DisneyToon Studios

DisneyToon Studios, originally Disney MovieToons and was also Disney Video Premieres, was an American animation studio which creates direct-to-video and occasional theatrical animated feature films. The studio is a division of Walt Disney Animation Studios, with both being part of The Walt Disney Studios. The studio has produced 56 feature films, beginning with DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990) and its last film: Tinker Bell and the Legend of NeverBeast (2015)
==History==
Disney MovieToons' first feature production was in 1990 with DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp with animation from Walt Disney Animation France. Disney Television Animation hired a director of specials, Sharon Morrill, in 1993.
Disney began producing direct-to-video sequels of Walt Disney Feature Animation films: the first of which was the Aladdin (1992) sequel The Return of Jafar (1994). When Aladdin was selected as a possible candidate as an animated TV series (before the film's release), as with many animated series, the first three episodes were one multi-part story which Disney used as a potential 'family movie special' for the Friday night before the series' premiere. With work handed out to both the Australian and Japanese animation units, the opening story was instead green lit for a direct-to-video release. Thus with The Return of Jafar and its success, the direct-to-video unit started. Then a second sequel, Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996), assign work to both the Australian and Japanese animation units.
Morrill was in charge of the above first Aladdin DTV film launching Disney Video Premiere. Morrill expanded the DTV market, making it more important for Disney, thus the overseas Disney studios were increasing assigned to these features. Morrill was promoted to vice president of Direct to Video by November 1997.
The unit released a short in 1997, Redux Riding Hood, under the WDTA name that was nominated for an 1998 Academy Award. More direct-to-video sequels followed, among them Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997), Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998), The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998), and Cinderella II: Dreams Come True (2002). By April 1998, MovieToons was folded in with Disney Video Premiere films and network TV specials of Disney TV Animation as Morrill was promoted to executive vice president over her existing unit of Disney Video Premiere films, network TV specials and Movietoons.
===DisneyToon Studios===
In 2003, Disney reorganization, Disney MovieToons/Disney Video Premieres unit was transferred from Walt Disney Television Animation to Walt Disney Feature Animation and renamed DisneyToon Studios (DTS) in June. Morrill continued to lead the division as executive vice president. With the split, both DisneyToons and Disney Television Animation were issuing direct to video features.
Disney closed Disney Animation Japan, one of the two remaining internal overseas studios DisneyToons worked with, in early June 2004 with Pooh's Heffalump Movie (2004) to be its final DTS work. By 2005, Morrill was promoted to president of DisneyToon. On July 25, 2005, Disney announced that it was closing DisneyToon Studios Australia in October 2006, after 17 years of existence, with its final feature being Cinderella III: A Twist in Time.
In the early 2000s, DisneyToon joined Disney Consumer Products (DCP) as their internal Disney conglomerate video partner in developing the new Disney franchises then only consisting of Disney Princess and Disney Fairies. While DCP eyed other potential franchises, DTS looked to the Seven Dwarfs for a male centric franchise to counterbalance the female centric Fairies by 2005.
John Lasseter joining Disney with the purchase of Pixar made it clear that he disliked DisneyToon's undercutting the value of the feature animated films with the sequel and prequel. Following complications relating to the production of Tinker Bell (2008), the debut film of DCP's Fairies franchise, lead to discussion over the focus of the division. Thus, Sharon Morill, president of the studio, moved to a new position in the company. On June 22, 2007, management of DisneyToon Studios was turned over to the control of Alan Bergman, president of Disney Studios, with input from Ed Catmull and Lasseter.
As chief creative officer, Lasseter called for the cancellation of all future films in production or development at DisneyToon Studios. As a result, planned or in-progress sequels to Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons and The Aristocats were all cancelled, among other projects. Tinker Bell's animation was scrapped and was restarted while two project DCP formed franchised projects were canceled, "Disney's Dwarfs" and the Disney Princess Enchanted Tales line after the first DVD. The release of The Little Mermaid 3 was put on hold. Disney Studios President Alan Bergman took oversee of day-to-day operation of DTS. Thus DTS was out of sequel and prequel production with it originally indicated that the division would support various Playhouse Disney franchises with direct to home videos.
Meredith Roberts transferred over from Disney TV Animation to head the division as senior vice president and general manager. At the April 2008 unveiling of Disney's animated feature line up, it was announced that DisneyToon Studios would no longer produce future sequels to Disney animated films, but will instead focus on spin-offs and original films. Also, the division was under the banner of renamed Feature Animation studio, now called Walt Disney Animation Studios, led by Catmull and Lasseter.
On June 28, 2018, the studio was shut down, which had resulted in layoffs of 75 staff members and animators. The production company's untitled Planes spin-off film was removed from Disney's film release schedule and was removed from development. Following the company's shutdown, Disney Digital Studios Inc. was established and took over the company's space, and continued the development of the spin-off film in its film release schedule.
