Disney was originally founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt and Roy O. Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio;[4] 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. The company established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and theme parks.
1923–1934: Founding, Mickey Mouse, and Silly Symphonies
(left to right) Walt Disney and his brother Roy O. Disney co-founded The Disney Brother Studios, which later became The Walt Disney Company
At Laugh-O-Gram Studio, a film studio in Kansas City founded by Walt Disney and his friend and animator Ub Iwerks,[11] Disney made a short film entitled Alice's Wonderland, which featured child actress Virginia Davis interacting with animated characters. In 1923, soon after the short was made, Disney filed for bankruptcy, but the short later became a hit after New York film distributor Margaret J. Winkler purchased it, with Disney signing a contract for six Alice Comedies, with an option for two further series of six episodes each.[12][13] Before the signing, Disney decided to move to Hollywood to join his brother Roy O. Disney because Roy had tuberculosis.[14] This allowed them to co-found The Disney Brothers Studio to produce the films. He later convinced Iwerks and Davis' family to move to Hollywood as well.[13] In January 1926, with the completion of the Disney studio on Hyperion Street, The Disney Brothers Studio's name was changed to Walt Disney Studio.[15] After making 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 to be made, so Disney created his first series of fully animated films that would feature the character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.[16] Walt Disney Studio went on to create 26 films with Oswald in them.[17]
In 1928, Disney wanted a larger fee for his films, but Mintz wanted to reduce the price. After Disney found out that Universal owned the intellectual property rights to Oswald, Mintz threatened to produce the films without him if Disney did not take the reductions in payment.[17][18] Disney declined, and Mintz signed four of Disney's primary animators, with the exception Iwerks who stayed with Disney, to start his own studio.[19] Because of the loss of Oswald, Disney and Iwerks replaced him with a mouse originally named Mortimer Mouse, until Disney’s wife urged him to change it so he called him Mickey Mouse.[20] In May, they made two silent films with the character, Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho, as test screenings. Later, Disney’s first sound film and third short to the Mickey series Steamboat Willie was made with synchronized sound, creating the first post-produced sound cartoon.[21] Disney found Pat Powers’ distribution company to distribute the film, and Steamboat Willie became an immediate hit, leading the way for the companies dominance in the animation industry.[20][22][23] The sound was created using Powers’ Cinephone system, which used Lee de Forest's Phonofilm system.[24] Disney later successfully re-released the two earlier films with synchronized sound in 1929.[25][26]
One of Disney's first animated characters Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which Disney lost the rights to
After the release of Steamboat Willie at the Colony Theater in New York, Mickey Mouse became an immensely popular character.[26][20] Disney would go one to make several cartoons featuring Mickey and other characters.[27] In August, Disney began the Silly Symphony series with Columbia Pictures signing on as the series' distributor, because Walt and Roy felt that they were not getting their share of the profits with Power .[23] Powers would then sign off Iwerks, who would later start his own studio.[28]Carl Starling 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.[29][30] 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 one at Elsinore Theatre 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.[31][32] 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.[33] 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) and Roy owned 40 percent of the company.[34]
The comic strip Mickey Mouse debuted on January 13, 1930, in the New York Daily Mirror and by 1931, the strip was published in 60 newspapers in the US, as well as papers in twenty other countries.[35] After finding out that coming out with merchandise for the characters would generate more revenue for the company, at hotel a man in New York asked Walt for the license to put Mickey Mouse on some writing tablets he was manufacturing for $300. Walt agreed and Mickey became the first licensed character ever, beginning the start of Disney merchandising.[36][37] In 1933, Walt asked a man who owned a Kansas City advertising firm named Kay Kamen to run Disney's merchandising. He agreed and completely transformed 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.[38][39] Later, as a part of Disney's merchandising push, the Waterbury Clock Company 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.[40][35][39] As Mickey started to become more of the heroic type instead of a mischievous mouse, Disney needed another character that could produce gags.[41] When Walt was listing to the radio, he heard the voice of Clarence Nash 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. Though he did not become popular as fast as Mickey did, he got his own featured role in Donald and Pluto (1936) and eventually got his own series.[42]
After a fallout with Colombia Pictures for the Silly Symphonies, Walt signed a distribution contract with United Artist from 1932 to 1937.[43] In 1932, Disney signed an exclusive contract with Technicolor through the end of 1935 to produce cartoons in color, beginning with Flowers and Trees (1932), which was part of the Silly Symphonies.[44] The film was the first ever full-color cartoon and won the Academy Award for the Best Cartoon later that year.[21] In 1933, The Three Little Pigs became another popular Silly Symphonies and also won the Academy Award for Best Cartoon.[27][45] The song from the film "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", 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.[29] 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 won it.[27]
1934–1949: The Golden Age of Animation, strike, and World War II
The original animation building at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, which they fully moved into in 1940
In 1934, Walt decided to make Disney's first ever feature-length animated film and told his animators by acting out the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. 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.[46][47] Walt decided to go for a realistic approach to the film and created scenes from the film as if it were live action.[48] During the process of making the film, they created the multiplane camera, which was pieces of glass with drawings on them set at different distances, to create an illusion of depth for the backgrounds.[49] After United Artist attempted to attain future television rights to the Disney shorts, Walt signed distribution contract with RKO Radio Pictures on March 2, 1936.[50] They ended up exceeding their original budget for Snow White of $150,000 by ten times the amount at $1.5 million.[46]
