The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational
mass media
Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets.
Broadcast media transmit informati ...
and
entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...
conglomerate headquartered at the
Walt Disney Studios complex in
Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers
Walt
Walt is a masculine given name, generally a short form of Walter, and occasionally a surname. Notable people with the name include:
People Given name
* Walt Arfons (1916-2013), American drag racer and competition land speed record racer
* Walt B ...
and
Roy O. Disney
Roy Oliver Disney (; June 24, 1893 – December 20, 1971) was an American businessman and co-founder of The Walt Disney Company. He was the older brother of Walt Disney and the father of Roy E. Disney.
Biography Early life
Disney was bor ...
as the Disney Brothers Studio; it also operated under the names the Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before changing its name to the Walt Disney Company in 1986. Early on, the company established itself as a leader in the
animation industry, with the creation of the widely popular character
Mickey Mouse, who is the company's mascot, and the start of
animated films
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...
.
After becoming a major success by the early 1940s, the company started to diversify into
live-action
Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ...
films,
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
, and
theme parks
An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...
in the 1950s. Following Walt's death in 1966, the company's profits began to decline, especially in the animation division. Once Disney's shareholders voted in
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film st ...
as the head of the company in 1984, the studio began to see an overwhelming amount of success during a period called the
Disney Renaissance
The Disney Renaissance was the period from 1989 to 1999 during which Walt Disney Feature Animation returned to producing critically and commercially successful animated films that were mostly musical adaptations of well-known stories, much ...
. In 2005, under new CEO
Bob Iger, the company started to expand and acquire other corporations.
Bob Chapek
Robert Alan Chapek (born 1960) is an American media executive who was the chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from 2020 to 2022.
Before becoming CEO, Chapek had a 26-year career with The Walt Disney Company, beginning in th ...
became the head of Disney in 2020 after Iger's retirement. Iger would be reinstated as CEO after Chapek was ousted in 2022.
Since the 1980s, Disney has created and acquired corporate divisions in order to market more mature content than is typically associated with its flagship family-oriented brands. The company is known for its
film studio division
Walt Disney Studios, which includes
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit ...
,
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...
,
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...
,
Marvel Studios,
Lucasfilm,
20th Century Studios,
20th Century Animation
20th Century Animation, Inc. (originally known as Fox Family Films, Fox Animation Studios, and 20th Century Fox Animation and sometimes referred to as Fox Animation) is an American animation studio located in Century City, Los Angeles. Formed ...
, and
Searchlight Pictures
Searchlight Pictures, Inc. is an American film production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is part of the Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. for 20th Century Fox (later 20th Century St ...
. Disney's other main business units include divisions in television, broadcasting, streaming media, theme park resorts, consumer products, publishing, and international operations. Through these various segments, Disney owns and operates the
ABC broadcast network; cable television networks such as
Disney Channel,
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
,
Freeform,
FX, and
National Geographic; publishing, merchandising, music, and theater divisions;
direct-to-consumer streaming services such as
Disney+
Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...
,
Star+
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...
,
ESPN+,
Hulu, and
Hotstar
Disney+ Hotstar (also known as Hotstar) is an Indian brand of subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Novi Digital Entertainment of Disney Star and operated by Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, both d ...
; and
Disney Parks, Experiences and Products
Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, Inc., formerly Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and informally known as Disney Parks, is one of The Walt Disney Company's five major business segments and a subsidiary. It was founded on Apri ...
, which includes several theme parks, resort hotels, and
cruise lines
A cruise line is a company that operates cruise ships and markets cruises to the public. Cruise lines are distinct from passenger lines which are primarily concerned with transportation of their passengers. Cruise lines have a dual character; th ...
around the world.
Disney is one of the biggest and most well-known companies in the world and has been ranked number 53 on the 2022 ''
Fortune 500'' list of biggest companies in the United States by revenue. Since its founding, the company has won a total of 135
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
, with
26 awarded to Walt. The company has also been said to have produced some of the
greatest films of all time
This is a list of films considered the best in national and international surveys of critics and the public.
Some surveys focus on all films, while others focus on a particular genre or country. Voting systems differ, and some surveys suffer ...
as well as revolutionizing the theme park industry. Disney has been criticized for alleged plagiarism, depicting racial stereotypes in the past, and both including and lacking
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term ...
-related elements in its films. The company, which has been public since 1940, trades on the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...
(NYSE) with
ticker symbol
A ticker symbol or stock symbol is an abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. In short, ticker symbols are arrangements of symbols or characters (generally Latin letters ...
DIS and has been a component of the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow (), is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States.
The DJIA is one of the oldest and most commonly followed equity inde ...
since 1991. In August 2020, just under two-thirds of the stock was owned by large
financial institutions
Financial institutions, sometimes called banking institutions, are business entities that provide services as intermediaries for different types of financial monetary transactions. Broadly speaking, there are three major types of financial insti ...
.
History
1923–1934: Founding, Mickey Mouse, and ''Silly Symphonies''
At
Laugh-O-Gram Studio
The Laugh-O-Gram Studio (also called Laugh-O-Gram Studios) was a short-lived film studio located on the second floor of the McConahay Building at 1127 East 31st in Kansas City, Missouri that operated from June 28, 1921 to November 20, 1923. ...
, a film studio in Kansas City founded by
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
and his friend and animator
Ub Iwerks
Ubbe Ert Iwwerks (March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), known as Ub Iwerks ( ), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, and special effects technician. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Iwerks grew up with a contentiou ...
, Walt made a short film entitled ''
Alice's Wonderland
''Alice's Wonderland'' is a 1923 Walt Disney short silent film, produced in Kansas City, Missouri by Laugh-O-Gram Studio. The black-and-white short was the first in a series of Walt Disney's famous ''Alice Comedies'' and had a working title o ...
.'' It featured child actress
Virginia Davis
Virginia Davis (December 31, 1918 – August 15, 2009) was an American child actress in films. She is best known for working with Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks on the animated short series Alice Comedies, in which she portrayed the protagonist Alic ...
interacting with animated characters. In 1923, soon after the short was made, Laugh-O-Gram Studio went bankrupt, but the short later became a hit after New York film distributor
Margaret J. Winkler
Margaret J. Winkler Mintz (April 22, 1895 – June 21, 1990) was a key figure in silent animation history, having a crucial role to play in the histories of Max and Dave Fleischer, Pat Sullivan, Otto Messmer, and Walt Disney. She was the fir ...
purchased it. Walt signed a contract to create six ''
Alice Comedies
The ''Alice Comedies'' are a series of animated/live-action shorts created by Walt Disney in the 1920s, in which a live action little girl named Alice (originally played by Virginia Davis) and an animated cat named Julius have adventures in an ...
'' series, with an option for two further series of six episodes each. Before the signing, Walt decided to move to
Hollywood to join his brother
Roy O. Disney
Roy Oliver Disney (; June 24, 1893 – December 20, 1971) was an American businessman and co-founder of The Walt Disney Company. He was the older brother of Walt Disney and the father of Roy E. Disney.
Biography Early life
Disney was bor ...
because Roy had
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
. This allowed them to co-found the Disney Brothers Studio on October 16, the official start of the company, to produce the films. Walt later convinced Iwerks and Davis' family to move to Hollywood as well. In January 1926, the Disney studio on Hyperion Street was completed, and The Disney Brothers Studio's name was changed to Walt Disney Studio. After producing several Alice films for the next four years, Winkler handed the role of distributing films to her husband,
Charles Mintz. In 1927, Mintz asked for a new series of films under
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
to be made. In response, Walt created his first series of fully animated films, featuring the character
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (also known as Oswald the Rabbit or Oswald Rabbit) is a cartoon character created in 1927 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures. He starred in several animated short films released to theaters from 1927 to 1 ...
. Walt Disney Studio would create 26 films with Oswald in them.
In 1928, Walt wanted a larger fee for his films, but Mintz wanted to reduce the price. Soon after Walt found out that Universal owned the
intellectual property rights
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
to Oswald, Mintz threatened to produce the films without him if he did not take the reductions in payment.
Walt declined, and Mintz signed four of the Walt Disney Studio's primary animators to start his own studio; Iwerks would be the only top animator to stay with the Studio. Because of the loss of Oswald, Walt and Iwerks replaced him with a mouse originally named
Mortimer Mouse
The Mickey Mouse universe is a fictional shared universe which is the setting for stories involving Disney cartoon characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, and many other characters. The universe originated from the ''Mickey Mouse'' an ...
. The character's name would be changed after Walt's wife urged him to change it to
Mickey Mouse, who is now the company's mascot.
In May, the studio made two
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...
s, ''
Plane Crazy
''Plane Crazy'' is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The cartoon, released by the Walt Disney Studios, was the first Mickey Mouse film produced, and was originally a silent film. It was given a test sc ...
'' and ''
The Gallopin' Gaucho
''The Gallopin' Gaucho'' is the second short film featuring Mickey Mouse to be produced, following ''Plane Crazy'' and preceding ''Steamboat Willie''. The Disney studios completed the silent version in August 1928, but did not release it in orde ...
'', with the character as test screenings. Later, the studio created its first sound film and third short to the Mickey series ''
Steamboat Willie
''Steamboat Willie'' is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. It was produced in black and white by Walt Disney Studios and was released by Pat Powers, under the name of Celebrity Productions. The cartoon ...
.'' It was made with
synchronized sound
Synchronized may refer to:
*Synchronization (US) or ''synchronisation'' (UK), the coordination of events to operate a system in unison
* ''Synchronized'' (album), a 2002 album by Sheavy
*Synchronised (horse) (2003–2012), a racehorse
*, a programm ...
, creating the first post-produced sound cartoon.
Pat Powers’ distribution company would distribute the film, and ''Steamboat Willie'' became an immediate hit, leading the way for the companies dominance in the animation industry.
The sound was created using Powers’
Cinephone system, which used
Lee de Forest's
Phonofilm
Phonofilm is an optical sound-on-film system developed by inventors Lee de Forest and Theodore Case in the early 1920s.
Introduction
In 1919 and 1920, Lee De Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patents on a sound-on-film proce ...
system. The company successfully re-released the two earlier films with synchronized sound in 1929.
After the release of ''Steamboat Willie'' at the
Colony Theater in New York, Mickey Mouse became an immensely popular character.
Disney would go on to make several cartoons featuring him and other characters. In August, Disney began the ''
Silly Symphony
''Silly Symphony'' is an American animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the ''Silly Symphonies'' were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces ...
'' series with
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
signing on as the series' distributor, because Walt and Roy felt that they were not getting their share of the profits with Powers.
Powers would then sign off Iwerks, who would later start his own studio.
Carl Starling was said to have played a pivotal role in getting the series started and composed the music for the earlier films in the series, but would later leave the company after Iwerks did.
In September, theater manager Harry Woodin requested permission to start a Mickey Mouse Club at his theater, the Fox Dome, to boost attendance. Walt agreed, but David E. Dow started the first ever club at
Elsinore Theatre
The Elsinore Theatre is 1,290-seattheatre located in Salem, Oregon, United States, that first opened on May 28, 1926.
Early years
Owner George Guthrie enlisted the firm of Lawrence and Holford to design the theatre in a Tudor Gothic style mean ...
before Woodin could start his. It is unknown why Woodin did not create the first one, but on December 21, the first ever meeting for the club at Elsinore had around 1,200 children in attendance. The Mickey Mouse Clubs ended up spanning over 800 theaters across the country, with one million kids as members. On July 24, Joseph Conley, president of
King Features Syndicate, mailed the Disney studio asking for them to make a Mickey Mouse comic strip. They started in November and sent samples of the strip to them, which were approved. On December 16, the Walt Disney Studios partnership was reorganized as a corporation with the name of Walt Disney Productions, Limited, with a merchandising division –
Walt Disney Enterprises, and two subsidiaries – Disney Film Recording Company, Limited; and Liled Realty and Investment Company, for real estate holdings. Walt and his wife held 60 percent (6,000 shares) of the company and Roy owned 40 percent.
The comic strip ''
Mickey Mouse'' debuted on January 13, 1930, in the ''
New York Daily Mirror
The ''New York Daily Mirror'' was an American morning tabloid newspaper first published on June 24, 1924, in New York City by the William Randolph Hearst organization as a contrast to their mainstream broadsheets, the ''Evening Journal'' and ''N ...
'' and by 1931, the strip was published in 60 newspapers in the U.S., as well as papers in twenty other countries.
After finding out that coming out with
merchandise for the characters would generate more revenue for the company, Walt met a man at a hotel in New York who asked him for the license to put Mickey Mouse on some writing tablets that he was manufacturing for $300. Walt agreed and Mickey became the first licensed character ever, beginning the start of Disney merchandising. In 1933, Walt asked a man who owned a Kansas City advertising firm named
Kay Kamen to run Disney's merchandising. He agreed and was considered to completely transform Disney's merchandising. Within a year, Kamen had 40 licenses for Mickey and within two years, $35 million worth of sales were made. In 1934, Walt claimed that he made more money from the merchandising of Mickey than from the Mickey films. Later, as a part of Disney's merchandising push, the
Waterbury Clock Company
Timex Group USA, Inc. (formerly known as Timex Corporation) is an American global watch manufacturing company founded in 1854 as the Waterbury Clock Company in Waterbury, Connecticut. In 1944, the company became insolvent but was reformed into ...
created a Mickey Mouse watch. It became so popular that it saved Waterbury from bankruptcy during the
Great Depression. During a promotional event at Macy's, 11,000 Mickey Mouse watches sold in one day and within two years, 2.5 million watches were sold.
As Mickey started to become more of the heroic type instead of a mischievous mouse, Disney needed another character that could produce
gags. When Walt was listing to the radio, he heard the voice of
Clarence Nash
Clarence Charles "Ducky" Nash (December 7, 1904 – February 20, 1985) was an American voice actor. He was best known as the original voice of the Disney cartoon character Donald Duck. He was born in the rural community of Watonga, Oklahoma, and ...
and invited him to the studio. After hearing his voice again, Walt wanted to use it for a talking duck named
Donald Duck, who would be the studio's new gag character. Donald made his first appearance in 1934 in ''
The Wise Little Hen
''The Wise Little Hen'' is a 1934 Walt Disney's ''Silly Symphony'' cartoon, based on the fable '' The Little Red Hen''. The cartoon features the debut of Donald Duck, dancing to the Sailor's Hornpipe. Donald and his friend Peter Pig try to avoi ...
.'' Though he did not become popular as fast as Mickey did, he got his own featured role in ''
Donald and Pluto
''Donald and Pluto'' is a 1936 animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by United Artists. The film stars Donald Duck, employed as a plumber, and Mickey's dog Pluto as his assistant. The film was directed by Ben Sha ...
'' (1936) and eventually got his own series.
