List of Walt Disney Classics video releases

This list covers all the Walt Disney Classics (or "Black Diamond") titles released from 1984 to 1994 and strangely, 1996.

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 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.

November 1985
The next three titles in the line were lower-risk titles, picked for similar reasons as Robin Hood was.

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.

Pre-March 1986 titles in the series were re-issued at this time.

October 1987
Starting this year, alongside new Classics releases, a new standard-wave title under the Walt Disney Home Video label was released. While these releases aren't included in the Classics line, they would later be advertised in video inserts with the Classics logo.

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 / 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 did appear on select October 1992 video re-issues, as well as the September 1992 demo VHS and retail LaserDisc counterparts of The Rescuers.

Starting with Bambi, the Shiny Black Diamond logo was updated to include a plain blue background instead of the black / blue gradient background. The diamond also lacks some of the shine it had in the prototype logo.

January 1990
September 1989 permanent availability releases in this batch were re-issued in this month of 1990 with new tape labels. The front tape labels on these issues were slightly altered.

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 delayed to 1998, 4 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.

May 1991
Alongside the first video release of "The Jungle Book", three permanent availability titles in this series were being re-issued at this time.

September 1991
The video re-issue of "The Jungle Book" in this batch coincided with the launch of the Walt Disney Studio Film Collection.

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.

This month of 1991 was also the final time that Disney released their titles on Betamax, outside of manufacture-on-demand releases, which lasted into 1995.

February 1992
These re-issues coincided with the standard-wave video releases of the final four volumes of the animated TV series, "TaleSpin" and the final four volumes of the animated TV series, "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh".

Season Three (1992-1994)
The lilac bumpers are introduced on these releases, which typically 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 101 Dalmatians, a third variation of the 1988/1989 Shiny Black Diamond logo was created, with the color slightly tinted to blue and clean audio. 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.

October 1992
This batch of titles was the first one in the series with Proof of Purchase tab labels printed above the back covers and originally planned for moratorium on April 30, 1993.

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

October 1989
Another title advertised in an insert booklet for the "Bambi" video release.

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

July 1992
The following titles in this batch were re-issued at this time with slightly updated tape labels, to coincide with the Classics video release of "The Great Mouse Detective" and standard-wave video releases of the second three volumes of the TV series, "Dinosaurs". Early copies of these re-issues were printed in early May 1992.

September 1992
The following re-issue in this batch 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.

October 1992
The following re-issue in this batch coincided with the Classics video release of "Beauty and the Beast".

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