Creator / Disney

When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true!

"I do not make films primarily for children. I make them for the child in all of us, whether we be six or sixty. Call the child 'innocence.' The worst of us is not without innocence, although buried deeply it might be. In my work I try to reach and speak to that innocence, showing it the fun and joy of living; showing it that laughter is healthy; showing it that the human species, although happily ridiculous at times, is still reaching for the stars."

— Walt Disney

The Walt Disney Company (commonly referred to simply as "Disney", so much so that in 2012 it began crediting itself as such too) is, as of 2019, the largest media group in the world^note Comcast and Sony are only technically larger if you include their revenue from non-media assets. Chances are that this company has had some sort of impact to your life. You may have very likely heard the name "Disney" at least once, have at least watched one of its cartoons, or have seen a movie under their name. They're that influential to the field of entertainment. In fact, in terms of the history of animated films, Disney could often be considered the studio that started it all and still dominates it through sheer input and prestige.

Founded in 1923 as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio by Walter Elias "Walt" Disney and his older brother Roy, the studio started out by making short animated productions, then moved on to larger animated films, live-action films and eventually everything else. The history of the company is long, and even broken down this is just a summation:

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The Early Years

Walt & Roy started out making shorts called the Alice Comedies for Universal Pictures. After completing the Alice Shorts, they moved onto Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, but after only twenty-six shorts were made the rights to Oswald were taken away from Walt Disney and his partner Ub Iwerks by Universal's executive board, and the two (along with Roy and apprentice animators Les Clark and Johnny Cannon) were left to basically fend for themselves. Needing a new character, they created Mickey Mouse, who was the star of the first ever animation to feature synchronised sound, Steamboat Willie. Soon after the Silly Symphonies cartoons followed, which evolved to become the studio's animation evolution showcase where the latest techniques and narrative experiments were tried out commercially.

In 1937 they decided to go one step further and create their first full-length film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Everybody predicted failure and told them to stop before it was too late. It became the highest grossing movie of all time (until Gone with the Wind took the crown 2 years later) and won eight (admittedly honorary) Oscars. With the success of Snow White the company could expand and create the films from the forties such as Dumbo and Bambi. Unfortunately, World War II meant much of the European market was closed and most of the new feature films bombed. Around the same time there was also a bitter labor strike over the issue of unionizing animators that destroyed the studio camaraderie, with the striking animators complaining that Walt was a money-wasting control freak and Walt taking the strike as a personal betrayal while his studio was struggling. To keep the studio alive, the studio did instructional and propaganda films for the US government while the company's own movie-making was slow, meaning films that were in production from before the war didn't get released until afterwards (such as Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan). After the war ended, Disney, still burdened with considerable debt, moved into the Documentary film genre with the True-Life Adventures and produced cheaper packaged animated feature films that were essentially animated shorts edited together.

The Postwar Era and Visionary Walt

Eventually, Disney gambled for a true feature with one story like in its prime and created the hit Cinderella. This success began one of the company's busiest eras, releasing five or six pieces every year - many eventually becoming classics. Additionally, Walt began pushing for a vision of the company doing things outside of visual media entirely and wanted to create a recreational park unlike any the world had previously known (and one that would begin to crystallize his ideas about urban planning and the future.) The first Disneyland, then, was opened in 1955 and the studio moved into all live action dramatic films like Treasure Island and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The studio also moved into television with Disneyland that would become in various incarnations a long running television showcase for Disney's productions such as the "Davy Crockett" series while the syndicated The Mickey Mouse Club secured the youth audience.

Unfortunately, the 1959 failure of the lavish feature film Sleeping Beauty (due to the huge budget despite a good box office showing) prompted both a downsizing of the animation studio and a retreat from fairy tales for years. These changes showed in their next feature, 101 Dalmatians, their first film to be ambiguously set in contemporary times. Furthermore, the studio took advantage of a new technology called xerography, a dry photocopying process that eliminated the need to hand-ink the animation, but it only allowed for black outlines, which forced a hard scratchy visual style for years. However, the studio also hit a creative peak in 1964 with Mary Poppins, one of the great film musicals that combined the best of Disney's artistry of animation and live-action into a cinematic classic. Unfortunately, Walt Disney, who had been losing interest in animation by then in favor of TV and theme park projects (and especially wanted to go all-in on his "Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow", or EPCOT, to help push forward a lot of the city and design planning the company had learned in having to manage Disneyland) died of lung cancer, and his brother Roy came out of retirement to run the company. One of his first acts was renaming Disney World as "Walt Disney World" in honor of his brother (although he was unable to convince the rest of the Disney board to make EPCOT anything even remotely approaching Walt's grand vision for the place). The last films Walt Disney worked on, The Jungle Book (1967) and The Happiest Millionaire were released in 1967. Roy himself died shortly after Walt Disney World was opened in 1971.