It took them three years to make, debuting on December 12, 1937, becoming the highest-grossing film of all time to that point at $8 million equivalent to $150,796,296 in 2021; after several re-releases, the film would gross a total of $998,440,000 adjusted for inflation.[51][52] 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 was fully moved into in 1940.[53][54] On April 2, of the same year, Disney had its initial public offering, with the common stock remaining with Walt and his family, although Walt did not want to go public, but the company needed the money.[55] Shortly before Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' release, work on their next films Pinocchio and Bambi began, with Bambi being postponed.[50] Though Pinocchio would win the Academy Awards for Best Song and Best Score, along with making groundbreaking achievements in animations,[56] it would end up doing poorly in the box office during its release on February 23, 1940, because its international releases were cut off because of World War II.[57][58]
Disney's next film Fantasia was also a box-office bomb, but made great achievements by creating Fantasound, an early development surround sound, to produce the films' soundtrack, making it the first commercial film shown in stereo.[59][60][61] In 1941, Disney would have a major setback when 300 of its 800 animators, led mainly by Art Babbit, one of the companies top animators, 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 top ones.[62][63] Roy would try to get the companies' 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.[64] During the premiere of The Reluctant Dragon, Disney's fourth film where Robert Benchley would tour the Disney Studio, protesters from the strike showed up; the film would fall $100,000 dollars short of its production cost.[65]
Walt (right) dressed as a gaucho next to Donald Duck on the companies' goodwill trip to South America in Argentina
While negotiations were being made for the strike, Walt accepted an offer from the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs 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.[66] During the twelve weeks there, they would start plotting for films and were inspired by the music there.[67] 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.[68][63] To recover from their financial losses, Disney would create their fifth animated film Dumbo 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.[56][69] After the bombing of Pear Harbor, many of the companies animators would be drafted into the army.[70] Later, 500 soldiers from the United States Army began an occupation of the studio for eight months to protect a nearby Lockheed aircraft plant, where they would also fix equipment in large soundstages and convert storage sheds into ammunition depots.[71] 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 to create 20 war-related shorts for $90,000.[72] Most of the companies' employees got to work on the project and created films such as Victory Through Air Power and included some of the companies' characters in several of the films.[73][70]
In August, 1942, Bambi was finally released as Disney's sixth animated film and did not do well in the box office.[74] In 1943, Disney would go on to make Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros after their visit to South America, but they would do poorly upon their releases.[70][75] The two films were "package films", several short cartoons grouped together to make a feature film, which Disney would go on to make more such as Make Mine Music,Melody Time, Fun and Fancy Free, and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad to try to recover from their financial losses.[70] 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.[76][77] Because the company was short on money, in 1944, they planned to re-release their feature films, which would create much needed revenue.[77][78] In 1948, Disney began the nature documentary series True-Life Adventures, which would run until 1960 and win eight Academy Awards.[79][80] In 1949, while production on the animated film Cinderella was happening, the Walt Disney Music Company was founded in order to help with profits from merchandising, which the music from Cinderella was hoped to be a hit.[81]
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.[82] Because it was a success, he went back to England to produce The Story of Robin Hood and His Merry Men.[83] In 1950, the television industry began to grow, and Disney got in it on Christmas day, when NBC aired the companies first television production One Hour in Wonderland, which was a promotional program for Disney's next animated film Alice in Wonderland and sponsored by Coca-Cola.[84] 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.[85] 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 began.[86] Walt would only supervise over it, but it would be financed by a new subsidiary of Disney called Walt Disney British Films Limited.[87]
Walt (center) showing the plans of Disneyland to officials from Orange County in December 1954
Walt recalled that he first came up with the idea of an amusement park during one of his visits to Griffith Park 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.”[88][89] As Walt continued to think about Mickey Mouse Park, he changed the name to Disneylandia before changing it to its final name Disneyland.[86] 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 for the park. Shortly after, its name would change to Walt Disney Incorporated before changing its name to WED Enterprises[a] (now Walt Disney Imagineering) in November 1953.[90] He hired a group of designers to work on the plans and those who worked on it became dubbed as "Imagineers".[91] 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.[92] His plan to have the park built in Burbank near the studio quickly changed when he realized that eight 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, at $6,200 per acre to build the park.[93] 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.[94]
They designed the park to have guest enter into Main Street U.S.A., themed to resemble American small towns during the early 20th Century based largely off of Walt's hometown in Marceline, Missouri,[95] and walk down the street into the central hub, from which different themed lands branched out.[96][97] At the end of the street in the central hub would be a 77 ft (23 m) tall Sleeping Beauty Castle inspired by Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany and based on the castle from the Disney film of the same name, which would be released four years later.[98][99] The four original different themed lands of the park that branched out from the hub would consist of Frontierland, themed to the American Frontier of the 19th century; Adventureland, resembling a wild tropical jungle; Fantasyland, based on Disney's animated fairy tale films; and Tomorrowland, depicting views of the future, especially that of the Space Age.[100][101] In total, by the time the park opened, it costed the company $17 million to construct.[102]
