Founded in 1923 as the Disney Brothers Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as one of the top producers of theatrical cartoons and the foremost producer of animated features. In 1950 the studio broke into live-action feature film production with Treasure Island (1950). It was only four years later that the studio would expand into television as well.
Walt Disney wanted to produce a television show that would help finance his planned amusement park, Disneyland. His proposal was rejected by both CBS and NBC, and so Walt Disney turned to ABC, then struggling to survive against the two older, established networks. He signed with ABC on March 29 1954, and the TV show Disneyland debuted on the network on October 27 1954. As originally conceived, Disneyland was an anthology series with themes based on what would be the four main parts of Walt Disney's planned amusement park: Adventureland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, and Tomorrowland. The episodes of the show were then eclectic, everything from classic Disney cartoons to documentaries to scripted adventure mini-series such as Davy Crockett. As might be expected, the show featured teasers for the planned amusement park Disneyland. Disneyland proved to have a hit on its hand with the mini-series Davy Crockett, which first aired on Disneyland on December 15 1954. Davy Crockett became an outright fad in 1955. Ultimately, Disneyland itself proved to be a hit, coming in at no. 6 for the year in the Nielsen ratings.
The success of Disneyland led ABC to pick up two more shows from Walt Disney Productions. The Mickey Mouse Club in 1955 and Zorro in 1957. As to Disneyland itself, it was retitled Walt Disney Presents in 1958. ABC and Walt Disney would have a falling out, in part because the network refused to sell its stake in the amusement park Disneyland and would not do so until 1960. Another problem between ABC and Walt Disney is that he wanted the show to air in colour, and ABC was not anywhere near to moving towards colour broadcasting. Walt Disney's anthology series then moved to NBC, who already had facilities for colour and had already broadcast various programs in colour. The show was then retitled Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and first aired on NBC on September 24 1961. It would remain on NBC for 19 years, with its title changing in 1969 to The Wonderful World of Disney and then again to Disney's Wonderful World in 1979. In 1981 it moved to CBS where it aired two more years. Since then the show has returned from time to time under different titles, and still airs from time to time on ABC. It was in 1996 that Disney bought ABC and has owned it ever since.
As to Walt Disney's amusement park, Disneyland, he first conceived it after visiting Griffith Park in Los Angeles with his daughters and watching them ride the merry-go-round there. Initially called Disneylandia, Walt Disney finally settled on the name Disneyland. His brother Roy had some doubts about Disneyland, and so Walt Disney founded a separate company for the amusement park, originally called Walt Disney Enterprise and then W.E.D. Enterprises. It was in 1953 that Walt Disney bought 160 acres near Anaheim, California where the park would be located.
Disneyland opened on July 17 1955. While the opening day did not go particularly well, with rides malfunctioning and the restaurants running out of food, Disneyland would soon be running properly and proved to be a success. It success would lead to the opening of a second resort, Walt Disney World, in Florida in 1971. Since then several more Walt Disney theme parks have opened around the world.
The mid-Fifties would prove to be an active time for Walt Disney Productions. Until that time, the studio had been dependent on others to distribute their films, with Columbia distributing their animated theatrical shorts in the early days, United Artists in the mid-Thirties, and RKO for much of the Golden Age of Animation. In 1953 RKO showed little enthusiasm for Walt Disney Productions' feature length nature documentary The Living Desert, and so the two studios entered into a dispute. Ultimately, Walt and Roy Disney formed their own subsidiary of Walt Disney Productions to handle distribution. It was named Buena Vista Film Distribution Company Inc. after the street in Burbank where the Disney studio was and still is located. The Walt Disney Company would discontinue the use of Buena Vista in its branding in 2007.
The Sixties saw Walt Disney Productions expand into new film genres. In 1961 they released their first live-action musical, Babes in Toyland, which failed both with critics and at the box office. While Babes in Toyland proved to be a failure, their next live-action musical, Mary Poppins, proved to be a roaring success. Released in 1964, it received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics. What is more, it was nominated for several Academy Awards and won the Oscars for Best Actress for Julie Andrews, Best Film Editing for Cotton Warburton, Best Music Score – Substantially Original for the Sherman Brothers, and Best Special Visual Effects. It also proved to be a hit at the box office, becoming the top grossing film in the United States in 1964. It was also during the Sixties that Walt Disney Productions released several successful comedies, including The Parent Trap (1961) and That Darn Cat! (1965).
