Books that Inspired Disney
We grew up on Disney films and even now, rewatching them is always something comforting and a lot of fun. However, despite knowing that a lot of the classics are based on books, it’s a little hard to think of the stories as anything other than Disney. So, here is our list of some of the books and stories that inspired the classic Disney movies.
Alice in Wonderland has been released by Disney twice, an animated version in 1951 and a live action film starring Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in 2010. Originally, the book was published in 1865, written by Lewis Carroll.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame was released in 1996 as part of the Disney Renaissance and was the 34th animated feature film released by the company. The original story was written in French by Victor Hugo, who also wrote Les Miserables, and was published in 1831. The first English translation was available in 1833.
The Black Cauldron was released in 1985 and was the first animated feature film to feature computer-generated imagery. It was also the first Disney animated film to receive a PG rating. The film is based on The Book of Three a children’s fantasy story, written by Lloyd Alexander and published in 1964.
Several of Walt Disney’s classics are based on European fairytales. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Snow White and the Princess and the Frog are all known as stories written by the Brothers Grimm. However, only the Princess and the Frog and Snow White are the only stories that haven’t been traced back further than the Grimm Fairytales.
Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel have all been traced back to Giambattista Basile, an Italian poet. The versions of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty that we are more familiar with today, were written by French author, Charles Perrault, before the Brothers Grimm wrote their version.
It is well known that The Little Mermaid is based on the Hans Christian Anderson tale, but it is lesser known that Frozen is also loosely inspired by one of his tales; the Snow Queen.
Beauty and the Beast is a tale that has been rewritten by multiple different authors of many different nationalities, but the earliest known author was Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, a French author.
Aladdin is based off Chinese, and then Arabian, folktale. It is thought to be from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (The Arabian Nights) but it didn’t exist in the original Arabian version. It was added by Frenchman Antoine Galland.
Peter Pan is one of the most memorable Disney films and was released in 1953. Originally, author J.M.Barrie released the story of Peter Pan as a play in 1904 before it became a novel in 1911. J.M.Barrie gave all the rights from Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital, and so, they receive the royalties every time the play is performed.
Oliver and Company was originally released in 1988, but Disney re-released the film in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom in 1996. The story is based on the classic 1838 novel, Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. However, Disney changed the setting from the streets of London to the streets of New York.
The Lion King is one of the most beloved Disney films and was released in 1994. It is such a popular film that it is the only Disney film to be dubbed in Zulu, the only African language other than Arabic, to be used for a feature length Disney dub. The Lion King was inspired by William Shakespeare’s Hamlet which was first performed in 1609.
Winnie the Pooh’s first Disney appearance was in 1966 in a theatrical featurette called Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree and has since appeared in 19 feature films. Winnie the Pooh was created by A.A.Milne and was first written in a poem in 1924, although he was called Edward Bear. Winnie the Pooh, was introduced to the world in 1926, in a collection of stories about the bear.
The Great Mouse Detective was released in 1986 and probably set the stage for the Disney Renaissance. The story was based on the children’s book Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus, who was heavily inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.
Mary Poppins was released in 1964 and is probably still one of, if not the best live-action Disney film. It received a total of 13 Academy Award nominations and won 5. Mary Poppins Returns, the sequel was released in 2018. The novel Mary Poppins was released in 1934 by P.L.Travers who worked with Disney on the film, something that is captured by the 2013 film Saving Mr Banks.
Pinocchio was released by Disney in 1940. It was the first animated feature film to win an Academy Award (it won two Best Original Score and Best Original Song). However, it was initially a box-office failure due to World War II. The film was based on The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. It started in an Italian weekly magazine as a serial starting in July 1881.
The Jungle Book was released in 1967 and was the 19th animated feature film by Disney. It was released 10 months after Walt Disney died and many of the positive reviews, at the time, were undoubtedly influenced by the nostalgic reaction to his death. The original stories were written by Rudyard Kipling and were published in 1894.
Mulan was released by Disney in 1998 and was the 9th film released in the Disney Renaissance. It is based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan. The earliest version of Mulan is thought to be first transcribed in Musical Records of Old and New sometime in the 6th century. In the 11th or 12th century it was written into a poem by Guo Maoqian.
Tarzan was released in 1999 and was the 10th and last Disney Renaissance film. It won Best Original Song for Phil Collins’ You’ll Be in My Heart. It was the first animated adaption of Edgar Rice Burrough’s Tarzan of the Apes, the first of a 24 book series, published in 1912.
There are many more Disney films that were based on books or fairytales, but there are far too many to cover in just one post. Maybe one day, it’ll be something we come back to.
C🌙 and M🌸