After a fallout with Colombia Pictures for the ''Silly Symphonies'', Walt signed a distribution contract with
United Artist
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...
from 1932 to 1937 to distribute the series. In 1932, Disney signed an exclusive contract with
Technicolor
Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades.
Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...
through the end of 1935 to produce cartoons in color, beginning with ''
Flowers and Trees
''Flowers and Trees'' is a 1932 '' Silly Symphonies'' cartoon produced by Walt Disney, directed by Burt Gillett, and released to theatres by United Artists on July 30, 1932. It was the first commercially released film to be produced in the full- ...
'' (1932), which was part of the ''Silly Symphonies''. The film was the first ever full-color cartoon and won the
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for the Best Cartoon later that year.
In 1933, ''
The Three Little Pigs
"The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build three houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses which made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's house t ...
'' became another popular ''Silly Symphonies'' and also won the Academy Award for Best Cartoon. The song from the film "
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
"Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" is a popular song written by Frank Churchill with additional lyrics by Ann Ronell, which originally featured in the 1933 Disney cartoon ''Three Little Pigs'', where it was sung by Fiddler Pig and Fifer Pig (voic ...
", composed by
Frank Churchill, who also wrote other ''Silly Symphonies'' songs, became popular throughout the 1930s and remained one of the most well-known Disney songs.
Films from ''Silly Symphonies'' would go on to win the Best Cartoon award from 1931 to 1939, except for in 1938 when another Disney film ''
Ferdinand the Bull
Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...
'' won it.
1934–1949: The Golden Age of Animation, strike, and World War II
In 1934, Walt decided to make Disney's first ever feature-length animated film, ''
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...
,'' and told his animators by acting out the story. Roy tried to stop Walt from making it saying it would bankrupt the studio, and Hollywood called it "Disney's Folly", but Walt continued production on the film.
Walt decided to go for a realistic approach to the film and created scenes from the film as if it were live action. During the process of making the film, they created the
multiplane camera
The multiplane camera is a motion-picture camera that was used in the traditional animation process that moves a number of pieces of artwork past the camera at various speeds and at various distances from one another. This creates a sense of par ...
, which was pieces of glass with drawings on them set at different distances, to create an illusion of depth for the backgrounds. After United Artist attempted to attain future television rights to the Disney shorts, Walt signed a distribution contract with
RKO Radio Pictures
RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...
on March 2, 1936. They ended up exceeding their original budget for ''Snow White'' of $150,000 by ten times the amount at $1.5 million.
It took them three years to make, debuting on December 12, 1937. It became the highest-grossing film of all time up to that point at $8 million ; after several re-releases, the film would gross a total of $998,440,000 in the U.S. adjusted for inflation. After the profits of ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'', Disney financed the construction of a new studio complex of 51 acres (20.6 ha) in
Burbank, California, which the company fully moved into in 1940. On April 2 of the same year, Disney had its
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...
, with the common stock remaining with Walt and his family. Walt did not want to go public, but the company needed the money. Shortly before ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs release, work on their next films ''
Pinocchio
Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel '' The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a Tuscan ...
'' and ''
Bambi
''Bambi'' is a 1942 American animated drama film directed by David Hand (supervising a team of sequence directors), produced by Walt Disney and based on the 1923 book ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'' by Austrian author and hunter Felix Salten ...
'' began, with Bambi being postponed. Though ''Pinocchio'' would win the Academy Awards for
Best Song and
Best Score, along with being said to have made groundbreaking achievements in animation,
it would end up doing poorly in the box office during its release on February 23, 1940, because its international releases were cut off due to
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
Disney's next film ''
Fantasia
Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...
'' was also a
box-office bomb
A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...
, but made great achievements by creating
Fantasound
Fantasound was a reproduction system developed by engineers of Walt Disney studios and RCA for Walt Disney's animated film ''Fantasia'', the first commercial film released in stereo.
Origins
Walt Disney's cartoon character Mickey Mouse entered ...
, an early development
surround sound
Surround sound is a technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of sound reproduction by using multiple audio channels from speakers that surround the listener (surround channels). Its first application was in movie theaters. Prior to s ...
, to produce the films' soundtrack, making it the first commercial film shown in stereo. In 1941, Disney would have a major setback when 300 of its 800 animators, led mainly by one of the companies top animators
Art Babbit, would
go on strike for five weeks for unionization, because of the amount of payment some of them were getting. Walt thought that the people on strike were secretly Communist and would end up firing many of the studios' animators, including some of its best ones.
Roy would try to get the company's main distributors to invest in the film company, trying to secure more production funds for the studio which could no longer afford to offset production costs with employee layoffs, but was unsuccessful in getting anyone. During the premiere of ''
The Reluctant Dragon,'' Disney's fourth film where
Robert Benchley
Robert Charles Benchley (September 15, 1889 – November 21, 1945) was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and film actor. From his beginnings at ''The Harvard Lampoon'' while attending Harvard University, thro ...
would tour the Disney Studio, protesters from the strike showed up; the film would fall $100,000 short of its production cost.
While negotiations were being made for the strike, Walt accepted an offer from the
Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs
The Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, later known as the Office for Inter-American Affairs, was a United States agency promoting inter-American cooperation (Pan-Americanism) during the 1940s, especially in commercial and econ ...
to make a goodwill trip, along with some of his animators, to South America, making sure Walt would be gone during the deal because he knew the results would not be in his favor. During the twelve weeks there, they would start plotting for films and were inspired by the music. As a result of the strike, the studio recognized the
Screen Cartoonist's Guild after being compelled to by Federal mediators and loss several animators, leaving the company with only 694 employees.
To recover from their financial losses, Disney would create their fifth animated film, ''
Dumbo
''Dumbo'' is a 1941 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The fourth Disney animated feature film, it is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, ...
,'' in a rush with a lower budget. ''Dumbo'' performed successfully at the box office and would be a much needed financial gain for the company.
After the
bombing of Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Haw ...
, many of the companies animators would be drafted into the army.
Later, 500 soldiers from the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
began to occupy the studio for eight months to protect a nearby
Lockheed aircraft plant. While they were there, they would fix equipment in large soundstages and convert storage sheds into ammunition depots. On December 8, the
Navy asked Walt to create propaganda films to gain support for the war. He agreed and signed a contract with
them
Them or THEM, a third-person plural accusative personal pronoun, may refer to:
Books
* ''Them'' (novel), 3rd volume (1969) in American Joyce Carol Oates' ''Wonderland Quartet''
* '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'', 2003 non-fiction by Welsh ...
to create 20 war-related shorts for $90,000. Most of the company's employees got to work on the project and created films such as ''
Victory Through Air Power
''Victory Through Air Power'' is a 1942 non-fiction book by Alexander P. de Seversky. It was made into a 1943 Walt Disney animated feature film of the same name.
Theories
De Seversky began his military life at a young age. After serving in ...
'' and included some of the company's characters in several of the films.
In August, 1942, ''Bambi'' was finally released as Disney's sixth animated film and did not do well in the box office. In 1943, Disney would go on to make ''
Saludos Amigos'' and ''
The Three Caballeros
''The Three Caballeros'' is a 1944 American live-action/animated musical anthology film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film premiered in Mexico City on December 21, 1944. It was released in the United States on ...
'' after their visit to South America, but they would do poorly upon their releases.
The two films were "
package films
An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film, package film, or portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of several shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme ...
", several short cartoons grouped together to make a feature film, which Disney would go on to make more of such as ''
Make Mine Music
''Make Mine Music'' is a 1946 American animated musical anthology film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. It is the eighth Disney feature animated film, released on April 20, 1946.
During World War II, much of Walt Disn ...
'' (1946)'',
Fun and Fancy Free
''Fun and Fancy Free'' is a 1947 American animated musical fantasy package film produced by Walt Disney and released on September 27, 1947 by RKO Radio Pictures. It is the ninth Disney animated feature film and the fourth of the package films th ...
'' (1947)'','' ''
Melody Time
''Melody Time'' is a 1948 American live-action/animated musical film produced by Walt Disney. The tenth Disney animated feature film, it was released to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on May 27, 1948. Made up of seven segments set to popular mu ...
'' (1948)'','' and ''
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad'' (1949) to try to recover from their financial losses.
As less expensive to make, the studio started production on live-action films, with a mixture of animation, starting with ''
Song of the South,'' which would later become Disney's most controversial film.
Because the company was short on money, in 1944, they planned to re-release their feature films, which would create much needed revenue.
In 1948, Disney began the nature documentary series, ''
True-Life Adventures
''True-Life Adventures'' is a series of short and full-length nature documentary films released by Walt Disney Productions between the years 1948 and 1960. The first seven films released were thirty-minute shorts, with the subsequent seven films ...
,'' which would run until 1960 and win eight Academy Awards. In 1949, while production on the animated film ''
Cinderella
"Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...
'' was happening, the
Walt Disney Music Company
Walt is a masculine given name, generally a short form of Walter (name), Walter, and occasionally a surname. Notable people with the name include:
People Given name
* Walt Arfons (1916-2013), American drag racer and competition land speed record r ...
was founded in order to help with profits for merchandising, which the music from ''Cinderella'' was hoped to be a hit.
1950–1967: Live-action films, television, Disneyland, and Walt Disney's death
In 1950, Disney's first animated film in eight years ''Cinderella'' was released and was considered a return to form for Disney. It would be Disney's best box office success since ''Snow White,'' making a total of $8 million in its first year in the box office and costing $2.2 million to make. Walt had not been as involved as he was with the previous films because he was distracted with trains and made a trip to England to create Disney's first ever fully live-action film ''
Treasure Island
''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...
''. Because it was a success, he went back to England to produce ''
The Story of Robin Hood and His Merry Men''. In 1950, the television industry began to grow, and Disney got in it on Christmas Day when NBC aired the company's first television production
One Hour in Wonderland
''One Hour in Wonderland'' is a 1950 television special made by Walt Disney Productions. It was first seen on Christmas Day, 1950, over NBC (4–5 pm in all time zones) for Coca-Cola, and was Walt Disney's first television production. It featured ...
, which was a promotional program for Disney's next animated film ''
Alice in Wonderland'' and sponsored by
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...
. During his trip in England, ''Alice in Wonderland'' was released and came as disappointment to the company falling $1 million short of the production budget. Upon his return, Walt started thinking about an
amusement park he wanted to build called Mickey Mouse Park, an eight-acre (3.2 ha) piece of land near the studio with attractions such as a steamboat ride, but business kept getting in the way and production for a third British film ''
The Sword and the Rose
''The Sword and the Rose'' is a family/adventure film produced by Perce Pearce and Walt Disney and directed by Ken Annakin. The film features the story of Mary Tudor, a younger sister of Henry VIII of England.
Based on the 1898 novel '' When Kn ...
'' began. Walt would only supervise over it, but it would be financed by a new subsidiary of Disney called Walt Disney British Films Limited.
![WaltDisneyplansDisneylandDec1954](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/WaltDisneyplansDisneylandDec1954.jpg)
Walt recalled that he first came up with the idea of an amusement park during one of his visits to
Griffith Park
Griffith Park is a large municipal park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The park includes popular attractions such as the Los Angeles Zoo, the Autry Museum of the Ameri ...
with his daughters. He said that he watched them ride the
carousel there and said that he thought there "should be... some kind of amusement enterprise built where the parents and the children could have fun together.” As Walt continued to think about Mickey Mouse Park, he changed the name to Disneylandia before changing it to its final name
Disneyland
Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...
. Because Roy was doubtful about the park, Walt would form a new privately owned company called Walt Disney Enterprise on December 16, 1952, to fund the park. Shortly after, its name would change to Walt Disney Incorporated before changing its name to WED Enterprises (now
Walt Disney Imagineering
Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Inc., commonly referred to as Imagineering, is the research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation, design, and construction of Disney theme parks and attra ...
) in November 1953. He hired a group of designers to work on the plans and those who worked on it became dubbed as "
Imagineers
Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Inc., commonly referred to as Imagineering, is the research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation, design, and construction of Disney theme parks and attra ...
". Ever since Walt came up with the idea of a park, he and his friends would visit parks in the U.S. and Europe to get ideas on how to build one. His plan to have the park built in Burbank near the studio quickly changed when he realized that 8 (3.2 ha) acres would not be enough land. He acquired 160 acres (65 ha) of orange groves in
Anaheim, southeast of Los Angeles in neighboring
Orange County
Orange County most commonly refers to:
*Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Orange County may also refer to:
U.S. counties
*Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando
*Orange County, Indiana
*Orange County, New ...
, at $6,200 per acre to build the park. As construction on the park began on July 12, 1954, Walt wanted it to be done by 1955, with storytelling attractions and areas, as well as being clean and perfect.
They designed the park to have guests enter into
Main Street U.S.A.
Main Street, U.S.A. is the first "themed land" inside the main entrance of the many theme parks operated or licensed by The Walt Disney Company around the world. Main Street, U.S.A. is themed to resemble American small towns during the early 20t ...
, themed to resemble American small towns during the early 20th Century based largely off of Walt's hometown in
Marceline, Missouri
Marceline is a city in Chariton and Linn counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 2,123 at the 2020 census.
History
Marceline was laid out in 1887, and named after the wife of a railroad man. A post office called Marceline h ...
, and walk down the street into the central hub, from which different themed lands branched out.
At the end of the street in the central hub, would be a 77 ft (23 m) tall
Sleeping Beauty Castle
Sleeping Beauty Castle is a fairy tale castle at the center of Disneyland and formerly at Hong Kong Disneyland. It is based on the late 19th century Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany. It appeared in the Walt Disney Pictures logos from 198 ...
inspired by the
Neuschwanstein Castle
Neuschwanstein Castle (german: Schloss Neuschwanstein, , Southern Bavarian: ''Schloss Neischwanstoa'') is a 19th-century historicist palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. T ...
in Germany and based on the castle from the Disney film of the
same name, which would be released four years later. The four original different themed lands of the park that branched out from the hub would consist of
Frontierland
Frontierland is one of the "themed lands" at the many Disneyland-style parks run by Disney around the world. Themed to the American Frontier of the 19th century, Frontierlands are home to cowboys and pioneers, saloons, red rock buttes and gol ...
, themed to the
American Frontier of the 19th century;
Adventureland, resembling a wild tropical jungle;
Fantasyland
Fantasyland is one of the "themed lands" at all of the Magic Kingdom-style parks run by The Walt Disney Company around the world. It is themed after Disney's animated fairy tale films. Each Fantasyland has a castle, as well as several gentle ri ...
, based on
Disney's animated fairy tale films; and
Tomorrowland
Tomorrowland is one of the many themed lands featured at all of the Magic Kingdom styled Disney theme parks around the world owned or licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Each version of the land is different and features numerous attractions t ...
, depicting views of the future, especially that of the
Space Age
The Space Age is a period encompassing the activities related to the Space Race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events, beginning with the launch of Sputnik 1 during 1957, and continuin ...
. In total, by the time the park opened, it cost the company $17 million to construct.
