Disney's 100th birthday short film brings back late Robin Williams' voice as Genie 

To mark the 100th anniversary of Disney animation, the Walt Disney Company recently released a new animated short film titled Once Upon a Studio. The film which features 543 prominent animated Disney characters from 85 Disney films is a walk down memory lane. 

One of those characters that is part of the video is the Genie, who the late Robin Williams portrayed in 1992's classic Aladdin. While Williams died at 63 in 2014, the short film's co-writers and co-directors Dan Abraham and Trent Correy sought out using the character with Williams' family's permission, according to a report in Variety.

“We tried to take them on the journey with us to say, ‘We’ve got this very special short that we’re doing. Robin as the genie means so much to so many people and we would really love to involve him,' " Simonsen said.

The 13-minute short film features Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse stepping outside of a photo at Walt Disney Animation after its employees leave for the day on the company's 100th birthday. Once the employees leave, Mickey and Minnie along with Tinker Bell, Peter Pan and dozens of characters get together to take a group photo in celebration.

The short has Williams' Genie bursts out of a sketchbook created by Frozen's Olaf (Josh Gad). The character can also be seen standing next to Aladdin, Jafar and Jasmine, directly behind other Frozen characters for the group photo itself, as the characters come together to sing "When You Wish Upon a Star."

The makers utilized existing recordings of Williams' voice for Genie's appearance in Once Upon a Studio. It comes just two weeks after Williams' daughter, Zelda, criticized replications of her father's voice using artificial intelligence made without the family's consent.