by Carly Konsker

Profile

The Walt Disney Company, including all of its subsidiaries and affiliates, is known across America and world wide as a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise. This massive corporation contains five main business segments: Media Networks, Parks and Resorts, Studio Entertainment, Consumer Products, and Interactive Media. [1]

History

On October 16, 1923, Walt and Roy Disney founded The Walt Disney Company, which was originally named The Disney Brothers Studio. The company got its start by producing Alice Comedies, which lasted for four years. They continued with their love of cartoons, and in 1928 the most famous Disney icon was created, Mickey Mouse. Disney won its first Academy Award for Best Cartoon in 1932. Fiver years later, the company shocked the world by developing their first full-length feature film in 1937. [2, 3, 4]

Walt and Roy proudly displaying their first Oscar with the world’s most famous mouse. [5]

Walt Disney, the visionary behind the Disney empire, dies at age 66 on December 15, 1966. After his younger brother’s death, Roy Disney took it upon himself to control the financing and construction of Walt Disney World, his brother’s last wish. Since the beginning, Roy was always in charge of the business side of the Disney company, while Walt was the creative genius behind the fantasies. On December 20, 1971, Roy O. Disney passed, three months after the opening of Walt Disney World. [2, 4]

Today, The Walt Disney Company continues to thrive while sticking to their roots of turning dreams into reality. Disney reinforces their past by keeping the Disney legacy alive, but the company also creates new content with ground-breaking technology.

Current Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company is Robert A. Iger. [6]

Alan Horn, Chairman of Walt Disney Studios [7]

Financials

• The Walt Disney Company: NYSE:DIS quotes & news https://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:DIS

Walt Disney Studios/Walt Disney Pictures

The Walt Disney Studios includes the creation, production, promotion, sales, acquisition, and national and international distribution of live-action and animated motion pictures, home entertainment releases, music and soundtrack recordings, and live stage plays. The Walt Disney Studios is the home to Marvel, Touchstone Pictures, Disney•Pixar, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (Live-Action), Disneynature, and Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (Live-Action)

On July 19, 1950, Disney released its first life-action feature film, Treasure Island. Since then, filmmakers have created some of the most successful live-action family films including the Pirates of the Caribbean films, Alice in Wonderland, and Oz the Great and Powerful. Many of these films, as well as movies in other divisions, are distributed under the brand name, Buena Vista. [10]

Courtesy of www.boxofficemojo.com

Recent News:

• On March 14, 2013, Disney and Showtime announced the extension of their output deal, which allows DreamWorks Studios’ films that are theatrically released by Disney to be available to Showtime subscribers through 2018. [8, 9]

• As of April 7, 2013, Oz the Great and Powerful has topped the US Box Office with an estimated gross of $212,767,000. [11]

• In 2015, Disney looks forward to releasing Star Wars: Episode VII, the first film produced since Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm Ltd. in October 2012. The film will be directed by J.J. Abrams, who is famous for directing the hit television series Lost. “Standalone movies” featuring Star Wars characters are in the works. [12, 13]

Future Releases: The Lone Ranger (July 3, 2013), The Delivery Man (October 4, 2013)

Marvel Studios

Marvel Entertainment is a completely-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Marvel Studios, founded in 1996, is a successful facet of Marvel Entertainment that creates, develops, and produces life-action films based on the characters and story-lines from the iconic marvel comic book empire. [14]

Iron Man 3 Trailer

The success of their film franchise will continue to grow with the upcoming releases of Iron Man 3 on May 3, 2013, The Avengers 2, Thor: The Dark World, and the studio has already started production has on the sequel to Captain America. Marvel’s The Avengers was not only the highest grossing movie of this past year, but it was also the 5^th highest grossing feature film of all time. [14, 15, 16]

 Walt Disney Animation Studios

Walt Disney Animation Studios was founded in 1923. The studio’s first fully animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, became the highest grossing film of its time. Disney paved the way for a new type of family entertainment. Some of their masterpieces include the Disney Fairies films, Tangled, Bolt, and The Lion King. [16]

Future Release: Planes (August 09, 2013) featuring the voices of Dane Cook, Stacy Keach, Brad Garrett, Teri Hatcher, and Cedric the Entertainer. [17]

Pixar Animation Studios

Pixar Animation studios was founded in 1986 when Steve Jobs bought the Computer Graphics Division of Lucasfilms from George Lucas and started an independent company, Pixar. [18] Pixar has built a name for itself through some of the most successful movies in animation. For example, all the Toy Story films, Finding Nemo, WALL•E, and all Cars movies. [18]

