List of Walt Disney Classics video releases

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

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

December 1984
NOTICE: The explanation of the line's origins can be found here.

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.

Wave 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 CGI-animated shiny black diamond. This gradient background variant was originally made to appear exclusively on the 1988 retail video release of Cinderella; however, it later appeared on the 1991 retail video release of Fantasia: The Making of a Masterpiece, the 1991 Descriptive Video Service-encoded video release of Dumbo, the 1992 demo VHS releases of The Rescuers and Beauty and the Beast, the 1992 retail video re-issues of Robin Hood (on some USA 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 CGI 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 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. Possibly due to deterioration of the master recording and/or the amplification of the bass on the 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 while 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.

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 release of The Little Mermaid. The VHS release sold 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.

July 1991
Alongside the re-issue of Robin Hood, three permanent availability titles were re-promoted.

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 title detailing the making of the film, called Fantasia: The Making of a Masterpiece and other bonus features. This title went into moratorium on December 21, 1991, after only 50 days. Alongside the video debut of Fantasia, Disney, under their agreement with the WGBH Educational Foundation, began releasing Descriptive Video Service-encoded versions of their video releases, beginning with Dumbo. To experience DVS, a special VHS copy of the release was required.

January 1992
NOTICE: Issue numbers are not listed.

February 1992
These releases were exclusively duplicated at Technicolor Videocassette in Livonia and New York City.

NOTICE: Issue numbers are not listed.

April 1992
Re-issues in this batch were exclusively duplicated at Technicolor Videocassette in the West Coast area.

Popular demand re-issues (1987-1988, 1991-1995)
These re-issues accommodated the lack of stock in select video stores and were usually sold during the summer and/or the holidays.

July 1991
These re-issues remained in stock until December 21, 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.

October 1993
These re-issues were testified by Buena Vista Home Video president Ann Daly and remained in stock until April 30, 1995.

October 1994
These re-issues remained in stock until April 30, 1995.

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.

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 part of a line called "Year-Round Classics."

May 1991
These releases were exclusively duplicated at Technicolor Videocassette in the West Coast area.

November 1991
These releases were exclusively duplicated at Technicolor Videocassette in Livonia and New York City.

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