In February 1953, Disney's next animated film Peter Pan was released and had been a success, but Walt wanted to figure out how to improve animation without raising the cost.[103] When Disney wanted to create a feature with two short films, The Living Desert, 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.[104] In 1954, Disney's first American live action film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was released, which was one of the first films to use CinemaScope.[105][106] 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, although he was always present at story meetings. Instead, he started concentrating on other things such as television and Disneyland.[107]
(left to right) Cast for The Mickey Mouse Club, which over 10 million children would watch every day, and Fess Parker as Davy Crockett in the show of the same name, which sold 10 million Crockett coonskin caps and over 10 million records of its theme song
To get money to create the park, the company decided to promote it through a television series. After trying to get NBC and CBS to sign on, in 1954, ABC made a deal with Disney for an hour-long weekly series starting in October called Disneyland, an anthology consisting of animated cartoons, live-action features, other materials from the studio's library, and go through segments of the four different areas of the amusement park.[108] The series was a success and garnered over 50% of viewers in their time slot, along with increasing audiences and praise from critics.[109] In August, Walt formed another company Disneyland, Inc., with Walt Disney Productions, himself, Western Publishing, which had been the publisher of Disney books for over twenty years, and ABC all holding stock in the company.[110]
In October, with the success of Disneyland, ABC allowed Disney to produce another series The Mickey Mouse Club, a variety show 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.[111] 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", written by Jimmie Dodd one of the show's main host, had become a classic.[112] On December 15, 1954, Disneyland aired an episode of the five-part miniseriesDavy Crockett, which starred Fess Parker as Crockett. According to writer Neal Gabler, "[It] became an overnight national sensation", selling 10 million Crockett coonskin caps.[113] The shows theme song "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" had spread throughout American pop culture as much as the Three Little Pig's "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wold" did, selling 10 million records. The Los Angeles Times called it "the greatest merchandising fad the world had ever seen".[114][115] In June 1955, Disney's 15th animated film Lady and the Tramp was released and did better in the box office than any other Disney films since Snow White.[116]
Walt Disney at the grand opening of Disneyland on July 17, 1955
On Sunday, July 17, 1955, Disneyland opened[b] with only Main Street completely done and the other lands offering some rides, coming to a total of 20 attractions. At the time, t cost $1 to get into the park and guest had to pay for each individual ride.[117] They were ready for 11,000 guest, but around 28,000 people showed up, because of a rush of counterfeit tickets. The opening was aired on ABC with actors Art Linkletter, Bob Cummings, 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.[118] 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 began to sink a little, several ride malfunctions occurred, and the drinking fountains were not working in the 100°F. (38°C) heat.[119][102] Within its first week of being open, Disneyland had 161,657 guest 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 guest came, making it more popular than places such as the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone Park. That year Disney had a gross total of $24.5 million compared to the $11 million the previous year.[120]
The Sherman Brothers, who composed many of the Disney songs throughout the 1960s, in 2002
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.[121] The animated films created were features such as Sleeping Beauty (1959), One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), and The Sword in the Stone (1963).[122] 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,[123]One Hundred and One Dalmatians introduced a new way of animating using the xerography process to electromagnetically transfer the drawings to animation cels.[124] In 1956, the Sherman brothersRobert and Richard were asked to create the theme song for the TV series Zorro.[125] Disney would later hire them as exclusive staff songwriters, which would be a ten-year association, and they would write many of songs for Disney's films, which several of them would be hits, and some for the theme park.[126][127] In the late 1950s, Disney would venture into the comedy 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,[128] and The Absent Minded Professor (1961), both starring Fred MacMurray.[122][129]
(left to right) Hayley Millsran and Kurt Russell were two of Disney's most prominent child actors in the 1950s and 60s
Disney also made several live-action films based on children's books including Pollyanna (1960) and Swiss Family Robinson (1960). Child actor Hayley Mills would star in Pollyanna, where she would win the Academy Juvenile Award, and five other Disney films, including her dual role as the twins in The Parent Trap (1961).[130][131] Another child actor Kevin Corcoran was a prominent figure in many of 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 (1957), Toby Tyler (1960), and Swiss Family Robinson.[132] 1964, the live action/animation musicalMary Poppins was released and became the highest grossing film of the year. It won five Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Julie Andrews as Poppins and Best Song for the Sherman Brothers', who also won Best Score for the film, "Chim Chim Cher-ee".[133][134]
(left to right) Dean Jones, who was considered "the figure who most represented Walt Disney Productions in the 1960s",[135] and Fred MacMurray, who starred in several of Disney's comedies in the 1960s
Walt, then Florida Governor Hayden Burns, and Roy announcing the plans for Disney World