In February 1953, Disney's next animated film ''
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...
'' was released and had been a success, but Walt wanted to figure out how to improve animation without raising the cost. When Disney wanted to create a feature with two short films, ''
The Living Desert
''The Living Desert'' is a 1953 American nature documentary film that shows the everyday lives of the animals of the desert of the Southwestern United States. The film was written by James Algar, Winston Hibler, Jack Moffitt (uncredited) and T ...
'', for the ''True-Life'' documentary, RKO's lawyer believed it would break the
1948 antitrust Supreme Court ruling if it sold as a package. Roy thought the company would do fine without RKO and the company created its own distribution company,
Buena Vista Distribution, named after the street where the studio was located, to distribute their own films from then on. In 1954, Disney's first American live action film ''
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' (french: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) is a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne.
The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-J ...
'' was released, which was one of the first films to use
CinemaScope. From the early to mid-1950s, Walt began to devote less attention to the animation department, entrusting most of its operations to his key animators the
Nine Old Men
Disney's Nine Old Men were Walt Disney Productions' core animators, some of whom later became directors, who created some of Disney's most famous animated cartoons, from '' Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' (1937) onward to ''The Rescuers'' (197 ...
, although he was always present at story meetings. Instead, he started concentrating on other things such as television and Disneyland.
To get money to create the park, the company decided to promote it through a television series. After trying to get NBC and
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
to sign on, in 1954,
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
made a deal with Disney for an hour-long weekly series starting in October called ''
Disneyland
Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...
,'' an
anthology series
An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...
consisting of animated cartoons, live-action features, other materials from the studio's library, and would go through four segments of the four different areas of the amusement park. The series was a success and garnered over 50% of viewers in their time slot, along with increasing audiences and praise from critics. In August, Walt formed another company
Disneyland, Inc.
Disneyland, Inc. (DLI) was a corporation formed to finance, build and run Disneyland park in Anaheim, California.
History
Start up
Disneyland, Inc. was incorporated in the State of California in 1951 by Walt Disney. A companion company owned on ...
to finance the theme park, with Disney, himself,
Western Publishing
Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was a Racine, Wisconsin, firm responsible for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also produced children's books and ...
, which had been the publisher of Disney books for over twenty years, and ABC all holding stock in the company.
In October, with the success of ''Disneyland,'' ABC allowed Disney to produce another series ''
The Mickey Mouse Club
''The Mickey Mouse Club'' is an American variety television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996 and returned to social media in 2017. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first televised ...
'', a
variety show
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp ...
specifically for kids, showing things such as a daily Disney cartoon, a children's newsreel, and a talent show. It would consist of a host and talented kids and adults called "Mousketeers" and "Mooseketeers", respectively. After the first season, over 10 million children and half as many adults watched it every day, 2 million Mickey Mouse ears, which the cast wore, had sold, and the shows theme song "
Mickey Mouse March "(The) Mickey Mouse March" is the opening theme for ''The Mickey Mouse Club'' television show, which aired in the United States from October 1955 to 1959, on the ABC television network. (The first two lines are: ''Who’s the leader of the club tha ...
", written by
Jimmie Dodd
James Wesley Dodd (March 28, 1910 – November 10, 1964) was an American actor, singer and songwriter best known as the master of ceremonies for the popular 1950s Walt Disney television series ''The Mickey Mouse Club,'' as well as the write ...
one of the show's main host, had become a classic. On December 15, 1954, ''Disneyland'' aired an episode of the five-part
miniseries ''
Davy Crockett,'' which starred
Fess Parker
Fess Elisha Parker Jr. (born F. E. Parker Jr.;Weaver, Tom.Sci-Fi Swarm and Horror Horde: Interviews with 62 Filmmakers p. 148 (McFarland 2012). August 16, 1924 – March 18, 2010),(March 18, 2010Daniel Boone Actor Fess Parker Dies at 85" ''CBS ...
as
Crockett
Crockett may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Crockett Gillmore (born 1991), American National Football League player
*Crockett Johnson, pen name of David Johnson Liesk (1906-1975), American cartoonist and children's book illustrator
*C ...
. According to writer
Neal Gabler
Neal Gabler (born 1950) is an American journalist, writer and film critic.
Gabler graduated from Lane Tech High School in Chicago, Illinois, class of 1967, and was inducted into the National Honor Society. He graduated ''summa cum laude'' from t ...
, "
tbecame an overnight national sensation", selling 10 million Crockett coonskin caps. The shows theme song "
The Ballad of Davy Crockett
"The Ballad of Davy Crockett" is a song with music by George Bruns and lyrics by Thomas W. Blackburn. It was introduced on ABC's television series ''Disneyland'', in the premiere episode of October 27, 1954. Fess Parker is shown performing the ...
" had spread throughout American pop culture as much as the ''Three Little Pig's "''Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf''"'' did, selling 10 million records''.'' The ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' called it "the greatest merchandising fad the world had ever seen". In June 1955, Disney's 15th animated film, ''
Lady and the Tramp
''Lady and the Tramp'' is a 1955 American animated musical romance film produced by Walt Disney and released by Buena Vista Film Distribution. The 15th Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and ...
,'' was released and did better in the box office than any other Disney films since ''Snow White''.
On Sunday, July 17, 1955, Disneyland opened with only Main Street completely done and the other lands offering some rides, coming to a total of 20
attractions
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism m ...
. At the time, it cost $1 to get into the park and guests had to pay for each individual ride. They were ready for 11,000 guests, but around 28,000 people showed up, because of a rush of counterfeit tickets. The opening was aired on ABC with actors
Art Linkletter
Arthur Gordon Linkletter (born Gordon Arthur Kelly or Arthur Gordon Kelly; sources differ; July 17, 1912 – May 26, 2010) was a Canadian-born American radio and television personality. He was the host of ''Art Linkletter's House Party, House Par ...
,
Bob Cummings
Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings (June 9, 1910 – December 2, 1990) was an American film and television actor who appeared in roles in comedy films such as ''The Devil and Miss Jones'' (1941) and ''Princess O'Rourke'' (1943), and in d ...
, and
Ronald Reagan, who were all friends of Walt, hosting it. It garnered over 90 million viewers, becoming the largest live broadcast to that date. The opening was so disastrous and rushed, it became dubbed as "Black Sunday" by the employees. Restaurants ran out of food, the
Mark Twain Riverboat
The Disney riverboats are paddle steamer watercraft attraction ride vehicles operating on a track on a series of attractions located at Disney theme parks around the world.
The first was the ''Mark Twain'' Riverboat, located at the Disneyland t ...
began to sink a little, several ride malfunctions occurred, and the drinking fountains were not working in the 100 °F. (38 °C) heat.
Within its first week of being open, Disneyland had 161,657 guests show up, and by its first month of being open, the park had over 20,000 visitors each day. After its first year, 3.6 million people had visited the park, and after its second year 4 million more guests came, making it more popular than places such as the
Grand Canyon and
Yellowstone Park
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
. That year Disney had a gross total of $24.5 million compared to the $11 million the previous year.
Though Walt was more busy with the park than the films, the company would stay busy and produce an average of five releases per year throughout the 1950s and 60s. The animated films created were features such as ''Sleeping Beauty'' (1959), ''
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (also simply known as ''101 Dalmatians'') is a 1961 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and based on the 1956 novel '' The Hundred and One Dalmatians'' by Dodie Smith. Th ...
'' (1961), and ''
The Sword in the Stone'' (1963). While ''Sleeping Beauty'' was a financial loss for the company, and Disney's highest production costs for a film up to that point at $6 million, ''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'' introduced a new way of animating using the
xerography
Xerography is a dry photocopying technique. Originally called electrophotography, it was renamed xerography—from the roots el, ξηρός, label=none ''xeros'', meaning "dry" and -γραφία ''-graphia'', meaning "writing"—to emphasize ...
process to electromagnetically transfer the drawings to
animation cels. In 1956, the
Sherman brothers,
Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
and
Richard
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...
, were asked to create the theme song for the television series ''
Zorro
Zorro ( Spanish for 'fox') is a fictional character created in 1919 by American pulp writer Johnston McCulley, appearing in works set in the Pueblo of Los Angeles in Alta California. He is typically portrayed as a dashing masked vigilante w ...
''. Disney would later hire them as exclusive staff songwriters, which would be a ten-year association. They wrote many of the songs for Disney's films at the time and some for the theme parks, with several of them being hits. In the late 1950s, Disney would venture into the
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
genre with the live-action films ''
The Shaggy Dog'' (1959), which became the highest grossing film in the U.S. and Canada for Disney at over $9 million, and
''The Absent Minded Professor'' (1961), both starring
Fred MacMurray.
Disney also made several live-action films based on children's books including ''
Pollyanna
''Pollyanna'' is a 1913 novel by American author Eleanor H. Porter, considered a classic of children's literature. The book's success led to Porter's soon writing a sequel, ''Pollyanna Grows Up'' (1915). Eleven more ''Pollyanna'' sequels, know ...
'' (1960) and ''
Swiss Family Robinson'' (1960). Child actor
Hayley Mills would star in ''Pollyanna'', where she would win the
Academy Juvenile Award
The Academy Juvenile Award, also known informally as the Juvenile Oscar, was a Special Honorary Academy Award bestowed at the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to specifically recogni ...
, and five other Disney films, including her dual role as the twins in
''The Parent Trap'' (1961). Another child actor
Kevin Corcoran was a prominent figure in many of the live-action Disney films, first appearing in a serial for ''The Mickey Mouse Club,'' where he would play a boy named Moochie, a nickname that would stay with him. He worked alongside Mills in ''Pollyanna'' and starred in features such as ''
Old Yeller
''Old Yeller'' is a 1956 children's literature, children's novel written by Fred Gipson and illustrated by Carl Burger. It received a Newbery Medal, Newbery Honor in 1957. The title is taken from the name of the yellow dog who is the center of t ...
'' (1957), ''
Toby Tyler
''Toby Tyler or 10 Weeks with a Circus'', also known simply as ''Toby Tyler'', is a 1960 American drama film directed by Charles Barton and starring Kevin Corcoran, Henry Calvin, Gene Sheldon, and Richard Eastham. It was produced by Walt Disney ...
'' (1960), and ''Swiss Family Robinson''. In 1964, the live action/animation
musical ''
Mary Poppins It may refer to:
* ''Mary Poppins'' (book series), the original 1934–1988 children's fantasy novels that introduced the character.
* Mary Poppins (character), the nanny with magical powers.
* ''Mary Poppins'' (film), a 1964 Disney film sta ...
'' was released and became the highest grossing film of the year. It won five Academy Awards, including
Best Actress
Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...
for
Julie Andrews as
Poppins
''Poppins'' is a 2012 Indian Malayalam-language anthology film directed by V. K. Prakash. It stars ten lead actors, appearing as five couples; the characters are played by Kunchacko Boban and Nithya Menen, Jayasurya and Meghna Raj, Indrajith ...
and Best Song for the Sherman Brothers', who also won Best Score for the film, "
Chim Chim Cher-ee
"Chim Chim Cher-ee" is a song from ''Mary Poppins'', the 1964 musical motion picture. It was originally sung by Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews, and also is featured in the 2004 ''Mary Poppins'' musical.
The song won the 1964 Academy Award for ...
".
Throughout the 1960s,
Dean Jones, who was called "the figure who most represented Walt Disney Productions in the 1960s" by ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', starred in ten Disney films, which included ''
That Darn Cat!
''That Darn Cat!'' is a 1965 American thriller comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson and starring Hayley Mills and Dean Jones in a story about bank robbers, a kidnapping and a mischievous cat; produced by Walt Disney Productions. The fi ...
'' (1965), ''
The Ugly Dachshund
''The Ugly Dachshund'' is a 1966 American comedy film directed by Norman Tokar, written by Albert Aley, and starring Dean Jones and Suzanne Pleshette in a story about a Great Dane who believes he is a dachshund. Produced by Walt Disney Production ...
'' (1966), and ''
The Love Bug
''The Love Bug'' is a 1968 American comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson and the first in a franchise by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution that starred an anthropomorphic pearl-white, fabric-sunroofed 19 ...
'' (1968) and its second sequel
Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo
''Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo'' is a 1977 American comedy adventure film and the third installment of ''The Love Bug'' film series made by Walt Disney Productions starring Herbie—the white 1963 Volkswagen racing Beetle with a mind of its own. ...
(1977).
Disney's last child actor of the 1960s would be
Kurt Russell, who had signed a ten-year contract with the company. He featured in films such as ''
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
''The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes'' is a 1969 American science fiction comedy film starring Kurt Russell, Cesar Romero, Joe Flynn and William Schallert. It was produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution Compa ...
'' (1969), ''
The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit
''The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit'' is a 1968 American comedy film directed by Norman Tokar, with a screenplay by Louis Pelletier and starring Dean Jones, Diane Baker, Ellen Janov, Kurt Russell and Lurene Tuttle, as well as Fred Clark in ...
'' (1968) alongside Dean Jones, ''
The Barefoot Executive
''The Barefoot Executive'' (also known as ''The Rating Game'') is a 1971 American comedy film starring Kurt Russell, Joe Flynn, Wally Cox, Heather North, Harry Morgan, and John Ritter (in his film debut), about a pet chimpanzee, named Raffles, ...
'' (1971), and ''
The Strongest Man in the World
''The Strongest Man in the World'' is a 1975 American science fiction comedy film directed by Vincent McEveety, produced by Walt Disney Productions and starring Kurt Russell, Joe Flynn, and Eve Arden. It is the second sequel to the 1969 film '' ...
'' (1975).
In late 1959, Walt had an idea to build another park in
Palm Beach, Florida, called the City of Tomorrow, a city that would be full of technological improvements. In 1964, the company chose land southwest of
Orlando, Florida, as the area to build the park and quickly acquired 27,000 acres (10,927 ha) of land for it. On November 15, 1965, Walt, along with Roy and Florida's current governor at the time
Haydon Burns
William Haydon Burns (March 17, 1912 – November 22, 1987) was an American politician. He was List of mayors of Jacksonville, Florida, Mayor of Jacksonville, Florida from 1949 to 1965, and served as the 35th Governor of Florida from 1965 to 19 ...
, announced the plans for another park called
Disney World
The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, th ...
, which included the
Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom Park, previously known as Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom (1971–1994) and The Magic Kingdom (1994–2017), is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando, Florida. Owned and operated by The ...
—a larger and more elaborate version of Disneyland, with golf courses and resort hotels near it—and the City of Tomorrow, which would be at the heart of the park. By 1967, the company had made several expansions to Disneyland including a new area called
New Orleans Square, which would be filled with mostly shops and would be based on the look of
. Through 1966 to 1967 they added three more rides
It's a Small World
"It's a Small World" is a water-based boat ride located in the Fantasyland area at various Disney theme parks worldwide, including Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California; Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida; Tokyo D ...
