100 for 100: 100 Titles Disney Plus Should Add For Disney’s Centennial Celebration

     October 12, 2022  Posted in Disney Plus, Editorial 0 Hearts 962 Views
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    100 titles for 100 years

    Ninety-nine years ago this week, on October 16, 1923, Walt Disney and his brother Roy founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in Los Angeles, California. Their company changed Hollywood forever—relying on the power of great stories to draw audiences into their innovative films, theme parks, and beyond. Today, The Walt Disney Company has often given only lip service to its own rich legacy. We’ve chronicled hundreds of Disney-owned library films and shows missing on Disney+-and, months ago, when we reached out to readers like you to list important missing titles to add for #Disney100, the response was overwhelming.

    Now we’ve narrowed it down to 10 titles from across the spectrum for each decade that Disney has been in operation. We could easily have made this 1,000 titles, but we wanted to be realistic and pick an attainable goal. Disney is unlikely to ever provide ample catalog from the first 80 years, but we choose to remain optimistic. We’ve settled on 100 titles. Honestly though, it really sounds catchy, does it not? 100 for 100? Why does that sound familiar…?

    The breadth and quality of these films and shows disproves a popular assumption: that Disney has hardly anything good still in its vault. That’s patently false, as recent excitement over the streaming release of Zorro and Bear in the Big Blue House proves (among many other examples, such as Pepper Ann last September). House of Mouse still trends on Twitter regularly, mostly because of people asking why it’s not streaming.

    How did we determine what to eliminate? First, we asked people to avoid content Disney acquired. We made exceptions, but we’d prefer they celebrate their 100 years with Disney Pictures films, classic shorts, Disney Branded TV series, and Walt-era content. We know that’s very unrealistic so we have some ABC, Marvel, and Star Wars content too. We did not permit any Nat Geo or 20th Century Studios content because there’s more than enough homegrown DISNEY content to do 3 of these lists!

    Check it out and let us know. How well did we do?

    1920s

    Oswald the Lucky Rabbit – “Trolley Trouble”
    1. Laugh-O-Grams (1921-1923) (As many as possible)
    2. Alice Comedies (1923-1927) (As many as possible)
    3. Oswald The Lucky Rabbit (1927-1938) (As many as possible)
    4. The Gallopin’ Gaucho (1928) -2nd released Mickey short
    5. Plane Crazy (1929) (3rd released Mickey short)
    6. El Terrible Toreador (1929)
    7. The Barnyard Battle (1929)
    8. The Skeleton Dance (1929) -Hard to believe this wasn’t added for any of the Halloweens
    9. The Haunted House (1929) -Hard to believe this wasn’t added for any of the Halloweens
    10. The Merry Dwarfs (1929)
    The Merry Dwarfs (1929)

    1930s

    Moving Day (1936)
    1. Mickey’s Orphans (1931) -First Oscar Nominated Mickey Short
    2. Mickey’s Fire Brigade (1935)
    3. Music Land (1935)
    4. Three Orphan Kittens (1935)
    5. Moving Day (1936)
    6. Alpine Climbers (1936)
    7. Pluto’s Quin-puplets (1937)
    8. Moose Hunters (1937)
    9. The Worm Turns (1937)
    10. Wynken, Blynken and Nod (1938)
    Moose Hunters (1937)

    1940s

    How To Play Golf (1944)
    1. Goofy’s Glider (1940)
    2. Donald’s Snow Fight (1942)
    3. Symphony Hour (1942)
    4. Chicken Little (1943)
    5. Pluto and the Armadillo (1943)
    6. Victory Through Air Power (1943)
    7. How To Play Golf (1944)
    8. Make Mine Music (1946) -Only Missing Disney Animated Canon 🙄 – was just released to Blu-ray November 2021
    9. So Dear To My Heart (1948)
    10. On Seal Island (1948) -First True Life Adventures, 1 of only 2 missing – OSCAR winner
    Seal Island (1948)

    1950s

    The Hardy Boys (1956-1957)
    1. The Sword and the Rose (1953)
    2. People & Places (1953 – 1960)
    3. Walt Disney’s Disneyland (1954 – 1958) (All hosted by Walt)
    4. Mickey Mouse Club (1955 – 1959) -Disney+ added first 5 episodes at launch, but removed them last week, 35 months later… uh oh.
    5. The Great Locomotive Chase (1956)
    6. The Hardy Boys (1956-1957) – So strange to vault this when they literally air a new version on Hulu.
    7. Johnny Tremaine (1957)
    8. Walt Disney Presents: Annette (serial, 1957)
    9.  The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca (serial, 1958)
    10. The Swamp Fox (serial, 1959-1961)
    The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca (1958)

