By Maria F. Cristo

 

 

The Disney Story 

“If you can dream it, you can do it.” – Walt Disney

It all started in Chicago, when a baby by the name of Walter Elias Disney was born in 1901. Walt enjoyed drawing from a young age, and based his life on this one passion. His first job was at a small art studio in Kansas City, where he met his future partner, Ubbe Iwerks. Ubbe, Walt, and his brother Roy joined forces in 1923 and opened a Hollywood studio: the Disney Brothers’ Studio. In the next five years, the company created Mickey Mouse, a character that would become an extremely powerful worldwide icon, and whose face would become the company’s image. Steam Boat Willie was the company’s first release, and launched Mickey into fame. Walt Disney was an pioneer, and as such he used Mickey to introduce sound to cartoons, a great innovation in early motion pictures. The company proudly released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, a movie that is still considered the greatest American animated movie today. This first movie embodied Disney’s essence in every way possible, it represents everything that Disney was back then and still is today. Snow White’s profits allowed the company to open a bigger more sophisticated base in Burbank, California three years later. [1]

This reformed company continued producing animated hits such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi. In 1950, Disney launched it’s first of many live action films, Treasure Island. Each story that came out of the company was new, detailed, touching, and sent a positive message to people of all ages. Walt Disney lived to see his dream come true in 1955; the inauguration of a park that embodied the spirit of all of his movies in real life. Eleven years later, Walter Elias Disney died, but his legacy continues to touch the hearts of millions of people around the world. The dream that started with a deep passion for drawing, genuine imagination, and a mouse, is now a multibillion dollar company with more than 150,000 employees that holds assets in every sector of the media. [2]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hXsLTcgmLQ

This short video visually illustrates my description of Walt Disney’s achievements.

 

Executives

CEO of the Walt Disney Company: Robert Iger

Chairman of Walt Disney International: Andy Bird

Walt Disney Studios Chairman: Alan F. Horn

Walt Disney Studios President: Alan Bergman

Walt Disney Studios VP and Global Communications: Paul Roeder

Walt Disney Studios Senior VP and Human Resources: Carolyn Wilson

Walt Disney Pictures

The Walt Disney Studios is a division in the Walt Disney Company that produces, promotes and distributes both animated and live-action films in the US and internationally. Its top three competitors are Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros. Entertainment, and Paramount Pictures Corporation. The studios divisions include: animation, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Marvel Productions, Touchstone Pictures, and Disneynature. [9]

Disney Animation Studios [10]

The animation division is the oldest division of the Walt Disney Studios. The year 1937 marks the beginning of its first feature length animated film: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. From then, Disney animated films have combined evolving technology and beautiful artistry to make inspiring stories that mark the childhood of many. Famous films that have emerged from this division include: Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Lilo and Stitch, and Tangled. [

DisneyToon Studios is an innovative branch of Walt Disney Pictures animation that produces feature-length animated films for the company. Many of its films are sequels to films that are produced by the animation studios such as Tarzan, The Little Mermaid, and The Lion King. They also make movies that star Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, and Peter Pan’s Tinker Bell.

The Walt Disney Company owns yet another animated company: Pixar Animation Studios. This production company has produced 13 films that have done incredibly well in theaters and home entertainment, as they are greatly appreciated by the public. Pixar films impact kids, teenagers, and parents alike. The characters and stories are held dear by people of all ages all over the world, and have generated Disney a total of $7.8 billion. Films produced by Pixar include Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and Up.

 

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures 

This division is responsible for the creation of all Disney live-action films. It started in 1950, when it launched Disney’s first live-action film ever, Treasure Island. Since then, this Studio has been releasing family-oriented films that compete with companies like Universal, and 20th Century Fox. These films explore fantastic worlds, and are usually packed with colorful and often humorous adventure, as can be seen in Pirates of the Caribbean. Movies made by this division may also be remakes of old classics like Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, and OZ The Great and Powerful, it’s newest release. [11] 

Marvel

In 2009, the Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment and its 8,000 characters for $4 billion. Expensive as it was, it was a great investment, as the company has hugely benefitted from the purchase. In four years Disney has profited from hits such as Iron Man, The Avengers, and Thor. Disney will continue to profit through sequels to these movies and other new releases starring Marvel characters. [12]

 

