studios type division industry entertainment founded 1923 ; 93 years ago 1923 headquarters 500 s. buena vista street burbank california u.s. key people alan f. horn chairman alan bergman president sean bailey president motion picture production parent the walt disney company divisions walt disney studios motion pictures touchstone pictures walt disney studios marketing disneynature walt disney animation studios disney music group disney theatrical group disney studio services subsidiaries walt disney pictures lucasfilm ltd. llc pixar animation studios marvel studios website waltdisneystudios.com 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 . 1 the studio best known for its multi faceted film division which is one of hollywood s major film studios is based at the eponymous walt disney studios in burbank california . the studios generated an estimated income of 1.973 billion during the 2015 fiscal year . 2 the studio entertainment business alone live action and animated motion pictures direct to video content musical recordings and live stage plays brought in 5.83 billion in 2012 . 3 the walt disney studios is a member of the motion picture association of america mpaa . 4 contents 1 background 2 history 2.1 1980s 2.2 1990s 2.3 2000s 2.4 2010s 3 studio structure 3.1 production 3.2 distribution 3.3 disney music group 3.4 disney theatrical group 4 see also 5 references 6 external links background edit 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 . 5 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 . 6 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 . 7 8 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 and walt disney studios motion pictures . 9 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 . 10 history edit 1980s edit by the 1980s the walt disney company s collection of film units emerged as one of hollywood s big six film studios mostly due to newly designed efforts in branding strategies a resurgence of walt disney pictures animated releases and unprecedented box office successes particularly from touchstone pictures . 11 the walt disney productions film division was incorporated on 000000001983 04 01 0000april 1 1983 as walt disney pictures . 12 in april 1983 richard berger was hired by disney ceo ron w. miller as film president . touchstone films was started by miller in february 1984 as a label for their pg rated films with an expected half of disney s 6 to 8 movies yearly slate would be released under the label . 13 berger was pushed out as a new ceo was appointed for walt disney productions later in 1984 as michael eisner brought his own film chief jeffrey katzenberg . 14 organized in 1985 silver screen partners ii l.p. financed films for disney with 193 million in funding . in january 1987 silver screen iii began financing movies for disney with 300 million raised the largest amount raised for a film financing limited partnership by e.f. hutton . 15 in april 1988 touchstone became a unit of walt disney pictures with newly appointed head ricardo mestres . 16 with several production companies getting out of film production or closing shop by december 1988 walt disney studios announced the formation of hollywood pictures division which would only share marketing and distribution with touchstone to fill the void . 14 walt disney television and touchstone television were grouped together under garth ancier as president of network television for the walt disney studios on april 18 1989 . 17 late in the 1980s disney purchased a controlling stake in one of pacific theatres chain 18 leading to disney s buena vista theaters and pacific to renovate the el capitan theatre and the crest by 1989 . 19 the crest was finished first while el capitan opened with the premiere of the rocketeer film on june 19 1991 . 20 1990s edit in september 1990 the walt disney company arranged for financing up to 200 million by a unit of nomura securities for interscope films made for disney . on october 23 1990 disney formed touchwood pacific partners i to supplant the silver screen partnership series as their movie studios primary funding source . 21 in 1992 walt disney studios agreed to fund a production company caravan pictures for exiting 20th century fox chairman joe roth . 22 23 in 1993 miramax films was purchased for 60 million by disney . 24 on march 30 1992 disney studios agreed to sell kcal tv to pineland inc. for a 45 % ownership stake in pineland so as to have interest in tv stations in both large markets los angeles and new york city allowing for increased original programming . 25 instead pineland agreed to an unsolicited bid in may from chris craft industries thus ending the planned business merger with disney s kcal . 26 david hoberman was promoted by katzenberg to president of motion pictures at walt disney studios in 000000001994 04 01 0000april 1994 from president of walt disney pictures and touchstone pictures . while ricardo mestres was forced out as president of hollywood pictures in exchange for a production deal . 27 on august 24 1994 with katzenberg s resignation walt disney studios was reorganized spinning out a new tv group . richard frank became head of newly formed walt disney television and telecommunications wdtt . roth moved up from caravan pictures to helm the remaining walt disney studios as chairman . 28 hoberman stepped down as president in 000000001995 01 01 0000january 1995 to take a five year multi film deal for his production company mandeville films . 