In late 1959, Walt had an idea to build another park in Palm Beach, Florida, called the City of Tomorrow, a city full of technological improvements.[139] 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, announced the plans for another park called Disney World, which included the Magic Kingdom—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.[140] By 1967, the company had made several expansions to Disneyland including a whole new area called New Orleans Square, which would be filled with mostly shops and based on the look of New Orleans, Louisiana. Through 1966 to 1967 they added three more rides It's a Small World, the Disneyland Railroad, and Pirates of the Caribbean. In all, the expansion costed $20 million, which was $3 million more than it costed to make the park.[141] They also added several other rides before then such as Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, which was the first attraction to use audio-animatronics, Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress, which debuted at the 1964 New York World's Fair before moving to Disneyland in 1967, and Dumbo the Flying Elephant, which opened a month after the park opened.[97]
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 and the Disneyland Monorail.[142] When the company started looking for someone to sponsor the project, Walt renamed the City of Tomorrow to EPCOT, which stood for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.[143] 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, 1965, 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, caused by lung cancer.[144][145]
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 best film for the next two decades, and the live-action musical The Happiest Millionaire.[146][147] After Walt's death, the company largely abandoned the animation industry, but would still make several live-action films.[148][149] 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.[150] Disney's first post-Walt animated film The Aristocats was released in 1970, where Dave Kehr of Chicago Tribune said, "the absence of his [Walt's] hand is evident."[151] That following year the anti-fascist musical Bedknobs and Broomsticks was released and won the Oscar for Best Special Visual Effects.[152] 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.[153][154] In May 1967, He got a legislation passed by Florida's legislatures to grant Disney World's to have its own quasi-government agency in an area called the Reedy Creek Improvement District and later changed the name from Disney World to Walt Disney World to remind people it was Walt's dream.[155][156] Over time, EPCOT became less of the City of Tomorrow and developed more into another amusement park.[157] After 18 months of construction that costed around $400 million, Walt Disney World's first park the Magic Kingdom, along with Disney's Contemporary Resort and Disney's Polynesian Resort,[158] 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 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.[159][160]
On December 21, 1971, Roy died of cerebral hemorrhage at the St. Joseph Hospital.[154] After Roy's death, Donn Tatum, 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, who had been with the company since 1938, becoming president of the company.[161][162] 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.[163] In November, Disney released another animated film Robin Hood, which became Disney's biggest international grossing movie at $18 million.[164] Throughout the 1970s, Disney released several more live-action films such as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes' sequal Now You See Him, Now You Don't,[165]The Love Bug's two sequals Herbie Rides Again (1974) and Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977),[166][167]Escape to Witch Mountain (1975),[168] and Freaky Friday (1976).[169] In 1976, Card Walker took over as CEO of the company, with Tatum staying as the chairman until 1980 when Walker would replace him.[153][162] In 1977, Roy E. Disney, 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.[170]
In 1977, Disney's created the successful animated film The Rescuers, grossing $48 million at the box office.[171] 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.[172][173] In 1979, Disney's first ever PG rated film and most expensive film at $26 million dollars The Black Hole 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 like Star Wars (1977), the film was in response to other sci-fi movies that were being released.[174][175] In September, 12 animators, over 15 percent of the department, resigned from the studio. Led by Don Bluth, they left because of a conflict with the training program and the atmosphere at the studio, starting their own company Don Bluth Productions (which later became Sullivan Bluth Studios).[176][177] 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.[178] 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.[179][180] The same month, Disney's animated film The Fox and the Hound was released and became the highest grossing animated film to that point at $39.9 million.[181] 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.[150]
(left to right) Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle, Magic Kingdom's Cinderella Castle, and Epcot's Spaceship Earth are each of the park's main icon
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.[182][183] Costing the company over $900 million to construct, The park consisted of the Future World pavilion and the World Showcase 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).[182][184] The animation industry continued to decline and 69% of the companies profits were from its theme parks, with attendance of 12 million visitors to Walt Disney World which would decline by 5% next June.[182] On July 9, Disney released one of the first films to majorly use computer-generated imagery (CGI) Tron, which would a big influence on other CGI movies, although it only received mixed reviews.[185] In total in 1982, the company lost $27 million.[186] On April 15, 1983, Disney's first ever foreign park Tokyo Disneyland, similar to Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom, opened in Urayasu, Japan.[187] Costing around $1.4 billion, construction on the park started in 1979 when Disney and The Oriental Land Company agreed to build a park together. Within its first ten year, the park had been a hit with over 140 million visitors.[188] 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 loss $48.3 million after its first year, with 916,000 subscribers.[189][190]
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 became chairmen.[153][191] Ron would push for more more mature films from the studio,[192] and as a result, Disney founded the film distribution label Touchstone Pictures to produce movies geared toward adults and teenagers in 1984.[186]Splash (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.[193] 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.[194] The following year, Disney's first PG-13 rated film Adventures in Babysitting was released.[195] In 1984, Saul Steinberg 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.[196][197]
1984–2005: Michael Eisner's leadership, Disney Renaissance, and merger with Capital Cities/ABC, Inc.
