How Disney Started And Became A Success

The Start

Walt Disney Studios has evolved from a independent animation studio into a $90B+ global company while even today the revenue gets higher and higher but the Disney we know wasn't always the same behind the scenes.

Walt Disney arrived in California in the summer of 1923 with a lot of hopes. the cartoon they started with was named Alice in wonderland and they decided to to use that has a pilot to film a self series of these Alice comedies to a distributor soon after arriving in California that was successful. A distributor in New York named M, J, Winkler contracted to distribute the Alice comedies on October 23rd 1923. With walt disney and his brother Roy with them being equal partners they changed the name to walt disney studios.

Lessons Learned That Led To Their Success

Walt disney made his Alice comedies for 4 years then in 1927 decided to move to an all cartoon series to star in a new series. he created Oswald the luck rabbit but there was a twist when he tried to get some additional money from his distributor for the second year he found out the distributor had gone behind his back and signed up almost all of his animators hoping to make Oswald cartoons in his studio without Walt Disney on regarding his contract.

It was a painfull lesson cuz Walt Disney did not own the rights to Oswald the distributor did from then on he saw the distributor owned everything that he made. The original Disney Studio had been in the back half of a real estate office on Kingswell Avenue in Hollywood, but soon Walt had enough money to move next door and rent a whole store for his studio. That small studio was sufficient for a couple of years, but the company eventually outgrew it, and Walt had to look elsewhere. 

The New Location

He found an ideal piece of property on Hyperion Avenue in Hollywood, built a studio, and in 1926, moved his staff to the new facility. Walt had to come up with a new character, and one that we all love today that character was Mickey Mouse. With his chief animator, Ub Iwerks, Walt designed the famous mouse and gave him a personality that endeared him to all. Ub animated two Mickey Mouse cartoons, but Walt was unable to sell them because they were silent films, and sound was revolutionizing the movie industry. So, they made a third Mickey Mouse cartoon, 

this time with fully synchronized sound, and Steamboat Willie opened to rave reviews at the Colony Theater in New York November 18, 1928. A cartoon star, Mickey Mouse, was born. The new character was immediately popular, and, a lengthy series of Mickey Mouse cartoons followed. Not one to rest on his laurels, Walt Disney soon produced another series the Silly Symphonies to go with the Mickey series. It featured different casts of characters in each film and enabled animators to experiment with stories that relied less on the gags and quick humor of the Mickey cartoons and more on mood, emotion, and musical themes. 

Eventually the Silly Symphonies turned into the training ground for all Disney artists as they prepared for the advent of animated feature films. Flowers and Trees, a Silly Symphony and the first full-color cartoon, won the Academy Award® for Best Cartoon for 1932, the first year that the Academy offered such a category. For the rest of that decade, a Disney cartoon won the Oscar® every year.

The Start Of Disney Merchandise 

While the cartoons were gaining popularity in movie houses, the Disney staff found that merchandising the characters was an additional source of revenue. A man in New York offered Walt $300 for the license to put Mickey Mouse on some pencil tablets he was manufacturing. Walt Disney needed the $300, so he said okay. That was the start of Disney merchandising. Soon there were Mickey Mouse dolls, dishes, toothbrushes, radios, figurines almost everything you could think of bore Mickey’s likeness. The year 1930 was a big one for the mouse that started it all, as it saw the first Mickey Mouse book and newspaper comic strip published.

The Fuel Of Enthusiasm

One night in 1934, Walt informed his animators that they were going to make an animated feature film, and then he told them the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. There were some skeptics in the group, but before long everyone had caught Walt’s enthusiasm, and work began in earnest. It took three years, but the landmark film debuted on December 21, 1937 and became a spectacular hit. Snow White soon became the highest-grossing film of all time, a record it held until it was surpassed by Gone with the Wind. Now Walt Disney’s studio had firmer footing. The short cartoons paid the bills, but Walt knew that future profits would come from feature films.

The Second Twist Work immediately began on other feature projects, but just as things were looking rosy, along came World War II. The next two features, Pinocchio and Fantasia, were released in 1940. They were technical masterpieces, but their costs were too high for a company losing most of its foreign markets because of the war. Dumbo was made in 1941 on a very limited budget, but Bambi, in 1942, was another expensive film, and caused the studio to retrench. It would be many years before animated features of the highest caliber could be put into production.

