Buena Vista ( Spanish for "good view") is a brand name that has historically been used for divisions and subsidiaries of

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on Octobe ...

, whose primary studios, the Walt Disney Studios, are located on Buena Vista Street in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, who ...

. The studio lot is also home to the company's corporate headquarters, the Team Disney Burbank building. The logos for the various Buena Vista brands featured the "Buena Vista" wordmark superimposed over the Disney castle logo to signal the affiliation between Buena Vista and Disney.

History

The brand was originally used for the Buena Vista Film Distribution Company, which had been established by Walt and Roy O. Disney to distribute '' The Living Desert'' (1953) after

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 ...

, Disney's longtime distributor, refused to. The company would go on to distribute all of Disney's future films, though some were still distributed by RKO until 1956 because of preexisting contracts. Disney semi-retired the Buena Vista name in May 2007 and the company was designated

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, formerly known as Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. until 2007, is an American film distribution studio within the Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. It h ...

. The

Walt Disney World Resort 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, ...

is located in the city of

Lake Buena Vista, Florida Lake Buena Vista () is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. It is mostly known for being the mailing address for Walt Disney World—although almost all of the resort facilities, including all four theme parks, are physically located ...

. The city's namesake lake was known as Black Lake before Walt Disney Enterprises acquired the land in the 1960s. The entrance area and themed land of Buena Vista Street at Disney California Adventure Park at the

Disneyland Resort The Disneyland Resort, commonly known as Disneyland, is an entertainment resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division and is home to two theme parks ...

also makes reference to the brand and real-life street in Burbank. In 1994, the first Spanish-language production emerged from Buena Vista Productions International, "Navidad en las Americas", a holiday program that aired on the

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and include ...

network. In 1996, Buena Vista International was described as the "international distribution division of the Walt Disney Company", including "marketing and distribution" of films in the United Kingdom (as of 1995), and Japan (as of 2005).

Reorganization

The following Buena Vista brands have been retired or renamed to a

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

and/or ABC name, in accordance with the company's branding strategy. Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Buena Vista Records and Lake Buena Vista, however, have not changed their names. Gaumont Buena Vista International, however, was a joint venture between

Gaumont Film Company The Gaumont Film Company (, ), often shortened to Gaumont, is a French film studio headquartered in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. Founded by the engineer-turned-inventor Léon Gaumont (1864–1946) in 1895, it is the oldest extant film company in ...

and the Walt Disney Company, established in January 1993. GBVI ensured the distribution of films of its two parent companies in France. After 11 years of existence, it was dissolved in 2004 as Disney prefers to distribute its own films as Buena Vista International (France). Buena Vista was revived as a name, Buena Vista Theatrical, for the former Fox Stage Production as a Disney Theatrical Group division.

Notes

References

{{Disney American brands Disney jargon The Walt Disney Company