Starting in 1991, Disney and Pixar have continuously signed deals over the years to make and distribute animated films together. The Walt Disney Company officially agreed to acquire Pixar Animation Studios in a $7.4 Billion stock deal on January 24, 2006. This deal allowed Disney to revert back to its traditional animation roots, and gave Steve Job’s, the former CEO of Pixar, tremendous power in Hollywood by becoming the largest individual shareholder of Disney. [19]

On April 1, 2013, Pixar announced the title sequel to the 2003 Academy Award winning film for best animated feature, Finding Nemo. The upcoming film, Finding Dory, will be released on November 25, 2015, thanksgiving weekend. Ellen DeGeneres will once again be the voice behind the film’s leading character Dory, who learns about the meaning of family as she is reunited with her loved ones in the film. [20, 21]

Touchstone Pictures

Touchstone Pictures is one of several film labels of The Walt Disney Studios, owned by The Walt Disney Company. This American film production studio was created in 1984 in order for Disney to have a brand that released more adult-oriented material. Touchstone Pictures is also the banner under which live-action films from DreamWorks Studios are distributed since their agreement finalized 2009. [22]

Touchstone’s first film released was the 1984 comedy, Splash. Since then, over 200 films have been released from Touchstone Pictures including Pretty Woman, Father of the Bride, Step Up, and The Proposal. [23]

Lincoln (2012), distributed under Touchstone Pictures, was nominated for 12 Oscars at the 85th annual Academy Awards. Lincoln received the most nominations among those released in 2012, and it won the award for Best Production Design and Best Actor. [24]

Future Release: The Fifth Estate (November 15, 2013) [25]

Sources:

1. The Walt Disney Company Corporate http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/
2. Timeline of The Walt Disney Company http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/about-disney/disney-history
3. History of The Walt Disney Studios http://animation.about.com/od/industryprofiles/p/waltdisney.htm
4. History of Disney – Excerpt From The Walt Disney Company Archives http://waltdisneystudios.com/static/The%20History%20of%20TWDS.pdf
5. Walt and Roy Disney Photo http://d23.disney.go.com/
6. Bob Iger CEO of The Walt Disney Company http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/about-disney/leadership/board-directors/robert-iger
7. Alan Horn, Chairman of Walt Disney Studios http://www.waltdisneystudios.com/corp/unit/6/bio/1015
8. Disney and Showtime DreamWorks Deal Extended http://variety.com/2013/film/news/disney-to-keep-its-dreamworks-films-at-showtime-1200194681/
9. Showtime and Disney Renew DreamWorks Contract http://www.deadline.com/2013/03/showtime-dreamworks-studios-contract-extension/
10. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (live-action) http://www.waltdisneystudios.com/corp/unit/74
11. Oz the Great and Powerful Tops US Box Office http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=oz.htm
12. Disney Acquires Lucasfilm – Press Release http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-news/press-releases/2012/10/disney-acquire-lucasfilm-ltd
13. CEO Bob Iger Discusses Star Wards in CNBC Interview http://www.deadline.com/2013/02/disney-to-release-additional-films-based-on-star-wars-characters/#more-422357
14. Marvel – Walt Disney Studios http://www.waltdisneystudios.com/corp/unit/246
15. Marvel’s The Avengers http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=avengers11.htm
16. Walt Disney Animation Studios http://www.waltdisneystudios.com/corp/unit/76
17. Disney’s Planes Press Release http://www.waltdisneystudios.com/corp/news/1288
18. Pixar Animation Studios History http://www.pixar.com/about/Our-Story
19. Disney Agrees to Acquire Pixar http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/25/business/25disney.html?_r=1&
20. Finding Dory Announced http://variety.com/2013/film/news/pixar-finds-title-release-date-for-finding-nemo-sequel-1200331933/
21. Finding Dory Press Release http://waltdisneystudios.com/corp/news/1293
22. Walt Disney Studios Corporate http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-companies/studio-entertainment
23. Touchstone Pictures http://www.waltdisneystudios.com/corp/unit/264
24. Lincoln (2012) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accolades_received_by_Lincoln_(2012_film)
25. Production Begins on DreamWorks’ WikiLeaks Project “The Fifth Estate” http://waltdisneystudios.com/corp/news/1250