During the war, 

Walt made two films in South America, Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros, at the request of the State Department. His studio concentrated on making propaganda and training films for the military. When the war ended, it was difficult for the Disney Studio to regain its pre-war footing. Several years went by with the release of package features films such as Make Mine Music and Melody Time, containing groups of short cartoons packaged together. Walt also moved into live-action production with films such as So Dear to My Heart, but because audiences expected animation from Walt Disney, these films included animated segments. Walt opened some new doors by beginning the award-winning True-Life Adventure series featuring nature photography of a style never seen before.

When They Started To See Success

The year 1950 saw big successes at Disney the first completely live-action film, Treasure Island, the return to classic animated features with Cinderella, and the first Disney television show at Christmas time. The Company was moving forward again. After two Christmas specials, Walt Disney went onto television in a big way in 1954 with the beginning of the Disneyland anthology series. This series eventually would run on all three networks and go through six title changes, but it remained on the air for 29 years, making it the longest-running primetime television series ever. The Mickey Mouse Club, one of television’s most popular children’s series, debuted in 1955 and made stars of a group of talented Mouseketeers.

Walt was never satisfied with what he had already accomplished cuz like we all know in this case a company can never grow too big even when its motivational. As his motion pictures and television programs became successful, he felt a desire to branch out. One area that intrigued him was amusement parks. As a father, he had taken his two young daughters to zoos, carnivals, and other entertainment enterprises, but he always ended up sitting on the bench as they rode the merry-go-round and had all the fun. He felt that there should be a park where parents and children could go and have a good time together. This was the genesis of Disneyland. After several years of planning and construction, the new park opened on July 17, 1955.

The Start Of Disney Land

Disneyland was a totally new kind of park. Observers coined the term “theme park,” but even that does not seem to do Disneyland justice. It has been used as a pattern for every amusement park built since its opening, becoming internationally famous and attracting hundreds of millions of visitors. Walt said that Disneyland would never be completed as long as there was imagination left in the world, and that statement remains true today. New attractions are added regularly, and Disneyland is even more popular now than it was in 1955.

The 1950s saw the release of the classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Shaggy Dog—first in a series of wacky comedies—and a popular TV series about the legendary hero Zorro. In the 1960s came Audio-Animatronics® technology, pioneered with Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland and then four shows at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, and Mary Poppins—perhaps the culmination of all Walt Disney had learned during his long movie-making career. But the ’60s also brought the end of an era: Walt Disney died December 15, 1966.

Plans that Walt left behind carried the Company for a number of years under the supervision of Roy Disney. The Jungle Book in 1967 and The Aristocats in 1970 showed that the Company could still make animated classics, and The Love Bug in 1969 was the highest-grossing film of the year. Disney began work on educational films and materials in a big way with the start of an educational subsidiary in 1969.

After the success of Disneyland, it was only natural for Walt to consider another park on the East Coast. Prior to his death, the Company purchased land in Florida, and the Walt Disney World project, located on some 28,000 acres near Orlando, was announced. It opened October 1, 1971. In Florida, the Company had the space it lacked in California. Finally there was room to create a destination resort, unencumbered by the urban sprawl that had grown up around Disneyland. Walt Disney World would include not only a Magic Kingdom theme park like Disneyland but also hotels, campgrounds, golf courses, and shopping villages. It did not take long for Walt Disney World to become the premier vacation destination in the world.

The New Park

Roy O. Disney, who after Walt’s death oversaw the building and financing of Walt Disney World, died in late 1971, and for the next decade the Company was led by a team including Card Walker, Donn Tatum, and Ron Miller—all originally trained by the Disney brothers. One of Walt’s last plans had been for the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, or EPCOT, as he called it. While he died before the plans could be refined, they were brought out again in a few years, and in 1979 ground was broken for the new park in Florida. EPCOT Center, a combination of Future World and World Showcase representing an investment of more than a billion dollars, opened to great acclaim October 1, 1982.