, the
Disneyland Railroad
The Disneyland Railroad (DRR), formerly known as the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad, is a 3-foot () narrow-gauge heritage railroad and attraction in the Disneyland theme park of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, in the United St ...
, and
Pirates of the Caribbean. In all, the expansion costed $20 million, which was $3 million more than it cost to make the park. They also added several other rides before then such as
Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room
Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room is an attraction located in Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort and in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, and previously in Tokyo Disneyland at Tokyo Disney Resort. First opened on June 23, 1963 at the Disneyl ...
, which was the first attraction to use
audio-animatronics
Audio-Animatronics (also known as simply Animatronics, and sometimes shortened to AAs) is the registered trademark for a form of robotics animation created by Walt Disney Imagineering for shows and attractions at Disney theme parks, and subse ...
;
Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress
Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress is a rotating theater audio-animatronic stage show attraction in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida just outside of Orlando, Florida. Crea ...
, which debuted at the
1964 New York World's Fair before moving to Disneyland in 1967; and
Dumbo the Flying Elephant
Dumbo the Flying Elephant is an aerial carousel-style ride located in Fantasyland at six Disney parks around the world. It is based on the 1941 film, ''Dumbo''. The original attraction opened at Disneyland on August 16, 1955. The four other ver ...
, which opened a month after the park did.
On November 20, 1964, Walt sold most of WED Enterprise to Walt Disney Productions for $3.75 million after being persuaded to by Roy, who thought that Walt having his own company would cause legal problems. Walt formed a new company called
Retlaw to handle his personnel business, primarily the
Disneyland Railroad
The Disneyland Railroad (DRR), formerly known as the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad, is a 3-foot () narrow-gauge heritage railroad and attraction in the Disneyland theme park of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, in the United St ...
and the
Disneyland Monorail
The Disneyland Monorail System (originally named the Disneyland ALWEG Monorail System) is an attraction and transportation system at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, United States. It was the first daily operating monorail in the ...
. When the company started looking for someone to sponsor the project, Walt renamed the City of Tomorrow to
EPCOT
Epcot, stylized in all uppercase as EPCOT, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Inspired by an unreal ...
, which stood for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Because Walt had been a heavy smoker since World War I, his health started declining, and he visited the
St. Joseph Hospital on November 2, 1966, for testing. The doctors discovered a walnut-sized spot on his left lung and removed it a few days later, finding out it was cancerous. After two weeks, he was released from the hospital, but overgrown lymph nodes showed that he did not have much longer to live. On December 15, 1966, at the age of 65, Walt died of
circulatory collapse
Shock is the state of insufficient blood flow to the tissues of the body as a result of problems with the circulatory system. Initial symptoms of shock may include weakness, fast heart rate, fast breathing, sweating, anxiety, and increased thi ...
, caused by lung cancer.
1967–1984: Roy O. Disney's leadership and death, Walt Disney World, animation industry decline, and Touchstone Pictures
In 1967, the last two films Walt had worked on were released, the animated film
''The Jungle Book'', which would be Disney's most successful film for the next two decades, and the live-action musical ''
The Happiest Millionaire
''The Happiest Millionaire'' is a 1967 American musical film starring Fred MacMurray, based upon the true story of Philadelphia millionaire Anthony Drexel Biddle. The film, featuring music by the Sherman Brothers, was nominated for an Academy A ...
''.
After Walt's death, the company largely abandoned the animation industry, but would still make several live-action films. Its staff in the field of animation began to decline from 500 workers to 125 employees, with the company only hiring 21 people from 1970 to 1977.
Disney's first post-Walt animated film ''
The Aristocats
''The Aristocats'' is a 1970 American animated romantic musical comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and directed by Wolfgang Reitherman. The 20th Disney animated feature film, the film is based on a story by Tom McGowan and Tom R ...
'' was released in 1970, where
Dave Kehr of ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' said, "the absence of his
alt'shand is evident." That following year the
anti-fascist musical ''
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
''Bedknobs and Broomsticks'' is a 1971 American live-action animated musical fantasy film directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Bill Walsh for Walt Disney Productions. It is loosely based upon the books '' The Magic Bedknob; or, How t ...
'' was released and won the Oscar for
Best Special Visual Effects. By the time Walt had died, Roy was ready to retire, but wanted to keep Walt's legacy alive and became the first
CEO and
chairman of the board of the company.
In May 1967, he got a
legislation passed by Florida's legislatures to grant Disney World to have its own
quasi-government agency in an area called the
Reedy Creek Improvement District
The Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) is the governing jurisdiction and special taxing district for the land of Walt Disney World Resort. It includes within the outer limits of Orange and Osceola counties in Florida. It acts with the sa ...
, and he later changed the name from Disney World to Walt Disney World to remind people it was Walt's dream. Over time, EPCOT became less of the City of Tomorrow and developed more into another amusement park. After 18 months of construction that cost around $400 million, Walt Disney World's first park the Magic Kingdom, along with
Disney's Contemporary Resort and
Disney's Polynesian Resort
Disney's Polynesian Village Resort (formerly Disney's Polynesian Resort from 1985 to 2014) is a Disney-owned and operated resort located at the Walt Disney World Resort. It began operation on October 1, 1971 as one of Walt Disney World Resort's ...
, opened on October 1, 1971, with 10,400 visitors. A parade with over 1,000 band members, along with 4,000 Disney entertainers and choir from the U.S. Army, marched down Main Street led by composer
Meredith Wilson. Unlike Disneyland, the icon of the park would be the
Cinderella Castle
Cinderella Castle is Cinderella's home fairy tale castle and the icon at the center of two Disney theme parks: the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, and Tokyo Disneyland at the Tokyo Disney Resort. Both serve as the flagship attraction for ...
instead of the Sleeping Beauty Castle. Three months later on Thanksgiving day, cars wanting to get into the Magic Kingdom were stretched miles along the interstate.
On December 21, 1971, Roy died of
cerebral hemorrhage at the St. Joseph Hospital.
After Roy's death,
Donn Tatum
Donn B. Tatum (January 9, 1913 – May 31, 1993) was an American businessman and the first non-Disney family member to be an executive of Walt Disney Productions. Tatum held senior leadership positions with Disney for 25 years, becoming President ...
, who was a senior executive for 25 years and former president of Disney, became the first non-Disney family member to become CEO and chairman of the board of the company, with
Card Walker
Esmond Cardon Walker (January 9, 1916 – November 28, 2005), commonly known as E. Cardon Walker or Card Walker, was an American businessman who served as a top executive at Walt Disney Productions during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. He was born in ...
, who had been with the company since 1938, becoming president of the company.
By June 30, 1973, Disney had over 23,000 employees and had a gross total of $257,751,000 over a nine months period, which is a raise compared to the year before when they made $220,026,000. In November, Disney released another animated film
''Robin Hood'', which became Disney's biggest international grossing movie at $18 million. Throughout the 1970s, Disney released several more live-action films such as ''The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes'' sequel ''
Now You See Him, Now You Don't
''Now You See Him, Now You Don't'' is a 1972 American science fiction comedy film starring Kurt Russell as a chemistry student who accidentally discovers the secret to invisibility. It is the sequel to the 1969 film '' The Computer Wore Tennis S ...
,'' ''The Love Bug's'' two sequels ''
Herbie Rides Again
''Herbie Rides Again'' is a 1974 American comedy film and the second installment of ''The Love Bug'' film series made by Walt Disney Productions starring an anthropomorphic (and quite autonomous) 1963 Volkswagen racing Beetle named Herbie. The ...
'' (1974) and ''Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo'' (1977)'','' ''
Escape to Witch Mountain
''Escape to Witch Mountain'' is a science fiction novel written by Alexander Key in 1968. It was adapted for film by Disney as '' Escape to Witch Mountain'' in 1975 which spawned the ''Witch Mountain'' franchise. The novel was illustrated by ...
'' (1975), and ''
Freaky Friday
''Freaky Friday'' is a comedic children's novel written by Mary Rodgers, first published by Harper & Row in 1972. It has been adapted for several films, including versions in 1976, 1995, 2003, and 2018, and was reinterpreted as a horror film f ...
'' (1976). In 1976, Card Walker took over as CEO of the company, with Tatum staying as the chairman until 1980 when Walker would replace him.
In 1977,
Roy E. Disney
Roy Edward Disney KCSG (January 10, 1930 – December 16, 2009) was an American businessman. He was the longtime senior executive for the Walt Disney Company, which was founded by his father, Roy O. Disney, and his uncle, Walt Disney. At the ti ...
, Roy O. Disney's son and the only Disney working for the company, would resign from his job as an executive of the company because of disagreements with decisions the company was making.
In 1977, Disney created the successful animated film ''
The Rescuers
''The Rescuers'' is a 1977 American animated adventure comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution. The 23rd Disney animated feature film, its story follows Bernard and Bianca, two members ...
,'' grossing $48 million at the box office. The live-acton/animated musical ''
Pete's Dragon'' was released in 1977, grossing $16 million in the U.S. and Canada, but was considered a disappointment to the company. In 1979, Disney's first ever PG rated film and most expensive film up to that point at $26 million dollars ''
The Black Hole
''The Black Hole'' is a 1979 American science fiction film directed by Gary Nelson and produced by Walt Disney Productions. The film stars Maximilian Schell, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux, Anthony Perkins and Ernest Borgnin ...
'' was released, showing that Disney could also use special effects. Grossing $35 million, which was a disappointment to the company who thought it was going to be a hit like ''
Star Wars'' (1977), the film was in response to other
sci-fi
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...
movies that were being released. In September, 12 animators, which was over 15 percent of the department, resigned from the studio. Led by
Don Bluth
Donald Virgil Bluth (; born September 13, 1937) is an American film director, animator, production designer, and animation instructor, best known for his animated films, including '' The Secret of NIMH'' (1982), '' An American Tail'' (1986), ''Th ...
, they left because of a conflict with the training program and the atmosphere at the studio, starting their own company
Don Bluth Productions
Don Bluth Entertainment (formerly Sullivan Bluth Studios) was an Irish-American animation studio established in 1979 by animator Don Bluth. Bluth and several colleagues, all of whom were former Disney animators, left Disney on September 13, 1979, ...
(which later became Sullivan Bluth Studios). In 1981, Disney released ''Dumbo'' to
VHS and ''Alice in Wonderland'' the following year, eventually leading Disney to release all their films to home media. On July 24,
Walt Disney World on Ice, a two year tour of ice shows featuring Disney charters, made its premiere at the
Brendan Byrne Meadowlands Arena, after Disney licensed its characters to
Feld Entertainment
Feld Entertainment Inc. is an American live show production company which owns a number of traveling shows. The company began with the now-defunct Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus then expanded into additional live events, including Dis ...
. The same month, Disney's animated film ''
The Fox and the Hound
''The Fox and the Hound'' is a 1981 American animated buddy drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions and loosely based on the 1967 novel of the same name by Daniel P. Mannix. The 24th Disney animated feature film, the film tells the st ...
'' was released and became the highest grossing animated film to that point at $39.9 million. It was the first film that Walt had nothing to do with and was the last major work done by Disney's Nine Old Men, making way for the younger animators to do more.
As profits for the company started to slow down, On October 1, 1982, Epcot, then known as EPCOT Center, opened as the second theme park in Walt Disney World, with around 10,000 people in attendance during the opening.
Costing the company over $900 million to construct, The park consisted of the
Future World pavilion and the
World Showcase
Epcot, stylized in all uppercase as EPCOT, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Inspired by an unreal ...
, which represented nine countries including Mexico, China, Germany, Italy, America, Japan, France, United Kingdom, and Canada (Morocco and Norway would be added later in 1984 and 1988, respectively).
The animation industry continued to decline and 69% of the company's profits were from its theme parks, with attendance of 12 million visitors to Walt Disney World which would decline by 5% next June.
On July 9, Disney released one of the first films to majorly use
computer-generated imagery (CGI) ''
Tron
''Tron'' (stylized as ''TRON'') is a 1982 American science fiction action- adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer ...
,'' which would a big influence on other CGI movies, although it only received mixed reviews. In total, in 1982, the company lost $27 million.
On April 15, 1983, Disney's first ever foreign park
Tokyo Disneyland
(local nickname ''TDL'') is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to ...
, similar to Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom, opened in
Urayasu, Japan. Costing around $1.4 billion, construction on the park started in 1979 when Disney and
The Oriental Land Company
is a Japanese leisure and tourism corporation headquartered in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan where it also owns and operates the Tokyo Disney Resort. The company operates in three segments, divided as theme parks, hotels, and other business.
Oriental ...
agreed to build a park together. Within its first ten year, the park had been a hit with over 140 million visitors. After an investment of $100 million, on April 18, Disney started a pay to watch cable television series called
Disney Channel, a sixteen hour-long series showing things such as Disney films, twelve different programs, and two magazines shows for adults. Although it was expected to do well, the company lost $48.3 million after its first year, with around 916,000 subscribers.
In 1983, Walt's son-in-law
Ron W. Miller, who had been president of the company since 1978, became CEO of Disney, and
Raymond Watson
Raymond "Ray" L. Watson (October 4, 1926 – October 20, 2012) was the former president of the Irvine Company, and served as chief planner during the 1960s and 1970s. He was also chairman of Walt Disney Productions from 1983 to 1984, and served o ...
became chairman.
Ron would push for more more mature films from the studio, and as a result, Disney founded the film distribution label
Touchstone Pictures to produce movies geared toward adults and teenagers in 1984.
''
Splash
Splash or Splash! or The Splash may refer to:
Common meanings
* Splash (fluid mechanics), sudden disturbances on the surface of water
Entertainment
* ''Splash'' (film), a 1984 fantasy film starring Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah
** ''Splash, Too'' ...
'' (1984), was the first film released under the label and would become a much needed success for the studio, grossing over $6.1 million in its first week of screening. Later, Disney's first R-rated film, ''
Down and Out in Beverly Hills'' (1986), was released and was another hit for the company, grossing $62 million. The following year, Disney's first PG-13 rated film, ''
Adventures in Babysitting
''Adventures in Babysitting'' (also known as ''A Night on the Town'' in certain countries) is a 1987 American teen comedy film written by David Simkins and directed by Chris Columbus in his directorial debut. It stars Elisabeth Shue, Keith Coo ...
,'' was released. In 1984,
Saul Steinberg
Saul Steinberg (June 15, 1914 – May 12, 1999) was a Romanian-American artist, best known for his work for ''The New Yorker'', most notably '' View of the World from 9th Avenue''. He described himself as "a writer who draws".
Biography
S ...
attempted to buyout the company, holding 11.1% of the stocks in the company. He offered to buy 49% of the company for $1.3 billion or the entire company for $2.75 billion. Disney, which had less than $10 million, rejected and offered to buy all of his stock for $325.5 million. Steinberg agreed, and Disney paid it all with part of a $1.3 billion loan they got from the bank, putting the company at $866 million in debt.
