When did Disney become obsessed with making direct to video sequels to movies?

[DodgerGirl]

I have never figured out why Disney became obsessed with direct to video sequels? Is it because Disney hoped to make a franchise series out of popular movies or to make them pilot episodes for future Disney cartoon series?. Ever since The Return Of Jafar came out in 1994 it seemed that based on the success of The Return Of Jafar more direct to video sequels would follow and Disney followed it with Aladdin And The King Of Thieves which made Aladdin a hit movie. But I can't figure out or understand why the classic movies like Lady And The Tramp have to release a sequel so often? A second movie that did this was Beauty And The Beast when the holiday movie The Enchanted Christmas debuted in 1998 and soon Disney released Belle's Magical World afterwards. But when you have a whole line of Disney sequels such as The Little Mermaid II Cinderella II and III The Fox And The Hound II Bambi II The Little Mermaid III and 101 Dalmatians II it just feels out of place. I'm surprised that Disney hasn't had Oliver And Company II or Sleeping Beauty II or even Snow White II because if those movies were actually made or existed you can bet that Disney would've used them as bases for Saturday morning cartoons. Another thing is that if a certain Disney Parks attraction was made of a movie Disney would release a sequel to honor the attraction or ride. A known example is the movie Buzz Lightyear Of Star Command which came out at the same time as the Buzz Lightyear themed ride at WDW. But on the other hand Disney should make sequels that can be released in theaters not just direct to video

 

[BrianL]

Well, that had happened was there was a marked for it and they took advantage, especially with the advent of DVD which made home video even cheaper and mroe accessible. It was Michael Eisner in the 1980s that formed a television animation group to use classic characters in new shows, like DuckTales and Rescue Rangers. Aladdin had been a big hit, so a series was on the table. Return of Jafar is really just the pilot to the series, done by the same group with the same voice cast (pretty much everyone except Robin Williams). Return of Jafar sold well on VHS, so why not do more? They were inexpensive to make and could be produced rapidly. Some of them are just episodes of the TV series, if it had one. like the Alladins, Tarzan & Jane, and Atlantis (though Atlantis never went to a full series, they had some episodes basically finished).

A lot of people don't like these movies. They were produced at a lower budget and that shows in the animation. They also, in my opinion, usually lack really good music (for the musical ones) - Alan Menkin wasn't writing these songs. That said, I also find many of them to be pretty good, somewhat charming, and a neat way to see more of the world. A couple were deemed good enought to even get theatrical releases. I haven't seen too many of them , but I've been making a point to check them out on Disney +. You'll be happy to know that they have pretty much stopped this initiative. When Lassseter took over all Dinsey Animation, he refocused Disneytoon Studios, the group that did these, and had them make the Tinkerbell series and Planes - there would be no more sequels. Disneytoon has since been disbanded.

 

[supernova]

Thank Eisner for the garbage direct-to-video releases.

 

[RangerPooh]

Personally I found most direct to video sequels to be terrible. The exception is Beauty and the Beast Enchanted Christmas which I love.

The Tinkerbell series was well done, and didn’t feel like a continuation. The main voice actors were there not similar voices. Same with Cars, Nemo, and Planes. Toy Story too, although I have yet to see #4 out of lack of interest.

Another sequel that went to theaters as a stand alone was Return to Neverland. It had mixed reviews but was done decently. I even used the movie as a teaching tool for my own kids when touring a British museum to visualize bomb shelters during WW2.

 

[The WDW 3]

You must be too young to remember the direct to VHS sequel craze of the 90s.

 

[DodgerGirl]

I would have to say my favorite sequel is Pocahontas II Journey To A New World because of the great storyline and romance scenes between Pocahontas and John Rolfe are done really well. But I can't figure out why Disney made Cinderella II Dreams Come True in the first place because when I saw it once and I had to buy it I think Cinderella II was basically a series of episodes for a cartoon that Disney Channel never aired and they should've named it Tales From Cinderella's Castle rather than Cinderella II Dreams Come True. But I can honestly say the other sequel for me that I also enjoy that should've been released in theaters was The Lion King II Simba's Pride because it really showed how wonderful a father/daughter relationship is and you got to love how Simba and Kiara have a special bond

 

[La Stilla]

Ariel's beginning was good I think.