What Started Changing

WED Enterprises (later renamed Walt Disney Imagineering), the design and development division for the parks, had several projects in the works during the early 1980s. In addition to designing Epcot, it was hard at work on plans for Tokyo Disneyland, the first foreign Disney park. Tokyo Disneyland opened April 15, 1983, and was an immediate success in a country that had always loved anything Disney. Now that the Japanese had their own Disneyland, they flocked to it in increasing numbers.

Moviemaking also was changing in America in the early 1980s. Audiences were diminishing for the family films that had been the mainstay of the Company for many years, and Disney was not meeting the competition for films that attracted the huge teenage and adult market. To reverse that trend, Disney established a new label, Touchstone Pictures, with the release of Splash in 1984. At the same time, because of the widespread perception that Disney stock was undervalued relative to the company’s assets, two “corporate raiders” attempted to take over Disney. The efforts to keep the company from being broken up ended when Michael Eisner and Frank Wells became chairman and president, respectively.

New Team Of Management

The new management team immediately saw ways for Disney to maximize its assets. The Company had left network television in 1983 to prepare for the launch of a cable network, The Disney Channel. While the pay TV service was successful, 

Eisner and Wells felt Disney should have a strong network presence as well, so in 1985 Disney’s Touchstone division began the immensely successful Golden Girls, followed in 1986 by a return to Sunday night television with the Disney Sunday Movie (later The Magical World of Disney and The Wonderful World of Disney). Films from the Disney library were selected for the syndication market, and some of the classic animated films were released on video cassette. Using the sell-through technique, Disney classics soon reached the top of the all-time best-seller lists.

The late 1980s brought new innovations to the Parks. At Disneyland, new collaborations with filmmakers George Lucas and Francis Coppola brought Captain EO and Star Tours to the park, and Splash Mountain opened in 1989. Over at Walt Disney World in Florida, Disney’s Grand Floridian Beach and Caribbean Beach Resorts opened in 1988, and three new gated attractions opened in 1989: the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park, Pleasure Island, and Typhoon Lagoon. More resort hotels opened in 1990 and 1991.

New Heights Achieved

Filmmaking hit new heights in 1988 as Disney, for the first time, led Hollywood studios in box-office gross. Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Good Morning, Vietnam, Three Men and a Baby, and later, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Dick Tracy, Pretty Woman, and Sister Act each passed the $100 million milestone. Disney moved into new areas by starting Hollywood Pictures and acquiring the Wrather Corp. (owner of the Disneyland Hotel) and television station KHJ (Los Angeles), which was renamed KCAL. In merchandising, Disney purchased Childcraft and opened numerous highly successful and profitable Disney Stores.

Disney animation began reaching even greater audiences, with The Little Mermaid being topped by Beauty and the Beast in 1991 which was in turn topped by Aladdin in 1992. Hollywood Records was formed to offer a wide selection of recordings ranging from rap to movie soundtracks. New television shows, such as Live With Regis and Kathy Lee, Empty Nest, Dinosaurs, and Home Improvement, expanded Disney’s television base. For the first time in 1991, Disney moved into publishing, forming Hyperion Books, Hyperion Books for Children, and Disney Press, which released books on Disney and non-Disney subjects. Disney purchased Discover magazine, the leading consumer science monthly. As a totally new venture, Disney was awarded in 1993 the franchise for a National Hockey League team, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

Park Number 3

Over in France, the park now known as Disneyland Paris opened on April 12, 1992. Eagerly anticipated, the beautifully designed park attracted almost 11 million visitors during its first year. Disneyland Paris is complemented by six uniquely designed resort hotels and a campground. Dixie Landings and Port Orleans, and a well-received Disney Vacation Club enlarged lodging possibilities at the Walt Disney World Resort, while Mickey’s Toontown and Indiana Jones Adventure helped increase attendance at Disneyland. Walt Disney World opened the All-Star Resorts, Wilderness Lodge, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Blizzard Beach, the BoardWalk Resort, Coronado Springs Resort, The Disney Institute, Downtown Disney West Side, and redesigned Tomorrowland in Magic Kingdom Park.

