'ICONIC' Disney Brings Back Robin Williams As Genie In NEW Short Film Without AI –Public Shocked At How They Made It Happen.

'ICONIC' Disney Brings Back Robin Williams As Genie In NEW Short Film Without AI –Public Shocked At How They Made It Happen.

"The studio refused to use artificial intelligence to bring Genie back to life and instead relied on past recordings of the late actor's voice.

Once Upon a Studio debuted during The Wonderful World of Disney: Disney’s 100th Anniversary Celebration on ABC on Sunday.

Robin's legendary character, Genie, from the original animated classic, Aladdin, made a cameo - even though the actor died in 2014 at 63. 

While some fans wondered if the studio had used AI, producer Yvett Merino insisted that was not the case.

“It was actually direct lines from past recordings,” she told Polygon.

“When we do animated recordings on any feature, there are a number of takes. So we were able to find this line that fits so well in our short.”

Earlier this month, Robin's daughter Zelda had slammed instances of AI recreating her father’s voice, calling them “at their worst, a horrendous Frankensteinian monster.”

Once Upon a Studio's creative team contacted Robin's estate early on to get their blessing to use his voice.

They shared storyboards of the short and outtake selections from Aladdin.

“It was so important to us to share our earliest version of the short with Robin’s team,” Yvett said.

“So many of us who work here at Disney Animation were inspired by Aladdin and Robin’s performance.

"It meant the world that they said yes to his inclusion in the short — and [it was] so special that Eric Goldberg, who animated Genie for the [original] feature film, did the animation here as well.”

As for AI, producer Brad Simonsen said they are, "a flat no on [AI] right now. Matter of fact, you’re not allowed to use AI in the building."

Disney fans were emotional over Robin's unexpected cameo in the short and praised the studio for not using AI.

FANS IN MELTDOWN

One wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: "When the Genie shows up with lines from Robin Williams that was unused, I cried."

Another posted: "Was nice to hear the legend one more time in one of his most iconic roles."

A third penned: "You have NO idea how happy I was to hear the late Robin Williams as the Genie again!

"They could've gone the easy route and have Dan Castellaneta or Jim Meskimen voice him but no, Disney got permission from Williams' estate to use unused recordings instead. They truly care."

Someone else commented: "My favorite part is Olaf meeting the Genie from Aladdin who comes to life and greets Olaf.

"I liked how Disney got permission from Robin Williams' estate to use Williams' unused dialogue as the Genie here. Such a decent effort."

Other iconic characters like Snow White and Peter Pan also featured in the short alongside the Genie.

In total, a cast of 543 characters from more than 85 feature-length and short films made appearances to celebrate Disney's 100th anniversary.

As for bringing the voices, at least 40 original stars return to lend their voices to the project." - TheSun.com