 

[maverik85]

I would have to say my favorite sequel is Pocahontas II Journey To A New World because of the great storyline and romance scenes between Pocahontas and John Rolfe are done really well. But I can't figure out why Disney made Cinderella II Dreams Come True in the first place because when I saw it once and I had to buy it I think Cinderella II was basically a series of episodes for a cartoon that Disney Channel never aired and they should've named it Tales From Cinderella's Castle rather than Cinderella II Dreams Come True. But I can honestly say the other sequel for me that I also enjoy that should've been released in theaters was The Lion King II Simba's Pride because it really showed how wonderful a father/daughter relationship is and you got to love how Simba and Kiara have a special bond

Cinderella 2 was essentially the show that didn't happen. They made a few episodes to pitch it but it didn't get picked up so was stitched together into a movie. Same thing happened with tarzan and Jane, Atlantis: Milo's Return, and Belle's Magical World.
Some others like the Aladdin, Hercules, and Stitch were part of the television series themselves.

 

[BrianL]

Ariel's beginning was good I think.

I watched this one recently. I thought it was pretty good and had very nice animation for a straight-to-video release. I feel like I can usually enjoy these movies, even if they don't hold up to their theatrical counterparts which usually set a pretty high bar.

 

[RamblingMad]

You must be too young to remember the direct to VHS sequel craze of the 90s.

Yep. The 80s and 90s saw a bunch of sequels come out.

 

[La Stilla]

I watched this one recently. I thought it was pretty good and had very nice animation for a straight-to-video release. I feel like I can usually enjoy these movies, even if they don't hold up to their theatrical counterparts which usually set a pretty high bar.

True. There is a sequel with Ariel's daughter too, and it was okay, but not as this one. The story was serious and Marina's song was kinda cool too. The animation was very good I think. I rewatch it now and then. There is huge difference in Ariel's character in the original and in this sequel, compared with the one with her daughter where she is grown up and responsible, and well, human (at least for the most part). I prefer her younger but I was glad that they made clear how much she misses the sea, truly.

 

[La Stilla]

As I remember Cinderella:A twist in time was decent too. I kind of enjoy the sequels, even the lower quality ones, because I am too much curious to find out how the story continues. And as Brian said, it's hard to match the quality of the originals, impossible even, er, arrogant too. I don't think that was what they intended. I feel like they wanted to do that with the sequel of Frozen.

 

[Foxhound3857]

It doesn't just relate to Disney though. Looking back now, how many stinking DTV sequels did The Land Before Time get? It's ridiculous how gigantic that catalog of movies is today.

An American Tail got quite a few as well. At least All Dogs Go to Heaven didn't get that kind of treatment so much, minus one christmas movie and a TV series.

 

[bcla]

Well - a few times they were working on direct to video sequels and decided that the product was good enough to go to theaters. One was Planes: Fire & Rescue. It wasn't that great, but the animation quality was quite good. They might have upped the budget though when they decided mid-production to send it to theaters.

 

[BrianL]

Well - a few times they were working on direct to video sequels and decided that the product was good enough to go to theaters. One was Planes: Fire & Rescue. It wasn't that great, but the animation quality was quite good. They might have upped the budget though when they decided mid-production to send it to theaters.

I believe Return to Neverland was also in this category - made for video but ended up in theaters.

 

[maverik85]

As I remember Cinderella:A twist in time was decent too. I kind of enjoy the sequels, even the lower quality ones, because I am too much curious to find out how the story continues. And as Brian said, it's hard to match the quality of the originals, impossible even, er, arrogant too. I don't think that was what they intended. I feel like they wanted to do that with the sequel of Frozen.

Cinderella 3 was a good one. It and the Lion King films were probably the best of the DTV sequels. I know of quite a few people, myself included, that actually like Cinderella 3 better than the original. And Lion King 2 is overall considered to be a great movie as well with potentially a better soundtrack than the first.