The Disney success with animated films continued in 1994 with The Lion King, which soon became one of the highest-grossing films of all time. It was followed by Pocahontas in 1995, The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1996, Hercules in 1997, Mulan in 1998, Tarzan in 1999, and then Fantasia/2000 at the turn of the century. Toy Story pioneered computer-animation techniques, and was followed by successful sequels. Disney also continued its strong presence in children’s animated programs for television and found success with sequels to animated features released directly to the video market.

In 1994, Disney ventured onto Broadway with a very successful stage production of Beauty and the Beast, followed in 1997 by a unique staging of a show based on The Lion King and in 2000 by Aida. By restoring the historic New Amsterdam Theatre on 42nd Street, Disney became the catalyst for a successful makeover of the famous Times Square area. A musical version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame opened in Berlin, Germany in 1999.

By 1996, there were more than 450 Disney Stores worldwide, and by 1999 that number was up to 725. In Florida, the first home sites were sold in the new city of Celebration, located next to Walt Disney World. Eventually, 20,000 people would call Celebration their home. After the death of the owner Gene Autry, Disney acquired the California Angels baseball team to add to its hockey team, and in 1997 opened Disney’s Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World.

Early in 1996, Disney completed its acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC. The $19 billion transaction, second-largest in U.S. history, brought the country’s top television network to Disney, in addition to 10 TV stations, 21 radio stations, seven daily newspapers, and ownership positions in four cable networks.

The years that followed saw the release of a group of very popular live-action films, such as Mr. Holland’s Opus, The Rock, Ransom, Flubber, Con Air, Armageddon, and culminating in the hugely successful The Sixth Sense, which soon reached the 10th spot among the all-time highest grossing releases. Computer animation was showcased in a bug’s life and Dinosaur.

Park Number 4

A whole new park, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, opened at Walt Disney World in 1998. With a gigantic Tree of Life as its centerpiece, the park was Disney’s largest, spanning 500 acres. A major attraction was the Kilimanjaro Safaris, where Guests could experience live African animals in an amazingly accurate reproduction of the African savannah. An Asian area opened at Animal Kingdom in 1999. Back in California, Tomorrowland at Disneyland was redesigned in 1998. 

As the world moved toward a new century, Epcot became the host of Millennium Celebration, Test Track (the longest and fastest Disney park attraction) opened, and other attractions were revised and updated. The Walt Disney Company welcomed a new president Robert A. Iger and the Company reached the $25 billion revenue threshold for the first time.

Disney regional entertainment expanded with Disney Quest and the ESPN Zone in 1998, and that same year, the Disney Magic, the first of two luxury cruise ships, made its maiden voyage to the Caribbean, stopping at Disney’s own island paradise, Castaway Cay. The year 2000 opened with the release in IMAX theaters of an almost totally new version of Fantasia entitled Fantasia/2000. Other classically animated features were The Emperor’s New Groove, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Lilo & Stitch, Treasure Planet, and Brother Bear. Continuing collaborations with Pixar brought the computer-animated blockbuster Monsters, Inc. Popular live-action productions continued with Remember the Titans, Mission to Mars, Pearl Harbor, The Princess Diaries, and The Rookie. The new cable network, SoapNet, was launched, and award-winning productions on ABC included The Miracle Worker, Anne Frank, and Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story.

Revenue Started Going Highet

DVD releases became increasingly popular, especially when the company began adding generous amounts of bonus material for viewers. The Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs DVD in 2001 sold more than one million units on the first day of release. For the first time, in 2001, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts opened two new theme parks in the same year. In February, Disney’s California Adventure opened after several years of major construction, which transformed the entire Anaheim area.


The new park celebrated the history, culture, and spirit of California, with areas ranging from a Hollywood Pictures Backlot to the amusements of Paradise Pier. Joining it was an upscale shopping area, Downtown Disney and the Grand Californian Hotel, celebrating the Craftsman style of architecture. Across the Pacific in Japan, Tokyo DisneySea opened in September, looking to the myths, legends, and lore of the ocean as the inspiration for its attractions and shows. March 2002 saw the opening of another foreign park, Walt Disney Studios, featuring the history and lore and excitement of the movies, adjacent to Disneyland Paris. Ground was broken in January 2003 for Hong Kong Disneyland.

