Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment facts for kids
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment logo used since 2007
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Trade name
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Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment |
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Formerly
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Home entertainment |
| Founded | 1978 |
| Headquarters | Walt Disney Studios, , |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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Tony Chambers (EVP, Theatrical Distribution) |
| Products | Home media, digital distribution |
| Brands | |
| Owner | The Walt Disney Company |
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Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. is a part of The Walt Disney Company. It is also known as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. This company is in charge of distributing Disney's movies, TV shows, and other videos. They release these on different home formats. These formats include Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray discs, DVDs, and digital media. They do this for many brands all over the world.
The company officially started as Buena Vista Home Video on February 13, 1987. It changed to its current legal name in 1997. However, in the UK, it has been called Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (UK & Ireland) since 2013. The public name changed to Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment in 2007. But the name Buena Vista is still used for company business.
Recently, fewer people are buying physical movies. This is because of digital movies and streaming services like Disney+. Because of this, Disney sometimes lets other companies distribute their movies. In some places, they have even stopped selling physical movies entirely.
Contents
The History of Disney Home Entertainment
How Disney Started Selling Movies for Home
Before Disney sold its own home videos, it let another company, MCA's DiscoVision, release some of its movies. These were on a new disc format called LaserDisc. Disney's agreement with MCA ended in December 1981.
In 1980, Disney started its own video distribution. It was part of a group called Walt Disney Telecommunications and Non-Theatrical Company (WDTNT). At first, Disney did not think home video would be a big market. This group also sold other small items, like short 8 mm films for home movies.
Disney's first video releases were 13 movies. They were available to rent from Fotomat starting March 4, 1980. This started as a test in four cities. Disney was different from other big movie studios. It allowed people to rent its movies. Other studios tried to stop stores from renting their tapes.
In the late 1980s, Disney looked for more places to sell its videos. They made deals with big stores like Target, Caldor, and Wal-Mart. Around this time, Disney also started working with these stores on advertising.
Buena Vista Home Video's Early Days
The name Buena Vista Home Video first appeared in 1983. It was a label used by WDTNT. It first distributed tapes of Hopalong Cassidy. Soon, Buena Vista Home Video (BVHV) was used for many different types of content. This included cartoons not made by Disney, like Rocky and Bullwinkle. It also included concerts and special interest shows.
Buena Vista Home Video officially became a company on February 13, 1987. The "Buena Vista" name came from Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. This company also owned the rights for video tapes released under the BVHE name.
In November 1992, Buena Vista Home Video teamed up with Jim Henson Productions. They created "Jim Henson Video." This company distributed movies and shows owned by Henson, including many Muppet productions. This partnership lasted until late 1997.
In July 1993, Buena Vista Home Video made a big deal with DIC Entertainment. This deal included over 1,000 half-hours of animated shows from DIC. It also led to the creation of the DIC Toon Time Video label. In April 1996, Buena Vista Home Video moved to The Walt Disney Studios. This happened because Disney had merged with Capital Cities/ABC.
In August 1996, Disney and Tokuma Shoten Publishing made a deal. Buena Vista Home Video got the rights to distribute Studio Ghibli animated films around the world. Disney then made English versions and distributed 15 of Ghibli's films.
In 2001, Disney bought Fox Family Worldwide. This included the Fox Kids brand and Saban Entertainment. In 2002, Saban became BVS Entertainment. BVHE then took over distribution from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Today
In 2007, Buena Vista Home Entertainment changed its public name. It became Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. This was part of a bigger change across the company. But the company still uses Buena Vista as its official legal name.
In July 2017, GKIDS and Shout! Studios took over the rights to Studio Ghibli films in North America. However, Disney still handles the distribution of these films in Japan and China. In March 2019, Disney bought many of 21st Century Fox's film companies. A few months later, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment joined Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.
Since Disney+ launched in 2019, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has started to stop selling physical movies in some areas. These areas include Latin America, Australia, and New Zealand. In other places, like the United Kingdom, they let other companies handle the distribution.
In February 2024, Disney made a deal with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Sony will now handle all physical movie production and distribution for Disney in North America.
How Disney Distributes Movies
The company now mainly distributes digital media. Before the early 2020s, it used to distribute Blu-ray discs and DVDs itself. Now, it often works with other distributors like Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
The Disney Vault Practice
Disney is famous for something called the "Disney Vault". This is a practice where they stop selling certain movies for a while. Disney says they do this to control the market. It also lets them re-release films for new generations of viewers. This practice also applies to movies from the 20th Century Fox library after Disney bought it.
Walt Disney Home Video Releases
The first Disney animated movie released on video tape was Dumbo on June 28, 1981. It was only for rental at first. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was released for both rental and sale.
After their deal with DiscoVision ended, Disney started releasing LaserDiscs under the Walt Disney Home Video label. The first five titles were shipped in June 1982. These included The Black Hole and The Love Bug.
Dumbo was released for sale on tape in summer 1982. Alice in Wonderland was released for sale in November 1982. The next major animated movie released for sale was Robin Hood on December 3, 1984. This started the Walt Disney Classics collection. By 1982, all video releases were for sale and rental, but they were expensive.
On July 16, 1985, Pinocchio was released for home video. It became the best-selling video of that year.
Disney DVD Releases
Disney DVD is the name for Disney movies released on DVDs. Disney started working on DVDs in 1997. Their first US DVD release was George of the Jungle in 1997. Disney's last VHS release was Cars on February 19, 2007.
Disney Blu-ray Releases
Disney Blu-ray is the name for Disney movies released in high-definition. This means they have a very clear picture. In late 2006, Disney started releasing movies on Blu-ray. These included the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
In late 2010, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment began releasing their 3D movies in the Blu-ray 3D format. This started with A Christmas Carol. In 2017, Disney stopped releasing new 3D Blu-rays in North America. This was likely because fewer people were interested in 3D movies at home there. However, they still release 3D Blu-rays in other regions, like Europe.
Ultra HD Blu-ray Releases
Disney started releasing their new movies on Ultra HD Blu-ray in 2017. These movies have an even higher quality picture. The first one was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on August 22, 2017.
See also
In Spanish: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment para niños
- List of Disney theatrical animated feature films
- List of Disney feature-length home entertainment releases
- Lists of Walt Disney Studios films
- Walt Disney Pictures
- List of Disney live-action adaptations and remakes of Disney animated films