==Feature films==
# 	Title 	Release type 	Release date 	Franchise
1 	DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp 	Theatrical 	August 3, 1990 	DuckTales
2 	The Return of Jafar 	Direct-to-video 	May 20, 1994 	Aladdin
3 	A Goofy Movie 	Theatrical 	April 7, 1995 	Goof Troop
4 	Aladdin and the King of Thieves 	Direct-to-video 	August 13, 1996 	Aladdin
5 	Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin	Direct-to-video 	August 5, 1997 	Winnie the Pooh
6 	Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas 	Direct-to-video 	November 11, 1997 	Beauty and the Beast
7 	Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World 	Direct-to-video 	February 17, 1998 	Beauty and the Beast
8 	Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World 	Direct-to-video 	August 25, 1998 	Pocahontas
9 	The Lion King II: Simba's Pride 	Direct-to-video 	October 27, 1998 	The Lion King
10	Doug's 1st Movie 	Theatrical 	March 26, 1999 	Doug
11	Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas 	Direct-to-video 	November 9, 1999 	Mickey Mouse
12	Seasons of Giving 	Direct-to-video 	November 9, 1999 	Winnie the Pooh''
13	The Tigger Movie 	Theatrical 	February 11, 2000 	
14	An Extremely Goofy Movie 	Direct-to-video 	February 29, 2000 	Goof Troop
15	The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea 	Direct-to-video 	September 19, 2000	The Little Mermaid
16	Recess: School's Out! 	Theatrical 	February 16, 2001 	Recess
17	Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure 	Direct-to-video 	February 27, 2001 	Lady and the Tramp
18	Return to Neverland 	Theatrical 	February 15, 2002 	Peter Pan
19	Cinderella II: Dreams Come True 	Direct-to-video 	February 26, 2002 	Cinderella
20	The Hunchback of Notre Dame II 	Direct-to-video 	March 19, 2002 	The Hunchback of Notre Dame
21	A Very Merry Pooh Year 	Direct-to-video 	November 12, 2002 	Winnie the Pooh
22	101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure 	Direct-to-video 	January 21, 2003 	101 Dalmatians
23	The Jungle Book 2 	Theatrical 	February 14, 2003 	The Jungle Book
24	Piglet's Big Movie 	Theatrical 	March 21, 2003 	Winnie the Pooh
25	Atlantis: Milo's Return 	Direct-to-video 	May 20, 2003 	Atlantis: The Lost Empire
26	Teacher's Pet: The Movie 	Theatrical 	January 16, 2004 	Teacher's Pet
27	The Lion King 1½ 	Direct-to-video 	February 10, 2004 	The Lion King
28	Springtime with Roo 	Direct-to-video 	March 9, 2004 	Winnie the Pooh
29	Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers 	Direct-to-video 	August 17, 2004 	Mickey Mouse
30	Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas 	Direct-to-video 	November 9, 2004 	Mickey Mouse
31	Mulan II 	Direct-to-video 	February 1, 2005 	Mulan
32	Pooh's Heffalump Movie 	Theatrical 	February 11, 2005 	Winnie the Pooh
33	Tarzan II 	Direct-to-video 	June 14, 2005 	Tarzan
34	Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch 	Direct-to-video 	August 30, 2005 	Lilo & Stitch
35	Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie 	Direct-to-video 	September 13, 2005	Winnie the Pooh
36	Kronk's New Groove 	Direct-to-video 	December 13, 2005 	The Emperor's New Groove
37	Bambi II 	Direct-to-video 	February 7, 2006 	Bambi
38	The Jungle Cubs' Movie 	Theatrical 	February 10, 2006 	Jungle Cubs
39	Brother Bear 2 	Direct-to-video 	August 29, 2006 	Brother Bear
40	The Fox and the Hound 2 	Direct-to-video 	December 12, 2006 	The Fox and the Hound
41	Cinderella III: A Twist in Time 	Direct-to-video 	February 6, 2007 	Cinderella
42	The Buzz on Maggie: The Movie 	Theatrical 	August 25, 2007 	The Buzz on Maggie
43	Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams 	Direct-to-video 	September 4, 2007 	Disney Princess
44	The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning 	Direct-to-video 	August 26, 2008 	The Little Mermaid
45	31 Minutes: The Movie 	Theatrical 	June 13, 2008 	31 Minutes
46	Tinker Bell 	Theatrical 	October 28, 2008 	Disney Fairies
47	Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure 	Theatrical 	October 27, 2009 	Disney Fairies
48	Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue 	Theatrical 	September 21, 2010	Disney Fairies
49	Secret of the Wings 	Theatrical 	October 23, 2012 	Disney Fairies
50	Planes 	Theatrical 	August 9, 2013 	Cars
51	The Pirate Fairy 	Theatrical 	April 1, 2014 	Disney Fairies
52	Planes: Fire & Rescue 	Theatrical 	July 18, 2014 	Cars
53	Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast 	Theatrical 	March 3, 2015 	Disney Fairies
54	The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar 	Television release	November 22, 2015 	The Lion Guard
55	The Lion Guard 2: The Rise of Scar 	Television release	July 29, 2017 	The Lion Guard
56	The Lion Guard 3: Battle for the Pride Lands 	Television release	August 3, 2019 	The Lion Guard
57	Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe	Disney+ release 	August 28, 2020 	Phineas and Ferb
58	Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers 	Disney+ release 	May 16, 2022 	Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers
59	LEGO Disney Princess: The Castle Quest 	Disney+ release 	August 18, 2023 	Disney Princess
60	Big City Greens: The Movie 	Television release	June 6, 2024 	Big City Greens
===Short films===
Title 	Release type 	Release date 	Franchise
Redux Riding Hood 	 	August 5, 1997 	Totally Twisted Fairy Tales
The Three Little Pigs 	Festival 	1998 	Totally Twisted Fairy Tales
The Cat That Looked at a King 	Direct-to-video: DVD extra	December 14, 2004	Mary Poppins 40th Anniversary DVD
Pixie Hollow Games 	Television special 	November 18, 2011	Disney Fairies
Pixie Hollow Bake Off 	Television special 	October 20, 2013 	Disney Fairies
Vitaminamulch: Air Spectacular	Direct-to-video 	November 4, 2014 	Cars
==Gallery==
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==See also==
*DisneyToon Studios (Wiki Contribution Version)
*DisneyToon Studios (173.167.240.171 version)
Category:Companies
Category:Animation Studios
Category:Walt Disney Pictures
Category:DisneyToon Studios
Category:Defunct