Portal:Disney

Introduction

The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16, 1923 as an animation studio, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Oliver Disney as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio; it later operated under the names Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before adopting its current name in 1986. In 1928, Disney established itself as a leader in the animation industry with the short film Steamboat Willie. The film used synchronized sound to become the first post-produced sound cartoon, and popularized Mickey Mouse, who became Disney's mascot and corporate icon.

After becoming a success by the early 1940s, Disney diversified into live-action films, television, and theme parks in the 1950s. However, following Walt Disney's death in 1966, the company's profits, especially in the animation sector, began to decline. In 1984, Disney's shareholders voted Michael Eisner as CEO, who led a reversal of the company's decline through a combination of international theme park expansion and the highly successful Disney Renaissance period of animation from 1989 to 1999. In 2005, under the new CEO Bob Iger, the company continued to expand into a major entertainment conglomerate with the acquisitions of Pixar in 2006, Marvel Entertainment in 2009, Lucasfilm in 2012, and 21st Century Fox in 2019. In 2020, Bob Chapek became the head of Disney after Iger's retirement. However, Chapek was ousted in 2022 and Iger was reinstated as CEO.

The company’s namesake film studio division includes Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, 20th Century Animation, and Searchlight Pictures. Disney's other main business units include divisions operating the ABC television network; cable television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN, Freeform, FX, and National Geographic; publishing, merchandising, music, and theater divisions; direct-to-consumer streaming services such as Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu, and Hotstar; and Disney Experiences, which includes several theme parks, resort hotels, and cruise lines around the world. (Full article...)

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Kingdom Hearts (Japanese: キングダムハーツ, Hepburn: Kingudamu Hātsu) is a Japanese/American video game series developed and published by Square Enix. It is a collaboration between Square Enix and Disney Interactive Studios, and is under the direction of Tetsuya Nomura, a longtime Square Enix character designer. Kingdom Hearts is a crossover of various Disney settings based in a universe made specifically for the series. The series features an all-star voice cast, which includes many of the Disney characters' official voice actors and well-known celebrities such as Haley Joel Osment, David Gallagher, Jesse McCartney, Hayden Panettiere, Christopher Lee, Willa Holland, Jason Dohring, Mark Hamill, and Leonard Nimoy. Characters from Square Enix's Final Fantasy series make appearances and interact with the player and the Disney characters. The series centers around the main character Sora's search for his friends and his encounters with Disney and Final Fantasy characters on their worlds, though the most recent games have centered around other characters central to the series' storyline. The series currently consists of seven games including remakes across different video game platforms, and future titles are planned. Most of the games in the series have been both critically acclaimed and commercially successful, though each title has seen varying levels of success. As of August 2010, the Kingdom Hearts series has shipped over 14 million copies worldwide, with 2 million copies in PAL regions, 3.0 million copies in Japan, and 5.6 million copies in North America. A wide variety of related merchandise has been released along with the games, including soundtracks, figurines, companion books, and an ongoing manga series made into different volumes.

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Ollie Johnston in his home workshop in 1989.

Credit: Janke

Oliver Martin Johnston, Jr. (October 31, 1912 – April 14, 2008) was an American motion picture animator. He was one of Disney's Nine Old Men, and the last surviving at the time of his death. He was recognized by The Walt Disney Company with its Disney Legend Award in 1989. His work was recognized with the National Medal of Arts in 2005.

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These are images of Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, The Walt Disney Company, and Walt Disney in their respective articles.

