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 (1984-1987)
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 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 (1988-1994)
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 retail video release of The Making of Fantasia, the 1991 Descriptive Video Service-encoded video release of Dumbo, the 1992 demo VHS releases of The Rescuers and Beauty and the Beast, the March 1993 retail video re-issue of Robin Hood (on both US and Canadian copies) and The Rescuers Down Under (on Canadian copies only), and some French Canadian video releases ranging from July 1992 to March 1993.

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.

Starting with the second version of 101 Dalmatians, 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. In addition, 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. Unsurprisingly, the bass heavy-distorted audio can be heard on the previous variations of the 1988/1989 logo when the tape/disc is played on a bigger sound system that is set to the highest bass.

Titles released in the series in the limited availability wave from September 1991 to October 1992, with the exception of Fantasia which was released on November 1, 1991 and sold for only 50 days, went into moratorium on April 30, 1993, while titles released in the series from March to October 1993 went into moratorium a year later in 1994.

October 1988
The earliest copies of all releases in this batch were printed on May 15, 1988.

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 April 1, 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 of the three re-issues in this batch come with the May 1991 business reply mail card. Robin Hood in this batch came with a newly updated booklet.

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, called The Making of Fantasia, which opens with the 1988 prototype logo variation.

Alongside the video debut of Fantasia, Disney began releasing Descriptive Video Service-encoded versions of their video releases under a partnership with WGBH (which developed the service for both television broadcasting and home video), beginning with Dumbo. A special VHS copy of the release was required for customers to experience Descriptive Video Service.

March 1992
The following titles were re-issued at this time with slightly updated tape labels, in horizontal ink, to coincide with the video release of the Touchstone Pictures film, The Doctor. On three of these re-issues, the diamond logo on the top left of the front tape label says "Disney's CLASSICS" and the word "minutes" has all of the letters, including the "m", in lowercase. Two of the re-issues lack previews. The label and print master variations used on these re-issues began appearing as late as February 15, 1992.

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. In addition, the print masters newly updated for the following re-issues in this batch began appearing as late as September 30, 1992.

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 25, 1993.

March 1994
The following newly released title in this batch was the final title released in the Classics line. In addition, the following re-issues in this batch use white horizontal sticker-labels with black lettering, which are simply replicates of the same label textures as the ink-labels from March 1992, except on the re-issue of Dumbo, likely due to an editing goof-up with the label, the closed captioning logo, the "Printed in U.S.A." notation and the "© The Walt Disney Company" copyright notice are omitted. These label variations began appearing as late as January 31, 1994.

Popular demand re-issues (1987, 1991-1995)
These re-issues accommodated the lack of stock in select video stores, most likely bargain discount stores, and were usually sold during the summer and the holidays.

June 1991
These re-issues remained in stock until July 31, 1991.

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

June 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, to coincide with the video release of the Touchstone Pictures film, The Doctor. On these re-issues, the word "minutes" has all of the letters, including the "m", in lowercase.

September 1992
Two re-issues coincided with the Classics video release of The Rescuers. The re-issue of So Dear to My Heart 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 variation used for the other re-issue without artwork changes began appearing as late as August 15, 1992.

October 1992
The following re-issue coincided with Disney's A Beauty of a Gift promotion, in which the cover variation used began appearing as late as September 30, 1992.

February 1996
Strangely enough, the earliest copies of the 1996 VHS release of “Pocahontas”, prior to December 15, 1995, or sometimes printed between December 17-25, 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.