1984–2005: Michael Eisner's leadership, the Disney Renaissance, merger, and acquisitions
In 1984, the company's shareholders, Roy E. Disney,
Sid Bass
Sid Richardson Bass (born April 9, 1942) is an American billionaire investor and philanthropist.
Early life
Sid Richardson Bass was born on April 9, 1942. His father, Perry Richardson Bass (died 2006), built an oil fortune with uncle, Sid W. ...
, Lillian and
Diana Disney, and
Irwin L. Jacobs, who had a combined total of about 35.5% of the total shares of the company, forced Miller out as CEO and replaced him with
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film st ...
, who had previously been president of
Paramount Pictures, as the new CEO, along with bringing in
Frank Wells
Franklin G. Wells (March 4, 1932 – April 3, 1994) was an American businessman who served as president of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until his death in 1994.
Life and career
Wells was born in Coronado, California and traced his ancestry ...
as president. Eisner's first move at Disney was to make it a major film studio, which at the time it was not considered. He brought in
Jeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg (; born December 21, 1950) is an American filmmaker, animator, and media proprietor. He became well known for his tenure as chairman of Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1994. After departing Disney, he was a co-founder and C ...
as chairman and Roy as head of the animation division to help with the animation industry. He wanted to produce an animated film every 18 months instead of every 4 years like the company had been doing. To help with the film division, they started making
Saturday-morning cartoon
"Saturday-morning cartoon" is a colloquial term for the original animated series programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks. The genre's popularity had a br ...
s to create new Disney characters for merchandising and producing several films through Touchstone. Eisner led Disney into the television industry more by creating Touchstone Television and producing ''
The Golden Girls'', which was a hit. The company also started to promote their theme parks for the first time at $15 million, raising the attendance rate by 10%. In 1984, Disney created the most expensive animated movie at $40 million, and their first animated film to feature computer-generated imagery ''
The Black Cauldron'', which was also their first PG rated animated film because of its darker themes. It ended up being a box office bomb, leading the company to move the animation department out of studio in Burbank and into a warehouse in
Glendale, California. Organized in 1985,
Silver Screen Partners
Silver Screen Partners refers to four limited partnerships organized as an alternative funding source for film production originally formed by American investor Roland W. Betts as a collaboration with cable television network HBO in 1983. The m ...
II, LP financed films for Disney with $193 million. In January 1987, Silver Screen III began financing movies for Disney with $300 million raised, the largest amount raised for a film financing limited partnership by E.F. Hutton. Silver Screen IV was also set up to finance Disney's studios.
In 1986, the company changed its name from Walt Disney Productions to its current name the Walt Disney Company, stating that the old name only referred to the film industry. With Disney's animation industry declining, the animation department needed a hit with their next movie ''
The Great Mouse Detective
''The Great Mouse Detective'' (also known as ''The Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective'' for its 1992 theatrical re-release and ''Basil the Great Mouse Detective'' in some countries) is a 1986 American animated mystery adventure film produc ...
''. During its release, it grossed $25 million, becoming a much needed financial success for the company in the animation industry. To generate more revenue from merchandising, the company opened their first retail store the
Disney Store
The Disney Store is a chain of specialty stores selling only Disney related items, many of them exclusive, under its own name and Disney Outlet. It was a business unit of Disney Consumer Products with the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products s ...
in Glendale in 1987. Because of its success, they opened two more stores in California, and by 1990 they had 215 stores throughout the country. In 1989, the company saw financial success with $411 million in revenue and a profit of $187 million. In 1987, the company signed an agreement with the
French government
The Government of France (French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, who i ...
to build a resort in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
named
Euro Disneyland
Disneyland Park, originally Euro Disneyland Park, is a theme park found at Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, France. The park opened on 12 April 1992 as the first of the two parks built at the resort. Designed and built by Walt Disney Ima ...
, consisting of two theme parks named
Disneyland Park
Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...
and
Walt Disney Studios Park
Walt Disney Studios Park (French: ''Parc Walt Disney Studios'') is the second of two theme parks built at Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, France, which opened on 16 March 2002. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through i ...
, a golf course, and six hotels.
In 1988, Disney's 27th animated film ''
Oliver & Company
''Oliver & Company'' is a 1988 American animated musical adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released on November 18, 1988, by Walt Disney Pictures. The 27th Disney animated feature film, it is loosely based on the Cha ...
'' was released the same day as former animator Don Bluth's ''
The Land Before Time
''The Land Before Time'' is an American animated film series and media franchise created by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss, distributed by Universal Pictures and centered on dinosaurs. The series began in 1988 with the eponymous '' The Land Bef ...
. Oliver & Company'' beat out ''The Land Before Time,'' becoming the first animated film to gross over $100 million in its initial release and the highest grossing animated film from its initial run. At the time, Disney became the box office leader out of all the studios in Hollywood for the first time, with films such as ''
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American live-action/animated comedy mystery film directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Frank Marshall and Robert Watts, and loosely adapted by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman from Gary K. Wolf's 19 ...
'' (1988), ''
Three Men and a Baby
''Three Men and a Baby'' is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Leonard Nimoy. It stars Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson as three bachelors as they attempt to adapt their lives to de facto fatherhood with the arrival of the love ...
'' (1987)'','' and ''
Good Morning, Vietnam
''Good Morning, Vietnam'' is a 1987 American war comedy film written by Mitch Markowitz and directed by Barry Levinson. Set in Saigon in 1965, during the Vietnam War, the film stars Robin Williams as a radio DJ on Armed Forces Radio Service, wh ...
'' (1987). Gross revenue in 1983 was $165 million and went up to $876 million in 1987, and operating income went from a negative $33 million in 1983 to a positive 130 million in 1987. Their net income went up 66% along with a 26% growth in revenue. The ''Los Angeles Times'' called Disney's bounce back "a real rarity in the corporate world". On May 1, 1989, Disney opened their third amusement park at Walt Disney World,
Hollywood Studios, which at the time went under the name Disney-MGM Studios. The park was mainly about how movies were made, until it changed by 2008 to make guests feel like they are in movies. Following the opening of Hollywood Studios, Disney opened water park
Typhoon Lagoon
Disney's Typhoon Lagoon is a water theme park located at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida near Orlando, and is one of two operating water parks at the resort. It is the second water park to open at the resort, preceded ...
on June 1, 1989; in 2008, the water park had a total of 2.8 million people in attendance. In 1989, Disney signed an agreement-in-principle to acquire
Jim Henson Productions
The Jim Henson Company (formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc.; commonly referred to as Henson) is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is known fo ...
from its founder,
Muppet
The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are ...
creator
Jim Henson
James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets and '' Fraggle Rock'' (1983–1987) and ...
. The deal included Henson's programming library and Muppet characters (excluding the Muppets created for ''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) ...
''), as well as Jim Henson's personal creative services. However, Henson died suddenly in May 1990 before the deal was completed, resulting in the two companies terminating
merger negotiations the following December.
On November 17, 1989, ''
The Little Mermaid
"The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a ...
'' was released and is considered to be the start of the
Disney Renaissance
The Disney Renaissance was the period from 1989 to 1999 during which Walt Disney Feature Animation returned to producing critically and commercially successful animated films that were mostly musical adaptations of well-known stories, much ...
, a period in which the company released hugely successful and critically acclaimed animated films. During its release, it became the animated film with the highest gross from its initial run and garnered $233 million at the box office; it also earned two Academy Awards, Best Original Score and Best Original Song for “
Under the Sea
"Under the Sea" is a song from Disney's 1989 animated film '' The Little Mermaid'', composed by Alan Menken with lyrics by Howard Ashman. It is influenced by the calypso style of the Caribbean which originated in Trinidad and Tobago, as well ...
”.
During the Disney Renaissance, several of Disney's songs were written by composer
Alan Menken and lyricist
Howard Ashman
Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...
, until Howard died in 1991. Together they wrote six songs that were nominated for Academy Awards, with two winning, "Under The Sea" and "
Beauty and the Beast
''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine ...
". To produce music geared for the mainstream music, including music for movie soundtracks, Disney founded the recording label
Hollywood Records on January 1, 1990. In September 1990, Disney arranged for financing up to $200 million by a unit of
Nomura Securities for
Interscope films made for Disney. On October 23, Disney formed
Touchwood Pacific Partners
Touchwood Pacific Partners I was an American film financing limited partnership formed by The Walt Disney Company in 1990 for its then three production companies, Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Pictures, but owned by Yamai ...
which would supplant the Silver Screen Partnership series as their movie studios' primary source of funding.
Disney's first animated sequel ''
The Rescuers Down Under
''The Rescuers Down Under'' is a 1990 American animated adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 29th Disney animated feature film and the second movie to be produced during the Disne ...
'' was released on November 16, 1990, and was created using
Computer Animation Production System
The Computer Animation Production System (CAPS) was a proprietary collection of software, scanning camera systems, servers, networked computer workstations, and custom desks developed by The Walt Disney Company and Pixar in the late 1980s. Although ...
(CAPS), a digital software which was developed by Disney and the computer division of
Lucasfilm Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...
, becoming the first feature film to be fully created digitally.
Although the film struggled in the box office, grossing $47.4 million, it received positive reviews from critics. In 1991, Disney and Pixar agreed to a deal to make three films together, with the first one being ''
Toy Story
''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter (in his feature directorial debut), produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the '' Toy Story ...
''.
With
Dow Jones & Company looking to replace three companies in its
industrial average, Disney was chosen to fill one of the spots in May, with the statement saying that Disney reflects "The importance of entertainment and leisure activities in the economy". Disney's next animated film ''
Beauty and the Beast
''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine ...
'' was released on November 13, 1991, and grossed nearly $430 million. It was the first animated film to win a
Golden Globe for
Best Picture
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
, and it received six Academy Award nominations, becoming the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture Oscar; It won Best Score,
Best Sound, and Best Song for "Beauty and the Beast". The film was critically acclaimed, with some considering it to be the best Disney film. To coincide with their new release ''
The Mighty Ducks
''The Mighty Ducks'' is an American media franchise. It features a trilogy of live-action films released in the 1990s by Walt Disney Pictures, an animated television series, a live-action sequel television series, and a real-world hockey team ...
'', Disney founded
NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
team
The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 1992. Disney's next animated feature ''
Aladdin'' was released on November 11, 1992, and grossed $504 million, becoming the highest-grossing animated film up to that point, and the first animated film to reach the half-billion-dollar mark. It won two Academy Awards for Best Song for "
A Whole New World
"A Whole New World" is the signature song from Disney's 1992 animated feature film ''Aladdin'', with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Tim Rice. A duet originally recorded by singers Brad Kane and Lea Salonga in their respective roles as the ...
" and Best Score; "A whole New World" was the first and only Disney song to win the
Grammy for
Song of the Year. For $60 million, Disney broadened their more mature films by acquiring independent film distributor
Miramax Films
Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California.
It was initially a lead ...
in 1993. In a joint venture with
The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US.
Founded in 1951, The Nat ...
, Disney purchased 8,500 acres (3,439 ha) of Everglades headwaters in Florida in 1993 to protect native animals and plant species, establishing the
Disney Wilderness Preserve.
On April 3, 1994, Frank Wells died in a helicopter crash, while on a vacation to go skiing. He, Eisner, and Katzenberg helped the company's market value go from $2 billion to $22 billion since taking office in 1984. On June 15, ''
The Lion King
''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance ...
'' was released and was a massive success. It became the second highest-grossing film of all time behind ''
Jurassic Park'' and the highest-grossing animated film of all time, with a gross total of $968.5 million. It garnered two Academy Awards for Best Score and Best Song for "
Can You Feel the Love Tonight
"Can You Feel the Love Tonight" is a song from Disney's 1994 animated film ''The Lion King'' composed by English musician Elton John with lyrics by Tim Rice. At the 67th Academy Awards in March 1995 it won the Academy Award for Best Original So ...
" and was critically praised. Soon after its release, Katzenberg left the company after Eisner would not promote him to president. After leaving, he co-founded film studio
DreamWorks SKG DreamWorks may refer to:
* DreamWorks Pictures, an American film production company of Amblin
** DreamWorks Television, an American television production company and division of the film studio
** DreamWorks Records, an American record label and ...
. Wells' spot was later replaced by one of Eisner's friends
Michael Ovitz
Michael Steven Ovitz (born December 14, 1946) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was a talent agent who co-founded Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in 1975 and served as its chairman until 1995. Ovitz later served as preside ...
on August 13, 1995. In 1994, Disney had been looking to buy one of the big three networks, ABC, NBC, or CBS, which would give them guaranteed distribution for its programming. Eisner sought out to buy NBC, but the deal was cancelled once he heard
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...
wanted to keep a majority stake. In 1994, Disney reached $10.1 billion in revenue, with the film industry being 48% of the total, the theme parks being 34%, and 18% of it from merchandising. Disney's total net income was up 25% from the year before at $1.1 billion.
Grossing over $346 million, ''
Pocahontas
Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, known as Matoaka, 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman, belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of ...
'' was released on June 16, garnering the Academy Awards for Best Musical or Comedy Score and Best Song for "
Colors of the Wind
"Colors of the Wind" is a song written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz for Walt Disney Pictures' 33rd animated feature film, ''Pocahontas'' (1995). The film's theme song, "Colors of the Wind" was originally recorded by Am ...
". Pixar and Disney's first release together was the first-ever fully computer-generated film ''Toy Story.'' It was released on November 19, 1995, to critical acclaim and an end-run gross total of $361 million. The film won the
Special Achievement Academy Award, as well as being the first animated film to be nominated for
Best Original Screenplay
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...
.
In 1995, Disney announced a $19 billion acquisition of
Capital Cities/ABC Inc., which at the time was the second largest corporate takeover in US history. Through the deal, Disney would obtain broadcast network ABC, an 80% majority stake in sports network
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
and
ESPN 2
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%).
ESPN2 was initially f ...
, 50% in
Lifetime Television
Lifetime is an American basic cable channel that is part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, a subsidiary of A&E Networks, which is jointly owned by Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company. It features programming that is geared toward ...
, a majority stake of
DIC Entertainment
DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production com ...
, and a 37.5% minority stake in
A&E Television Networks
A&E Networks (stylized as A+E NETWORKS) is an American multinational broadcasting company that is a 50–50 joint venture between Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company through its General Entertainment Content division. The company o ...
.
Following the deal, the company started a radio program focused for youth on
ABC Radio Network
Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which ...
called
Radio Disney on November 18, 1996. The Walt Disney Company launched its official website
disney.com
disney.com is a website operated by Disney Digital Network, a division of The Walt Disney Company, that promotes various Disney properties such as films, television shows, and theme park resorts, and offers entertainment content intended for child ...
on February 22, mainly to promote their theme parks and give information on its merchandise. On June 19, the company's next animated film ''
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (french: Notre-Dame de Paris, translation=''Our Lady of Paris'', originally titled ''Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482'') is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. It focuses on the unfortunate story ...