Disneynature

Disneynature was established on Earth Day 2008, and is Walt Disney Studio’s most recent division. Disney started this division to promote conservation awareness through heartfelt films such as Earth, Oceans, African Cats, and Chimpanzee. Part of the revenues collected from their release were used to benefit the environment. Three million trees were planted in Brazil, and 40,000 acres of marine life, 65,000 acred of African savanna, and 130,000 acres of Chimpanzee land went under protection. [13]

Touchstone [14]

Touchstone Pictures was launched to the public in 1984 with the hit film Splash. The company arose due to controversies surrounding Disney releases that were not considered appropriate for the family atmosphere of the company. Disney released its first PG rated movie ever, The Black Hole, in 1979. Four years later, the company released Trenchcoat, a film that was also criticized for its inappropriate content. This film is believed to be responsible for Disney’s launch of Touchstone Pictures, a Walt Disney Pictures division that would be in charge of producing films that did not have to be suitable for children. Critics believed that this division was out of place for a company like disney, yet it was the top source of income for Disney in the 80s. Touchstone pictures debuted with the film Splash, starring Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah. The film set the tone for future touchstone films, as it contained some nudity.

Touchstone’s second movie was an R-rated film, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, which featured a story about a rich yet unhappy couple that head a dysfunctional family, the very opposite of Disney’s representative ideals. After these two inauguration films, The Walt Disney Studios has launched more than 200 films produced by Touchtone Pictures, including: The Nightmare Before Christmas, Armageddon, Ed Wood, Signs, Pearl Harbor,The Count of Monte Cristo, and Steven Spielberg’s new release: Lincoln.

 

Disney’s Numbers

The year 2012 was great for the Walt Disney Company in general, and for The Walt Disney Studios as well. Last year the company experienced a 5% growth in total revenue and a 6% growth in net income when compared to 2011 numbers. The studios, however, generated 73 million dollars less in the fourth quarter of 2012 than it did for the same quarter of the the previous year. After subtracting the cost of goods sold, the profit earned by the studios for the same quarter was 234 million, very low compared to the previous year’s 413 million, a plunging 43% decrease. [15]

 

On the News

December 19, 2012

Walt Disney Pictures announces that Jonathan Groff will be part of the cast of it’s upcoming movie Forzen. The Tony Award nominee will join forces with Kristen Bell to voice the lead characters of Disney’s new adventure comedy, expected in theaters on November 27 of this year. [16]

March 6, 2013

Disney officially released the trailer to the third Iron Man movie. [17]

March 27, 2013

The Walt Disney Studios discloses the full voice cast of Disney’s Planes, the company’s new animated film which is expected to open in theaters August 9 of this year. Among the lead voices are Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Garrett. [18]

April 2, 2013

During her live show, Ellen DeGeneres left her audience and the rest of the world astounded when she announced that Disney Pixar agreed to produce a sequel to Finding Nemo. Finding Dory is expected to come out in theaters November 25, 2015. [19]

April 8, 2013

After several weeks of great numbers, the Disney stock reaches it’s highest point ever at $58.54. Even though they had a great year for business, they are stil laying off employees as an anticipation of costly rising technologies. [20]

Sources:

1. http://waltdisneystudios.com/corp/

2. http://www.biography.com/people/walt-disney-9275533

3. http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/about-disney/leadership/ceo/robert-iger

4. http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/about-disney/leadership/corporate-management-team/andy-bird

5.  http://waltdisneystudios.com/corp/unit/6/bio/1015

6. http://waltdisneystudios.com/corp/unit/6/bio/29

7. http://waltdisneystudios.com/corp/unit/6/bio/621

8. http://waltdisneystudios.com/corp/unit/6/bio/831

9. http://www.waltdisneystudios.com/

10. http://waltdisneystudios.com/corp/unit/76

11. http://waltdisneystudios.com/corp/unit/74

12. http://waltdisneystudios.com/corp/unit/246

13. http://waltdisneystudios.com/corp/unit/261

14. http://waltdisneystudios.com/corp/unit/264

15. http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/sites/default/files/reports/q1-fy13-earnings.pdf

16. http://waltdisneystudios.com/corp/news/1238

17. http://waltdisneystudios.com/corp/news/1277

18. http://waltdisneystudios.com/corp/news/1288

19. http://waltdisneystudios.com/corp/news/1293

20. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/viacom-disney-stocks-hit-highs-434709