Disney Without Walt: The 70s

In the years after that, the company continued with its creative momentum gradually draining with the more ambitious members of the management frustrated by the constant overhang of "What would Walt do?" Through the 1970s, the obvious answer to that of emulating Walt's penchant for taking big budgeted creative dares was not one of them, as the company's live action films became largely a bunch of family safe comedies and sequels to their one really successful post-Walt film, The Love Bug. To make things more complicated for them, Disney had developed a reputation in the 1970s as being the studio that caught actors on their way up or on their way down. Few established actors were willing to work with the studio because of this, and in turn the public had grown more skeptical to new releases without the "Walt Disney Presents" billing in the title. What's worse, Disney's position as the go-to studio for family friendly pictures was challenged for the first time after the end of the New Hollywood era and with the rise of all-ages blockbusters. Furthermore, the young artists involved in these blockbusters embodied much of Walt's best qualities, such as George Lucas taking ambitious creative risks with Star Wars and Jim Henson with The Muppet Movie as a man who proved to be as much an artistic giant with puppetry as Walt was with Western Animation.

The animation department was no better off with sporadic new films with limited budgets punctuated by endless rereleases of their older films on a regular schedule even while the graduates of Walt Disney's CalArts school came on board like John Lasseter and Tim Burton. Furthermore, while the studio was able to advance such as improving the xerography processing in animation to finally get rid of the scratchy outline visuals in The Rescuers, more ambitious animators, especially Don Bluth, finally had enough feeling creatively stifled by 1979 and walked.

When the senior management finally fell to Walt's son in law, Ron Miller, in that same period, the company was in its nadir, with only the theme parks being consistently profitable. To his credit, Miller did make some positive moves like taking a chance with innovative films like TRON and he planned to create more adult oriented fare through the new branch, Touchstone Pictures.

Under New Management: The 80s, the 90s and the Eisner Era

However, these efforts weren't enough and in 1984, shareholder Saul Steinberg launched a brief hostile takeover bid of the company with the intention of closing it and selling off its various assets. In response, Disney board chairman Ray Watson reached out to investor Sid Bass with the hopes of convincing him to buy a major stake in the company in order to ward off Steinberg. Bass agreed, but only on the condition that Disney's management underwent a serious change. And so, in a board room coup, Miller was ousted and Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg (both from Paramount) and Frank Wells (from Warner Bros.) were placed in charge of the company. In its ten years of existence, this management trio revived the company with inexpensive but well received adult fare like the comedy films with relatively faded stars at the time like Nick Nolte and Bette Midler. Eventually, the company purchased the noted independent film distributor/studio Miramax to produce more artistically ambitious fare, which paid off with the audacious and critically hailed 1994 box office hit, Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino.

The trio's faith in Disney's Animation proved a dicier proposition when the department's one grandfather feature film project, The Black Cauldron proved a major flop. However, the much cheaper and more successful subsequent film, The Great Mouse Detective in 1986 convinced the trio to give the animators a chance. This paid off handsomely as the expensive later film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit proved a sensation in 1988 and The Little Mermaid (1989) set off the Disney Renaissance with a series of spectacular blockbusters that brought the company more money and prestige than they ever dreamed of. Meanwhile, the company made their own waves on TV with a new commitment to TV animation with superb big budgets and well done animated series like Adventures of the Gummi Bears, DuckTales (1987) and Gargoyles, dramatically raising the bar of what TV animation could be.

Unfortunately, the trio fell apart when Frank Wells was killed in a skiing helicopter accident and the moderator to Eisner's ego was removed. This led to infighting with Katzenberg who eventually left to form DreamWorks SKG and Eisner assumed more control. The company started declining while in his increasingly inept hands, even as he made bold acquisitions like the ABC TV network. At the same time, the contracted computer animation house, Pixar, owned by Steve Jobs, transformed feature animation with its astounding series of critically lauded smash hit animated features while Disney's in house cel-animated films were increasingly overshadowed. Even worse for Disney, the new field of computer animation allowed competitors to finally sidestep the All Animation Is Disney public prejudice and allowed new competitors to get their own piece of the pie, most notably DreamWorks Animation^note Lord Farquaad, the main antagonist of Shrek, one of DreamWorks Animation's first big hits, was reportedly modeled after Eisner by Katzenberg.

The House the Mouse Built: The Iger Era, the New Millennium, and Media Dominance

Eventually, Roy E. Disney, Walt's nephew, and others had enough with Eisner's escalating business blunders. This climaxed with him alienating Steve Jobs and his Pixar studio by insulting them with claiming that their upcoming film, Finding Nemo, was sure to be a flop that would take them down a peg. After that film broke all box office records for feature animation and won an Oscar, Eisner looked like a complete incompetent at the worst possible time, with Disney's contract with Pixar being due to expire soon and Jobs loathing Eisner personally and eager to walk. To fix that calamity of losing such a valuable studio, the board of directors ousted Eisner and placed Robert Iger (previously head of ABC) in charge.