With the Sid Bass family purchase of 18.7 percent of Disney, Bass and the board brought in Michael Eisner from Paramount as CEO and Frank Wells from Warner Bros. as president. Eisner emphasized Touchstone, with Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1985) leading to increased output with Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Dead Poets Society (1989), Pretty Woman (1990) and additional hits. Eisner used expanding cable and home video markets to sign deals using Disney shows and films, making a long-term deal with Showtime Networks for Disney/Touchstone releases through 1996 and entering television with syndication and distribution for TV series such as The Golden Girls and Home Improvement. Disney began limited releases of its previous films on videotapes in the late 1980s. Eisner's Disney purchased KHJ, an independent Los Angeles TV station.[198] Organized in 1985, Silver Screen Partners 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.[199] Silver Screen IV was also set up to finance Disney's studios.[200]
In 1989, Disney signed an agreement-in-principle to acquire Jim Henson Productions from its founder, Muppet creator Jim Henson. The deal included Henson's programming library and Muppet characters (excluding the Muppets created for Sesame Street), 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.[202] Named the "Disney Decade" by the company, the executive talent attempted to move the company to new heights in the 1990s with huge changes and accomplishments.[198] 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 which would supplant the Silver Screen Partnership series as their movie studios' primary source of funding.[200]
In 1991, hotels, home video distribution, and Disney merchandising became 28 percent of total company revenues while international revenues contributed 22 percent of total revenues. The company committed its studios in the first quarter of 1991 to produce 25 films in 1992. However, 1991 saw net income drop by 23 percent and had no growth for the year, but saw the release of Beauty and the Beast, winner of two Academy Awards and top-grossing film in the genre. Disney next moved into publishing with Hyperion Books and adult music with Hollywood Records while Walt Disney Imagineering was laying off 400 employees.[198] Disney also broadened its adult offerings in film when then-Disney Studio Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg acquired Miramax Films in 1993. That same year Disney created the NHL team the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, named after the 1992 hit film of the same name. Disney purchased a minority stake in the Anaheim Angels baseball team around the same time.[198]
Wells was killed in a helicopter crash in 1994.[198] Shortly thereafter, Katzenberg resigned and formed DreamWorks SKG because Eisner would not appoint Katzenberg to Wells' now-available post (Katzenberg had also sued over the terms of his contract).[198] Instead, Eisner recruited his friend Michael Ovitz, one of the founders of the Creative Artists Agency, to be President, with minimal involvement from Disney's board of directors (which at the time included Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier, Hilton Hotels Corporation CEO Stephen Bollenbach, former U.S. SenatorGeorge Mitchell, Yale dean Robert A. M. Stern, and Eisner's predecessors Raymond Watson and Card Walker). Ovitz lasted only 14 months and left Disney in December 1996 via a "no fault termination" with a severance package of $38 million in cash and 3 million stock options worth roughly $100 million at the time of Ovitz's departure. The Ovitz episode engendered a long-running derivative suit, which finally concluded in June 2006, almost 10 years later. Chancellor William B. Chandler III of the Delaware Court of Chancery, despite describing Eisner's behavior as falling "far short of what shareholders expect and demand from those entrusted with a fiduciary position..." found in favor of Eisner and the rest of the Disney board because they had not violated the letter of the law (namely, the duty of care owed by a corporation's officers and board to its shareholders).[203] Eisner later said, in a 2016 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, that he regretted letting Ovitz go.[204]
A view of downtown Celebration, Florida, a community that was planned by the Walt Disney Company.
In 1994, Eisner attempted to purchase NBC from General Electric (GE), but the deal failed due to GE wanting to keep 51 percent ownership of the network. On August 1, 1995, Disney announced a $19 billion merger of equals with Capital Cities/ABC Inc., which at the time was the second largest corporate takeover. The merger would bring broadcast network ABC and its assets, including a 37.5% minority stake in A&E Television Networks, an 80 percent majority stake in ESPN and the Limited Partnership-ran DIC Productions into the Disney umbrella.[198] The deal was closed on February 10, 1996, and Eisner felt that the purchase of ABC was an important investment to keep Disney surviving and allowing it to compete with international multimedia conglomerates.[205] 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 cartoon shows. Instead, Disney felt other internal "hot properties" deserved the company's attention.[206]
Disney, which had taken control of the Anaheim Angels in 1996, purchased a majority stake in the team in 1998. That same year, Disney began a move into the Internet field with the purchase of Starwave and 43 percent of Infoseek. In 1999, Disney purchased the remaining shares of Infoseek and launched the Go Network portal in January. Disney also launched its cruise line with the christening of Disney Magic and a sister ship, Disney Wonder.[198] The Katzenberg case dragged on as his contract included a portion of the film revenue from ancillary markets forever. Katzenberg had offered $100 million to settle the case, but Eisner felt the original claim amount of about half a billion too much, but then the ancillary market clause was found. Disney lawyers tried to indicate a decline situation which reveal some of the problems in the company. ABC had declining rating and increasing costs while the film segment had two film failures. While neither party revealed the settlement amount, it is estimated at $200 million.[198]
Eisner's controlling style inhibited efficiency and progress according to some critics, while other industry experts indicated that "age compression" theory led to a decline in the company's target market due to youth copying teenage behavior earlier.[198] The year 2000 brought an increase in revenue of 9 percent and net income of 39 percent with ABC and ESPN leading the way and Parks and Resorts marking its sixth consecutive year of growth. In November 2000, Andy Heyward purchased back DIC Entertainment from Disney (through investment by Bain Capital and Chase Capital Partners) and making the studio re-independent.[207] On July 23, 2001, Disney announced to purchase Fox Family Worldwide for $2.9 billion cash plus $2.3 billion in debt assumption, which would include ownership in the Fox Family Channel alongside other assets including the Saban Entertainment library and Fox Kids channels in Europe and Latin America.[208] The purchase was completed on October 24, 2001, and Fox Family would be renamed to ABC Family in November.
