Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures facts for kids
The Walt Disney Studios' Riverside Drive property in Burbank, California
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Formerly
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| Division | |
| Industry | Film |
| Founded | June 23, 1953 |
| Founder | Walt Disney |
| Headquarters | 500 South Buena Vista Street,
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Key people
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Andrew Cripps (EVP) |
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| Parent | Disney Entertainment |
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Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is a company in the United States that helps bring movies to you. It is part of the Disney Entertainment division of the Walt Disney Company. This company handles how movies are shown in theaters and sometimes online. It also takes care of advertising and promoting films.
These films come from different parts of Walt Disney Studios. This includes movies from Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, and Searchlight Pictures.
The company started in 1953. Walt Disney himself created it. Back then, it was called Buena Vista Film Distribution Company Inc.. It changed its name a few times before becoming Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in late 2007.
Contents
History of Disney Film Distribution
Before 1953, other companies helped Disney distribute its films. These included:
- M.J. Winkler Pictures (1924–1926)
- Universal Pictures (1927–1928)
- Columbia Pictures (1930–1932)
- United Artists (1932–1937)
- RKO Radio Pictures (1937–1954 for films)
The Start of Buena Vista
In 1953, Walt Disney and his brother Roy O. Disney had a disagreement with RKO Pictures. RKO did not want to distribute Disney's first full-length nature film, The Living Desert. Because of this, Walt and Roy decided to start their own company.
They named it Buena Vista Film Distribution Company, Inc. The name "Buena Vista" came from the street where the Walt Disney Studios is located in Burbank, California.
The first movie released by Buena Vista was The Living Desert on November 10, 1953. It even won an Academy Award! Their first animated film was Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom.
Over the years, Buena Vista also released films from other studios. For example, they released the Japanese film Princess Yang Kwei Fei in 1956.
In 1960, the company shortened its name to Buena Vista Distribution Inc. Then, in 1961, Disney created Buena Vista International (BVI) to handle movies released outside the United States.
In the 1980s, Disney helped renovate two theaters in Los Angeles. These were the El Capitan Theatre and the Crest. The El Capitan Theatre reopened in 1991 with the premiere of The Rocketeer.
In 1993, Disney teamed up with Gaumont Film Company to distribute films in France. Disney also made a deal with Tokuma Shoten Publishing in 1996. This allowed Disney to distribute Studio Ghibli animated films, like Spirited Away, outside of Japan.
Becoming Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
On April 25, 2007, Disney stopped using the Buena Vista name for its main distribution company. It was officially renamed Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
In 2009, Disney made a deal to distribute films from DreamWorks. These films were released under Disney's Touchstone banner. This deal ended in 2016.
A big change happened on March 20, 2019. The Walt Disney Company completed its purchase of 21st Century Fox. This meant that 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures became part of Disney. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures then started distributing films from these studios too.
In 2020 and 2021, the studio was reorganized. However, in February 2023, it was reorganized again. It is now back as a division under The Walt Disney Studios.
How Films Are Distributed
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures distributes films from all parts of Walt Disney Studios. This includes movies from:
- Walt Disney Pictures
- Disneynature
- Walt Disney Animation Studios
- Pixar
- Marvel Studios
- Lucasfilm
- 20th Century Studios
- Searchlight Pictures (though Searchlight has its own distribution team in the US)
Many Disney films have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Five of them have even won the award! These include The English Patient and Nomadland.
| Walt Disney Studios | Other Disney Units | Former Disney Units |
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International Distribution of Films
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Logo used 1993–present in the international territories and 1993–2022 in Latin America and Brazil.
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Trade name
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Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International (for Disney branded films only) Buena Vista International (non-US, non-Disney, and non-Star Studios theatrical movies in countries outside the United States only) |
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| Industry | Film |
| Successor | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International (original) Star Distribution (Latin American and Brazilian branch) |
| Founded | 1961 |
| Founder | Walt Disney |
| Defunct | February 11, 2022 (Latin American branch) November 3, 2022 (Brazilian branch) |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
| Parent | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
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Trade name
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Star Distribution |
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Formerly
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| Industry | Film |
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| Founded | 1961 |
| Founder | Walt Disney |
| Headquarters | Malaver 550 Vicente López,
Buenos Aires
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Argentina
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Area served
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Latin America |
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| Divisions | Patagonik Film Group (33.3%) |
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International was created in 1961 as Buena Vista International. This part of the company handles distributing Disney films in countries all over the world.
For a while, Disney worked with Warner Bros. International to release films in many overseas markets. This partnership ended in 1992. After that, Disney started distributing its own films internationally, beginning with Aladdin.
In some places, Disney works with local companies. For example, Italia Film helps distribute Disney movies in the Middle East and North Africa. In Taiwan, Buena Vista started its own operations in the mid-1990s.
In 1997, Disney and Sony Pictures formed a partnership to distribute films together in Southeast Asia. This partnership ended in 2017.
In China, Disney films are distributed by local companies like China Film Co., Ltd.. However, Disney still handles the promotion of its films there.