Since taking over as CEO, Bob Iger has taken a much more hands-off approach to things, most likely as an effort to undo the damage of his predecessor's legendary Executive Meddling. His primary accomplishments have been inking the multi-billion dollar buyouts of Pixar (A corporate feat made easier for the fact that Iger and Jobs' wives had been roommates in university), Marvel, and Lucasfilm, easily making back their money by sitting back and just letting them do what they do best. He also restructured studio management appointing John Lasseter as overseer for Feature Animation, Pixar, and DisneyToon Studios, with the former getting back to its roots and no longer trying to compete with Pixar and the latter getting out of the cheapquel game and focusing more on higher quality works like the Disney Fairies franchise and the Cars spin-off Planes. As for Feature Animation, they managed to rebuild with a return to traditional animation with middling success like The Princess and the Frog and Winnie the Pooh (2011), but really reestablished their place with successful CGI features like Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen. Furthermore, the essential innovative spirit of Disney found an echo again after so long as the studio suggested an artistic middle ground is possible with their Oscar winning short, Paperman, that experimented with a visual technique that fused the best qualities of hand-drawn and digital animation. Iger was originally set to retire from Disney in 2018 however in 2016 his expected replacement, then COO and Parks head Tom Staggs, left the company after taking blame for issues with the construction of the Shanghai resort. Disney announced that Iger's contract was delayed the next year and would serve as a consultant for the following three years.

Over the years, and particularly beginning in the 1990s, Disney has acquired various other companies and folded them into its overall mass media production pipeline, with examples such as Miramax (in 1993), Capital Cities/ABC in 1996 (a deal which included ESPN, A&E, The History Channel, Lifetime, and DiC Entertainment), Fox Family Worldwide from News Corporation and Haim Saban in 2001, The Muppets (from Henson) in 2004^note Meaning the troupe from The Muppet Show and subsequent movies; the Sesame Street characters were sold outright to Sesame Workshop in 2001 (previously they were contract performers) while Fraggle Rock and other Jim Henson Company properties remain owned by Henson, as does the Creature Shop effects house. The rights to The Muppets Take Manhattan and Muppets from Space, on the other hand, are held by Sony Pictures, Pixar in 2006 (previously Disney had been merely distributors of their films), and most notably, Marvel Comics in 2009. Of those, Miramax and DIC were sold off (Miramax to an investor consortium named Filmyard Holdings in 2010, and DiC back to Andy Heyward in 2000). Since the ABC acquisition, Touchstone Television Studios (naturally the television division of Touchstone Pictures) has been renamed ABC Studios for better brand alignment. Likewise, Fox Family was renamed ABC Family, though this created an awkward situation as that network moved to air racier content away from the "family" image but was stuck with the "Family" name^note When News Corp. originally acquired The Family Channel from The Christian Broadcasting Network, it was contractually obligated to keep the word "Family" in the network's name due to cable contracts- a stipulation which carried over to the Disney purchase and in turn foiled their efforts to rename it as "XYZ"; however, it finally renamed to Freeform in 2016. Disney has also launched its own media ventures independent of these acquisitions. These include the cable outlets Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Toon Disney which in 2009 was relaunched as Disney XD and Disney Television Animation^note formerly Walt Disney Television Animation, an entity unrelated to any previous Disney animation studio that produces strictly animated content for television and primarily for the aforementioned cable outlets.

On October 30th, 2012, they announced a $4 billion deal to purchase Lucasfilm^note and by extension, Industrial Light & Magic and the rights to Star Wars with a new trilogy planned, the first of which came out in December 2015. It would be followed by The Last Jedi in 2017 and The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. The company also created the animated series Star Wars Rebels, which ran from 2014 to 2018, and two spin off Anthology films, Rogue One, released in 2016, and Solo, released in 2018. After a long stint in Development Hell, Disney would also reignite the Indiana Jones series with a fifth installment in 2023, expected to be Harrison Ford's swan song as the main character.

Finally, on December 14, 2017, Disney firmly solidified its position in the media world by announcing it would acquire the majority of 21st Century Fox, including Twentieth Century Fox (who, ironically, distributed the first six Star Wars films) and its divisions and television units, the FX Networks, the Fox Sports Regional Networks, and almost all of Fox's international assets from Rupert Murdoch for $66.1 billion. The deal would give Disney a massive global foothold unparalleled by any other media company, ensuring its future for a long, long time. However, the future ^note at that time, anyway wasn't certain, given that Comcast were heavily pushing for a purchase of Fox themselves. Comcast eventually dropped out after Disney offered a higher bid of $71.3 billion, and shortly after, gained approval from The United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division^note provided they shed Fox Sports' regional channels. On July 27th, 2018, the deal was made official when Fox shareholders voted overwhelmingly in Disney's favor, paving the way for Walt's little animation studio to become the biggest media empire humanity has ever known... and, despite the DoJ's acquiescence, leading to howls of trust-ism from many other corners of the industry and the world at large.

Disney's 2019 was notable for a variety of reasons. Chief among them was their official acquisition of 21st Century Fox, completed on March 20, 2019. (With the deal, Rupert Murdoch's family became some of the company's largest indidvidual shareholders.) Shortly after the deal was finalized in April 2019, Iger revealed his intent to step down as CEO of the company when his contract expires in 2021, claiming plans for his successor were already in place. That same month, they also formally revealed their rollout strategy for the long-discussed Disney+ streaming service. Launched in November 2019 and touted as a potential "Netflix killer" in the press, Disney+ features a combination of existing content from the vast libraries of Disney, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, National Geographic, and their newly-acquired Twentieth Century Fox^note including the first 30 seasons of The Simpsons, as well as new original content (films, series, and documentaries) from each of those brands. The Killer App launch series The Mandalorian was so successful that the company has decided to focus more future Star Wars stories on television rather than film. Of course it was still the company's biggest year ever at the box office, seeing the release of Avengers: Endgame which became the highest grossing film of all time^note taking just under 3 months to do so. the previous record holder Avatar took 14, while Toy Story 4, Captain Marvel (2019), Frozen II, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and remakes of Aladdin and The Lion King all passing the billion dollar mark^note no studio in history had ever released more than 4 billion-dollar movies in the same year and they had 7.