The year 2001 was one of cost-cutting, laying off 4,000 employees, Disney parks operations decreased, slashing annual live-action film investment, and minimizing Internet operations, mainly due to the September 11 attacks, which led to a decline in vacation travel and the early 2000s recession led to a decrease in ABC revenue. While 2002 revenue had a small decrease from 2001 with the cost-cutting, net income rose to $1.2 billion with two creative film releases. In 2003, Disney became the first studio to record over $3 billion in worldwide box office receipts.[198] Eisner did not want the board to renominate Roy E. Disney, the son of Disney co-founder Roy O. Disney, as a board director citing his age of 72 as a required retirement age. Stanley Gold responded by resigning from the board and requesting the other board members oust Eisner.[198] On November 30, 2003, Disney resigned from his positions as the company's vice chairman and chairman of Walt Disney Feature Animation,[ChWDC 1] accusing Eisner of micromanagement, failures with the ABC television network, timidity in the theme park business, turning the Walt Disney Company into a "rapacious, soul-less" company, and refusing to establish a clear succession plan, as well as a string of box office film flops starting in the year 2000.
On August 9, 2002, Disney said it was expressing great interest in buying Universal Studios whose parent company Vivendi started a bidding war after inheriting $17.9 billion in debt by its purchase of the famed major film studio from Seagram for $34 billion.[209] In addition, Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure was struggling to deal with catastrophically low attendance since the park's opening in 1999, and the September 11 attacks in 2001 caused a dip of Universal Parks and Resorts' tourism attendance worldwide. As a result, Vivendi lacked the interest in investing in the Universal parks more meaningfully and may have been one of the reasons for selling off Universal.[210] Analysts speculated that Universal would have to be available at a bargain price to justify such a deal. "Owning more theme parks could make Disney even more cyclical because that's a cyclical business," said Katherine Styponias of Prudential Securities.[209] Despite this, Disney didn't succeed in pursuing a takeover for various reasons, owing to its stock price at a 52-week-low and the likelihood of the Disney/Universal deal being blocked on antitrust grounds (e.g. less innovation in theme parks, higher prices for hotel rooms, the growing power of box office market share, etc.).[210]
On May 15, 2003, Disney sold their stake in the Anaheim Angels baseball team to Arte Moreno. Disney purchased the rights to The Muppets and the Bear in the Big Blue House franchises from The Jim Henson Company on February 17, 2004.[211] The two brands were placed under control of the Muppets Holding Company, LLC, a unit of Disney Consumer Products.[212] In 2004, Pixar Animation Studios began looking for another distributor after its 12-year contract with Disney ended, due to its strained relationship over issues of control and money with Eisner. Also that year, Comcast Corporation made an unsolicited $54 billion bid to acquire Disney. A couple of high budget films flopped at the box office. With these difficulties and with some board directors dissatisfied, Eisner ceded the board chairmanship.[198]
On March 3, 2004, at Disney's annual shareholders' meeting, a surprising 45 percent of Disney's shareholders, predominantly rallied by former board members Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, withheld their proxies to re-elect Eisner to the board. Disney's board then gave the chairmanship position to Mitchell. However, the board did not immediately remove Eisner as chief executive.[ChWDC 2] In February 2005, Disney sold the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim hockey team to Henry and Susan Samueli, who later renamed the team the Anaheim Ducks.[198] On March 13, 2005, Robert A. Iger was announced as Eisner's successor as CEO. Also that month, Miramax co-founders Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein departed the company to form their own studio. On July 8, Walt Disney's nephew, Roy E. Disney, returned to the company as a consultant and as non-voting director emeritus. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts celebrated the 50th anniversary of Disneyland Park on July 17 and opened Hong Kong Disneyland on September 12. On July 25, Disney announced that it was closing DisneyToon Studios Australia in October 2006 after 17 years of existence.[213] On September 30, Eisner resigned both as an executive and as a member of the Board of Directors.[ChWDC 3]
2005–2020: Bob Iger's leadership and company expansion
Team Disney Burbank, which houses the offices of Disney's CEO and several other senior corporate officials
On October 1, 2005, Bob Iger replaced Eisner as Disney's CEO. On November 4, Walt Disney Feature Animation released Chicken Little, the company's first film using 3D animation. On January 23, 2006, it was announced that Disney would purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction valued at $7.4 billion. The deal was finalized on May 5; Steve Jobs, who was Pixar's CEO and held a 50.1% ownership stake in the company, transitioned to Disney's board of directors as its largest individual shareholder, with a 7 percent stake.[214][215] Ed Catmull took over as President of Pixar Animation Studios. Former executive vice-president of Pixar, John Lasseter, became chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, its division Disneytoon Studios, and Pixar Animation Studios, as well as assuming the role of principal creative advisor at Walt Disney Imagineering.[215]
