Disney's sequel to Aladdin Jafar's return was only made thanks to Iago

Twenty-five years ago this month, Disney, what we now know as a corporate cultural monolith that dominates the global window and a major entity in the coming wars, was heading for a new territory . The company released its first direct-video feature film and its first "Disney Renaissance" marquee suite: The return of Jafar.

The first of two suites of the most profitable film of 1992, The return of Jafar also served as a pilot for the Aladdin TV series, which lasted 86 episodes over three seasons. Disney has entrusted Alan Zaslove and Tad Stones with the project to present Al, Jasmine, Genie and Apu on the small screen. Both were up to the challenge because they were the creative forces Chip & # 39; n Dale: Rescue Rangers and Dark wing duck. But before the first scripts were written and lines were drawn, Stones wanted to bring in one more character to join the ensemble.

"I said," I want the parrot inside, "" Stones recalled to Global Animation Network from his initial step to Disney. "I thought the best character in the movie was Gilbert Gottfried's Iago."

Stones wanted, of all the characters, the big mouth, Red Macaw impetuous in the series. To do that, they had to first transform Iago from a sarcastic, sordid and complicit hand man into a sarcastic, sordid and accomplice hero. Then, of course, there was the fact that Iago was still in the lamp with Jafar, both sent back from Agrabah by Genie in the climax of the first film after the blazing magic had granted Jafar his last wish to become an all-powerful genius – a last-minute trick pulled by Aladdin, playing the own egotism of the wicked. To accomplish both of these feats, Stones said that himself, Zaslove and the rest of the editorial team, "had invented a complicated story that explained everything and ended with The return of Jafar. "

Taking place a year after the events of the original film, Return of jafar Aladdin and Jasmine still in love, the former street rat and his monkey now living in the palace. Jasmine's father, the sultan, plans to make Aladdin his new royal vizier, a function formerly occupied by the sinister Jafar. If life was not good enough for Al, Genie returns from his trip around the world, realizing that what he really wants to do with his newly won freedom is to lead a life surrounded by his friends.

Unbeknownst to Avengers of Agrabah, Jafar escaped and, with the help of a humble thief, Abis Mal (Jason Alexander), plans to take revenge on 39, Aladdin and his friends.

Walt Disney Home Video

Even though it's Jafar's name in the title and it's a sequel to Aladdin, ROJ It's really the story of Iago. The main arena of the film is that Iago turns a new feather; join Aladdin and his friends to eliminate his former boss. He saves Aladdin at the beginning of the film, releases Genie after being captured and emasculated by Jafar (in the only good musical sequence of the film), which then avoids to Al to be decapitated; And it is Iago who takes the last blow to Jafar, toppling his black and oily lamp in the lava pit that Jafar created, after having penetrated to the shovel – to the Han Solo – to prevent Jafar from carrying a fatal blow to Aladdin. Without Iago, there is no story.

A sequel to Aladdin It was about as sure to be a possible success in 1994, the continuation of a major success that allowed Disney to clear enough money to sell merchandise and videos to fill two or three Caves of Wonders. However, there was some hesitation on the part of House Mouse.

Although still designed as a feature film, Return of jafar was originally supposed to be broadcast on television, presented as a special program to promote the new series. Some also feared that the direct approach of the video will diminish the animations.

"At the time, it was said that Peter Schneider, head of the Animation function, was at a meeting with Michael Eisner," Stones said in a separate interview with AWN. "Peter said," You should not do it, their quality damages Disney's reputation, "and Michael," I'm not sure we should do it either. "These fears dissipated once the sales figures of the first week arrived.

The return of Jafar sold 1.5 million copies in its first two days of release, more than 4.6 million at the end of its first week. In total, The Chicago Tribune reported that 15 million copies had been sold, yielding $ 300 million to Disney, on a budget of $ 3.5 million (Aladdin cost $ 28 million). All this happened without Robin Williams, the late actor got confused with Disney because of the excessive commercialization of his character in Aladdin 's marketing. He was replaced by Dan Castellaneta (Homer Simpson); Williams would come back for the third movie, Aladdin and the king of thieves.

Seeing a new way to earn a lot of money, Disney started to turn directly to the video features based on all their theatrical titles until 2008 (we even made the list). While Stones admits he's not a fan of the movie ("I do not even have a copy," he said to AWN) it's still an important film in Disney's history and animation as a whole. A film that launched a successful trend and that we had because of a man's love for a strong and obnoxious parrot.