On February 25, 2020, Iger stepped down as the CEO of and was replaced by Bob Chapek, who was the chairman of Disney's parks business. Iger stayed with Disney as an executive chairman until December 2021 and continued to play a major role in the company's direction.

On October 12, 2020, in response to the massive worldwide success of Disney+, and the continued industry-wide shift into direct-to-consumer and streaming (not helped by the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic keeping movie theaters below capacity), Disney announced a major restructuring in which all distribution units and streaming services would be centralized under one large unit, while the company's production units were restructured into studios (movies), general entertainment (television) and sports (ESPN). The restructuring is meant to give the units more resources to provide additional content to its streaming platforms.

On November 20, 2022, Chapek stepped down as CEO after a rocky tenure, with Iger returning to retake his old position. Disney later reshuffled its units again, restructuring its filmed entertainment, streaming/distribution and television units under one roof. By the following year, Disney shuttered Marvel Entertainment leaving the Marvel brand under the control of its entertainment, publishing and licensing divisions.

On February 7, 2024, Disney announced plans to partner with Epic Games and take an equity stake in that company. That same year, Disney announced that it would merge their entire Indian media business (including the Star TV network, and its film distribution business there) with Reliance Industries' Viacom18 (which is co-owned with Paramount Global, but their stake needs to be offloaded first, which is still pending approval). Disney would take a stake in the combined company while Reliance and TV18 take stakes in the venture, which is set to be completed by the end of this year or early 2025.

For further reading, take a look at Noteworthy Disney Staff, Disney's Nine Old Men and Walt Disney.

The company has also been a force in family programming for decades, with Disney-themed shows spanning all three "traditional" U.S. broadcast networks (see Walt Disney Presents).

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Trope Namer of:

• All Animation Is Disney invoked
• Disney Acid Sequence
• Disney Creatures of the Farce
• Disney Death
• Disney Villain Death
• Disney Dog Fight
• Disneyesque
• Disneyfication
• Disney Owns This Trope
• Disney School of Acting and Mime
• I'm Going to Disney World!

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Disney People:

• Noteworthy Disney Staff
  • The Walt Disney Family and the Nine Old Men
  • Disney Actors
  • Disney Legends
  • Disney Musicians
  • Pixar Regulars

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Disney Media:

Short Films

• Alice Comedies (1923 - 1927)
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1927 - 1928)
• Classic Disney Shorts
  • Mickey Mouse (1928 - 1953; 1983 - Present)
  • Donald Duck (1937 - 1961)
  • Goofy (1939 - 1961; 2007)
  • Pluto the Pup (1930 - 1951)
  • Silly Symphonies (1929 - 1939)
  • Miscellaneous Disney Shorts: For shorts that aren't part of a recurring series.
• How to Catch a Cold
• Pixar Shorts (1984 - Present)
• Roger Rabbit Shorts (1989 - 1993)
• Tangled Ever After (2012)
• Paperman (2012)
• Frozen Fever (2015)
• Inner Workings (2016)
• Olaf's Frozen Adventure (2017)
• Once Upon a Studio (2023)

