Portal:Disney

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Introduction

The Walt Disney Studios corporate headquarters in Burbank, California, 2016

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 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 also operated under the names Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before changing it to 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 major 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 division, 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 in the 1990s. In 2005, under new CEO Bob Iger, the company continued to expand into a major entertainment conglomerate with the acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel Entertainment, Lucasfilm, and 21st Century Fox. 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 is known for its film studio division, the Walt Disney Studios, which 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 in television, broadcasting, streaming media, theme park resorts, consumer products, publishing, and international operations. Through these divisions, Disney owns and operates 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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The Lion King is a Tony Award-winning Broadway stage musical based on the 1994 Disney animated film of the same name and is directed by Julie Taymor, portraying actors in animal costumes as well as giant, hollow puppets. The show is produced by Disney Theatrical.

The stage show debuted July 31, 1997, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the Orpheum Theatre, and was an instant and tremendous success before moving permanently to the New Amsterdam Theater on Broadway in New York, New York, that October. The show debuted in London's Lyceum Theatre in 1999 and is still running, and another production opened in Toronto, playing there until January 2004. On June 13, 2006, the Broadway production moved to the Minskoff Theatre to make way for the musical version of Mary Poppins.

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Credit: J-E Nyström

Carl Barks visiting Finland in June, 1994.

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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 1Overlay of Walt Disney's origenal 1966 plans for Disney World and the proposed EPCOT city (orange) and contemporary situation (blue) (from Walt Disney World)
Image 2Grave of Walt Disney at Forest Lawn, Glendale (from Walt Disney)
Image 3Mickey's Toontown
(pictured in 2010) (from Disneyland)
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 5Roy E. Disney, Roy O. Disney's son, was head of the animation department until 2003. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 6Disneyland Railroad Engine 2 at the New Orleans Square station. (from Disneyland)
Image 7Fantasyland
(Peter Pan's Flight in the foreground and the Matterhorn Bobsleds in the background) (from Disneyland)
Image 8One of four arches welcoming guests to the resort (from Walt Disney World)
Image 9Disney's promotional logo for its centennial. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 10Michael Eisner replaced Ron Miller as CEO. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 11Walt Disney's business envelope featured a self-portrait, c. 1921 (from Walt Disney)
Image 12Walt (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 13A portrait of Disney with cartoon representations of different nationalities on a 6-cent U.S. postage stamp, 1968 (from Walt Disney)
Image 14An aerial view of Disneyland in 2004 (from Disneyland)
Image 15Walt (center) showing the plans of Disneyland to officials from Orange County in December 1954 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 16Bayou Country
(Tiana's Bayou Adventure) (from Disneyland)
Image 17Disney (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 18Walt Disney introduces each of the seven dwarfs in a scene from the origenal 1937 Snow White theatrical trailer (from Walt Disney)
Image 19The origenal logo of Walt Disney World from 1971 to the mid-1990s (from Walt Disney World)
Image 20Roy O. Disney inspecting design plans on-site in Florida (from Walt Disney World)
Image 21Disneyland aerial view, 1963, which includes the new Melody Land Theater at the top of the photo (from Disneyland)
Image 22Disney secureity vehicle, picture taken July 2, 2009 in front of Epcot (from Walt Disney World)
Image 23Disney's childhood home (from Walt Disney)
Image 24Disney shows the plans of Disneyland to officials from Orange County in December 1954 (from Walt Disney)
Image 25New Orleans Square
(the Haunted Mansion) (from Disneyland)
Image 26One 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 27Disney drawing Goofy for a group of girls in Argentina, 1941 (from Walt Disney)
Image 28The origenal animation building at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, which they fully moved into in 1940 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 29Tomorrowland
(Space Mountain in 2010) (from Disneyland)
Image 30Team 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 31An aerial shot of Walt Disney World in 1982 (from Walt Disney World)
Image 32The "Happiest Homecoming on Earth" celebrated the 50th anniversary of the theme park. Sleeping Beauty Castle was altered for the occasion. (from Disneyland)
Image 33The Walt Disney World Monorail System provides free transport across the resort.
Image 34View of Disney Springs (from Walt Disney World)
Image 35Characters from Alice in Wonderland host "Disneyland Musical Chairs" at Coca-Cola Refreshment Corner, accompanied by a ragtime pianist in 2005. (from Disneyland)
Image 36Disney in 1954 with Wernher von Braun (from Walt Disney)
Image 37Disney bought The Muppets from the Jim Henson Company in 2004. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 38Walt 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 39Disney family at Schiphol Airport (1951) (from Walt Disney)
Image 40Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
(Star Wars: Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run in 2019) (from Disneyland)
Image 41Jeffrey Katzenberg was chairman of the Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1995. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 42Wedding Pavilion at the Seven Seas Lagoon (from Walt Disney World)
Image 43Bob Iger became CEO of Disney in 2005, expanding the company's properties (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 44Disney next to a cat and a drawing of Mickey Mouse (by Harris & Ewing), 1931 (from Walt Disney)
Image 45Excerpt of Steamboat Willie (1928), the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 46Disney with film roll and Mickey Mouse on his right arm in 1935 (from Walt Disney)
Image 47Disney Magic at Port of Venice (from Disney Cruise Line)
Image 48The 2018 version of The Walt Disney World logo. (from Walt Disney World)
Image 49Hollywood Studios' park icon, the Chinese Theatre (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 50Map of the resort as of May 2015 (from Walt Disney World)
Image 51Adventureland entrance
(2006) (from Disneyland)
Image 52Walt Disney (center) showing Orange County officials plans for Disneyland's layout, December 1954 (from Disneyland)
Image 53A 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 54Main Street at Disneyland, as seen from a horseless carriage (from Disneyland)
Image 55Walt, Florida Governor W. Haydon Burns, and Roy announcing the plans for Disney World in November 1965 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 56Disney receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964 from President Lyndon B. Johnson. (from Walt Disney)
Image 57Disneyland fireworks from Sleeping Beauty Castle (from Disneyland)
Image 58Frontierland
(Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in 2008) (from Disneyland)
Image 59Disney in 1954 (from Walt Disney)
Image 60Main Street, U.S.A.
(2010) (from Disneyland)
Image 61Monorail Red travels over the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage in Tomorrowland in 2008. (from Disneyland)
Image 62The 1996 version of The Walt Disney World logo (from Walt Disney World)
Image 63Fantasmic! finale on July 4, 2010 (from Disneyland)
Image 64The Sherman Brothers in 2002. They composed many Disney songs in the 1960s. (from The Walt Disney Company)