In 2001, The Walt Disney Company honored the 100th Anniversary of the birth of its founder, Walt Disney. The celebration, called 100 Years of Magic, was centered at the Disney MGM Studios theme park in Florida, and included several parades, an exhibit of archival memorabilia, and the installation of a gigantic Mickey’s sorcerer cap in the Chinese Theater plaza. The year 2003 saw two Disney films grossing more than $300 million at the box office Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Disney Pixar’s Finding Nemo. In fact, Disney became the first studio in history to surpass $3 billion in global box office. In October, Mission: Space opened at Epcot to great acclaim, and the following month the Company celebrated the 75th anniversary of Mickey Mouse. As the year drew to a close the Pop Century Resort opened at Walt Disney World.

After years of partnering, Disney acquired The Muppets and Bear in the Big Blue House in April 2004. Senator George Mitchell became chairman of the board, and movie theaters welcomed The Incredibles. ABC had a rebirth with such popular series as Desperate Housewives, Lost, and Grey’s Anatomy.

A major anniversary came in 2005 as Disneyland celebrated its 50th, and all of the Disney theme parks joined in a Happiest Celebration on Earth. A brand-new theme park, Hong Kong Disneyland, opened in September, and fall saw the successful releases of Chicken Little and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Robert A. Iger took over as CEO of The Walt Disney Company on October 1 with the retirement of Michael Eisner.

In 2006 High School Musical aired on Disney Channel and become an overnight sensation. In May, Disney made a major purchase of Pixar Animation Studios. Disney•Pixar’s Cars was released in June. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest beat Company records to become the company’s highest grossing feature after its July release. Disney parks celebrated the Year of a Million Dreams with special promotions.

With 2007 came another popular release from Pixar, Ratatouille, and Disney had its first co-production in China—The Secret of the Magic Gourd. The year ended with the hits Enchanted and National Treasure: Book of Secrets. The third Pirates of the Caribbean feature, subtitled At World’s End, became the top-grossing film of the year internationally. Disney Channel reached new heights with High School Musical 2, and Hannah Montana shot Miley Cyrus to stardom. In the summer, Disney acquired Club Penguin. At the parks, Disney built on the Pixar brand with the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage at Disneyland, The Seas with Nemo and Friends at Epcot, and Finding Nemo—The Musical at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

At Disney parks in 2008, Disney-MGM Studios was renamed Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Toy Story Midway Mania! opened there and at Disney’s California Adventure, and it’s a small world opened at Hong Kong Disneyland. The Company reacquired ownership of the Disney Stores’ retail locations from The Children’s Place, and the first Disney-operated language training center, Disney English, opened in China. In theaters, audiences flocked to WALL•E and Bolt. Tinker Bell, the first of a series of Disney Fairies films, was released, and Camp Rock and Phineas and Ferb debuted on Disney Channel. Then, all the way on a stage under the sea, The Little Mermaid opened on Broadway.

The big news in 2009 was the acquisition of Marvel Entertainment. The films Up (which would win two Oscars), the first Disneynature film, Earth, and with a return to hand-drawn animation, The Princess and the Frog, were in theaters that year. The first Disney film locally produced in Russia, The Book of Masters, was released. D23: The Official Disney Fan Club launched, Disney twenty-three magazine began publication, and the first biennial D23 Expo was held in Anaheim. Bay Lake Tower opened at Walt Disney World, and a Disney Vacation Club section was added to the Grand Californian Hotel. Disney XD replaced Toon Disney, and at the end of the year the Company mourned the passing of Roy E. Disney.

In business news in 2010, the Company sold Miramax. Alice in Wonderland and Toy Story 3 were released, and they would go on to win two Oscars each. Also on movie screens were Tangled and Tron: Legacy. Video gamers entered the world of Epic Mickey, and World of Color debuted at the renamed Disney California Adventure.

The year 2011 saw the launch of the Disney Dream and the repositioning of the Disney Wonder to the West Coast. The Company purchased the rights to the Avatar franchise for theme parks, Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa opened in Hawai‘i, The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure debuted at Disney California Adventure, and groundbreaking ceremonies were held for Shanghai Disneyland. In theaters, Disney began distributing DreamWorks films, with The Help winning wide acclaim and a Supporting Actress Oscar for Octavia Spencer. Disney films included Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Winnie the Pooh, The Muppets (Oscar for Best Song), and Cars 2. In New York, Sister Act opened on Broadway and Peter and the Starcatcher off-Broadway.