'' was released, grossing $325 million at the box office. Because Ovitz's management style was different from Eisner's, Ovitz was fired as president of the company in 1996. Disney lost a $10.4 million lawsuit in September 1997 to Marsu B.V. over Disney's failure to produce as contracted 13 half-hour ''
Marsupilami
''Marsupilami'' is a comic book character and fictional animal species created by André Franquin. Its first appearance was in the 31 January 1952 issue of the Franco-Belgian comics magazine '' Spirou''. Since then it appeared regularly in th ...
'' cartoon shows. Instead, Disney felt other internal "hot properties" deserved the company's attention. With a 25% stake in the
California Angels, Disney bought out the team in 1998 for $110 million, renaming the team the Anaheim Angels and renovating their stadium for $100 million. ''
Hercules
Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
The Romans adapted the ...
'' was released on June 13 and underperformed at the box office compared to the previous films, grossing $252 million. On February 24, Disney and Pixar signed a ten-year contract to make 5 films together, with Disney as the distributor. They would share the cost, profits, and logo credits, calling the films a Disney-Pixar production. During the Disney Renaissance, film division Touchstone Pictures also saw success, with film such as ''
Pretty Woman'' (1990), which has the highest number of ticket sales in the U.S. for a
romantic comedy
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
and grossed $432 million; ''
Sister Act
''Sister Act'' is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Emile Ardolino and written by Paul Rudnick (as Joseph Howard). It stars Whoopi Goldberg as a lounge singer forced to join a convent after being placed in a witness protection program. I ...
'' (1992), which was one of the more financially successful comedies of the early 1990s, grossing $231 million; action film ''
Con Air
''Con Air'' is a 1997 American action thriller film directed by Simon West and starring Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and John Malkovich. Written by Scott Rosenberg and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, the film centers on a prison break aboard a ...
'' (1997), which grossed $224 million; and the highest-grossing film of 1998 at $553 million ''
Armageddon
According to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, Armageddon (, from grc, Ἁρμαγεδών ''Harmagedōn'', Late Latin: , from Hebrew: ''Har Məgīddō'') is the prophesied location of a gathering of armies ...
'' (1998).
At Disney World, the company opened the largest theme park in the world covering 580 acres (230 ha)
Disney's Animal Kingdom
Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park is a zoological theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. Owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division, it is the l ...
on
Earth Day, April 22, 1998. It is made up of six lands based off
zoological themes, with the
Tree of Life
The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythological, religious, and philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The Assyrian Sacred Tree: A Hist ...
as the park's centerpiece and over 2,000 animals. Receiving positive reviews, Disney's next animated films, ''
Mulan
Hua Mulan () is a legendary folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century CE) of Chinese history.
According to legend, Mulan took her aged father's place in the conscription for the army by disguising herself as ...
'' and Disney-Pixar film ''
A Bug's Life
''A Bug's Life'' is a 1998 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It was the second feature-length film produced by Pixar. Directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Andrew Stant ...
,'' were released on June 5 and November 20, respectively. Mulan became the sixth highest-grossing film of 1998 at $304 million, and ''A Bug's Life'' was the fifth highest at $363 million.
In a $770 million transaction, on June 18, Disney bought a 43% stake of Internet search engine
Infoseek
Infoseek (also known as the "big yellow") was an American internet search engine founded in 1994 by Steve Kirsch.
Infoseek was originally operated by the Infoseek Corporation, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. Infoseek was bought by The Wa ...
for $70 million, also giving Infoseek earlier acquired
Starwave
Starwave was a Seattle, Washington-based software and website company, founded in 1993 by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and led by CEO Mike Slade. The company produced original CD-ROM titles, including ''Muppets Inside'', and titles for ...
. With negotiations between
Carnival and
Royal Caribbean not going well, in 1994, Disney announced they would start their own cruise line operations starting in 1998. The first two ships part of the
Disney Cruise Line
Disney Cruise Line is a cruise line operation that is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. The company was incorporated in 1996 as Magical Cruise Company Limited, through the first vessel, ''Disney Magic'' and is domiciled in London, Englan ...
would be named ''
Disney Magic
''Disney Magic'' is the first cruise ship owned and operated by Disney Cruise Line, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. She has 11 public decks, can accommodate 2,700 passengers in 875 staterooms, and has a crew of approximately 950. The int ...
'' and ''
Disney Wonder
''Disney Wonder'' is a cruise ship operated by Disney Cruise Line. She was the second ship to join the Disney fleet on entering service in 1999. ''Disney Wonder'' is of the same class as . The other three ships in the fleet are the , , and . The ...
'' and would be built by
Fincantieri
Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...
in Italy. To accompany the cruises, Disney bought Gorda Cay as the line's private island and spent $25 million on remodeling it and renamed it
Castaway Cay. On July 30, 1998, ''Disney Magic'' set sail as the line's first voyage. Starting web portal
Go.com
Go.com (also known as The Go Network) is a portal for Disney content that was created after The Walt Disney Company acquired the search engine Infoseek. Go.com is operated by Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, one of four divisions of the ...
in a joint venture with Infoseek on January 12, 1999, Disney later acquired the rest of Infoseek that year.
Marking the end of the Disney Renaissance,
''Tarzan'' was released on June 12, garnering $448 million at the box office and critical acclaim; it also claimed the Academy Award for Best Original Song for
Phil Collins' "
You'll Be in My Heart
"You'll Be in My Heart" is a song by English drummer and singer Phil Collins from the 1999 Disney animated feature ''Tarzan''. It appeared on '' Tarzan: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack'' as well as various other Disney compilations. ...
". ''Toy Story's'' sequel and Disney-Pixar film ''
Toy Story 2
''Toy Story 2'' is a 1999 American computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The second installment in the ''Toy Story'' franchise and the sequel to '' Toy Story'' (1995), it was directed by John ...
'' was released on November 13 as a successful film, garnering praise and $511 million at the box office''.'' Filling Ovitz spot, Eisner named ABC network chief
Bob Iger president and
COO
COO or coo may refer to:
Business
* Certificate of origin, used in international trade
* Chief operating officer or chief operations officer, high-ranking corporate official
* Concept of operations, used in Systems Engineering Management Process
...
of the company on January 25, 2000. In November, Disney sold DIC Entertainment back to
Andy Heward, although still doing business with them. Disney had another huge success with Pixar when they released ''
Monsters, Inc.'' in 2001. Later, Disney bought children's cable network
Fox Family Worldwide
ABC Family Worldwide is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Television that is responsible for the operations of the U.S. cable network Freeform.
The company was originally formed as International Family Entertainment, a spin-off of the Christian Broad ...
for $3 billion and the assumption of $2.3 billion in debt. The deal also included 76% stake in
Fox Kids Europe
Jetix Europe N.V. (formerly known as Fox Kids Europe N.V.) was a European television broadcasting company that owned children's television channels and programming blocks across the Europe and Middle East, such as Jetix and Jetix Play.
History ...
, Latin American
Fox Kids, more than 6,500 episodes from
Saban Entertainment
Saban Entertainment, Inc. (along with Saban International; currently operating under the legal name is BVS Entertainment, Inc.) was a worldwide-served independent American-Israeli television production company formed in 1980 by Haim Saban and ...
's programming library, and the
Fox Family Channel
The American cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and six different name changes) during its h ...
. In 2001, Disney's operations declined with a net loss of $158 million in fiscal, a decline in viewership on the ABC television network, as well as decreased tourism due to the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
. Disney earnings in fiscal 2001 were $120 million, heavily reduced from the previous year's $920 million. To help with costs savings, Disney announced they would be laying off 4,000 employees and closing 300 to 400 Disney stores. After winning the
World Series in 2002, Disney sold the Angels to businessman
Arturo Moreno for $180 million in 2003. In 2003, Disney became the first studio to garner $3 billion in a year at the box office. Roy Disney announced his retirement in 2003 because of the way the company was being run, calling on Eisner to retire; the same week, board member
Stanley Gold
Stanley Phillip Gold (born September 10, 1942) is the former president and CEO of Shamrock Holdings, Roy E. Disney's private investment company, from 1985 to 2013, and is currently serving as chairman of its board of directors. He was on the Wal ...
retired for the same reasons, forming the "Save Disney" campaign together.
In 2004, at the company's annual meeting, the shareholders, in a 43% vote, voted Eisner out of his position as chairman of the board. On March 4,
George J. Mitchell
George John Mitchell Jr. (born August 20, 1933) is an American politician, diplomat, and lawyer. A leading member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States senator from Maine from 1980 to 1995, and as Senate Majority Leader from 19 ...
, who was a member of the board, was named as Eisner's replacement.
In April, Disney purchased the ''Muppets'' franchise from the Jim Henson Company for $75 million, founding the
Muppets Holding Company, LLC in the process. Following the massive success of Disney-Pixar films ''
The Incredibles
''The Incredibles'' is a 2004 American computer-animated superhero film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Written and directed by Brad Bird, it stars the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah ...
'' (2004) and ''
Finding Nemo'' (2003), which became the second highest-grossing animated film of all time at $936 million, Pixar looked for a new distributor once their deal with Disney ended in 2004. After the Disney Stores were struggling, Disney sold the chain of 313 stores to
Children's Place
The Children's Place Inc. is a specialty retailer of children’s apparel and accessories headquartered in New Jersey. It also markets apparel under the Children's Place, Place, Baby Place, and Gymboree brand names.
As of October 31, 2015, it o ...
on October 20. Disney also sold the Mighty Ducks NHL team to
Henry Samueli
Henry Samueli (born September 20, 1954) is an American businessman, engineer, and philanthropist.
He is the co-founder of Broadcom Corporation, owner of the National Hockey League's Anaheim Ducks, and a prominent philanthropist in the Orange Co ...
and his wife Susan in 2005. Roy decided to rejoin the company and was given the role of a consultant with the title of "Director Emeritus".
2005–2020: Bob Iger's leadership, expansion, and Disney+
In March 2005, it was announced that Bob Iger, president of the company, would become CEO of Disney after Eisner's retirement in September; Iger was officially named head of the company on October 1. Disney's eleventh theme park
Hong Kong Disneyland opened in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
, China, on September 12, costing the company $3.5 billion to make. On January 24, 2006, Disney made a move to acquire Pixar from
Steve Jobs for $7.4 billion. Iger made Pixar
CCO John Lasseter
John Alan Lasseter (; born January 12, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, animator, voice actor, and the head of animation at Skydance Animation. He was previously the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios ...
and president
Ed Catmull
Edwin Earl "Ed" Catmull (born March 31, 1945) is an American computer scientist who is the co-founder of Pixar and was the President of Walt Disney Animation Studios. He has been honored for his contributions to 3D computer graphics, including th ...
the head of the
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...
. A week later, Disney traded
ABC Sports
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Televisi ...
commentator
Al Michaels
Alan Richard Michaels (born November 12, 1944) is an American television sportscaster currently working as the play-by-play announcer for '' Thursday Night Football'' on Prime Video and in an emeritus role for NBC Sports. He has worked on n ...
to
NBCUniversal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States.
NBCUniversal is primaril ...
to get back the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and the old 26 Oswald shorts. On February 6, the company announced they would be merging its ABC Radio networks and 22 stations with
Citadel Broadcasting
Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the country. Only iHeartMedia and Cumulus Media ...
in a $2.7 billion deal. Through the deal, Disney also acquired 52% of television broadcasting company
Citadel Communications
Citadel Communications Ltd. is an American private broadcasting company. It is based in Bronxville, New York and owns 1 low-power television station on which it operates a regional 24-hour cable news channel. The company was founded in 1982 by f ...
. The Disney Channel movie ''
High School Musical
''High School Musical'' is a 2006 American musical television film directed by Kenny Ortega and written by Peter Barsocchini. The 63rd Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) and first installment of the ''High School Musical'' film series, ...
'' aired, and its soundtrack went triple
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Pla ...
, becoming the first Disney Channel film to do so.
Disney's 2006 live-action film ''
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'' was Disney's biggest hit to that date and the third highest grossing film ever, making a little over $1 billion at the box office. On June 28, the company announced they would be replacing George Mitchell as chairman with one of their board members and former CEO of
P&G John E. Pepper Jr.
John E. Pepper Jr. (born August 2, 1938) is an American businessman. He served as chief executive officer and/or chairman of Procter & Gamble from 1995 to 2002. He was also CEO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and until 2012 se ...
In 2007.
The sequel ''
High School Musical 2
''High School Musical 2'' is a 2007 American musical television film written by Peter Barsocchini and directed by Kenny Ortega. The 70th Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM), it is the sequel to ''High School Musical'' (2006) and the second inst ...
'' was released in 2007 on Disney Channel and broke several cable rating records. In April 2007, the
Muppets Holding Company was moved from Disney Consumer Products to the Walt Disney Studios division and renamed the
Muppets Studios as part of efforts to relaunch the division.
''
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End'' became the highest-grossing film of 2007 at $960 million. Disney-Pixar films
''Ratatouille'' (2007) and ''
WALL-E
''WALL-E'' (stylized with an interpunct as ''WALL·E'') is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed and co-written by Andrew Stanton, pro ...
'' (2008) were a tremendous success, with WALL-E winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. After acquiring most of
Jetix Europe
Jetix Europe N.V. (formerly known as Fox Kids Europe N.V.) was a European television broadcasting company that owned children's television channels and programming blocks across the Europe and Middle East, such as Jetix and Jetix Play.
History ...
through the acquisition of Fox Family Worldwide, Disney took full control of the company in 2008 for $318 million.
Bob Iger introduced
D23 in 2009 as Disney's official fan club, with a biennial exposition event D23 Expo. In February, Disney announced a distribution deal with
DreamWorks DreamWorks may refer to:
* DreamWorks Pictures, an American film production company of Amblin
** DreamWorks Television, an American television production company and division of the film studio
** DreamWorks Records, an American record label and f ...
to distribute 30 of their films over the next 5 years through Touchstone Pictures, with Disney getting 10% of the gross. With the release of the widely popular film ''Up (2009 film), Up'', Disney garnered $735 million at the box office, with the film also winning Best Animated Feature at the Oscars. Later, Disney launched a television channel geared towards older children named Disney XD. Disney bought full control of Marvel Entertainment and its assets in August for $4 billion, adding superheroes available for its merchandising. In September, Disney partnered with News Corporation and NBCUniversal in a deal to each get 27% equity in streaming service
Hulu, adding ABC Family and Disney Channel to the streaming service. On December 16, Roy E. Disney died of stomach cancer as the last person in the Disney family to actively work for Disney. In March 2010, Haim Saban reacquired the ''Power Rangers'' franchise, including its 700-episode library, from Disney for around $100 million. Shortly after, Disney sold Miramax Films to an investment group headed by Ronald Tutor for $660 million. During that time, Disney released the live-action ''Alice in Wonderland (2010 film), Alice in Wonderland'' and Disney-Pixar film ''Toy Story 3'' which both grossed a little over $1 billion, making it the sixth and seventh film to do so, with ''Toy Story 3'' becoming the first animated film to make over $1 billion and highest-grossing animated film. That year, Disney became the first studio to release two $1 billion films in a single year. After starting ImageMovers Digital with ImageMovers in 2007, Disney announced that it would be closing by 2011 in 2010.
