List of The Great Movie Ride Films - Films Represented in The Ride

Films Represented in The Ride

Most of the non-Disney/Lucasfilm movies represented in the The Great Movie Ride were made and/or owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at the time. Warner Bros. had sold its pre-1950 film library to Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.) back in 1956, a few years after the sale, a.a.p was bought by United Artists. In 1981 United Artists merged with MGM to form MGM/UA. In 1985, Disney and MGM entered into a licensing contract that gave Disney worldwide rights to use the MGM name and logo for what would become Disney-MGM Studios (now known as Disney Hollywood Studios), and separate contracts were used for The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, Singin' in the Rain, A Fistful of Dollars, The Public Enemy, Tarzan the Ape Man and Footlight Parade in The Great Movie Ride. A year later Ted Turner and his Turner Broadcasting System acquired MGM/UA, but for financial reasons, Turner was forced to sell MGM/UA back to its original owner. However he kept MGM's pre-May 1986 library and all of a.a.p's library, forming Turner Entertainment. In 1996, Turner Broadcasting was purchased by Time Warner thus putting them in the hands of Warner Bros. via Turner Entertainment.

Alien appears in The Great Movie Ride despite being released by 20th Century Fox rather than MGM. Disney had acquired the rights to use Alien from Fox several years earlier for a planned ride at the Magic Kingdom, based on the film. While the ride was canceled, the overall concept later evolved into the Tomorrowland attraction ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, although the creature from Alien was not used on the basis that it was "too frightening."