In theaters in 2012 were John Carter, Brave, Wreck-It Ralph, Frankenweenie, Lincoln (DreamWorks), and Marvel Studios’ The Avengers. Bob Iger took on the additional title of chairman of the board, and Alan Horn became chairman of The Walt Disney Studios. The Disney Junior cable channel replaced SOAPnet. On Broadway, Newsies opened and won two Tony Awardsâ. Cars Land opened at Disney California Adventure, and the Disney Fantasy set sail. At the Walt Disney World, Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, an enlarged and enhanced Fantasyland, and a new Test Track opened. D23 sponsored a Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. The big corporate news was the acquisition of Lucasfilm Ltd.

The beginning of 2013 saw a big achievement for Tokyo Disneyland. On April 15, it celebrated its 30th anniversary, naming it “The Happiness Year.” New additions came to the theme parks, with Fantasy Faire opening in Disneyland and Mystic Point at Hong Kong Disneyland. Box office smashes, including Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World arrived in theaters. After 12 years, fans were able to travel back in time to see Mike and Sully go to school in Monsters University, and hearts melted in November when audiences adventured into the world of Arendelle for the first time with the Academy Award-winning film Frozen.The year 2014 got off to a great start with Seven Dwarfs Mine Train opening in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. And, over at Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris, Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy made its debut. It was also a good year for films when the Company introduced audiences to a new, yet familiar set of horns when Maleficent premiered. Guardians of the Galaxy and Big Hero 6 flew into theaters and were critical and box-office smashes.

In 2015, the live-action film Cinderella reminded us to have courage and be kind. While the film provided many emotional moments, it wasn’t long after that we came face-to-face with all of them—literally—with Disney•Pixar’s Inside Out. Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man debuted in July, and the fourth D23 Expo took place in August at Anaheim. Then, that galaxy far, far away moved a closer when Star Wars: The Force Awakens debuted in December. In 2016 Zootopia premiered in March. Then, it animals of a very different kind pounced onto the screen in the live-action The Jungle Book. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge had its official groundbreaking, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story arrived in theaters on December 16. Moana and Doctor Strange were two other box-office smashes in 2016.

Hong Kong became home to the first Marvel-themed ride at any Disney park in 2017 when Iron Man Experience opened. While guests were joining Iron Man in an epic adventure of a lifetime (as well as a fight against evil), guests at Walt Disney World traveled to a new world when Pandora—The World of Avatar opened in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. May also saw the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and the opening of a new attraction, Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! at Disney California Adventure. Later in the year, Miguel and Dante introduced us to the power of family in the Academy Award winner Coco. Then, Star Wars: The Last Jedi premiered in December and continued the saga of Rey, Poe, Finn, and Kylo Ren.

2018 began, not with a bang, but with… a star! Minnie Mouse was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, joining her pals Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, on January 22. In February, Marvel Studios introduced us to one of the newest Super Heroes to join the Avengers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Black Panther, which would go on to break several box office records and win multiple Academy Awards, including earning a coveted nod for Best Picture. We saw a childhood literary favorite unfold before us on the big screen in A Wrinkle in Time, while also greeting some beloved silver-screen characters from the Hundred Acre Wood once more in Christopher Robin. Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios also brought back some favorites with Solo: A Star Wars Story and Ant-Man and The Wasp, and Marvel also delivered the biggest movie of the year globally with Avengers: Infinity War. November and December saw the releases of The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, Ralph Breaks the Internet, and Mary Poppins Returns, respectively.

On Broadway, the stage got a bit chillier when Frozen The Broadway Musical premiered. Pixar Pier also debuted at Disney California Adventure, and across the way at Disneyland, the Tropical Hideaway opened in Adventureland. As if that wasn’t enough, a brand-new way to explore, play, and listen in the parks arrived with the launch of the Play Disney app. The Walt Disney Company bookended 2019 with several major additions, starting with the acquisition of 20th Century Fox in March, and then the remarkable launch of Disney+ in November. Disney+, which, together with ESPN+, Hulu, and Disney+ Hotstar, delivers the Company’s iconic brands and incredible stories directly to consumers, gave us new movies and streaming series such as High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, a new retelling of Lady and the Tramp, The Simpsons, The Imagineering Story, and, of course, The Mandalorian.