In February 2006, Disney acquired the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit from NBC Universal (including the character's intellectual property and the 27 Oswald cartoons produced by Walt Disney) as part of an exchange of minor assets. In return, Disney released sportscaster Al Michaels from his contracts with ABC Sports and ESPN, so he could join NBC Sports and his long-time partner John Madden for NBC's new NFLSunday Night Football.[216] In April 2007, the Muppets Holding Company was moved from Disney Consumer Products to the Walt Disney Studios division and renamed The Muppets Studio, as part of efforts to re-launch the division.[217][211] In February 2007, the company was accused of human rights violations regarding the working conditions in factories that produce their merchandise.[218][219]
On August 31, 2009, Disney announced a deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4.24 billion, in a deal completed on December 31, 2009.[220][221]
Director Emeritus Roy E. Disney died of stomach cancer on December 16, 2009. At the time of his death, he owned roughly 1 percent of Disney stock, which amounted to 16 million shares. He was the last member of the Disney family to be actively involved in the company.[222] In October 2009, Disney Channel president Rich Ross, hired by Iger, replaced Dick Cook as chairman of the company and, in November, began restructuring the company to focus more on family friendly products. Later in January 2010, Disney decided to shut down Miramax after downsizing Touchstone, but one month later, they instead began selling the Miramax brand and its 700-title film library to Filmyard Holdings. In March, ImageMovers Digital, which Disney had established as a joint venture studio with Robert Zemeckis in 2007, was shut down. In April 2010, Lyric Street, Disney's country music label in Nashville, was shut down. The following month, Haim Saban reacquired the Power Rangers franchise, including its 700-episode library.[223] In September 2012, Saban reacquired the Digimon franchise, which, like Power Rangers, was part of the Fox Kids library that Disney acquired in 2001.[224] In January 2011, Disney Interactive Studios was downsized.[225]
In April 2011, Disney broke ground on Shanghai Disney Resort. Costing $4.4 billion, the resort opened on June 16, 2016.[226] Later, in August 2011, Bob Iger stated on a conference call that after the success of the Pixar and Marvel purchases, he and the Walt Disney Company are looking to "buy either new characters or businesses that are capable of creating great characters and great stories."[227] Later, in early February 2012, Disney completed its acquisition of UTV Software Communications, expanding their market further into India and Asia.[228] On October 30, 2012, Disney announced plans to acquire Lucasfilm in a deal valued at $4.05 billion. Disney announced an intent to leverage the Star Wars franchise across its divisions, and planned to produce a seventh installment in the main film franchise for release in 2015.[229][230] The sale was completed on December 21, 2012.[231] On March 24, 2014, Disney acquired Maker Studios, an active multi-channel network on YouTube, for $500 million.[232] The company was later turned into a new venture called Disney Digital Network in May 2017.[233]
On February 5, 2015, it was announced that Tom Staggs had been promoted to COO.[234] On April 4, 2016, Disney announced that Staggs and the company had mutually agreed to part ways, effective May 2016, ending his 26-year career with the company.[235] In August 2016, Disney acquired a 33 percent stake in BAMTech, a streaming media provider spun out from Major League Baseball's media division. The company announced plans to eventually use its infrastructure for an ESPNover-the-top service.[236][237]
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.[243][244] In August 2017, Disney announced that it had exercised an option to increase its stake in BAMTech to 75 percent, and would launch a subscription video-on-demandservice featuring its entertainment content in 2019, which will replace Netflix as the subscription VOD rights holder of all Disney theatrical film releases.[245][246] In November 2017, Lasseter announced that he was taking a six-month leave of absence from Pixar and Disney Animation after acknowledging "missteps" in his behavior with employees in a memo to staff. According to various news outlets, Lasseter had a history of alleged sexual misconduct towards employees.[247][248]
In November 2017, it was reported by CNBC that Disney had been in negotiations to acquire21st Century Fox. The negotiations had reportedly resumed around Disney acquiring several of Fox's key media assets. Rumors of a nearing deal continued on December 5, 2017, with additional reports suggesting that the FSNregional sports networks would be included in the resulting new company (assets that would likely be aligned with Disney's ESPN division).[249][250][251][252] On December 14, Disney agreed to acquire most assets from 21st Century Fox, including 20th Century Fox, for $52.4 billion.[253] The merger included many of Fox's entertainment assets—including filmed entertainment, cable entertainment, and direct broadcast satellite divisions in the UK, Europe, and Asia[254]—but excluded divisions such as the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Television Stations, the Fox News Channel, the Fox Business Network, Fox Sports1 and 2, and the Big Ten Network, all of which were to be spun off into an independent company before the merger was complete (which eventually named Fox Corporation).[255] The following June, after a counter offer from Comcast worth $65 billion, Disney increased its offer to $71.3 billion.[256] The transaction officially closed on March 20, 2019.[257][258] Under the terms of acquisition, Disney will phase-out Fox brand usage by 2024.[259]