27 roth was appointed as chairman of walt disney studios in 1996 . 29 in 000000001996 04 01 0000april 1996 due to ongoing post disney cc abc merger realignment and retirement of its president wdtt group s division were reassigned to other groups with most transferred to the walt disney studios or cc abc . units returning to the studio were the television production companies walt disney television disney television animation touchstone television and buena vista home entertainment . 30 buena vista international latin america and two other companies became owners of patagonik film group an argentina based production company in 1997 . 31 in late 1997 disney bid on cdr s epic movie library but lost to polygram filmed entertainment . 32 disney s buena vista distribution and cinergi pictures had a 25 picture distribution deal with disney taking a 5 % stake in cinergi stock . after nine films were delivered under the agreement cinergi sold disney on 000000001997 11 22 0000november 22 1997 all of its 12 film library except for die hard with a vengeance plus 20 million in exchange for disney s cinergi share holdings production advances of 35.4 million and other loans . 33 34 in 1998 the buena vista motion pictures group was formed by roth to unite the disney touchstone and hollywood film production units with leadership under david vogel . 35 this was in order to centralize the various production units and to make live action film production within disney more cost efficient . roth also determined that the studio s year production slate should be cut . so in august 1998 roger birnbaum caravan s co founder left to co found spyglass entertainment at roth s prompting in which disney gave caravan s development slate a five year distribution agreement and an advance . caravan after the remaining three films are release when inactive . 36 by may 2000 disney had taken an equity stake in spyglass . 37 peter schneider was promoted to studio president in 000000001999 01 01 0000january 1999 while thomas schumacher was promoted to president of walt disney feature animation and walt disney theatrical productions while both are made co presidents of disney theatrical group . 38 as the first studio president schneider had supervisory control of all walt disney label released films . 29 in july walt disney television including buena vista television productions were transferred out of the walt disney studios to abc television network 39 to merge with abc s prime time division to form the abc entertainment television group . 40 2000s edit roth left to form his own production company in 000000002000 01 01 0000january 2000 37 with schneider moving up to studio chairman . 29 schneider left walt disney studios in 000000002001 06 01 0000june 2001 to form his own theater production company partly funded by disney . the studio chairmanship was not filled at the time leaving the studio s major units walt disney motion pictures group chair dick cook buena vista motion pictures group chair nina jacobson and walt disney feature animation president schumacher in charge . 41 in 2002 cook was named as studio chairman to replace peter schneider . 42 in january 2002 buena vista international latin america formed a joint venture production company miravista with admira telef nica content production and distribution division for primarily brazilian and mexican film productions . 43 in january 2003 disney initiated a reorganization of its theatrical and animation units to improve resource usage and continued focus on new characters and franchise development . walt disney feature animation sans walt disney television animation and buena vista theatrical worldwide were organized under the walt disney studios . 44 45 in july 2006 disney announced a shift in its strategy of releasing more disney branded i.e. walt disney pictures films and fewer touchstone titles . the move was expected to reduce the group s work force by approximately 650 positions worldwide . 46 after being transferred to various other division groups since they were acquired in 2004 the muppets studio was incorporated into the walt disney studios special events group in 2006 . 47 in april 2007 disney retired the buena vista brand renaming buena vista motion pictures group and buena vista pictures distribution as walt disney motion pictures group and walt disney studios motion pictures respectively . hollywood pictures was also retired as well . 48 49 in july 2007 disney ceo bob iger banned the depiction of smoking and tobacco products from walt disney pictures branded films as well as limiting such depictions in touchstone and miramax films . 50 in april 2009 the studio announced the formation of disneynature a nature film production label . 51 the studio launched its kingdom comics division in may led by writer actor ahmet zappa tv executive harris katleman and writer editor christian beranek . kingdom was designed to create new properties for possible film development and re imagine and redevelop existing disney library movies with disney publishing worldwide getting a first look for publishing . 52 on february 9 2009 dreamworks studios entered a 7 year 30 picture distribution deal with the studio s touchstone pictures banner starting in 2011 . 53 the deal also includes co funding by disney to dreamworks for production . 54 in late 2009 miramax films a formerly independent disney film unit was transferred to the walt disney studios 55 until its sale in 2010 to filmyard holdings . 56 the kingdom comics unit s creatives executives