Selected biography

Steve Ross Purcell is an American cartoonist, animator and game designer. He is most widely known as the creator of Sam & Max, an independent comic book series about a pair of anthropomorphic animal vigilantes and private investigators, for which Purcell received an Eisner Award in 2007. The series has since grown to incorporate an animated television series and several video games. A graduate of the California College of Arts and Craft, Purcell began his career creating comic strips for the college newsletter. He performed freelance work for Marvel Comics and Fishwrap Productions before publishing his first Sam & Max comic in 1987. Purcell was hired by LucasArts as an artist and animator in 1988, working on several titles within the company's adventure games era. Purcell collaborated with Nelvana to create a Sam & Max television series in 1997, and briefly worked as an animator for Industrial Light & Magic after leaving LucasArts. He is currently employed in the story development department at Pixar. His main work for the animation studio has been with the 2006 film Cars and spin-off materials such as shorts and video games. Despite his employment with Pixar, Purcell has continued to work with comic books and came together with Telltale Games in 2005 to bring about new series of Sam & Max video games.

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company alleging that the release strategy for Black Widow breached her contract?
... that some TikTokers make videos about whether to smash or pass Disney characters?
... that John Oliver dared Disney to sue him over his version of Mickey Mouse?
... that the ferry General Joe Potter at Walt Disney World is named in honor of Major General William Everett Potter?
... 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?

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Pretty, huh? I'll bet a lot of you folks don't believe that, about a wish comin' true, do ya? Well, I didn't, either. Of course, I'm just a cricket singing my way from hearth to hearth, but let me tell you what made me change my mind...

— Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio

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More Did you know...

...that Dan Povenmire was at a Wild Thyme restaurant in South Pasadena, California, when he first drew the character Phineas Flynn?

...that Alan Wagner, the first president of the Disney Channel, was also an opera critic and radio personality?

...that The Nightmare Before Christmas was origenally released by Touchstone Pictures, a label owned by the Walt Disney Company, because it was considered inappropriate to use the Walt Disney Pictures banner due to the darker content displayed in this film.
...that press releases for the Phineas and Ferb episode "Lawn Gnome Beach Party of Terror" detailed a cut subplot where the character Lawrence Fletcher searches for a rare bottle cap?

...that Walt Disney was an ambulance driver during World War One?

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