Background
Disney is short for The Walt Disney Company, a century-old entertainment brand responsible for some of the most iconic and influential movies in the world. Disney is also known for its amusement parks and for being the parent company of popular brands like Pixar, Marvel, and ESPN.
Building an Empire
Walt Disney started as an animator at the Kansas City Film Ad Company before forming his own Laugh-O-Gram Studio, a small operation that produced animated newsreels for movie theaters in Kansas City, Missouri. Disney’s Laugh-O-Gram grew popular, leading the young animator and his team to produce more ambitious work, including a Jazz Age adaptation of “Little Red Riding Hood” and the technically innovative “Alice’s Wonderland.”
Disney’s longer films were impressive, but poor business decisions led Laugh-O-Gram to file for bankruptcy. In 1923, Disney moved to Hollywood with his brother, Roy, and formed the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, which would eventually become The Walt Disney Company.
After seeing “The Jazz Singer,” the first film to include synchronized sound, Walt Disney began working to replicate the effect in an animated short, leading to 1928’s “Steamboat Willie,” the first public film to feature the character Mickey Mouse. The film’s success funded Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” a massive production that went 400% over budget.
"Snow White" was the first major Hollywood animated feature film, the highest-grossing movie of 1938, and the winner of the company's first Academy Award. Walt Disney would go on to win 22 Oscars—the most by any person.
High and Low Culture
Following “Snow White,” Walt Disney was determined to prove he was capable of more serious work and began working with Leopold Stokowski, conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, on setting classical music to Disney’s animation. “Fantasia” was released in 1940 and was a commercial flop, losing around $15M in today's dollars and nearly bankrupting the company. Decades later, the film’s ambition and imagery would inspire filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and Andy Warhol.
Staring down insolvency and growing labor disputes, Disney began producing training videos for the Navy and propaganda films for US involvement in World War II, including the shorts “Der Fuehrer’s Face,” “The Spirit of ‘43,” and “Donald Gets Drafted.” The effort provided a much-needed cash injection, allowing Disney to continue producing films.
The Art of the Spectacle
In 1954, “Disneyland” debuted on ABC, featuring short cartoons and segments from Disney films. The show further established Disney as a household name and, more importantly, primed families across the country for the opening of the Disneyland amusement park. The park’s first day was broadcast live on “Disneyland” and covered like a news event, with radio pioneer Art Linkletter and future US President Ronald Reagan acting as correspondents.
Walt Disney died in 1966. While the company continued expanding its commercial enterprises after his death, including opening Florida’s Disney World in 1971, its creative output floundered in the '70s and '80s as the company focused on more adult-oriented content.
That changed with 1989’s “The Little Mermaid,” which brought theatrical storytelling and animation back to the Disney universe, kicking off what fans would later call the Disney Renaissance.
The two most significant films from that period are among the most decorated in the Disney catalog: 1991’s “Beauty and the Beast,” which was the first animated feature nominated for an Academy Award for best picture, and 1995’s “Toy Story,” Disney’s first collaboration with Pixar and the first fully computer-animated feature film, changing the course of cinema history.
The Disney Universe
In the 1990s, Disney acquired the television networks ABC and ESPN. In the 2000s and 2010s, it began acquiring other creative brands, including Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Fox and started its own streaming app, Disney+, which offers content from all the brands under its umbrella.
Some critics have argued that the company's turn toward recycling preexisting intellectual property—in the form of sequels, reboots, and offshoots—is a tactical mistake. That remains to be seen. In fact, Disney was the highest grossing global studio in 2024, bringing in more than $5B.
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