by [Li Ma]
Walt Disney Pictures Opening Logo
Touchstone Pictures Opening Logo
A Brief History:
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and owned by The Walt Disney Company. It was founded in 1928 with the name as Walt Disney Productions; in the year of 1983, the name was changed to Walt Disney Pictures. It is the main production company for animated and live-action feature films based at the Walt Disney Studios. One of the most recognizable films of Walt Disney Pictures is Snow White and Seven Dwarfs (1937), as it is the first full-length traditional animated feature in motion picture history; Walt Disney Pictures has also produced numerous popular and award-winning films such as Cinderella (1950), Peter Pan (1953), Sleeping Beauty (1959), The Little Mermaid (1989), The Lion King (1994), Toy Story (1995), Mulan (1998), Finding Nemo (2003), Pirates of the Caribbean (2003), Cars (2006), High School Musical III (2008), Alice in Wonderland 3D (2010), and so on.
Go to the official website of Walt Disney Pictures, please click here. [1]
Touchstone Pictures
Touchtone Pictures was established in 1984 as Touchstone Films; two years later, it received its new name as Touchstone Pictures. It is also an animated and live-action film banner of Walt Disney Studios. Most of its releases are typically for adults rather than for children. Since 2011, Touchstone Pictures banner has been assigned a 30-pictures distribution deal with DreamWorks Studios to distribute DreamWorks’ films over next five years. The most notable films that produced by Touchstone Pictures are Ernest Goes to Camp (1987), Good Morning Vietnam (1987), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Dead Poets Society (1989), Pretty Woman (1990), Sister Act (1992), Con Air (1997), Armageddon (1998), The Insider (1999), Rushmore (1999), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), and so on.
Go to the official website of Touchstone Pictures, please click here. [2]
Recent News:
July
July 8, 2012
The Avengers (2012)
According to the Deadline News, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures has passed $ 1 billion domestic box office and become the first studio that reached the milestone of 2012. This great achievement was attributed to the movie The Avengers, which was distributed by Disney; it helped Disney gain a huge amount of domestic box office with $ 611.1 million. This time, Disney has broken the 2010 studio record of 210 days to reach the $ 1 billion box office by using only 188 days to reach the goal. It is also the 16th time that Disney has achieved this in the last 19 years. (Deadline, 2012) [3]
July 18, 2012
Disney will distribute Steven Spielberg’s movie Lincoln domestically through its Touchstone label; this movie was announced to be released on Nov. 9th and expanded on Nov.16th.
Lincoln (2012)
“Lincoln, starring Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, is a likely awards contender and will hit theaters just as awards season begins to heat up in earnest.” (Hollywood Reporter, 2012)
Lincoln is also expected to be one of the movies that have most box office in the year of 2012. [4]
October
October 18, 2012
According to Hollywood Reporter, Tom Hanks recently visited the Disney Family Museum in San Francisco to have a three-week research for the role of the famous mogul in his new Disney movie Saving Mr. Banks.
Tom Hanks (left) and Walt Disney (Right)
This film is about the struggle between the author, who wrote the beloved novel in 1934, and Walt Disney who made a promise to his daughters in the 1940s to turn the book into a movie. However, from the very beginning of pre-production through to its successful release in 1964, Disney and Travers disagreed over script, tone and casting; Travers even complained that her character, which was depicted by Julie Andrews in her Hollywood debut, was too pretty and too nice; not even the overwhelming success of the movie would change the author’s mind.
“It’s like a trip to Disneyland itself, and it’s the third happiest place on the planet, behind Disneyland and Disneyworld.” (Hanks, T. 2012)
Walt Disney Pictures will release this film on December 20th, 2013. [5]
October 30, 2012
The Walt Disney Company announced to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd., owned by George Lucas who is the chairman and founder of Lucasfilm, with a cash and stock transaction of $ 4.05 billion.
“Global leader in high-quality family entertainment agrees to acquire world-renowned Lucasfilm Ltd, including legendary STAR WARS franchise.” (Press Release, 2012)
Robert A. Iger, chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company, and George Lucas, chairman and founder, Lucasfilm sign the agreement for The Walt Disney Company to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd.