The following year, Disney released their last Traditional animation, traditionally animated film ''Winnie the Pooh (2011 film), Winnie the Pooh'' to theaters.
The release of ''Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides'' took in a little over $1 billion, making it the eighth film to do so and Disney's highest-grossing film internationally, as well as the third highest ever. In January 2011, Disney Interactive Studios was downsized, laying off 200 employees. In April, Disney broke ground on new theme park Shanghai Disney Resort, costing $4.4 billion to build. Later, in August, Bob Iger stated on a conference call that after the success of the
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...
and Marvel Entertainment, Marvel purchases, he and the Walt Disney Company were looking to "buy either new characters or businesses that are capable of creating great characters and great stories." On October 30, 2012, Disney announced that they would be buying Lucasfilm, Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion from George Lucas. Through the deal, Disney gained access to franchises such as ''Star Wars'', which they said that they would make a new film for every 2 to 3 years with the first one being released in 2015, and ''Indiana Jones'', as well as visual effects studio Industrial Light & Magic and video game developer LucasArts. The sale was later completed on December 21, 2012.
Later, in early February 2012, Disney completed its acquisition of UTV Software Communications, expanding their market further into India and Asia. By March, Iger assumed the role as chairman of the board. Marvel film ''The Avengers (2012 film), The Avengers'' became the third highest-grossing film of all time at an initial release gross of $1.3 billion. Making over $1.2 billion at the box office, Marvel film ''Iron Man 3'' was released as a huge success in 2013. The same year, Disney's animated film ''Frozen (2013 film), Frozen'' was released and became the highest-grossing animated film of all time at $1.2 billion. Merchandising for the film became so popular that they made $1 billion off of it within a year and a global shortage of merchandise for the film occurred. In March 2013, Iger announced that there were no 2D animation films in development and a month later the hand-drawn division of animation was closed, with several veterans being laid off.
On March 24, 2014, Disney acquired Maker Studios, an active multi-channel network on YouTube, for $950 million.
On February 5, 2015, it was announced that Thomas O. Staggs had been promoted to COO.
In June, Disney stated that its consumer products and interactive divisions would merge together to create new a subsidiary of the company Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media. In August,
Marvel Studios was reorganized and placed under division Walt Disney Studios. After the release of the successful animated film ''Inside Out (2015 film), Inside Out,'' which grossed over $800 million, Marvel film ''Avengers: Age of Ultron'' was released and grossed over $1.4 billion. ''Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' was released and grossed over $2 billion, making it the third highest-grossing film of all time. In October, Disney announced that television channel ABC Family would be changing its name to
Freeform in 2016, with the goal to broaden its audience coverage. On April 4, 2016, Disney announced that COO Thomas O. Staggs, who was thought to be next in line after Iger, and the company had mutually agreed to part ways, effective May 2016, ending his 26-year career with the company.
After breaking ground in 2012, Shanghai Disneyland opened on June 16, 2016, as the company's sixth theme park resort. In a move to start a streaming service, Disney bought 33% of the stock in MLB technology company Bamtech, BAMtech for $1 billion in August. In 2016, Disney had four films that made over $1 billion, which were the animated film ''Zootopia'', Marvel film ''Captain America: Civil War'', Pixar film ''Finding Dory,'' and ''Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,'' making Disney the first studio to surpass $3 billion at the domestic box office. Disney also made an attempt to buy social media platform Twitter to market their content and merchandise on, but ultimately dropped out of the deal. Iger stated that the reason was because he thought the company would be taking on responsibilities it didn't need to and that it didn't "feel Disney" to him.
On March 23, 2017, Disney announced that Iger had agreed to a one-year extension of his term as CEO through July 2, 2019, and had agreed to remain with the company as a consultant for three years after stepping down. On August 8, 2017, Disney announced it would be ending its distribution deal with streaming service Netflix, with the intent to launch its own streaming platform by 2019 built off BAMtech's technology. During that time, Disney made an investment of $1.5 billion to acquire a 75% stake in BAMtech. Disney also planned to start an ESPN streaming service with about "10,000 live regional, national, and international games and events a year" by 2018. In November, CCO John Lasseter said that he would take a six-month absence from the company because of "missteps", which was later reported to be sexual misconduct allegations. The same month, Disney and 21st Century Fox started negotiating a deal where Acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, Disney would acquire most of Fox's assets. Beginning in March 2018, a strategic reorganization of the company saw the creation of two business segments,
Disney Parks, Experiences and Products
Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, Inc., formerly Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and informally known as Disney Parks, is one of The Walt Disney Company's five major business segments and a subsidiary. It was founded on Apri ...
and Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International, Direct-to-Consumer & International. Parks & Consumer Products was primarily a merger of Parks & Resorts and Consumer Products & Interactive Media, while Direct-to-Consumer & International took over for Disney International and global sales, distribution, and streaming units from Disney-ABC TV Group and Studios Entertainment plus Disney Digital Network. While CEO Iger described it as "strategically positioning our businesses for the future", ''The New York Times'' considered the reorganization done in expectation of the 21st Century Fox purchase.
In 2017, Disney had two films go over the $1 billion mark, the live-action ''Beauty and the Beast (2017 film), Beauty and the Beast'' and ''Star Wars: The Last Jedi''. Disney launched subscription sports streaming service
ESPN+ on April 12. In June 2018, Disney declared that Lasseter would be leaving the company by the end of the year, staying as a consultant until then. As his replacements, Disney promoted Jennifer Lee (filmmaker), Jennifer Lee, co-director of ''Frozen'' and co-writer of Wreck-It Ralph, Wreck-it Ralph (2012), as head of Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Pete Docter, who had been with Pixar since 1990 and directed ''Up,
The Incredibles
''The Incredibles'' is a 2004 American computer-animated superhero film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Written and directed by Brad Bird, it stars the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah ...
,'' and ''Inside Out'', as head of Pixar. Later that month, Comcast offered to buy 21st Century Fox for $65 billion over Disney's $51 billion bid, but withdrew from their offer after Disney countered at $71 billion, with Comcast shifting their focus to buy Fox's Sky plc instead. Disney also obtained an AntiTrust, antitrust approval from the United States Department of Justice to acquire Fox. Disney made $7 billion at the box office again like they did in record-breaking year 2016 with three film that made $1 billion, Marvel films ''Black Panther (film), Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War'' and Pixar film ''Incredibles 2,'' with ''Infinity War'' surpassing $2 billion and becoming the fifth highest-grossing film ever.
On March 20, 2019, Disney acquired 21st Century Fox's assets for $71.3 billion from owner Rupert Murdoch, making it the biggest acquisition in Disney's history. After the purchase, ''The New York Times'' described Disney as "an entertainment colossus the size of which the world has never seen." Through the acquisition, Disney gained 20th Century Fox, 20th Century Fox Television, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Fox Networks Group, Indian television broadcaster Star India, and streaming services
Star+
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...
,
Hotstar
Disney+ Hotstar (also known as Hotstar) is an Indian brand of subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Novi Digital Entertainment of Disney Star and operated by Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, both d ...
, and a 30% stake in Hulu, which brought its total up to 60% ownership of the company. Fox Corporation and its assets were excluded from the deal because of antitrust laws. Disney also became the first film studio to have seven films gross $1 billion, which were Marvel's ''Captain Marvel (film), Captain Marvel,'' the live action ''Aladdin (2019 film), Aladdin,'' Pixar's ''Toy Story 4,'' the CGI remake of ''The Lion King (2019 film), The Lion King, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,'' and the highest-grossing film of all time up to that point at $2.797 billion ''Avengers: Endgame,'' before ''Avatar (2009 film), Avatar'' (2009) was re-released in China in 2021. On November 12, Disney's Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top streaming service
Disney+
Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...
, which had 500 movies and 7,500 episodes of TV shows from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, ''Star Wars'', National Geographic and other brands, was launched in the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands. Within the first day, the streaming platform had over 10 million subscriptions and by 2022 it had over 135 million subscribers and was in over 190 countries. At the beginning of 2020, Disney dropped the Fox name from all its assets rebranding it as 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures.
2020–2022: Bob Chapek's leadership, and COVID-19 pandemic
Bob Chapek
Robert Alan Chapek (born 1960) is an American media executive who was the chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from 2020 to 2022.
Before becoming CEO, Chapek had a 26-year career with The Walt Disney Company, beginning in th ...
, who had been with the company for 18 years and was chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, became CEO of Disney after Iger stepped down on February 25, 2020. Iger said that he would stay with the company as an Executive Chairman, executive chairmen until December 31, 2021, to help with the company's creative strategy. In April, Iger resumed operational duties of the company as executive chairman to help the company during the COVID-19 pandemic and Chapek was appointed to the board of directors. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Disney closed all of its theme parks, delayed several movies that were to be released, and stopped all operations on their cruise line. Due to the closures, Disney announced that they would stop paying 100,000 employees, but would still provide full healthcare benefits, along with urging the U.S. employees to apply for government benefits through the $2 trillion stimulus check, saving the company $500 million a month. In addition, Iger gave up his entire $47.5 million salary and Chapek took a 50% reduction in his salary.
In the company's second fiscal quarter of 2020, Disney reported a $1.4 billion loss, with their earnings dropping by 91% from the previous year's $5.4 billion down to $475 million. By August, two-thirds of the company was owned by large financial institutions.
In September, the company had to fire 28,000 employees, 67% of which were part-time workers, from its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Chairman of the division Josh D'Amaro wrote, "We initially hoped that this situation would be short-lived, and that we would recover quickly and return to normal. Seven months later, we find that has not been the case." Additionally, Disney lost a total of $4.7 billion in its fiscal third quarter of 2020. In November, Disney laid off another 4,000 employees from the Parks, Experiences and Products division, rising the total to 32,000 employees. The following month, Disney named Alan Bergman as chairman of its Disney Studios Content division to oversee its film studios. Due to the COVID-19 recession, Disney shutdown 20th Century Studios' animation studio Blue Sky Studios in February 2021. With Touchstone Television ceasing operations in December, Disney announced in March 2021 that it would be launching a new division of the company 20th Television Animation to focus on mature audiences. In April, Disney and Sony agreed to a multiyear licensing deal that would give Disney access to Sony's films from 2022 to 2026 to air on their television networks or stream on Disney+ once Sony's deal with Netflix ends. Although it did not do well at the box office because of COVID-19, Disney's release of the animated film ''Encanto'' was one of the biggest hits during the pandemic, with its song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" becoming immensely popular.
After Iger's term as executive chairman ended on December 31, he announced that he would also be stepping down as chairman of the board. To replace him, the company brought in an operating executive at The Carlyle Group and current board member Susan Arnold as Disney's first ever woman chairman. On March 10, Disney ceased all operations it was doing in Russia because of 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Disney was the first major Hollywood studio to halt the release of a major motion picture due to Russia's invasion, and other movie studios followed soon after. In March 2022, around 60 employees protested Disney and Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act, the company's response about staying silent on the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act, also dubbed the Don't Say Gay Bill, which prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in a manner that is not age appropriate in Florida's public school districts. Dubbed as the "Disney Do Better Walkout", the employees protested near a Disney studios lot for about a week, with other employees voicing their concerns through social media. With employees calling on Disney to stop campaign contributions to Florida's politicians who supported the bill, to help protect employees from it, and to stop construction at Walt Disney World in Florida, Chapek responded by stating that the company had made a mistake by staying silent and said, "We pledge our ongoing support of the LGBT, LGBTQ+ community".
Amid Disney's response to the bill, Florida Legislature, Florida legislatures passed a bill to remove Disney's quasi-government district Reedy Creek, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signing the bill effective June 1. On June 28, Disney's board members unanimously agreed to give Chapek a three-year contract extension. In August, Disney Streaming passed Netflix in total subscriptions with 221 million subscribers compared to Netflix's 220 million.
2022–present: Bob Iger's return
On November 20, 2022, Iger accepted the position of CEO, replacing Chapek who was dismissed following a poor earnings performance. The board announced that Iger would serve for two years with a mandate to develop a strategy for renewed growth and help identify a successor.
Company units
The Walt Disney Company operates six primary business segments, with two primary divisions and four content groups:
Divisions
* Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution (DMED)
is responsible for all global distribution, operations, sales, advertising, data, and technology functions for the company's four content production groups, as well as management of the company's
direct-to-consumer businesses, including its Disney Streaming Services, multiple streaming services (Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and Star+), Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, theatrical exhibition unit, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, home media distribution, Disney Music Group, ABC Owned Television Stations and domestic television networks.
* Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products (DPEP) oversees the company's Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, theme parks, Disney Cruise Line, cruise line, travel-related assets, Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media, consumer products, and Disney Publishing Worldwide, publishing divisions. Disney's resorts and diversified related holdings include: Walt Disney World, Disneyland Resort, Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, Shanghai Disney Resort, Disney Vacation Club,
Disney Cruise Line
Disney Cruise Line is a cruise line operation that is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. The company was incorporated in 1996 as Magical Cruise Company Limited, through the first vessel, ''Disney Magic'' and is domiciled in London, Englan ...
, and Adventures by Disney. The division is led by Josh D'Amaro.
Content groups
* Walt Disney Studios (division), The Walt Disney Studios consists of the company's filmed entertainment and theatrical entertainment businesses, including
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit ...
,
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...
,
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...
,
Marvel Studios,
Lucasfilm,
20th Century Studios,
Searchlight Pictures
Searchlight Pictures, Inc. is an American film production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is part of the Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. for 20th Century Fox (later 20th Century St ...
, Disneynature, and Disney Theatrical Group. The division is led by Alan Bergman.
* Disney General Entertainment Content (DGE) consists of the company's entertainment-centric television channels and production companies in the United States, including Walt Disney Television (consisting of the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
television network, Disney Television Studios – ABC Signature, Searchlight Television, 20th Television and 20th Television Animation – and
Freeform), Disney Branded Television, FX Networks, ABC News, and 73% ownership of National Geographic Partners. The division is led by Dana Walden.
* ESPN Inc., ESPN and Sports Content focuses on ESPN Inc., ESPN's live sports programming, as well as sports news and original and non-scripted sports-related content, for the cable channels,
ESPN+, and ABC. The division is led by James Pitaro.
