10 Disney Princess Movies That Will Never See The Light Of Day

July 31, 2024, 11:50 a.m.

Movies

10 Disney Princess Movies That Will Never See The Light Of Day

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Summary Any canceled Disney movie with a female protagonist in a fantastical setting could have been a Disney Princess movie.

Some canceled projects were promising, like a Rose-Red spinoff and Swan Lake adaptation, but were ultimately abandoned.

Despite interesting ideas like Princess Academy with all its female characters, Disney shelved many ambitious projects.

The Walt Disney Company is constantly tossing around new ideas for movies, some of which never get made, including several would-be Disney Princess movies. Which of these canceled movies might have been made a part of the official Disney Princess line is unclear, as Disney's best unofficial princesses have long been underappreciated. Generally, any proposed movie idea with a female protagonist in a fantastical setting could have become a Disney Princess movie.

Some of these canceled movies probably would not have been well received, as evidenced by the worst Disney Princess sequels. Disney had ideas for other follow-ups to some of its most famous movies, but the quality of other sequels didn't suggest they would be anything good. Some other planned Disney Princess movies would actually have been interesting to see, constituting adaptations of classic fairy tales Disney has left untouched. Disney should try again with some canceled projects when a handful of their ideas are still promising.

Related The Best Quote From Each Of Disney's 13 Official Princesses Each of the Disney Princesses on Disney's official line has at least one quote that perfectly captures their compassion, sense of humor, or defiance.

10 Snow White Returns

Walt Disney Decided Not To Revisit The Original Disney Princess

Disney canceled two Snow White movies that may have answered some lingering questions about the studio's first feature-length animated movie. The first idea for a continuation was discussed shortly after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' success when Walt Disney was still alive and working. The standard sequel Snow White Returns was conceptualized as a short film that would have shown the dwarves preparing for Snow White to return to their cottage for an annual visit. However, Disney ultimately decided to leave his original hit untouched in his lifetime.

In the early 2000s, an idea for a Snow White prequel shedding light on the seven dwarves and the Evil Queen circulated. This also never came to fruition, letting the animated classic stand on its own. However, Disney and other studios are still fascinated by the Snow White story, evidenced by the two live-action Snow White movies from the 2010s and Disney's upcoming live-action Snow White remake.

9 Little Red Riding Hood

Disney Has Yet To Make A Little Red Riding Hood Feature

"Little Red Riding Hood" is counted as a contemporary of the classic Grimms' fairy tales that are the basis for many Disney animated classics; however, the tale has never gotten its own feature-length adaptation. Disney did produce a Little Red Riding Hood cartoon short in the 1920s, years before Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs entered production. Red is also a main character in Disney's 2014 movie adaptation of the Broadway musical Into the Woods.

Disney talked about making a Little Red Riding Hood movie sometime in the 1960s but abandoned it.

Disney talked about making a Little Red Riding Hood movie sometime in the 1960s but abandoned it. A point of comparison is Frozen, which was in development as an adaptation of "The Snow Queen" for decades. The tale of the mysterious Snow Queen always held a certain allure that made Disney committed to adapting it in some form eventually; perhaps some of the studio's creatives feel the same way about Little Red.

8 Penelope And The Twelve Months

Disney's Princess Time Travel Adventure Ended Before It Began

In the 1940s, Disney creatives were working on an idea for a short film about a little girl traveling through time and meeting various supernatural beings with the aid of a magical grandfather clock. The concept art has since come to light, even though the movie was never produced. The girl Penelope might seem too young to be a Disney Princess, although many of the Disney Princesses are in their teens at the oldest.

Now in development at Disney is the apparently unrelated animated comedy musical Penelope, based on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Princess and the Pea." Although the two projects have nothing in common but the name of the potential princess, it would be interesting to see how Penelope takes shape if the creators revisit some of the old artwork for Penelope and the Twelve Months for inspiration. As it is, Penelope is a fitting fairy tale name, if recent pop culture is any indication.

7 Disney Princess Enchanted Tales Sequel

A Series Of Disney Princess Short Films Only Got One Complete Movie

Disney Princess Enchanted Tales was a proposed direct-to-video series of short films, each focusing on an additional adventure of one of the classic Disney Princesses. Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams came out in 2007, comprising two shorts about Jasmine and Aurora, respectively. However, according to MovieWeb, the next set of shorts was canceled when John Lasseter became chief creative officer at Disney and let go of all direct-to-video plans.

Some other under-the-radar Disney Princess adventures did see the light of day, mainly direct-to-video sequels and other tie-ins. For instance, The Little Mermaid got a TV show in the 1990s showcasing various adventures with Ariel leading up to the events of the movie. Most of these properties are considered to be of poorer quality than the feature-length movies. Disney Princess Enchanted Tales would likely have been the same — however, some children would still have appreciated them.

6 Goldilocks And The Three Bears

Disney Considered Adapting This Crafty Heroine Long Before Puss In Boots

2022's Puss in Boots: The Last Wish was a well-deserved hit for many reasons, one of which is the grungy and heartfelt take Goldilocks and the Three Bears, with the characters voiced by a veritable set of stars. It seems unlikely that whatever Disney had planned back in the day for this fairy tale would have measured up. Also in development in the 1960s was a Disney movie adaptation of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" which never got off the ground.

