Disney began producing live-action films in the 1950s. The live-action division became Walt Disney Pictures in 1983, when Disney reorganized its entire studio division, which included the separation from the feature animation division and the subsequent creation ofTouchstone Pictures. At the end of that decade, combined with Touchstone's output, Walt Disney Pictures elevated Disney to one ofHollywood'smajor film studios.
The studio's predecessor (and the modern-day the Walt Disney Company's as a whole) was founded as theDisney Brothers Cartoon Studio, by filmmakerWalt Disney and his business partner and brother,Roy, in 1923.
Logo used from 1929 to 1937
The creation ofMickey Mouse and subsequent short films and merchandise generated revenue for the studio, which was renamed asThe Walt Disney Studio at the Hyperion Studio in 1926.[4] In 1929, it was renamed again toWalt Disney Productions. The studio's streak of success continued in the 1930s, culminating with the 1937 release of the first feature-length animated film,Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which becomes a huge financial success.[5] With the profits fromSnow White, Walt relocated toa third studio inBurbank, California.[6]
Walt Disney Productions had its first fully live-action film in 1950 with the release ofTreasure Island, considered by Disney to be the official conception for what would eventually evolve into the modern-day Walt Disney Pictures.[10] By 1953, the company ended their agreements with such third-party distributors asRKO Radio Pictures andUnited Artists and formed their own distribution company,Buena Vista Distribution.[11] By the 1950s, the company had purchased the rights to the work ofL. Frank Baum.[12]
The wordmark for Walt Disney Pictures used in marketing their films from 1986 to 1998. It was also used for Pixar films from 1995 to 2007.
The live-action division of Walt Disney Productions was incorporated asWalt Disney Pictures on April 1, 1983, to diversify film subjects and expand audiences for their film releases.[13] In April 1983, Richard Berger was hired by Disney CEORon W. Miller as film president.Touchstone Films was started by Miller in February 1984 as a label for the studio's PG-13 and R-rated films with an expected half of Disney's yearly 6-to-8-movie slate, which would be released under the label.[14] That same year, newly named Disney CEOMichael Eisner pushed out Berger, replacing him with Eisner's own film chief fromParamount Pictures,Jeffrey Katzenberg.[15] andFrank Wells fromWarner Bros. Pictures. Touchstone andHollywood Pictures were formed within that unit on February 15, 1984, and February 1, 1989, respectively.[16]
David Hoberman was promoted to president of production at Walt Disney Pictures in April 1988.[18] In April 1994, Hoberman was promoted to president of motion picture production at Walt Disney Studios, and David Vogel was appointed as Walt Disney Pictures president.[19] The following year, however, Hoberman resigned from the company and instead began a production deal with Disney and his newly formed production company,Mandeville Films.[19] In addition to Walt Disney Pictures, Vogel added the head position ofHollywood Pictures in 1997, whileDonald De Line remained as head of Touchstone.[20] Vogel was then promoted in 1998 to the head of Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group, the newly formed division that oversaw all live-action production within the Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone, and Hollywood labels.[21][22] The move was orchestrated by Walt Disney Studios chairmanJoe Roth, as an effort to scale back and consolidate the studio's film production.[22] As a result of the restructuring, De Line resigned.[23]
The wordmark for Walt Disney Pictures used in marketing their films from 1998 to 2007
After two films based on Disney theme park attractions,[30][31][32] Walt Disney Pictures selected it as a source of a line of films starting withThe Country Bears (2002) andThe Haunted Mansion andPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (both 2003).[33] The latter film—the first film produced by the studio to receive aPG-13 rating—begana film series that was followed by four sequels, with the franchise taking in more than $5.4 billion worldwide from 2003 to 2017.[30][34] On January 12, 2010, Aviv stepped down as the studio's president of live-action production.[35]
In January 2010,Sean Bailey was appointed the studio's president of live-action production, replacing Aviv.[36][1] Bailey had producedTron: Legacy for the studio, which was released later that same year.[36] Under Bailey's leadership and with support from then Disney CEOBob Iger—and later studio chairmanAlan Horn—Walt Disney Pictures pursued atent-pole film strategy, which included an expanded slate of original and adaptive large-budget tentpole films. Beginning in 2011, the studio simplified the branding in itsproduction logo andmarquee credits to just "Disney".[37] Concurrently, Disney was struggling with PG-13 tentpole films outside of thePirates of the Caribbean series, with films such asJohn Carter (2012) andThe Lone Ranger (2013) becoming some ofthe biggest box-office bombs of all time. However, the studio had found particular success with live-action fantasy adaptations of properties associated with theiranimated films, which began with the commercial success ofAlice in Wonderland (2010), that became the second billion-dollar-grossing film in the studio's history.[38] With the continued success ofMaleficent (2014) andCinderella (2015), the studio saw the potential in these fantasy adaptations and officiateda trend of similar films, which followed withThe Jungle Book (2016) andBeauty and the Beast (2017).[39][1] In March 2015, Iger expanded the studio's smoking and tobacco prohibition to include all films released by the studio—including PG-13 rated films and below—unless such depictions are historically pertinent.[40]
