Walt Disney Studios (division)

**The Walt Disney Studios** is an American film studio, one of the four major businesses of The Walt Disney Company and the main component of its Studio Entertainment segment. The studio, best known for its multi-faceted film division including animation, which is one of Hollywood's major film studios, is based at the eponymous Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.

Under the Walt Disney Studios division are notable film studios including Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures. The Studios generated an estimated income of $2.355 billion during the 2017 fiscal year. The studio entertainment business alone (live-action and animated motion pictures, direct-to-video content, musical recordings and live stage plays) brought in $8.379 billion in 2017.

The Walt Disney Studios is a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA).

## Background

Walt Disney Productions began production of their first feature-length animated film in 1934. Taking three years to complete, *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs*, premiered in December 1937 and became the highest-grossing film of that time by 1939. In the 1940s, Disney began experimenting with full-length live-action films, with the introduction of hybrid live action-animated films such as *The Reluctant Dragon* (1941) and *Song of the South* (1946). That same decade, the studio began producing nature documentaries with the release of *Seal Island* (1948), the first of the *True-Life Adventures* series and a subsequent Academy Award winner for Best Live-Action Short Film.

Walt Disney Productions had its first fully live-action film in 1950 with the release of *Treasure Island**,* considered by Disney to be the official conception for what would eventually evolve into the modern-day Walt Disney Pictures. By 1953, the company ended their agreements with such third-party distributors as RKO Radio Pictures and United Artists and formed their own distribution company, Buena Vista Distribution.

## Studio structure

	+ Walt Disney Pictures
	+ Disneynature
	+ Marvel Studios
	+ Lucasfilm
	+ 20th Century Studios
	+ Searchlight Pictures
* Animation
	+ Disney Animation Studios
 **Distribution and Marketing** | * Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
* Walt Disney Studios Marketing
* Walt Disney Studios Special Events
 **Disney Music Group** | * Walt Disney Records
* Hollywood Records
* Fox Music
 **Disney Theatrical Group** | * Disney Theatrical Productions (Disney on Broadway)
* Disney Theatrical Licensing
* Disney Live Family Entertainment (DLFE)
	+ Disney on Ice
	+ Disney Live!
	+ Walt Disney Special Events Group
 **Studio Services** | * Studio Production Services
	+ Walt Disney Studios
	+ Golden Oak Ranch
	+ The Prospect Studios
	+ KABC7 Studio B
* Disney Digital Studio Services

### Production

Walt Disney Pictures is a film banner that encompasses the release of its own family-fare live-action productions, in addition to films produced by the company's animation studios, mostly Disney Animation Studios. Marvel Studios—acquired through Disney's purchase of Marvel Entertainment in 2009—produces superhero films based on Marvel Comics characters, including the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. Lucasfilm—acquired by Disney in 2012—develops and produces films including those in the *Star Wars* and *Indiana Jones* franchises. Disneynature is an independent film genre label devoted to nature documentary productions. 20th Century Fox—acquired by Disney in 2019, and a former member of the "Big Six" studios—produces a varied slate of films, mostly in the adult fare. Disney Independent Pictures (formerly Fox Searchlight Pictures) acquires and releases art-house prestige pictures. Blue Pixar Animation—a merger of Pixar Animation Studios and former 20th Century Fox Animation subsidiary Blue Sky Studios — develops and produces a variety of computer-animated films, including the Toy Story and Ice Age franchises.

In 1993, Disney acquired Miramax Films and its Dimension Films genre label, with the former division operating as an autonomous unit until 2009, and the Dimension label becoming absorbed by The Weinstein Company in 2005. By 2009, Miramax was folded into the Walt Disney Studios, and continued to serve as distribution label until it was sold by Disney to Filmyard Holdings in 2010, who sold then it to BeIN Media Group in 2016. From 2007 to 2010, Disney and ImageMovers ran a joint motion capture animation facility; ImageMovers Digital.

### Distribution

*Main article: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures*
All film productions mentioned above are distributed theatrically by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and on home media platforms by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. Another film banner, Touchstone Pictures, released films targeted at more mature adult audiences and was formerly an active production unit from 1983 to 2011. Touchstone then served solely as a distribution label for Disney until 2016, before it was retired by the studio from theatrical distribution; the label continues to be used for home media distribution.

## Former units

### Film production

#### Live-action

* Touchstone Pictures (1984–2016); discontinued.
* Hollywood Pictures (1989–2001; 2006–2007); mature production company, then revived as low-budget genre film label.
* Caravan Pictures (1992–1999); production unit create to fill production schedule and was replaced by an outside deal with Spyglass Entertainment.
* Miramax Films (1993–2010); sold.
	+ Dimension Films
* Fox 2000 Pictures (2019); discontinued.

#### Animation

* Skellington Productions (1986-1996); absorbed into Walt Disney Pictures.
* Disney Circle 7 Animation (2004–2006); shut down.
* ImageMovers Digital
* DisneyToon Studios (2003–2018); transferred from Disney Television Animation and shut down.
* Pixar (1995-2020); merged with Blue Sky Studios.
* Blue Sky Studios (2019-2020); merged with Pixar.
* 20th Century Fox Animation (2019-2020); defunct.

### Television

* Walt Disney Television (production company) – (1983-1986) transfer to Walt Disney Television and Telecommunications; (1996–1999) transfer to Disney Channels Worldwide.
* Touchstone Television – transfer to Walt Disney Television and Telecommunications and later renamed as ABC Studios.

### Distribution and marketing

* Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group/Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group (1998–c. 2001); umbrella unit for production companies, distribution and marketing. (defunct)
* Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment; (1978–2018) transfer to Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer and International.

### Other

* Kingdom Comics
* The Muppets Studio (2006–2014) transferred from Disney Consumer Products to Special Events Group then back to Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media.

## External links

* Official website
* Disney Studio Services
* Disney Digital Studio Services