The Walt Disney Studios had a hugely successful year, releasing notable titles including Aladdin, The Lion King, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Toy Story 4, and Frozen 2. Marvel Studios released Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame, which was the climactic finale to the Studios’ remarkable first 10 years of cinematic adventure. And Lucasfilm concluded the Skywalker saga with the epic Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, with a lavish Hollywood premiere and rollout in December. Ant-Man and The Wasp: Nano Battle! opened at Hong Kong Disneyland in March, followed by Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opening at Disneyland Park in May and then at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in August. Walt Disney World Resort also saw a number of impressive additional developments in 2019, including: Gran Destino Tower opening as part of Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in July, the NBA Experience opening in August at Disney Springs West Side, the launch of the Disney Skyliner in September, the debut of the incredible new attraction Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in November, and the grand opening of Disney’s Riviera Resort in December.

While 2020 saw Company theme parks pause because of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, Disney still delivered some incredible experiences, including the opening of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland park in January, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in March, a major Fantasyland expansion at Tokyo Disneyland in September, and the debut of the Castle of Magical Dreams at Hong Kong Disneyland in November. And, in addition to delivering more beloved films and TV series from Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, 20th Century Studios, and National Geographic, Disney+ delivered scores of new entertainment to viewers around the globe, including Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made (February), Stargirl (March), Prop Culture (May), Artemis Fowl (June), Broadway’s Hamilton (July), the live-action Mulan (September), and Pixar’s wondrous Soul (December).

Bob Chapek was named Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company in February, with former CEO and Chairman Bob Iger assuming the role of Executive Chairman. And of course, we couldn’t round out 2020 without mentioning the 50th anniversary of the Walt Disney Archives in June—which was commemorated with an exhibit at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California, and numerous special presentation programs and virtual events throughout the year, including the debut of the all-new documentary film, Adventure Thru the Walt Disney Archives.

Early in 2021, two Disney+ series from Marvel Studios became instant hits—WandaVision, which debuted in January, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, in March. Also in March, the animated Raya and the Last Dragon premiered to rave reviews on both Disney+ (with Premiere Access) and in theaters, and the new series The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers arrived on the streaming service, returning Coach Bombay (Emilio Estevez) to the ice. And, after more than a year of closure due to the pandemic, Disneyland Park welcomed guests back to Walt Disney’s original magic kingdom on April 30, before Avengers Campus officially opened its gates at Disney California Adventure on June 4. The Walt Disney World Resort also prepared in earnest for its 50th anniversary festivities, kicking off The World’s Most Magical Celebration on October 1, 2021. Featuring the opening of Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at EPCOT, and the debut of several new entertainment offerings, including Harmonious, also at EPCOT, and Disney Enchantment at Magic Kingdom Park, the 18th month celebration will welcome Guests from across the globe to help celebrate this momentous milestone.

For nearly a century, The Walt Disney Company has created entertainment of the very highest quality. From humble beginnings as a cartoon studio in the early 1920s to the Company of today—which includes Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, Searchlight Pictures, and 20th Century Studios, along with Disney Parks and Resorts around the globe—Disney continues to provide timeless entertainment for the entire family. In early 2022, the Company won six Academy Awards®, for the films Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), West Side Story, Cruella, and Encanto—the last of which became a cultural phenomenon. 

Each of the animated feature’s songs, by Lin-Manual Miranda, was a hit on Billboard’s Hot 100, with “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” spending five weeks at No. 1. In April, the Emmy® Award-nominated ABC comedy series black-ish ended its history-making eight-season run. Marvel Studios releases ruled the year’s box office, as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever all became global hits. Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red drew stellar viewership and reviews after its spring debut on Disney+, where Hocus Pocus 2 became the streamer’s most-watched film ever in the fall. September’s D23 Expo: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event at the Anaheim Convention Center was the most successful ever, attracting worldwide fan and media attention. On November 20, Robert A. Iger returned as Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company.