Based on the Arabic folktale "Aladdin" from One Thousand and One Nights, the screenplay was co-written by Musker and Clements alongside Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio.

Jafar, a sorcerer and the royal vizier of the Middle Eastern city of Agrabah, seeks a magic lamp hidden within the Cave of Wonders that only "the diamond in the rough" can retrieve.

Meanwhile, Princess Jasmine is unsatisfied with her sheltered life in the palace, so she escapes and encounters a young street urchin named Aladdin, and his pet monkey, Abu.

Ashman had written a 40-page film treatment, remaining faithful to the plot and characters of the original story but envisioned as a campy 1930s-style musical with a popular 1930s-style Genie.

[17] With partner, Alan Menken, Ashman composed several songs and added original characters to the story, such as Aladdin's friends, Babkak, Omar and Kassim.

[19] Katzenberg thought that the script "didn't engage", and on a day known by the staff as "Black Friday", he demanded that the entire story be rewritten without rescheduling the film's November 25, 1992, release date.

"[27] Katzenberg also influenced changing the plot element about Jasmine's marriage, which originally had her to be married by age sixteen as required by law, to remove the age—the Sultan says only, "your next birthday"—and make it more specific that her suitor needed to be a prince, which would also set up the ending in which the Sultan, inspired by Aladdin's altruism, changes the law to make it legal for Jasmine to able to marry anyone she deems worthy.

[28] Screenwriting duo Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio were brought in to rework the story,[19] and the changes they made included the removal of Aladdin's mother, the strengthening of the character of Princess Jasmine, and the deletion of several of Ashman and Menken's songs.

[17] As with Woolverton's screenplay, several characters and plot elements were based on The Thief of Bagdad,[32][33] although the location of the film was changed from Baghdad to the fictional Arabian city of Agrabah due to the Gulf War.

[13] Iago's supervising animator, Will Finn, tried to incorporate some aspects of Gottfried's appearance into the parrot's design, especially his semi-closed eyes and the always-appearing teeth.

[38] Animator Randy Cartwright described working on the Magic Carpet as challenging, since it is only a rectangular shape that expresses itself through pantomime—"It's sort of like acting by origami".

Designed by a team led by supervising animator, Glen Keane, Aladdin was initially going to be as young as thirteen, and was originally made to resemble actor Michael J.

During production, it was decided that the design was too boyish and lacked appeal, so the character was made "seventeen to eighteen", and redesigned to add elements derived from actor Tom Cruise and Calvin Klein models.

[16] Beast, Sebastian and Pinocchio make brief appearances,[13] and the wardrobe of the Genie at the end of the film—a Goofy hat, a Hawaiian shirt, and sandals—are a reference to a short film that Robin Williams did for the Disney-MGM Studios tour in the late 1980s.

For financial reasons, the studio reneged on both counts, especially in poster art, by having the Genie in 25% of the image but having other major and supporting characters portrayed considerably smaller.

[54] The Special Edition soundtrack released in 2004 included four songs in early animation tests and a music video of one, "Proud of Your Boy", performed by Clay Aiken,[55] which also appears on the album, Disneymania 3.

The filmmakers thought that the moral message of the original tale was inappropriate, and decided to "put a spin on it" by making the fulfillment of wishes seem like a great solution, but eventually becoming a problem.

[65] For its eighth week of release, Aladdin collected $15.6 million and reached the number one spot at the box office, beating A Few Good Men.

[77] In its first three days of availability, Aladdin sold 10.8 million copies,[78] setting the fastest sales record[79] and grossing about $265,000,000 (equivalent to $559,000,000 in 2023) in the United States.

The site's consensus reads: "A highly entertaining entry in Disney's renaissance era, Aladdin is beautifully drawn, with near-classic songs and a cast of scene-stealing characters.

[105] Brian Lowry of Variety praised the cast of characters, describing the expressive magic carpet as "its most remarkable accomplishment", and considered that "Aladdin overcomes most story flaws thanks to sheer technical virtuosity".

[106] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone stated that the film's comedic aspect made it accessible to both children and adults,[107] a vision shared with Desson Howe of The Washington Post, who also said that "kids are still going to be entranced by the magic and adventure".

He criticized what he saw as the film's use of ethnic stereotypes, writing, "Most of the Arab characters have exaggerated facial characteristics—hooked noses, glowering brows, thick lips—but Aladdin and the princess look like white American teenagers.

In a scathing review, Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine described the film as racist, ridiculous, and a "narcissistic circus act" from Robin Williams.

[111] One of the verses of the opening song "Arabian Nights", in which the speaker uses the lyric "where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face" to describe his homeland, was altered to "where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense" following complaints from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).

In the scene, some viewers reported hearing Aladdin quietly utter the phrase, "Good teenagers, take off your clothes",[133] which they considered a subliminal reference to promiscuity.

[144] Stones suggested turning it into a wholesale direct-to-video sequel, as opposed to an hourlong television special, and The Return of Jafar was released in June 1994.

[165] On November 8, Disney revealed that it had originally planned to use Robin Williams's unused lines from the 1991–92 recording sessions for the film, but that his will prohibited the studio from using his likeness for 25 years after his death in 2014.

John August wrote the script, which reportedly retains the musical elements of the original film, while Dan Lin is attached as producer.

[172][173] At the 2017 D23 Expo, Menken announced that he would be cowriting new songs for the film with Academy Award winners, Pasek and Paul,[174] while Vanessa Taylor would rewrite the script.