Like some other canceled projects, the source material gives writers little to work with, and this probably would have been a movie less than 90 minutes long. Any adaptation of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" today would probably have to go through the same development cycle as Frozen to become a substantial story and would then be unrecognizable. However, the characters Goldie and Bear, inspired by this story, have appeared on Disney Junior.

Related 7 Fairytale Princesses That Still Need Disney Adaptations Disney princesses such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White are based on old fairytales, but there are some that haven't yet been covered.

5 Mulan 3

Disney Wrote Off Mulan 3 After Mulan 2

Mulan is generally considered one of the best Disney Princess movies; its sequel less so. Disney's Mulan almost had two sequels, the second of which was canceled before Mulan II even came out. Presumably, this was due to Mulan II receiving less than optimal reviews. Mulan II continues to address some complex facets concerning gender roles, but some of the dialogue and subplots are too contrived.

Mulan III was also headed in the direction of adapting serious historical topics, as early ideas for the plot included Mulan helping another young woman rescue her father from Japan. However, Disney opted not to do anything else with Mulan until the live-action remake in 2020, which received mixed reviews. Notably, Mulan's original voice actress Ming-Na Wen made a cameo in the remake, introducing the new Mulan to the emperor.

4 Rose-Red

Snow White's Forgotten Counterpart Almost Got Her Own Disney Movie

Snow White shares her name with one of the protagonists of another, lesser-known Grimm fairy tale, called "Snow-White and Rose-Red." The story follows two sisters living in the wilderness with their mother who encounter a cursed prince and a malicious dwarf; Snow-White marries the story's main prince while he conveniently turns out to have a brother for Rose-Red to marry. Disney's plan following Snow White in 1937 was to produce a live-action spinoff about Rose-Red, making Disney's Snow White her sister.

Part of the reason that Rose-Red is a relatively unknown character is that she never got a Disney adaptation when many widespread conceptions about such fairy tale characters come from Disney movies.

Part of the reason that Rose-Red is a relatively unknown character is that she never got a Disney adaptation when many widespread conceptions about such fairy tale characters come from Disney movies. Once Upon a Time vaguely alluded to "Snow-White and Rose-Red" by making their versions of Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood close friends, who often appear on-screen together with their signature colors starkly contrasting. However, as modern pop culture is still interested in the darker aspects of Snow White, creators may turn to Rose-Red while conceptualizing future works.

3 Swan Lake

Disney Rejected Making Swan Lake's Odette A Princess

Swan Lake actually could have been an amazing addition to the lineup of Disney Princess movies, if Disney had done it right. The story and music are morbid yet beautiful, adapted as Barbie of Swan Lake and referenced in horror movies like Black Swan and Abigail. The Swan Princess is the animated production that many people mistake for a Disney movie — and they are not far off. The style is, not coincidentally, reminiscent of the animated Disney movies of the 1980s and 1990s.

Former Disney director Richard Rich supposedly pitched a Swan Lake movie to Disney but was rejected, before he left Disney to start his own production company (via IMDB). He then made The Swan Princess, which has a decent following of defenders. This movie might not be the best work of animated storytelling, but it at least being serviceable illustrates that Disney should have taken the opportunity to make it.

2 Gigantic

Disney's New Jack & The Beanstalk Movie Never Made It Out Of Development

Gigantic was meant to join Disney's era of 3D-animated movies, having been in development up until it was shelved in the late 2010s. This take on Jack & the Beanstalk would have been set in Spain during the Age of Exploration, following a teenage Jack as he befriends an 11-year-old giantess called Inma. If this were officially or unofficially labeled a Disney Princess movie, Inma would supposedly be the "princess" in question.

Inma probably would have been a very sweet and endearing character and a great addition to Disney's roster. Despite the interesting possibilities Gigantic posed, it was abandoned, now around seven years ago. The premise of Jack allying with a giant who truly needs his help and that giant being a young girl is a completely new take on the story, unlike how some recent instances of pop culture have only shown Jack waging war on the giants.

Related Every Upcoming Animated Disney Movie From the whimsical Strange World to the Toy Story prequel Lightyear, Disney and Pixar have some exciting animated movies coming in the near future.

1 Princess Academy

Disney's Most Ambitious Princess Project Was Unfortunately Never Made

Princess Academy is a canceled animated short film that intended to bring together not just all of Disney's official princesses, but all the female characters from Disney's repertoire. Concept art shows Sally (Nightmare Before Christmas), Violet (The Incredibles), Alice (in Wonderland) and her sister, and others alongside the likes of Cinderella and Aurora. The rough story idea was to have all these young women together in a boarding school — the so-called Princess Academy. The status of Disney's live-action heroines in this project isn't clear.

Princess Academy would have been a powerful addition to Disney's repertoire through (at least partially) dismantling the fundamental barrier Disney creates between its "official" Disney Princesses and other female characters. Bringing together characters from the beginning of Disney to its 3D era along with Pixar's cast would have been a dynamic take on this. Sadly, Princess Academy does not seem to be moving forward, along with some other exciting, forgotten Disney projects.

Source: MovieWeb, IMDB