Disney also announced it would Continue its marketing strategy of delivering exceptional creative content to audiences around the world. In other words, besides Walt Disney Pictures’ efforts on the production of the 7th episode of Star Wars, which is targeted for release in 2015, the rest of subsidiaries and affiliates of The Walt Disney Company will also contribute on its promotion. [6]
According to Robert A. Iger, the chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company,
“This transaction combines a world-class portfolio of content including ‘Star Wars,’ one of the greatest family entertainment franchises of all time, with Disney’s unique and unparalleled creativity across multiple platforms, businesses, and markets to generate sustained growth and drive significant long-term value.” (Robert, 2012) [7]
October 31, 2012
“Star Wars” films
According to Hollywood Reporter, Disney is buying Lucasfilm and producing three new “Star Wars” films.
These upcoming episodes are expected to have brand new concepts and plots with a notable visual improvement compared with the previous ones. As a result, 15 directors, such as J. J. Abrams, Jon Favreai, and Joe Johnston, were nominated as the potential directors for the new Star Wars films. [8]
November
November 30, 2012
Mel Shaw, an artist and writer who contributed to Disney animation classics as Bambi, Fantasia and The Lion King, died on November 22ndat 97.
Mel Shaw (1914-2012)
He was recruited by Walt Disney, the founder of Disney Studio, and then joined and worked in his team. Shaw started his animation career by creating title cards at the end of the silent-film era for Leon Schlesinger’s Pacific Title and Art Studio. In the early 1930s, he helped Orson Welles create a storyboard for a version of The Little Prince that was never produced. In 1974, Walt Disney Studios asked Shaw to return to help mentor the next generation of animators. His last project for Disney was The Lion King (1994). Mel Shaw then was named a Disney Legend in the year of 1994. [9]
December
December 3, 2012
During the 17th annual Satellite Awards on Monday, ten movies have been nominated as best motion picture by the International Press Academy, an organization that is composed of entertainment journalists for both domestic and foreign outlets.
The movie Lincoln, which is distributed by Touchstone Pictures domestically, has been nominated eight Satellite Awards, including best actor, best actor in a supporting role, best motion picture, best director, best adapted screenplay, best original score, best cinematography, and best art direction & production design. [10]
Upcoming Movies:
Iron Man 3 (May 3, 2013)
Oz: The Great And Powerful (March 8, 2013)
Lone Ranger (July 3, 2013)
The Little Mermaid in 3D (September 13, 2013)
Thor: The Dark Worlds (November 8, 2013)
Frozen (November 27, 2013)
Saving Mr. Banks (December 20, 2013)
The Muppets Sequel (2013)
Maleficent (March 14, 2014)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (April 4, 2014)
Bears (April 18, 2014)
The Good Dinosaur (May 30, 2014)
Telsa (2014)
Phineas and Ferb (2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Star Wars: Episode VII (2015)
The Avengers 2 (May 1, 2015)
Ant-Man (November 6, 2015)
Finding Nemo 2 (2016)
Star Wars: Episode VIII (2017)
References:
[1] Walt Disney Pictures: http://movies.disney.com/
[2] Touchstone Pictures: http://www.waltdisneystudios.com/corp/unit/264
[3] Finke, N. (2012, July 8). Disney passing $1B domestic box office. Deadline. Retrieved from http://www.deadline.com/2012/07/disney-passing-1b-domestic-box-office/
[4] McClintock, P. (2012, July 18). Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/steven-spielbergs-lincoln-dated-early-351152
[5] Riefe, J. (2012, October 18). Tom Hanks on becoming Walt Disney for ‘Saving Mr. Banks’. Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tom-hanks-becoming-walt-disney-380011
[6] Anonymous. (2012, October 30). Disney to acquire Lucasfilm for $4 billion. ABC News. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2012/10/disney-to-acquire-lucasfilms-for-4-billion/
[7] Anonymous. (2012, Oct 30). Disney to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd..The Walt Disney Company Press Release. Retrieved from http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-news/press-releases/2012/10/disney-acquire-lucasfilm-ltd
[8] Zakarin, J. (2012, October 31). 15 potential directors for the new ‘Star Wars’ films. Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/new-star-wars-movies-director-384731
[9] Barnes, M. (2012, November 30). Legendary Disney animator Mel Shaw dies at 97. Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disney-animator-mel-shaw-bambi-396272
[10] Kilday, G. (2012, December 3). Satellite Awards nominates 10 films for best motion picture. Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/satellite-awards-nominates-10-films-396865