List of Walt Disney Classics video releases

This list covers all the Walt Disney Classics (also known as the "Black Diamond" or "The Classics from Walt Disney Home Video") titles released from 1984 to 1994 and strangely, 1996, as well as similar releases.

Season One (1984-1988)
The original logo from the series was nicknamed the Cheesy Black Diamond.

December 1984
Disney was initially reluctant to release any of their animated classics that had only seen theatrical release on video, as it might put them at risk of losing reissue revenue. Robin Hood was picked as the first Classics release because at the time, the film itself was considered weaker in terms of story and animation compared to the other titles. Its disappointing performance in its 1982 reissue was also cited.

July 1985
Due to Pinocchio making less money than expected during its 1984 theatrical reissue, Disney took a chance and released the film to video the following year instead of The Sword in the Stone like they had initially planned to. The video release quickly became one of the best-selling videos of the year, opening up further possibilities for the Walt Disney Classics line.

March 1986
After a year-long delay, The Sword in the Stone was finally released to video. This was the first release in the Classics line to contain trailers for other video title releases; video releases under the Walt Disney Home Video label from March and April 1986 advertised this release. This practice would be repeated for the video release of Sleeping Beauty later in 1986.

May 1986
Alongside the Classics release of Alice in Wonderland, Disney launched the Wonderland Sale, releasing Alice and several of their catalog titles in cardboard slipcovers.

October 1986
Sleeping Beauty made its video debut this month, introducing a new timeline for the Walt Disney Classics series. High-priority releases would release in the fall of every year, with several updated re-releases scheduled throughout the year as well.

Previous releases in the series were re-issued at this time.

Season Two (1988-1992)
Starting with Cinderella, Disney updated the on-screen Walt Disney Classics logo. The new logo opened with the same animation of Sorcerer Mickey that the standard WDHV logo of the time used, but this time, the background turns from black to gradient black and light blue, and the spark forms yellow text reading “Walt Disney” on the top and “CLASSICS” on the bottom in front of a shiny black diamond. This gradient background variant exclusively appeared on the 1988 retail video release of Cinderella, though it later appeared on the 1991 video release of The Making of Fantasia, released during this season, and 1992 demo VHS releases of The Rescuers and Beauty and the Beast, released during the following season of the series. The 1988 prototype logo is also seen on the April 1993 re-issue of Robin Hood, as well as some French Canadian releases, excluding Aladdin and The Fox and the Hound, also from the following season.

Starting with Bambi, the Shiny Black Diamond logo was updated to include a plain dark blue background in place of the gradient background. In addition, the diamond lacks some of the shine it had in the prototype logo.

February 1990
Two permanent availability releases in this batch were re-issued at this time with slightly updated tape labels, coinciding with the prebook of the standard-wave video release of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. These variations began appearing as late as December 31, 1989.

May 1990
For the first time, Disney releases a film from their animated canon to video less than a year after its theatrical release with the 1990 VHS counterpart of The Little Mermaid. The VHS counterpart sells insanely well, convincing Disney to pursue this release strategy for their other upcoming films.

"The Black Cauldron" was originally going to be released on video at this time, but due to the success of the former, the video release of the latter had to be pushed back to 1998, four years after this series was discontinued and replaced with the Masterpiece Collection.

September 1990
Starting with the video release of Peter Pan, Disney would further integrate their Classics line with their theatrical releases, placing behind-the-scenes trailers for their upcoming films during their opening previews. This month of 1990 was also when The Little Mermaid was released on LaserDisc. These releases went into moratorium on July 31, 1991.

July 1991
Alongside the re-issue of Robin Hood, three permanent availability titles were being re-promoted at this time, with newly updated print masters, which began appearing as late as May 31, 1991. Copies prior to July 31, 1991 came with the video booklet supplied with the 1991 VHS release of "The Jungle Book," while copies printed after came with no video booklets at all. All copies come with the May 1991 business reply mail card.

November 1991
Disney releases another one of their "untouchable" animated films to home video with the 1991 video release of Fantasia. The VHS counterpart was one of the highest-selling VHS releases of all time and was sold both as an individual tape, and as a Deluxe Collector's Edition boxset with a bonus release detailing the making of the film and other bonus features.