Image 1One of four arches welcoming guests to the resort (from Walt Disney World)
Image 2Michael Eisner replaced Ron Miller as CEO. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 3The original animation building at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, which they fully moved into in 1940 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 4Disney's video streaming subscription service Disney+ was launched in 2019, which has a total of over 135 million subscriptions as of June 2022. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 5Frontierland
(Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in 2008) (from Disneyland)
Image 6Jeffrey Katzenberg was chairman of the Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1995. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 7Bob Iger became CEO of Disney in 2005, expanding the company's properties (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 8Disney in 1954 with Wernher von Braun (from Walt Disney)
Image 9The Walt Disney World Monorail System provides free transport across the resort.
Image 10The 2018 version of The Walt Disney World logo. (from Walt Disney World)
Image 11A portrait of Disney with cartoon representations of different nationalities on a 6-cent U.S. postage stamp, 1968 (from Walt Disney)
Image 12The original logo of Walt Disney World from 1971 to the mid-1990s. This logo is still used on retro merchandise. (from Walt Disney World)
Image 13Adventureland entrance
(from Disneyland)
Image 14Walt Disney's business envelope featured a self-portrait, c. 1921 (from Walt Disney)
Image 15The 1996 version of The Walt Disney World logo (from Walt Disney World)
Image 16An aerial view of Disneyland in 2004 (from Disneyland)
Image 17Walt (center) showing the plans of Disneyland to officials from Orange County in December 1954 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 18Disneyland Railroad Engine 2 at the New Orleans Square station. (from Disneyland)
Image 19Fantasmic! finale on July 4, 2010 (from Disneyland)
Image 20Mickey's Toontown
(Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway) (from Disneyland)
Image 21The "Happiest Homecoming on Earth" celebrated the 50th anniversary of the theme park. Sleeping Beauty Castle was altered for the occasion. (from Disneyland)
Image 22Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
(Star Wars: Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run) (from Disneyland)
Image 23Walt Disney (center) showing Orange County officials plans for Disneyland's layout, December 1954 (from Disneyland)
Image 24Monorail Red travels over the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage in Tomorrowland in 2008. (from Disneyland)
Image 25Walt Disney (left) with his brother Roy O. Disney (right) and then Governor of Florida W. Haydon Burns (center) on November 15, 1965, publicly announcing the creation of Disney World (from Walt Disney World)
Image 26Disneyland fireworks from Sleeping Beauty Castle (from Disneyland)
Image 27Disney security vehicle, picture taken July 2, 2009 in front of Epcot (from Walt Disney World)
Image 28Disney (left) with his brother Roy O. Disney (right) and then Governor of Florida W. Haydon Burns (center) on November 15, 1965, publicly announcing the creation of Disney World (from Walt Disney)
Image 29Walt Disney introduces each of the seven dwarfs in a scene from the original 1937 Snow White theatrical trailer (from Walt Disney)
Image 30A Disney Cruise Line bus which takes guests to and from Terminal 8 from Orlando International Airport; as well as around Walt Disney World. (from Disney Cruise Line)
Image 31Characters from Alice in Wonderland host "Disneyland Musical Chairs" at Coca-Cola Refreshment Corner, accompanied by a ragtime pianist in 2005. (from Disneyland)
Image 32Disney shows the plans of Disneyland to officials from Orange County in December 1954 (from Walt Disney)
Image 33Disney's childhood home (from Walt Disney)
Image 34Disney drawing Goofy for a group of girls in Argentina, 1941 (from Walt Disney)
Image 35New Orleans Square
(the Haunted Mansion) (from Disneyland)
Image 36Disney's promotional logo for its centennial. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 37Roy E. Disney, Roy O. Disney's son, was head of the animation department until 2003. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 38Tomorrowland
(Space Mountain in 2010) (from Disneyland)
Image 39Fantasyland
(Peter Pan's Flight in the foreground and the Matterhorn Bobsleds in the background) (from Disneyland)
Image 40Disneyland aerial view, 1963, which includes the new Melody Land Theater at the top of the photo (from Disneyland)
Image 41Hollywood Studios' park icon, the Chinese Theatre (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 42Disney with film roll and Mickey Mouse on his right arm in 1935 (from Walt Disney)
Image 43The Sherman Brothers in 2002. They composed many Disney songs in the 1960s. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 44Main Street, USA
(2010) (from Disneyland)
Image 45Map of the resort as of May 2015 (from Walt Disney World)
Image 46One of Disney's first animated characters Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which Disney regained the rights to in 2006. The initial run of Oswald shorts by Disney have all entered the public domain as of January 1, 2024. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 47Roy O. Disney inspecting design plans on-site in Florida (from Walt Disney World)
Image 48Main Street at Disneyland, as seen from a horseless carriage (from Disneyland)
Image 49Team Disney – The Michael D. Eisner Building, the main building at the Walt Disney Studios, which houses the offices of Disney's CEO and several other senior corporate officials. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 50Walt, Florida Governor W. Haydon Burns, and Roy announcing the plans for Disney World in November 1965 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 51Walt (right) dressed as a gaucho next to Donald Duck in Argentina while on the company's South American goodwill trip in 1941. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 52Wedding Pavilion at the Seven Seas Lagoon (from Walt Disney World)
Image 53Bayou Country
(Tiana's Bayou Adventure) (from Disneyland)
Image 54Excerpt of Steamboat Willie (1928), the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 55Disney Magic at Port of Venice (from Disney Cruise Line)
Image 56An aerial shot of Walt Disney World in 1982 (from Walt Disney World)
Image 57View of Disney Springs (from Walt Disney World)
Image 58Overlay of Walt Disney's original 1966 plans for Disney World and the proposed EPCOT city (orange) and contemporary situation (blue) (from Walt Disney World)
Image 59Disney in 1954 (from Walt Disney)
Image 60Disney receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964 from President Lyndon B. Johnson. (from Walt Disney)
Image 61Grave of Walt Disney at Forest Lawn, Glendale (from Walt Disney)
Image 62Disney bought The Muppets from the Jim Henson Company in 2004. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 63Disney family at Schiphol Airport (1951) (from Walt Disney)