Feature Films — Animated

• Disney Animated Canon
• Pixar
• Disneytoon Studios (closed in June 2018)
• Blue Sky Studios (closed in April 2021)
• Other Feature Films
  • James and the Giant Peach (except UK and Europe)
  • Doug's 1st Movie
  • Recess: School's Out
  • Teacher's Pet: The Movie
  • Frankenweenie
• Released under Touchstone Pictures
  • The Nightmare Before Christmas (since rereleased under the Disney banner since 2006)
  • Gen¹³: The Movie
  • Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might (Mexico distribution only through Buena Vista International in 1998.)
  • Kiki's Delivery Service (since rebranded as a Disney film for the DVD release and rereleased by non-Disney studios outside of Japan and China)
  • Princess Mononoke (select international releases were through Touchstone Pictures instead of Disney or Miramax, later rereleased by non-Disney studios outside of Japan and China)
  • The Boy Who Saw The Wind
  • Castle in the Sky (select international releases were through Touchstone Pictures instead of Disney, later rereleased by non-Disney studios outside of Japan and China)
  • Tales from Earthsea (since rebranded as a Disney film for the DVD release and rereleased by non-Disney studios outside of Japan and China)
  • El Arca
  • The Secret of Kells
  • Gnomeo & Juliet (except UK, Canada and Europe)
  • The Wind Rises (since rereleased by non-Disney studios outside of Japan and China)
  • Strange Magic
  • Missing Link (in select international territories only)
• Walt Disney Home Video
  • Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
  • Disney Sing-Along Songs
  • Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers
• Released under Walt Disney Japan
  • Studio Ghibli’s films, North American distribution from 1998-2012; French distribution from 2002-2020; European distribution from 1999-2003, Japanese home video distribution from 1996-present (with some distribution through Pony Canyon, theatrical distribution with Toho since 1991); Chinese, Hong Kong, and Taiwanese distribution from 2001-present; Walt Disney Studios Japan also co-funded all their films from My Neighbors the Yamadas to The Red Turtle.
  • Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (Japanese home media distributor and co-funder with Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Toho, and Mitsubishi Corporation. Produced by Production I.G and Studio Ghibli. Distributed by Toho in Japan (theatrical); distributed by Go Fish Pictures in the United States and Manga Entertainment in the United Kingdom and Australia/New Zealand)
  • Mary and The Witch's Flower (Japanese home media distributor and co-funder with Toho, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Lawson, Kadokawa Shoten, Yoimuri TV, Ken On, Amuse, DN Dream Partners, LINE, Yoimuri Shimbun, STV, MMT, SDT, CTV, HTV and FBS. Produced by Studio Ponoc, Studio Khara, and Nippon TV Movies. Distributed by Toho in Japan (theatrical); GKIDS in the United States, Altitude Film Distribution in the United Kingdom (functions as non-Asian sales holder), and Madman Entertainment in Australia/New Zealand)
  • Modest Heroes (Japanese home media distributor, produced by Studio Ponoc and Nippon TV Movies. Funded by Dentsu. Distributed by Toho in Japan (theatrical), GKIDS in the United States and Netflix in all other regions)
• Released under Walt Disney India
  • Roadside Romeo
  • Arjun: The Warrior Prince
• Disney+
  • Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe
  • Diary of a Wimpy Kid
    • Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
    • Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever
  • Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again
• Distributed but not produced by Disney
  • The Brave Little Toaster
  • The Wild
  • Valiant
• Also see Walt Disney Animation Units for animation studios outside of Pixar.

Feature Films — Live-Action

Active Distribution Labels

• Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (1978-present)
• Walt Disney Pictures (1983-present; replaced Buena Vista Distribution)
• Disneynature (2008-present)
• Marvel Studios (2012-present)
• Lucasfilm (2012-present)
• 20th Century Studios (2019-present; formerly Twentieth Century Fox)
  • Searchlight Pictures (2019-present; formerly Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Former Distribution Labels

• Touchstone Pictures (1984-2016; dormant)
• Miramax (1993-2010; sold to Filmyard Holdings)
  • Dimension Films (1993-2005; acquired by The Weinstein Company per contractual obligations)
• DreamWorks SKG (via distribution agreement; 2009-2016 (except EMEA and India); now with Universal^note Universal also owns DreamWorks' former animation division, DreamWorks Animation, as of August 2016)
• Hollywood Pictures (1990-2001, 2006-2007; now serves as catalog label)
• Gaumont Buena Vista International (1993-2004; joint venture between Gaumont and Disney)
• Fox 2000 (2019; shuttered one day after Disney's purchase of Fox)
• Cinergi Pictures (via distribution agreement; 1989-1998)

Television

Television Production Studios

• ABC Signature (formerly Touchstone Television, and later ABC Studios; ABC Signature originally operated as a separate unit of ABC Studios until both were merged in August 2020)
  • Walt Disney Television (1983-2003)
• Disney Television Animation
• It's a Laugh Productions
• Marvel Television (absorbed into Marvel Studios in December 2019)
  • Marvel Animation (transferred to Marvel Studios in October 2019)
• 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television)
  • Touchstone Television (formerly Fox Television Studios, and later Fox 21 Television Studios, absorbed into 20th Television in December 2020; no relation to the unit now called ABC Signature)
  • 20th Television Animation
• Productions (FXP)
• Tsuburaya Productions (home video distribution of select shows under the Ultraman Archives lineup)

Networks, Programming Blocks and Streaming Platforms

• A&E ^note 50/50 joint venture with Hearst Communications
  • Crime & Investigation Network
  • Fyi
  • The History Channel
    • Military History
  • Lifetime
    • Lifetime Movie Network (LMN)
    • Lifetime Real Women
  • Viceland (formerly History International, then H2)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC)
• The Disney Afternoon
• Disney Channel
  • Disney Junior ^note Originally an early morning preschool block that later became Playhouse Disney in February 1999. The block rebranded under its current name in 2011 and later spun-off into its own network in 2012, replacing SoapNET on most cable providers
  • Disney XD
• Disney+
  • Star
• Disney Star
• ESPN ^note joint venture with Hearst Communications
  • ESPN+
• Freeform (Originally known as the CBN Satellite Service and later known as The Family Channel, Fox Family Channel, and ABC Family)
• FX Networks
  • FX
  • FXM
  • FXX
• Hulu ^note joint venture with Comcast; Disney will acquire full ownership by 2024
• National Geographic Channel ^note Part of National Geographic Partners; a joint venture with the National Geographic Society
  • Nat Geo Wild
• BabyTV
• One Saturday Morning and ABC Kids
• Toon Disney