Beginning in March 2018, a strategic reorganization of the company saw the creation of two business segments, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products and 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.[260] Given that 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.[261]
2020–present: Bob Chapek's leadership and COVID-19 pandemic
On February 25, 2020, Disney named Bob Chapek as CEO to succeed Iger, effective immediately. Iger assumed the role of Executive Chairman, under which he would oversee the creative side of the company, while also continuing to serve as Chairman of the Board during the transition period through 2021.[262][263]
In April 2020, 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.[264][265] Also in the month, the company announced that it would suspend pay to more than 100,000 employees ("cast members") at Disney Parks, Experiences and Products in response to the COVID-19 recession—reportedly amounting to monthly savings of $500 million for the company—while continuing to provide full healthcare benefits. Reportedly, staff in the United States and France were affected and were encouraged to apply for government support.[266]
Parade route in Tokyo Disneyland during COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.
Due to the closure of Disney parks during the COVID-19 pandemic, Disney experienced a 63 percent drop in earnings for the fiscal second quarter of 2020, resulting in a loss of $1.4 billion for the company. Additionally, the Parks, Experiences, and Products division experienced a loss of $1 billion in revenue.[267] In September 2020, the company announced that it will be laying off 28,000 employees in Florida and California. According to Disney's park chairman, Josh D'Amaro, "We initially hoped that this situation would be shortlived and that we would recover quickly and return to normal. Seven months later, we find that has not been the case." According to D'Amaro, two-thirds of the employees reported to be laid off were part-time workers.[268] Then in November, Disney planned to cut 4000 jobs more than announced until the end of March 2021.[269]
In December 2020, Disney named Alan Bergman as chairman of its Disney Studios Content division to oversee its film studios.[270] In March 2021, Disney announced a new division, 20th Television Animation, that would focus on adult animation.[271]
In July 2021, Disney announced that over an 18-month period it would move about 2,000 employees from its California headquarters to a new campus in Lake Nona, Orlando, Florida, to consolidate operations and take advantage of a more "business-friendly climate".[272]
On March 10, 2022, Disney announced that it will pause all business operations in Russia due the country's invasion of Ukraine and the humanitarian crisis it has caused.[273] 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 such as Warner Bros. Pictures and Sony Pictures followed soon after.[274]
ESPN and Sports Content focuses on 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.[281] The division is led by James Pitaro.[276]
International Content and Operations Group 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: Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), India, and Latin America. The division is led by Rebecca Campbell.[282]
In addition, Marvel Entertainment is a business reporting directly to the CEO; its financial results are primarily divided between the Studios and Consumer Products segments.[283]
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."[284]
After a four-year vacancy, Roy O. Disney became chairman.
The Walt Disney Company has been criticized for the purportedly sexist, racist, or overly commercial artistic direction of certain pieces of its intellectual property. It has also received criticism for offering poor pay and working conditions, engaging in anticompetitive practices, and treating animals poorly.
^"WED" is from the initials of Walter Elias Disney
^Although July 17, was supposed to be preview opening foregoing the public opening the next day, Disneyland uses July 17 as its official opening day[102]
^ abcdMerged into Creative Content in 1996, merged into Consumer Products and Interactive Media in 2016, which merged with Parks & Resorts in 2018
^ abCalled Walt Disney Attractions (1989–2000) Walt Disney Parks and Resorts (2000–2005) Disney Destinations (2005–2008) Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide (2008–2018)
^Michael Eisner (October 19–20, 2006). "Michael Eisner". Archive of American Television (Interview). Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation. Archived from the original on July 4, 2014.
^ abGennawey, Sam (December 2, 2014). Universal versus Disney: The Unofficial Guide to American Theme Parks' Greatest Rivalry. Unofficial Guides. pp. 102–110. ISBN978-1-62809-014-7.
^ abBarnes, Brooks (September 18, 2008). "Fuzzy Renaissance". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 14, 2013. Retrieved December 29, 2012.
^Polsson, Ken. "2003". Chronology of the Walt Disney Company. KPolsson.com. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
^"2004". Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
^"2005". Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
US$67.418 billion (2021)
US$7.766 billion (2021)