Selected biography

Steve Jobs (b. 1955, d. 2011) was an American business magnate and inventor. He is co-founder, chairman, and former chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Jobs also previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney. He was credited in the 1995 film Toy Story as an executive producer. In the late 1970s, Jobs, with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula, and others, designed, developed, and marketed one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series. In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of Xerox PARC's mouse-driven graphical user interface, which led to the creation of the Macintosh. After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs resigned from Apple and founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher-education and business markets. Apple's subsequent 1996 buyout of NeXT brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and he served as its CEO from 1997 until 2011. In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd which was spun off as Pixar Animation Studios. He remained CEO and majority shareholder at 50.1% until its acquisition by The Walt Disney company in 2006. In 2011, Apple announced that Steve Jobs had died at the age of 56.

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that a revival of the comedy series Lizzie McGuire was ordered in 2019, but canceled mid-production after Disney deemed it not family-friendly enough?
... that Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company alleging that the release strategy for Black Widow breached her contract?
... that the ferry General Joe Potter at Walt Disney World is named in honor of Major General William Everett Potter?
... that the horses pulling the Disneyland Main Street Vehicles' streetcars include Belgians, Brabants, Clydesdales, Percherons, and Shires?
... that cyclist Mike Allen compared participating in the Olympics to Disneyland?
... that John Oliver dared Disney to sue him over his version of Mickey Mouse?

Selected quote

Gummis, as you know, The Great Book of Gummi will never be finished. It contains history of Gummi bears the world over, and now we have made a contribution. Zummi writes on blank page. Today, we helped a young boy save his kingdom.

— Zummi, "A New Beginning" - Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears

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More Did you know...

...that the Disney bomb of the Second World War is thought to have been inspired by the Walt Disney cartoon Victory Through Air Power?

...that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects?

...that Walt Disney started sketching Disney Characters in 1908?
...that in May 1992, entertainment magazine The Hollywood Reporter reported that about 25% of Euro Disney's workforce — approximately 3,000 men and women — had resigned their jobs because of unacceptable working conditions.
... that the most valuable cartoon movie poster was a poster for the Walt Disney short, Alice's Day at the Sea (USA 1924), was sold in London England at $36534.00 in 1994.

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