Shows Not Covered by Any of the Above

• Doctor Syn ("The Scarecrow") (1964)
• Tower of Terror (1997)
• Top Kids (1987; originally produced as a sponsored film for Mercedes-Benz under the title Centurion Odyssey; acquired by Disney and retooled as a Disney Channel special)
• Walt Disney Presents

Buena Vista / Disney-ABC Domestic TV series

• Bill Nye the Science Guy (1993-98; with KCTS Seattle and Rabbit Ears Productions)
• The Challengers (1990-91; with Ron Greenburg Productions and Dick Clark Productions)
• Debt (1996-98; with Faded Denim Productions for Lifetime)
• Legend of the Seeker (2008-10)
• Siskel & Ebert (1986-2010)
• Win Ben Stein's Money (1997-03; for Comedy Central)
• Win, Lose or Draw (1987-89, NBC; 1987-90, syndicated; 1989-92, Disney Channel (Teen); 2014 (Disney Channel revival); with Kline & Friends and Burt & Bert Productions)
• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (2002-2019; syndicated version)

Comics and Magazines

• Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers
• ESPN Magazine
• Disney Adventures
  • The Legend of the Chaos God (A Disney Afternoon Bat Family Crossover comic series)
  • The Adventures of D & A
• Disney Mouse and Duck Comics
  • Mickey Mouse Comic Universe
  • Disney Ducks Comic Universe (including Carl Barks and Don Rosa)
  • The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck
  • A Little Something Special
  • I Am the Phantom Blot
  • Mickey Mouse and the Sword of Ice
  • Millennium Orb Saga
  • Paperinik New Adventures (Duck Avenger in the US)
  • Ultraheroes
  • Wizards of Mickey
• National Geographic (joint venture with National Geographic Society)
• Disney Kingdoms (imprint including Seekers of the Weird, Figment, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad)

Literature

• Bravely
• City Of Villains
• Dark Ascension
• Disney Chills
• The Kingdom Keepers
• The Mouse Watch
• Peter and the Starcatchers
• The Queen's Council
• Riordanverse:
  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians
    • The Demigod Files
    • The Heroes of Olympus
    • The Trials of Apollo
  • The Kane Chronicles
  • Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard
• A Tale of...
• Tales from Adventureland
• A Twisted Tale

Video Games

• See Disney Interactive Studios for video games created by Disney Interactive Studios.

Video games created outside Disney Interactive Studios

• The Black Cauldron (1986)
• Mickey Mousecapade (1987)
• Adventures In The Magic Kingdom (1990)
• Castle of Illusion (1990, 2013)
  • Land of Illusion (1992)
  • World of Illusion (1992)
  • Legend of Illusion (1994)
  • Disney Illusion Island (2023)
• The Little Mermaid (1991)
• Quackshot (1991)
• The Lucky Dime Caper (1991)
  • Deep Duck Trouble (1993)
• Darkwing Duck (1992)
• Disney's Magical Quest trilogy (1992, 1994, 1995)
• Aladdin (Capcom) (1993)
• Aladdin (Virgin Games) (1993)
• Goof Troop (1993)
• The Lion King (1994)
• Mickey Mania (1994)
• Donald in Maui Mallard (1995)
• Gargoyles (through Buena Vista Interactive; 1995)
• A Bug's Life (1998)
• Toy Story 2 (1999)
• Mickey's Speedway USA (2000)
• Disney's Aladdin in Nasira's Revenge (2001)
• Kingdom Hearts series (collaboration with Square Enix; 2002–present)
• Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure (2003)
• Finding Nemo (2003)
• The Incredibles (2004)
  • The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer (2005)
• Cars (2006)
  • Cars: Mater-National Championship (2007)
  • Cars Race-O-Rama (2009)
• Up (2009)
• Phineas and Ferb
  • Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension (2011)
  • Phineas and Ferb: Quest for Cool Stuff (2013)
• Disney Universe (2011)
• Kinect: Disneyland Adventures (2011)^note Remastered in 2017 as Disneyland Adventures
• Kinect Rush: A Disney–Pixar Adventure (2012)^note  Remastered in 2017 as Rush: A Disney Pixar Adventure
• Where's My Water? series (2011–present)
• Mittens (2013)
• Disney Infinity series (2013–2016)
• Disney Magical World (2014)
• Disney Magic Kingdoms (2016–present)
• Disney Art Academy (2016)
• Cars 3: Driven to Win (2017)
• LEGO The Incredibles (2018)
• Meteos: Disney Magic (2006)
• Disney Heroes: Battle Mode (2018–present)
• Disney Sorcerer's Arena (2020–present)
• Twisted Wonderland (2020–present)
• Star Smash (2020–present)
• Disney Mirrorverse (2022)
• Disney Dreamlight Valley (early access 2022)
• Disney Speedstorm (early access 2023)

Music

• Walt Disney Records (formerly Disneyland Records)
• Hollywood Records (1989-Present)
  • Lyric Street Records (1997-2010)
• Fox Music (2019-Present)