Unfortunately, after seeing a good deal of success in the Fifties and Sixties, Disney began to falter in the Seventies. By the early Eighties, the majority of the studio's profits actually came from its theme parks rather than its movies and films. With the studio in decline, Disney began to shake up the sort of films they released. The science fiction movie The Black Hole (1979) would be the first PG-rated movie the studio ever released. In 1982 Disney released Tron (1982), one of the first movies to make extensive use of computer-generated imagery.
With Disney's fortunes continuing to decline and many thinking of the studio as releasing primarily children's fare, it was in 1984 that the subsidiary Touchstone Pictures would be founded. Touchstone Films was meant to release movies directed at primarily adult audiences and with more mature themes. It was renamed Touchstone Pictures in 1986, the same year it released its first R-rated film, Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986). Touchstone also produced television series under the name Touchstone Television, staring with the TV series Wildside in 1984. Touchstone Television would see a good deal of success with The Golden Girls. Home Improvement, and other shows. Although Touchstone Pictures still exists, Touchstone Television would be renamed ABC Television Studio in 2007 and Disney would move away from releasing films under the Touchstone banner and releasing them under Walt Disney Pictures instead.
Touchstone would not be the only subsidiary established by Disney in the Eighties to release more adult fare. Hollywood Pictures was formed in 1989 to release films similar to Touchstone, although the the films released under Hollywood Pictures had even more mature themes than those released under Touchstone. Among the movies released by Hollywood Pictures were Arachnophobia (1990), Encino Man (1992), Blood In Blood Out (1993), Father Hood (1993), The Joy Luck Club (1993), and Quiz Show (1994). While Touchstone saw a good deal of success, Hollywood Pictures saw only a little. In 2001 Hollywood Pictures was phased out. The name would be revived briefly in 2006 for low-budget movies.
It was in 1986 that Walt Disney Productions was renamed the Walt Disney Company, the name it has borne ever since. It would be in 1991 that the Walt Disney Company entered into a feature film agreement with Pixar. Pixar had originated as The Graphics Group at Lucasfilm. Pixar became an independent company in 1986. It was in 1995 that Pixar's first feature film was released, Toy Story (1995). The entirely computer animated film proved to be a success, and established Pixar as a studio. Since then Pixar has released several hit movies. It was in 2006 that the Walt Disney Company bought Pixar and so the studio became a subsidiary of Disney. Despite this Pixar has retained something of its independence, with its movies released under the "Pixar" label.
Of course, Pixar would not be the only company acquired by Disney. In 2004 Disney acquired the Muppets franchise from the Jim Henson Company. In 2009 Disney acquired Marvel Comics. In 2012 Disney bought Lucasfilm, a move which has proven controversial given some Star Wars fans' doubts about the company's stewardship of the franchise. It was in 2019 that Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, a move that would prove controversial among classic movie buffs who have accused Disney of vaulting classic 20th Century Fox movies.
It was in 2005 that Disney released it first entirely computer animated movie, Chicken Little (2005) under the Disney brand, ten years after Pixar's Toy Story. Chicken Little would receive largely negative reviews from critics, although it performed moderately well at the box office. It was in 2009 that the Walt Disney Company released its last traditional cel animated feature film, much to the disappointment of fans of cel animation.The Princess and the Frog (2009) received good notices from critics. While it did moderately well at the box office, it still performed below expectations. Disney's disappointment at the box office performance of The Princess and the Frog at the box office would lead the studio to rename its upcoming, computer animated film Rapunzel, "Tangled," to distance the film from the princes concept.
The 21s Century has seen Disney expand into new areas. In 2019, when Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, it also acquired a 60% stake in the streaming service Hulu. It was that May that Comcast relinquished its stake in Hulu to Disney, making the streaming service entirely owned by the studio. It was later that year that the Walt Disney Company launched the streaming service Disney+. The difference between Hulu and Disney+ is that Disney+ primarily features films and TV shows produced by Walt Disney Studios, while Hulu includes products from other companies as well.
One hundred years after being founded by Walt and Roy Disney, the Walt Disney Company has become a juggernaut in the entertainment industry. They have gone from being an independent animation studio to be an independent studio that produced both animation and live action, and finally one of the major studios. There can be no doubt that Disney had left its imprint on popular culture. Many of the characters that originated in their theatrical animated shorts, from Mickey Mouse to Chip & Dale, remain popular. Disney comic books from the Golden Age and Silver Age are highly sought after collectibles. Disney has highly successful theme parks around the world. Merchandise featuring the Disney characters, from Donald Duck to the Disney Princesses, still fill store shelves. In 1923 the Disney Brothers Studio was one of several animation studios. Today the Walt Disney Company is so much more.
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