    1960s

    Miracle of the White Stallions (1963)
    1. In Search of the Castaways (1962)
    2. Son of Flubber (1963) –Flubber is already streaming…
    3. Savage Sam (1963) (Old Yeller 2)
    4. Miracle of the White Stallions (1963)
    5. The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964) 
    6. Dr. Syn: The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh (miniseries, 1964)
    7. The Monkey’s Uncle (1965) 
    8. Follow Me, Boys! (1966)
    9. Never A Dull Moment (1968)
    10. Hey Cinderella (1969) Featuring the Muppets
    Never a Dull Moment (1968) -This trailer is from a later re-release

    1970s

    The Mystery of Dracula’s Castle (1973)
    1. Smoke (1970)
    2. The Frog Prince (1971) -Featuring the Muppets
    3. Now You See Him, Now You Don’t (1972)
    4. The Mystery of Dracula’s Castle (1973)
    5. Call It Courage (1973)
    6. The World’s Greatest Athlete (1973)
    7. One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing (1975) 
    8. The New Mickey Mouse Club (1977 – 1979)
    9. Hot Lead & Cold Feet (1978)
    10. The North Avenue Irregulars (1979)
    Hot Lead & Cold Feet (1978)

    1980s

    Condorman (1981)
    1. Condorman (1981)
    2. Night Crossing (1982)
    3. Tiger Town (1983) –1st Disney Channel Premiere film
    4. Five Mile Creek (1983-1985)
    5. Welcome to Pooh Corner (1983-1984)
    6. Not Quite Human (1987)
    7. A Friendship in Vienna (1988) 
    8. Great Expectations (miniseries, 1989)
    9. Polly (1989)
    10. The All-New Mickey Mouse Club (1989 – 1996)

    1990s

    Aladdin: The Animated Series (1994-1995)
    1. The Ernest Green Story (1993)
    2. Heidi (1993)
    3. Angels in the Outfield (1994) 
    4. Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (1994)
    5. Aladdin: The Animated Series (1994-1995)
    6. The Four Diamonds (1995)
    7. Muppets Tonight (1996-1998)
    8. Tower of Terror (1997) 
    9. Honey I Shrunk The Kids the TV Series (1997-2000)
    10. My Date With The President’s Daughter (1998)
    The Four Diamonds (1995)

    2000s

    The Weekenders (2004)
    1. Life Size (2000) –Life Size 2 has streamed since launch
    2. The Weekenders (2000-2004) – Falsely promised by Disney+ as “Coming Soon” the week Disney+ launched. It’s time to make good.
    3. Mail to the Chief (2000)
    4. The Miracle Worker (2000)
    5. Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000-2001) 
    6. Disney’s The Legend of Tarzan (2001)
    7. House of Mouse (2001-2002)
    8. Princess of Thieves (2001) 
    9. The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
    10. Yin Yang Yo! (2006)
    Princess of Thieves (2001)

    2010s (+2020-2022)

    Pirates of the Caribbean: Tales of the Code: Wedlocked (2011)
    1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Tales of the Code – Wedlocked (2011)
    2. Tron: The Next Day (2011) 
    3. Pixie Hollow Games (2011) -Already streaming in Singapore (!!) 1 of only 2 missing Disney Fairies titles.
    4. The Story of Frozen: Making a Disney Animated Classic (2014)
    5. The 7D (2014-2016)
    6. Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers (2014-2015)
    7. Gamer’s Guide to Pretty Much Everything (2015-2017)
    8. Star Wars: Resistance (Shorts) (2018) -Only missing Star Wars canon title
    9. Mickey Mouse Hot Diggity-Dog Tales (2019)
    10. Me & Mickey (Shorts) (2022-) -Let’s be real, there’s no way this isn’t coming soon. Had to give them at least ONE victory…
    MARVEL DISK WARS: THE AVENGERS (2014)
    Drew Ryan
    Website | + posts

    Drew Ryan is a film, TV, and Disney geek. He has degrees in English, Student Personnel Administration, and Library & Information Science from Lawrence University, Concordia University-Wisconsin, and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Interested in the minutia and licensing of streaming service content, he is always publishing lists, suggestions, and advocating for Disney’s missing library to be added to Disney+. Drew subscribes to Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max, and Paramount+. You can find him waxing nostalgic over classic Disney Channel or geeking out over Marvel, CW shows, & Disney on Twitter.