Radio

• Radio Disney

Theme Parks and Shows

• Disney Theme Parks
  • Disneyland
  • Walt Disney World
  • Tokyo Disney Resort^note Not completely owned by Disney themselves, but by the Oriental Land Company, which licenses the Disney properties to use in their theme parks.
  • Disneyland Paris
• Disney Theatrical Productions
  • Disney on Ice

Primary Franchises

• Disney Animated Canon (adapted franchises)^note Based on media that are either in the Public Domain, or licensed from other companies that still own them.
  • 101 Dalmatians^(licensed)Based on the 1956 novel written by Dodie Smith.
  • Aladdin^{(public-domain)}Based on the fairy tale from Arabian Nights.
  • Alice in Wonderland^{(public-domain)}Based on the 1865 novel written by Lewis Carroll.
  • Beauty and the Beast^{(public-domain)}Based on the 1740 fairy tale written by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve.
  • Cinderella^{(public-domain)}Based on the 1697 fairy tale written by Charles Perrault.
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame^{(public-domain)}Based on the 1831 novel written by Victor Hugo.
  • The Jungle Book^{(public-domain)}Based on the 1894 novel written by Rudyard Kipling.
  • Lady and the Tramp^(licensed)Based on a 1945 short story written by Ward Greene.
  • The Little Mermaid^{(public-domain)}Based on the 1837 fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen.
  • Mulan^{(public-domain)}Based on the classical Chinese poem The Ballad of Mulan.
  • Peter Pan^(licensed)Based on stories written by J.M. Barrie. Copyright/royalties sold to Great Ormond Street Hospital; in the public domain outside of the UK.
  • Pinocchio^{(public-domain)}Based on the 1883 novel written by Carlo Collodi.
  • Sleeping Beauty^{(public-domain)}Based on the 1697 fairy tale written by Charles Perrault.
  • Tarzan^(licensed)Based on the novel series written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. In the public domain, but still trademarked by Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc.
  • Winnie the Pooh^(licensed)Based on the book series written by A. A. Milne and illustrated by E. H. Shepard. The first book and its associated characters went into the public domain in January 2023.
• Disney Animated Canon (original franchises)
  • Disney Fairies^note Also based on the aforementioned Peter Pan.
  • Disney Princess^note Based around a mixture of public-domain and original characters.
  • Disney Villains
  • The Emperor's New Groove
  • Frozen^note Loosely based upon The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen
  • Lilo & Stitch^note Also marketed as Disney Stitch since 2021
  • The Lion King^note Loosely based upon Hamlet by William Shakespeare
  • Tangled^note Loosely based upon Rapunzel by The Brothers Grimm
• Disney Channel
  • Disney Channel Animated Universe
  • Disney Channel Live-Action Universe
  • Gravity Falls
  • Kim Possible
  • Phineas and Ferb
• Mickey Mouse & Donald Duck
  • Mickey Mouse & Friends
    • Donald Duck
  • Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers
  • DuckTales
• Pixar
  • Cars
  • Finding Nemo
  • The Incredibles
  • Monsters, Inc.
  • Toy Story
• Other franchises
  • The Haunted Mansion
  • Kingdom Hearts
  • Mary Poppins
  • Pirates of the Caribbean
  • TRON

Acquired Franchises

Properties Acquired Before the Fox Merger

• ABC (1996-present)
  • DiC Entertainment (sold in 2000; library now owned by WildBrain)
  • ESPN (80%)
  • A&E Networks (50%)
  • ABC Productions library
    • Copyrights to pre-1973 ABC Films material (distribution rights owned by CBS, successor-in-interest to ABC Films' successor Worldvision Enterprises)
    • Selmur Productions library
    • Greengrass Productions library (Wild West COW Boys Of Moo Mesa, Bump in the Night^note Both shows currently distributed by WildBrain under license from Disney, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition)
    • ABC Motion Pictures library
    • Palomar Pictures library (broke away from ABC in 1969)
    • ABC Circle Films library
    • ABC/Kane Productions library
    • Schoolhouse Rock!
  • Creative Wonders (joint venture with Electronic Arts; both companies sold their stake to The Learning Company)
• Jumbo Pictures (1996-2000)
• Various Fox Kids and Saban Entertainment shows, which came with the purchase of Fox Family Worldwide from News Corp. and Saban in 2001.
  • Most notable was Power Rangers, which Disney continued to produce from 2001-2010 until Haim Saban repurchased the franchise rights from Disney. The franchise is currently owned by Hasbro.
  • Most of the SIP Animation Library ^note Disney owned a 49% minority stake in the company. As of 2019, The Walt Disney Company France acts as a contract point for SIP's former assets. The programmes Disney doesn’t own are the CinéGroupe Co-Productions (which the latter retains ownership to) and Gadget and the Gadgetinis (which is owned by WildBrain).
  • Most Family Channel / Fox Family in-house programs and TV movies (2001-present)
  • Most of the in-house De Patie Freleng Enterprises library, including all Marvel-based cartoons (does not include co-productions or certain licensed programs; 2001-present)
  • Marvel Productions / New World Animation in-house library (2001-present; does not include commissioned work such as co-productions with Sunbow Entertainment)
  • Jetix Europe (formerly Fox Kids Europe)
• Baby Einstein (2001-2013)
  • Little Einsteins (2005-present)
• The Muppets (2004-present)
  • Bear in the Big Blue House (2004-present)^note Disney would acquire The Jim Henson Company's stake of said series with their purchase of the Muppets franchise. Other Henson franchises remain with the Henson family.
• Marvel Comics (2009-present)
  • Marvel Universe
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe
  • Marvel Animation library
• Lucasfilm (2012-present); this includes all companies and franchises under the banner, such as:
  • Star Wars
    • Star Wars Expanded Universe (new Expanded Universe canonically made for Disney's Star Wars)
    • Star Wars Legends (the old Star Wars Expanded Universe)
  • Indiana Jones (initially, Disney had production and merchandising rights to Indy when it bought Lucasfilm, though Paramount kept the distribution rights to the first four films)
  • Willow
• DreamWorks SKG 2010-2016 output (except EMEA and India), acquired by Disney as payment for outstanding loan.