March 1992
The following titles were re-issued at this time with slightly updated tape labels, in horizontal ink, though the re-issue of "The Jungle Book" in this batch was re-issued with a slightly modified print master. On these re-issues, excluding "The Jungle Book", the diamond logo on the top left of the front tape label says "Disney's CLASSICS" if it is a horizontal ink-label. The label variations used on three of these re-issues, as well as the slightly modified print master used for "The Jungle Book", began appearing as late as January 31, 1992.

Season Three (1992-1994)
Starting with this season of the series, the lilac bumpers are introduced; typically, those bumpers used the Laser LET font and the stock music piece "Great Ovation" from the Bruton Music library; though on Beauty and the Beast, two of the bumpers instead used "Fanfare to the Modern Man 3" from the aforementioned music library.

Starting with the second version of 101 Dalmatians, a third variation of the 1988/1989 Shiny Black Diamond logo was created, with the color slightly tinted to blue. Starting with the retail VHS release of The Rescuers, an unofficial fourth variation of the logo was created. Due to deterioration of the master recording, the unofficial fourth variation has bass heavy distorted audio.

Titles released in the series in the limited availability wave prior to October 1992 went into moratorium on April 30, 1993, while titles released in the wave from March to October 1993 went into moratorium a year later in 1994.

October 1992
The following newly released title in this batch was technically the first one in the series with the Proof of Purchase tab label printed above the back cover.

February 1993
The print masters newly updated for these re-issues began appearing as late as January 31, 1993.

March 1993
Select re-issues in this batch have the Proof of Purchase tab label variation with the text in all caps that goes by the words, "PROOF OF PURCHASE" on the left center, the title on the top right, and the catalog number on the bottom right, while the other two re-issues in this batch have the variation that goes by the title on the left center, the words, "Proof of Purchase" on the middle center and the stock number on the right center. Permanent availability releases in this batch remained in stock until July 31, 1994. Except for "Pinocchio", the case cover variations used for these re-issues began appearing as late as February 28, 1993.

March 1994
The following title in this batch was the final one released in the Classics line.

Popular demand re-issues (1987, 1992-1995)
These re-issues accommodated the lack of stock in select video stores, most likely bargain discount stores. Prior to the summer of 1992, some stores, mainly those operated by K-Mart Corporation, were serviced with Disney video products by Handleman Comany, a now-defunct Troy, Michigan-based rack jobber which owned Video Treasures, Video Cassette Sales, Viking Entertainment and Video Cassette Duplicating Corp.

October 1992
These re-issues were in Disney's "A Beauty of a Gift" Christmas promotion and remained in stock until December 31, 1992.

May 1993
These re-issues remained in stock until July 31, 1994.

October 1988
Because only four titles in the Classics line were available at this time, these titles were advertised in a promotion sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company. In addition, some copies of these releases were packaged in a video boxset that was part of the promotion.

September 1989
These titles were advertised in an insert booklet for the "Bambi" video release.

Not part of any special video collection, but advertised in video inserts and retail labels as the "Disney Classics" (1991-1993)
At this time, the permanent availability titles were re-promoted as the "Year-Round Classics."

May 1991
These re-issues coincided with the Classics video release of "The Jungle Book".

July 1991
These re-issues were surrounded by the video re-issue of "Robin Hood."

March 1992
The following titles were re-issued at this time with slightly updated tape labels, in horizontal ink.

September 1992
These re-issues coincided with the Classics video release of The Rescuers. One of them has new case cover artwork and previews for three titles released on video in the Classics series; two are at the start and one is at the end. In addition, the UPC barcodes on the back covers have slightly smaller lines. The cover variations used for the other re-issues without artwork changes began appearing as late as August 31, 1992.

February 1996
Strangely enough, the earliest copies of the 1996 VHS release of “Pocahontas”, prior to December 15, 1995 started with the second variation of the 1988/1989 Walt Disney Classics logo. On copies printed after December 15, 1995, this logo was later replaced with the correct logo, which is the 1994 Masterpiece Collection logo.