Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

**Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures** is an American movie company owned by The Walt Disney Company.

The company began in 1953 as **Buena Vista Distribution Company**, to manage distribution, marketing and promotion for movies produced by the Walt Disney Studios. These include Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, Disneynature, and Touchstone Pictures.

The division changed to its current name in 2007. Since 1987, the company name had been **Buena Vista Pictures Distribution**.

## History

Before 1953, Walt Disney's productions were distributed by Columbia Pictures, United Artists and RKO. However, an argument led to Walt and his older brother Roy O. Disney beginning the **Buena Vista Film Distribution Company, Inc.** (BVDC), to handle North American distribution of their own products.

For the  _Toy Story_ premiere, Disney rented the Hollywood Masonic Temple for _Totally Toy Story_, as a multimedia funhouse and a promotional event for the movie. Because of its success as a venue, in July 1998, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution bought the Masonic Temple building.

In April 2006, Buena Vista International agreed to a distribution deal with MegaStar Joint Venture Company Limited. This was to help them bring their most popular movies to be shown in Vietnam.

In April 2007, Disney stopped using the Buena Vista nickname in its distribution branding.

In 2009, Disney began a partnership with DreamWorks Studios. They agreed to make an estimated 30 movies over a five-year period from DreamWorks and release them under the Touchstone Pictures name. The distribution deal will end in August 2016. DreamWorks and Disney decided to not renew their agreement in December 2015; with Universal Pictures replacing Disney as DreamWorks' distributor.

## Distribution

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures has released the most movies that have earned more than $1-billion, (nine, in worldwide grosses), among major Hollywood studios, with eight of the twenty highest-grossing movies of all time being distributed by Disney.

In 2015, Disney achieved its largest yearly box-office gross worldwide and in North America.

In December 14, 2017, The Walt Disney Company has announced plan to buy 21st Century Fox for $52.4 billion as well as 20th Century Fox and other Fox Entertainment assets.
Upcoming

August 12, 2022
| Untitled Film
September 16, 2022
| Untitled Film

## Highest-grossing movies

|Rank|Title|Year|Studio label|Box office gross|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin:auto; margin:auto;"|||||
|_Star Wars: The Force Awakens_|2015|Lucasfilm|$936,519,683||
|_The Avengers_|2012|Marvel|$623,357,910||
|_Avengers: Age of Ultron_|2015|Marvel|$459,005,868||
|_Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest_|2006|Disney|$423,315,812||
|_The Lion King_ <sup>‡</sup>|1994|Disney|$422,783,777||
|_Toy Story 3_|2010|Disney/Pixar|$415,004,880||
|_Iron Man 3_||2013|Marvel|$409,013,994|
|_Frozen_|2013|Disney|$400,738,009||
|_Finding Nemo_ <sup>‡</sup>||2003|Disney/Pixar|$380,843,261|
|_Inside Out_|2015|Disney/Pixar|$356,002,827||
|_Alice in Wonderland_|2010|Disney|$334,191,110||
|_Guardians of the Galaxy_|2014|Marvel|$333,176,600||
|_Zootopia_||2016|Disney|$332,515,562|
|_The Jungle Book_|2016|Disney|$315,289,618||
|_Captain America: Civil War_|2016|Marvel|$310,545,889||
|_Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End_|2007|Disney|$309,420,425||
|_Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl_|2003|Disney|$305,413,918||
|_The Sixth Sense_|1999|Hollywood|$293,506,292||
|_Up_|2009|Disney/Pixar|$293,004,164||
|_[The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe|2005|Disney|$291,710,957||
|_Monsters, Inc._ <sup>‡</sup>|2001|Disney/Pixar|$289,916,256||
|_Toy Story 2_ <sup>‡</sup>|1999|Disney/Pixar|$276,554,625||
|_Monsters University_|2013|Disney/Pixar|$268,492,764||
|_The Incredibles_|2004|Disney/Pixar|$261,441,092||
|_Captain America: The Winter Soldier_|2014|Marvel|$259,766,572||
|}|{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin:auto; margin:auto;"||||
|_Star Wars: The Force Awakens_|2015|Lucasfilm|$2,066,376,683||
|_The Avengers_|2012|Marvel|$1,519,557,910||
|_Avengers: Age of Ultron_|2015|Marvel|$1,405,805,868||
|_Frozen_|2013|Disney|$1,279,852,693||
|_Iron Man 3_|2013|Marvel|$1,215,439,994||
|_Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest_|2006|Disney|$1,066,179,725||
|_Toy Story 3_|2010|Disney/Pixar|$1,063,171,911||
|_Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides_|2011|Disney|$1,045,713,802||
|_Alice in Wonderland_|2010|Disney|$1,025,467,110||
|_The Lion King_ <sup>‡</sup>|1994|Disney|$987,483,777||
|_Captain America: Civil War_|2016|Marvel|$981,945,889||
|_Zootopia_|2016|Disney|$971,515,562||
|_Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End_|2007|Disney|$963,420,425||
|_Finding Nemo_ <sup>‡</sup>|2003|Disney/Pixar|$936,743,261||
|_Inside Out_|2015|Disney/Pixar|$851,175,046||
|_The Jungle Book_|2016|Disney|$832,189,618||
|_Guardians of the Galaxy_|2014|Marvel|$774,176,600||
|_Maleficent_|2014|Disney|$758,410,378||
|_The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe_|2005|Disney|$745,013,115||
|_Monsters University|2013|Disney/Pixar|$743,559,607||
|_Up_|2009|Disney/Pixar|$731,342,744||
|_Captain America: The Winter Soldier_|2014|Marvel|$714,766,572||
|_The Sixth Sense_|1999|Hollywood|$672,806,292||
|_Big Hero 6_|2014|Disney|$657,827,828||
|_Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl_|2003|Disney|$654,264,015||
|_Tinker Bell_|2021|Disney|$345, 678, 90,||
|}|||||
<sup>‡</sup>—Includes theatrical reissue(s).

## Other websites

- Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

## Infobox (company)

- **name**: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
- **type**: Division of Walt Disney Studios
- **location city**: Walt Disney Studios (Burbank) at 500 S. Buena Vista Street
Burbank, California
- **location country**: United States
- **key people**: Dave Hollis (executive vice-president)
- **industry**: Motion pictures
- **services**: Movie distribution and marketing