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20th Century Studios^*The studio was previously by the name "Twentieth Century Fox" until its name change in January 2020. (2019-present)

• Feature films and franchises:
  • Film adaptation rights to certain Marvel Comics movies, which were previously held only by Fox (including X-Men and Fantastic Four)
  • Alien vs. Predator
    • Alien
    • Predator
  • Avatar
  • Diary of a Wimpy Kid
  • Die Hard
  • Dragonball Evolution (plus Japanese distribution rights to subsequent Dragon Ball anime films)
  • Home Alone
  • Kingsman
  • M*A*S*H
  • Office Space
  • The Omen
  • Planet of the Apes
  • The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Blue Sky Studios, including:
  • Ice Age
  • Rio

• Almost all of the Fox network's in-house programming pre-merger (except Fox Entertainment in-house programs such as Joe Millionaire and other reality shows; these programs are still owned by Fox), including (but not limited to):
  • Ally Mcbeal
  • American Dad!
  • Arrested Development
  • The Bernie Mac Show
  • Bob's Burgers
  • COPS (seasons 1-25 only)
  • Empire
  • Family Guy
  • Firefly
  • Futurama
  • In Living Color!
  • King of the Hill
  • The Orville
  • The Simpsons
  • The X-Files
    • The X-Files
    • Millennium (1996)
    • The Lone Gunmen
  • Several movies produced by Don Bluth, including Thumbelina, A Troll in Central Park, and The Pebble and the Penguin (except US rights, which are owned by MGM)^note These movies came under Fox ownership after Rupert Murdoch purchased Media Assets, who bankrolled all three movies. Warner Bros., who distributed the first two movies worldwide and Pebble internationally, transferred all distribution rights to Fox upon the expiration of their distribution deal with Bluth in 2000.
  • Most of the network's late-night talk show programming (except the network's inaugural program The Late Show, still owned by Fox Corporation)
• 20th Television properties (in addition to the above mentioned Fox in-house programs), including (but not limited to):
  • American Horror Story
  • Batman (1966) (includes tie-in movie; home video rights to series sans movie currently licensed to DC Comics owner Warner Bros.)
  • Buffyverse
    • Buffy the Vampire Slayer
    • Angel
  • Fresh Off the Boat
  • The Gifted (2017)
  • How I Met Your Mother
  • Last Man Standing
  • Lost in Space
  • M*A*S*H
    • M*A*S*H
    • AfterMASH
  • Modern Family
  • Roswell
  • This Is Us
  • Most of the unit's syndicated programming library (Judge Alex, Forgive or Forget, A Current Affair, etc.; excludes programs retained by Fox Corporation such as the 1999 run of Divorce Court, Dish Nation, and the Fox Television Stations Productions library; syndication rights to these programs are held by Fox First Run)
• Touchstone Television (formerly Fox 21) properties, including (but not limited to):
  • American Crime Story
  • Burn Notice
  • Homeland
  • Sons of Anarchy
  • White Collar
• The post-1990 New World Pictures library (includes some pre-1990 material and copyrights)
  • The post-1991 New World Television library (though it includes a portion of pre-1991 material, notably The Wonder Years)
  • Four Star Television library
  • Genesis Entertainment library
    • The Judge
    • Syndication rights to Tales from the Crypt
  • Gold Key Entertainment library
  • Blair Entertainment, a syndicator acquired in New World's purchase of SCI Television, including
    • Break the Bank (1985)
    • Strike It Rich (currently licensed to Fremantle, who owns the more successful UK version)
  • Syndicated series such as Real Stories of the Highway Patrol and Weekly World News, does not include the first 3 seasons of Access Hollywood (which are owned by NBCUniversal).
  • Learning Corporation of America/Highgate Pictures library
• Fox Reality Channel originals library
• Metromedia Producers Corporation library
  • Small Wonder
• MTM Enterprises library
  • The Bob Newhart Show (and its followup, Newhart)
  • Hill Street Blues
  • The Mary Tyler Moore Show
  • St. Elsewhere
• National Geographic media library
• FX Productions library
  • Legion (2017)
  • The Americans
  • Archer
  • Fargo (co-owned with MGM)
  • It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
• Fox Television Animation library (except Animation Domination High-Def {ADHD} programs, retained by Fox Corporation)

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