever possesses his magic lamp. He serves as the film's comic relief. Clements and Musker had written the role of the Genie for Robin Williams, but when met with resistance, created a reel of Williams's stand-up animation of the Genie. The directors asked Eric Goldberg, the Genie's supervising animator, to animate the character over one of Williams's old stand-up comedy routines to pitch the idea to the actor. The resulting test, in which Williams's stand-up about schizophrenia was translated to the Genie growing another head to argue with himself, made Williams "laugh his ass off", and convinced him to sign for the role. Williams's appearance in Aladdin marked the beginning of a transition in animation to use celebrity voice actors rather than specifically trained voice actors. Williams also voices a peddler who appears at the beginning of the film, whom the directors intended to be the same Genie in disguise narrating the story. The peddler's singing voice was provided by Bruce Adler. Linda Larkin as Jasmine, the beautiful princess of Agrabah and the daughter of the Sultan who is bored with life in the royal palace and falls in love with Aladdin. Larkin was chosen for the role of Jasmine nine months after her audition, and had to adjust and lower her high-pitched voice to reach the voice that the filmmakers were looking for in the character. Jasmine's supervising animator was Mark Henn. Lea Salonga provides Jasmine's singing voice. Jonathan Freeman as Jafar, a nefarious, deceptive, power-hungry sorcerer and the grand vizier of Agrabah who, frustrated with the Sultan's ways of ruling, devises a dastardly plot to overthrow him as the ruler of Agrabah by acquiring the Genie's lamp. Freeman was the first actor cast, and spent 21 months recording his dialogue. He eventually readjusted his voice after Weinger and Larkin were cast, as he felt that "Jafar had to be seen as a real threat to Aladdin and Jasmine", as he was originally envisioned as an irritable character, but the directors decided that a calm villain would be scarier. Jafar's supervising animator was Andreas Deja, while Jafar's beggar and snake forms were animated by Kathy Zielinski. Frank Welker as Abu, Aladdin's kleptomaniac pet monkey with a falsetto voice. Welker also voices Jasmine's tiger, Rajah, and the Cave of Wonders. Duncan Marjoribanks was the supervising animator for Abu, Aaron Blaise was the supervising animator for Rajah, and Goldberg was the supervising animator for the Cave of Wonders. Gilbert Gottfried as Iago, Jafar's sardonic, hot-tempered red lory sidekick. Will Finn was the supervising animator for Iago. Douglas Seale as the Sultan, the naïve but friendly ruler of Agrabah who is eager to find a capable husband for his daughter Jasmine. The Sultan's supervising animator was David Pruiksma. Jim Cummings as Razoul: the Captain of the Guards. Phil Young and Chris Wahl animated him and the other guards. Charlie Adler as Gazeem: a thief who Jafar sends into the Cave of Wonders at the beginning of the film. Gazeem was animated by T. Daniel Hofstedt. Corey Burton as Prince Achmed: an arrogant prince whom Jasmine rejects as a suitor.
Production Script and development In 1988, lyricist Howard Ashman had pitched the idea of an animated musical adaptation of Aladdin. Ashman had written a 40-page film treatment, remaining faithful to the plot and characters of the original story but envisioned as a campy 1930s-style musical with a popular 1930s-style Genie. With his partner, Alan Menken, Ashman composed several songs and added original characters to the story, such as Aladdin's friends, Babkak, Omar and Kassim.
However, Michael Eisner did not think that a story set in the Middle East would be commercially appealing, and their project was removed from active development. Ashman and Menken were soon recruited to compose songs for Beauty and the Beast. Linda Woolverton, who had also worked on Beauty and the Beast, used their treatment and developed a draft with elements inspired by The Thief of Bagdad, such as a villain named Jaf'far, an aged sidekick retired human thief named Abu, and a human handmaiden for the princess.
Directors Ron Clements and John Musker joined the production, picking Aladdin from three projects offered; the other two were an adaptation of Swan Lake and King of the Jungle, which eventually became The Lion King. Before Ashman's death in March 1991, he and Menken composed "Arabian Nights", "Friend Like Me", "Prince Ali" and Ashman's last song, "Humiliate the Boy".
Musker and Clements wrote a draft of the screenplay, and delivered a story reel to studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg in April 1991. Katzenberg thought that the script "didn't engage", and on a day known by the staff as "Black Friday", he demanded that the entire story be rewritten without rescheduling the film's November 25, 1992, release date. Katzenberg requested for Clements and Musker to not be heavily dependent on Ashman's vision, and the removal of Aladdin's mother, remarking: "Eighty-six the mother. The mom's a zero."