More recently, in February 2022, the Latin American branch of Buena Vista International was renamed Star Distribution. This change happened because the Star brand replaced the Buena Vista brand in Latin America. The Brazilian branch also became Star Distribution in November 2022.
Highest-Grossing Films
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures has released many incredibly successful films. They have distributed 33 films that have earned over $1 billion worldwide. This is more than any other major Hollywood studio!
Thirteen of the twenty highest-grossing films of all time were distributed by Disney. This includes the highest-grossing film worldwide, Avatar. Six of these films have even earned over $2 billion worldwide.
Disney is also the only studio to have released at least two billion-dollar films in the same year eight times. In 2019, Disney set a record by having seven films each earn over $1 billion in a single year. That same year, Disney made an amazing $13.2 billion at the global box office.
- Indicates films playing in theaters in the week commencing August 2, 2025.
| Rank | Title | Year | Studio label | Box office gross (millions) |
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| 1 | Star Wars: The Force Awakens | 2015 | Lucasfilm | $936.7 |
| 2 | Avengers: Endgame | 2019 | Marvel | $858.4 |
| 3 | Black Panther | 2018 | $700.1 | |
| 4 | Avatar: The Way of Water | 2022 | 20th Century | $684.0 |
| 5 | Avengers: Infinity War | 2018 | Marvel | $678.8 |
| 6 | Inside Out 2 | 2024 | Disney/Pixar | $653.2 |
| 7 | Deadpool & Wolverine | Marvel | $636.7 | |
| 8 | The Avengers | 2012 | $623.4 | |
| 9 | Star Wars: The Last Jedi | 2017 | Lucasfilm | $620.2 |
| 10 | Incredibles 2 | 2018 | Disney/Pixar | $605.6 |
| 11 | The Lion King | 2019 | Disney | $543.6 |
| 12 | Rogue One: A Star Wars Story | 2016 | Lucasfilm | $532.2 |
| 13 | Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker | 2019 | $515.2 | |
| 14 | Beauty and the Beast | 2017 | Disney | $504.0 |
| 15 | Finding Dory | 2016 | Disney/Pixar | $486.3 |
| 16 | Frozen II | 2019 | Disney | $477.4 |
| 17 | Moana 2 | 2024 | $460.0 | |
| 18 | Avengers: Age of Ultron | 2015 | Marvel | $459.0 |
| 19 | Black Panther: Wakanda Forever | 2022 | Marvel | $453.8 |
| 20 | Toy Story 4 | 2019 | Disney/Pixar | $434.0 |
| 21 | Captain Marvel | Marvel | $426.8 | |
| 22 | The Lion King ‡ | 1994 | Disney | $424.9 |
| 23 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | 2006 | $423.3 | |
| 24 | Lilo & Stitch  |
2025 | $421.4 | |
| 25 | Toy Story 3 | 2010 | Disney/Pixar | $415.0 |
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| Rank | Title | Year | Studio label | Box office gross (millions) |
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| 1 | Avengers: Endgame | 2019 | Marvel | $2,799.4 |
| 2 | Avatar: The Way of Water | 2022 | 20th Century | $2,320.2 |
| 3 | Star Wars: The Force Awakens | 2015 | Lucasfilm | $2,071.3 |
| 4 | Avengers: Infinity War | 2018 | Marvel | $2,052.4 |
| 5 | Inside Out 2 | 2024 | Disney/Pixar | $1,697.0 |
| 6 | The Lion King | 2019 | Disney | $1,656.9 |
| 7 | The Avengers | 2012 | Marvel | $1,520.5 |
| 8 | Frozen II | 2019 | Disney | $1,453.6 |
| 9 | Avengers: Age of Ultron | 2015 | Marvel | $1,405.4 |
| 10 | Black Panther | 2018 | $1,349.9 | |
| 11 | Deadpool & Wolverine | 2024 | $1,338.0 | |
| 12 | Star Wars: The Last Jedi | 2017 | Lucasfilm | $1,334.4 |
| 13 | Frozen | 2013 | Disney | $1,306.4 |
| 14 | Beauty and the Beast | 2017 | $1,266.1 | |
| 15 | Incredibles 2 | 2018 | Disney/Pixar | $1,243.0 |
| 16 | Iron Man 3 | 2013 | Marvel | $1,215.8 |
| 17 | Captain America: Civil War | 2016 | $1,155.0 | |
| 18 | Captain Marvel | 2019 | $1,131.4 | |
| 19 | Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker | Lucasfilm | $1,077.0 | |
| 20 | Toy Story 4 | Disney/Pixar | $1,073.3 | |
| 21 | Toy Story 3 | 2010 | $1,067.0 | |
| 22 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | 2006 | Disney | $1,066.2 |
| 23 | Moana 2 | 2024 | Disney | $1,059.2 |
| 24 | Rogue One: A Star Wars Story | 2016 | Lucasfilm | $1,057.4 |
| 25 | Aladdin | 2019 | Disney | $1,050.7 |
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‡—Includes theatrical reissue(s)
See also
In Spanish: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures para niños
