The Arabian Nights has been the inspiration of several film productions: the 1940s produced a handful of Nights-inspired films including: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1944), starring Arthur Lubin and Maria Montez and released by Universal Studios; Sinbad the Sailor (1947), starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and released by RKO Pictures; and Arabian Nights (1942), directed by John Rawlins, which is only loosely based on the story of Scheherazade. The Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini released his Il Fiore delle mille e una notte (The Tales of One Thousand and One Nights) in 1974, which was met with much controversy due to its explicitly erotic nature. All are available in VHS.

The following film adaptations appeared later: Disney's animated feature, Aladdin, released in 1992 and starring Robin Williams (VHS); Dreamworks Entertainment's animated feature Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, released in 2003 and starring Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones (VHS and DVD...