Despite the acclaim and commercial success of several smaller-budgeted genre films throughout the 2010s, such asThe Muppets (2011),Saving Mr. Banks (2013), andInto the Woods (2014), Walt Disney Pictures shifted its production model entirely on tent-pole films as they had found that a majority of the smaller genre films were becoming financially unsustainable in the theatrical market.[1][41][42] By July 2016, Disney had announced development of nearly eighteen films consisting of sequels to existing adaptations, origin stories and prequels.[39][43]
In 2017, the Walt Disney Company announced it was creating its ownstreaming service platform.[44] The new service, known asDisney+, would feature original programming created by the company's vast array of film and television production studios, including Walt Disney Pictures.[45] As part of this new distribution platform, Bailey and Horn confirmed that Walt Disney Pictures would renew development on smaller-budgeted genre films that the studio had previously stopped producing for thetheatrical exhibition market a few years prior.[46][47][42] In 2018, nine films were announced to be in production or development for the service.[48] These films would be budgeted between $20 million and $60 million.[46] The studio was expected to produce approximately 3–4 films per year exclusively for Disney+, alongside its theatrical tentpole slate.[47] Disney+ was launched on November 12, 2019, in the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands, with subsequent international expansions.[45] Within the first two months of the service's launch, Walt Disney Pictures had released three films (Lady and the Tramp,Noelle, andTogo) exclusively for Disney+.[42]
On March 12, 2020,20th Century Family president Vanessa Morrison was named president of live-action development and production of streaming content for both Disney and20th Century Studios, reporting directly to Bailey. That same day, Philip Steuer and Randi Hiller were also appointed as president of the studio's physical, post-production and VFX, andexecutive vice president for casting, respectively–overseeing these functions for both Walt Disney Pictures and 20th Century Studios.[49] In 2023, Walt Disney Pictures celebrated itscentennial alongsideWalt Disney Animation Studios and their corporate parent company as a whole.[50] That same year,Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny marked the studio's first official co-production with Lucasfilm.[51]
On February 26, 2024, Disney announced a leadership change, with Bailey stepping down as president and replaced by David Greenbaum, who formerly co-ledSearchlight Pictures. Greenbaum leads Walt Disney Pictures and co-lead 20th Century Studios with current 20th Century president Steve Asbell.[52] On February 19, 2025, Daria Cercek joined the studio as president of theatrical.[53]
The current on-screen logo of Walt Disney Pictures, introduced in 2022 for the studio's 100th anniversary in 2023. The standard version, pictured here, debuted in 2024 on the official trailer forInside Out 2.
Until 1983, instead of a traditionalproduction logo, theopening credits of Disney films used to feature a title card that read "Walt Disney Presents", and later, "Walt Disney Productions Presents".[54]
Beginning with the release ofReturn to Oz in 1985, Walt Disney Pictures introduced its fantasy castle logo. The version with its accompanying music premiered withThe Black Cauldron.[54] The logo was created byWalt Disney Productions intraditional animation and featured a white silhouette ofDisneyland'sSleeping Beauty Castle against a blue background, with the studio's name in Walt Disney's signature style and underscored by "When You Wish Upon a Star", in arrangement composed byJohn Debney.[55] A short rendition of the logo was used as a closing logo as well as in the movieReturn to Oz, although the film was released months beforeThe Black Cauldron was released. An animatedRenderMan variant appeared before everyPixar Animation Studios film fromToy Story untilRatatouille, featuring an original fanfare composed byRandy Newman, based on the opening score cue fromToy Story, called "Andy's Birthday". Beginning withDinosaur (2000), an alternative logo featuring an orange castle and logo against a black background, was occasionally presented with darker tone and live-action films, though a few animated films such asBrother Bear, the 2002 re-release ofThe Lion King andThe Wild (the final film to use this logo) used this logo.
^Kunz, William M. (2007)."2".Culture Conglomerates: Consolidation in the Motion Picture and Television Industries. Lanham, MD.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 42, 45.ISBN978-0742540651.OCLC63245464.Archived from the original on July 9, 2014. RetrievedOctober 15, 2020.
^Andreeva, Nellie (February 9, 2007)."Touchstone TV now ABC TV Studio".The Hollywood Reporter. AP.Archived from the original on April 12, 2015. RetrievedMarch 18, 2015.
^Gilstrap, Peter; Triplett, William (July 25, 2007)."Disney jumps on smoking ban".Variety.Archived from the original on June 30, 2016. RetrievedJune 1, 2016.
^Kit, Borys (July 6, 2015)."Disney Buys Live-Action Prince Charming Project".The Hollywood Reporter.Archived from the original on February 13, 2017. RetrievedMarch 20, 2017.Disney pioneered the recent and lucrative trend of taking either old animated classics or fairy tales and spinning them into live-action features.
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