* Disney International Content and Operations focuses on overseeing local and regional contents that pipelined with global market through managing ad sales, distribution, productions, and operations for its international linear channels and streaming services, split into four different hubs: The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific, Asia-Pacific, The Walt Disney Company EMEA, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), The Walt Disney Company India, India, and The Walt Disney Company Latin America, Latin America. The division is led by Rebecca Campbell.
Leadership
Current
;Board of Directors
* Susan Arnold (Chairman)
* Mary Barra
* Safra Catz
* Amy Chang
* Francis deSouza
* Carolyn Everson
* Michael Froman
*
Bob Iger
* Maria Elena Lagomasino
* Calvin McDonald
* Mark Parker
* Derica W. Rice
;Executives
*
Bob Iger, Chief Executive Officer
** Alan Bergman, Chairman, Walt Disney Studios (division), Disney Studios Content
** Rebecca Campbell, Chairman, International Content and Operations
** Jennifer Cohen, Executive Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility
** Josh D'Amaro, Chairman,
Disney Parks, Experiences and Products
Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, Inc., formerly Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and informally known as Disney Parks, is one of The Walt Disney Company's five major business segments and a subsidiary. It was founded on Apri ...
** Horacio Gutierrez, Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel
*** Jolene Negre, Associate General Counsel and Secretary
*** Alicia Schwarz, Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer
** Ronald L. Iden, Senior Vice President and Chief Security Officer
** Christine McCarthy, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
*** Carlos A. Gómez, Senior Vice President and Treasurer
*** Diane Jurgens, Executive Vice President, Enterprise Technology and Chief Information Officer
*** Alexia S. Quadrani, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations
*** Brent Woodford, Executive Vice President, Controllership, Finance and Tax
** James Pitaro, Chairman, ESPN Inc., ESPN and Sports Content
** Paul Richardson, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer
*** Latondra Newton, Senior Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer
** Kristina Schake, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Communications Officer
** Dana Walden, Chairman, Disney General Entertainment Content
Past leadership
;Executive chairmen
*
Bob Iger (2020–2021)
;Chairmen
Walt Disney stepped down as chairman in 1960 to focus more on the creative aspects of the company, becoming the "executive producer in charge of all production."
After a four-year vacancy, Roy O. Disney became chairman.
*
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
(1945–1960)
*
Roy O. Disney
Roy Oliver Disney (; June 24, 1893 – December 20, 1971) was an American businessman and co-founder of The Walt Disney Company. He was the older brother of Walt Disney and the father of Roy E. Disney.
Biography Early life
Disney was bor ...
(1964–1971)
*
Donn Tatum
Donn B. Tatum (January 9, 1913 – May 31, 1993) was an American businessman and the first non-Disney family member to be an executive of Walt Disney Productions. Tatum held senior leadership positions with Disney for 25 years, becoming President ...
(1971–1980)
*
Card Walker
Esmond Cardon Walker (January 9, 1916 – November 28, 2005), commonly known as E. Cardon Walker or Card Walker, was an American businessman who served as a top executive at Walt Disney Productions during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. He was born in ...
(1980–1983)
*
Raymond Watson
Raymond "Ray" L. Watson (October 4, 1926 – October 20, 2012) was the former president of the Irvine Company, and served as chief planner during the 1960s and 1970s. He was also chairman of Walt Disney Productions from 1983 to 1984, and served o ...
(1983–1984)
*
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film st ...
(1984–2004)
*
George J. Mitchell
George John Mitchell Jr. (born August 20, 1933) is an American politician, diplomat, and lawyer. A leading member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States senator from Maine from 1980 to 1995, and as Senate Majority Leader from 19 ...
(2004–2006)
*
John E. Pepper Jr.
John E. Pepper Jr. (born August 2, 1938) is an American businessman. He served as chief executive officer and/or chairman of Procter & Gamble from 1995 to 2002. He was also CEO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and until 2012 se ...
(2007–2012)
*
Bob Iger (2012–2021)
* Susan Arnold (2022–present)
;Vice chairmen
*
Roy E. Disney
Roy Edward Disney KCSG (January 10, 1930 – December 16, 2009) was an American businessman. He was the longtime senior executive for the Walt Disney Company, which was founded by his father, Roy O. Disney, and his uncle, Walt Disney. At the ti ...
(1984–2003)
* Sanford Litvack (1999–2000)
;Presidents
*
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
(1923–1945)
*
Roy O. Disney
Roy Oliver Disney (; June 24, 1893 – December 20, 1971) was an American businessman and co-founder of The Walt Disney Company. He was the older brother of Walt Disney and the father of Roy E. Disney.
Biography Early life
Disney was bor ...
(1945–1968)
*
Donn Tatum
Donn B. Tatum (January 9, 1913 – May 31, 1993) was an American businessman and the first non-Disney family member to be an executive of Walt Disney Productions. Tatum held senior leadership positions with Disney for 25 years, becoming President ...
(1968–1971)
*
Card Walker
Esmond Cardon Walker (January 9, 1916 – November 28, 2005), commonly known as E. Cardon Walker or Card Walker, was an American businessman who served as a top executive at Walt Disney Productions during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. He was born in ...
(1971–1980)
*
Ron W. Miller (1980–1984)
*
Frank Wells
Franklin G. Wells (March 4, 1932 – April 3, 1994) was an American businessman who served as president of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until his death in 1994.
Life and career
Wells was born in Coronado, California and traced his ancestry ...
(1984–1994)
*
Michael Ovitz
Michael Steven Ovitz (born December 14, 1946) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was a talent agent who co-founded Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in 1975 and served as its chairman until 1995. Ovitz later served as preside ...
(1995–1997)
*
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film st ...
(1997–2000)
*
Bob Iger (2000–2012)
;Chief executive officers (CEO)
*
Roy O. Disney
Roy Oliver Disney (; June 24, 1893 – December 20, 1971) was an American businessman and co-founder of The Walt Disney Company. He was the older brother of Walt Disney and the father of Roy E. Disney.
Biography Early life
Disney was bor ...
(1929–1971)
*
Donn Tatum
Donn B. Tatum (January 9, 1913 – May 31, 1993) was an American businessman and the first non-Disney family member to be an executive of Walt Disney Productions. Tatum held senior leadership positions with Disney for 25 years, becoming President ...
(1971–1976)
*
Card Walker
Esmond Cardon Walker (January 9, 1916 – November 28, 2005), commonly known as E. Cardon Walker or Card Walker, was an American businessman who served as a top executive at Walt Disney Productions during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. He was born in ...
(1976–1983)
*
Ron W. Miller (1983–1984)
*
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film st ...
(1984–2005)
*
Bob Iger (2005–2020; 2022–present)
*
Bob Chapek
Robert Alan Chapek (born 1960) is an American media executive who was the chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from 2020 to 2022.
Before becoming CEO, Chapek had a 26-year career with The Walt Disney Company, beginning in th ...
(2020–2022)
;Chief operating officers
*
Card Walker
Esmond Cardon Walker (January 9, 1916 – November 28, 2005), commonly known as E. Cardon Walker or Card Walker, was an American businessman who served as a top executive at Walt Disney Productions during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. He was born in ...
(1968–1976)
*
Ron W. Miller (1980–1984)
*
Frank Wells
Franklin G. Wells (March 4, 1932 – April 3, 1994) was an American businessman who served as president of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until his death in 1994.
Life and career
Wells was born in Coronado, California and traced his ancestry ...
(1984–1994)
* Thomas O. Staggs (2015–2016)
Legacy
The Walt Disney Company is one of the world's largest entertainment companies and is considered to be a pioneer in the animation industry, having produced 790 features with 122 of the being animated films. Many of their films are considered to be the List of films considered the best, greatest of all time, including films such as ''Pinocchio'', ''Toy Story'', ''Bambi'', ''Ratatouille'', ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'', ''Mary Poppins'', and more. As of 2022, the company has won a combined total of 135 Academy Awards, with List of Academy Awards for Walt Disney, 32 of them coming from Walt. They have won 16 Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film, 16 for Best Original Song, 15 for Best Animated Feature, 11 for Best Original Score, 5 for Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film, Best Documentary Feature, 5 for Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, Best Visual Effects, and several others as well as a various amount of special awards. In addition, Disney has also won 29 Golden Globe Awards, 51 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards, and 36 Grammy Awards as of 2022. Disney has also created some of the most influential and memorable fictional characters of all time, such as
Mickey Mouse, Woody (Toy Story), Woody, Steve Rogers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Captain America (Marvel Cinematic Universe, MCU), Jack Sparrow, Tony Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Iron Man (MCU), and Elsa (Frozen), Elsa.
Disney has also been recognized by revolutionizing the animation industry. ''Den of Geek'' has said that the risk of making the first animated feature ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' has "changed cinema." The company, mainly through Walt, has been said to introduce more advanced techniques for animating, technological breakthroughs, as well as adding personalities to characters.
Some of Disney's technological breakthroughs for animation include the creation of the multiplane camera, xerography, CAPS, deep canvas, and RenderMan.
Many Disney songs from the films have also become extremely popular, with several appearing at the number one position on Billboard (magazine), Billboard's Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100. Other songs from the ''Silly Symphonies'' series became immensely popular and were heard all throughout the nation.
Disney has been ranked number 53 in the 2022 ''
Fortune 500'' list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue and number 4 in Fortune's 2022 "World's Most Admired Companies".
Smithsonian (magazine), ''Smithsonian Magazine'' declared that there is very "few symbols of pure Americana more potent than the Disney theme parks", and that they are "well-established cultural icons", with the company name and Mickey Mouse being "household names". Disney is also one of the biggest competitors in the theme park industry with 12 parks, all of which were the top 25 most visited parks in 2018. Disney had over 157 million visitors at their theme parks worldwide, making it the most visited theme park company in the world, doubling the attendance number of the company in second. Of the 157 million visitors, the Magic Kingdom made up a total of 20.8 million of the guests, making it the most visited theme park in the world. When Disney first started getting into the theme park industry, CNN stated, "It changed an already legendary company. And it changed the entire theme park industry." Walt Disney World has also been said to have "changed entertainment by showing how a theme park could help make a company into a lifestyle brand" by ''The Orange County Register''.
Criticism and controversies
The Walt Disney Company has been criticized for the purportedly Sexism, sexist and racist content in the past as well putting LGBT elements in their films and not having enough LGBT representation. There has also been controversies over alleged plagiarism, offering poor pay and working conditions, and treating animals poorly. Several films of Disney have been considered to be racist. One of Disney's most controversial films, ''
Song of the South,'' was criticized for having wrongful stereotypes portrayed as racist. For that reason, the film was never released to home video or Disney+. Other things that have been called out as racist are Sunflower, the black Centaurides, centaurette who serves a white centaurette from ''Fantasia'', the Siamese cats from ''Lady and the Tramp,'' who are considered to be overly exaggerated as Asians, stereotypes of the Native Americans tribe in ''Peter Pan'', and the crows from ''Dumbo,'' who are depicted as African Americans that use jive, with their leader being named Jim Crow, which is considered to be Jim Crow laws, a racist term referring to segregation laws. When watching a film on Disney+ considered to have wrongful racist stereotypes, Disney added a disclaimer before the film starts to help avoid controversies.
Disney has also been accused a number of times for plagiarism in their films from already existing works. Most notably, ''The Lion King'' has been accused of having many similarities in its characters and events to an animated series called ''Kimba the White Lion'' by animator Osamu Tezuka. Another film that Disney got criticized for having many similarities to the anime show ''Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water'' was ''Atlantis: The Lost Empire.'' The similarities were considered so prevalent that the studios' creator Gainax was going to sue Disney but was stopped by its series' network NHK. Creator of the short ''The Snowman'' (2014), Kelly Wilson, filed two lawsuits, one which came after the first one was dropped, against Disney for copyright infringement of her short in their animated film ''Frozen''. Disney later settled the lawsuit and made a deal with her, allowing the company to create a sequel for the film. Screenwriter Gary Goldman (screenwriter), Gary L. Goldman sued Disney over their creation of ''Zootopia'', claiming that he had pitched a same-titled story exactly like it to them in the past. A judge later dismissed the lawsuit stating that there was not enough evidence to prove any plagiarism.
Disney has received criticism for both putting LGBT elements into their films and not putting enough LGBT representation in its media. In the live-action film ''Beauty and the Beast,'' director Bill Condon announced that Le Fou (Disney), LeFou would come out as a Gay men, gay character. This caused Kuwait, Malaysia, and a theater in Alabama to ban the film, along with Russia giving it a stricter rating. In Russia and several Middle Eastern countries, the Pixar movie ''Onward (film), Onward'' was banned for having Disney's first openly lesbian character, Officer Specter, while others said that Disney needed to put more representation of LGBT into its media. Because of a scene featuring two lesbians kissing, Pixar's ''Lightyear (film), Lightyear'' was banned in 13 predominantly Muslim countries, with the film barely Break-even, breaking even at the box office. In a video of a leaked Disney meeting, participants talked about pushing LGBT themes in the company's media, making some people angry at Disney saying that they are "trying to sexualize children", while others applauded their actions.
Some Disney Princess, Disney princess films have been considered to be sexist towards women. Snow White is said to be too worried about her appearance, while Cinderella (Disney character), Cinderella is deemed to have no talents. Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Aurora is also said to not be strong, as she is always waiting to be rescued. Other things in princess films that are regarded as sexist are that in some of them men have more dialogue and have more speaking characters. Disney's newer films are considered to be an improvement when it comes to sexism than their older ones.
In 1990, Disney paid US$95,000 to avoid going to court over 16 Cruelty to animals, animal cruelty charges for beating vultures to death, shooting at birds, and starving some of them at Discovery Island (Bay Lake), Discovery Island. They did so because they were attacking other animals and taking their food. When Animal Kingdom first opened, there were concerns about the animals because a few of them died. Protest from animal rights groups occurred, but the United States Department of Agriculture found no violations of animal-welfare regulations. Disney is also said to have poor working conditions. A protest of 2,000 workers occurred at Disneyland for poor pay at an average of $13 an hour, with some saying that they were evicted from their home or apartment. In 2010, at a factory in China where Disney products were being made, workers went over the law by three times for working hours and one of the workers committed suicide.
Financial data
Revenues
Operating income
Film library
Highest-grossing films
See also
* Lists of films released by Disney
* List of Disney television series
* Disney University
* Disneyfication
* Buena Vista (brand), Buena Vista
* ''Mandeville-Anthony v. Walt Disney Co.'', a federal court case in which Mandeville claimed Disney infringed on his copyrighted ideas by creating ''Cars (film), Cars''
* List of conglomerates
* List of acquisitions by Disney
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company,
1923 establishments in California
1940s initial public offerings
American companies established in 1923
Companies based in Burbank, California
Companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Conglomerate companies established in 1923
Conglomerate companies of the United States
Entertainment companies based in California
Entertainment companies established in 1923
Culture of Hollywood, Los Angeles
Mass media companies established in 1923
Mass media companies of the United States
Multinational companies headquartered in the United States