Disney Channel, other networks schedule ‘Aladdin’ airings to tribute Robin Williams

When you want to air movies and other programming as a tribute to Robin Williams, it is pretty darn clear that you have a wide array to choose from. However, for children there is really just one movie that stands out head and shoulders above the rest: “Aladdin.” This was a smash at the height of Disney’s animated film crazy, and Williams’ performance as the Genie remains one of the most iconic voice roles of all time.

So this weekend, the Disney Channel and its family of networks are going to be playing the movie a number of times, which is really quite rare given how protective they are of their animated classics. The currently-released schedule is as follows:

• Saturday, August 16: 9:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Disney Channel
• Sunday, August 17: 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Disney XD
• Sunday, August 17: 6 p.m. on Disney Junior
• Monday, August 18: 11 a.m. on Disney Junior

That does give you a pretty great opportunity to go back and catch the movie if you haven’t already, or to also introduce your children to it if they haven’t seen it already. Remember here that there only a select number of “Aladdin” themed products that Williams actually voiced the Genie for outside of the original film (with “Aladdin and the King of Thieves” being a notable one); the majority of the time after the fact, veteran voice actor Dan Castellaneta took on the role. There was a major dispute for a while about how much Williams was to be paid for his part in the film, based on how the character was marketed and his overall contributions.

There have been countless tributes to Williams made over the past few days, and we certainly expect more to come in for someone who was a screen icon and also an inspiration for so many of us growing up.

Photo: Disney Channel