Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
ABC Inc.

Logo used since 2007
The Walt Disney Studios' Riverside Drive property in Burbank, California
Trade name	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Formerly	Buena Vista Film Distribution Company, Inc. (1953–1960) Buena Vista Distribution Company, Inc. (1960–1987) Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. (1987–2007)
Type	Division
Industry	Film
Founded	June 23, 1953; 71 years ago (1953-06-23)
Founder	Walt Disney
Headquarters	500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California , U.S.
Key people	Tony Chambers (EVP)
Services	Film distribution Film promotion
Parent	Disney Entertainment
Divisions	Walt Disney Studios Marketing Worldwide Special Events
Subsidiaries	El Capitan Theatre Buena Vista International, Inc. Star Distribution

ABC Inc., also known as Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, is an American company that helps movies get seen by people. It used to be called Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc.. This company is part of Disney Entertainment, which is a big part of the Walt Disney Company.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures helps with showing movies in theaters and sometimes online. They also handle advertising and promoting films made by Walt Disney Studios. This includes movies from famous studios like Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Studios. Another studio, Searchlight Pictures, handles its own movie releases and advertising.

Walt Disney started this company in 1953. Back then, it was called Buena Vista Film Distribution Company, Inc. Over the years, its name changed a few times before becoming Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in late 2007.

History of Disney's Movie Distribution

Before Disney started its own company, other companies helped release their movies. Here are some of them:

• M.J. Winkler Pictures (1924–1926)
• Film Booking Offices of America (1926–1927)
• Universal Pictures (1927–1928)
• Celebrity Productions (1928–1930)
• Columbia Pictures (1930–1932)
• United Artists (1932–1937, 1943)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1937–1956)

The Start of Buena Vista

In 1953, Disney had a disagreement with RKO Pictures. RKO didn't want to release Disney's first full-length nature film, The Living Desert. Because of this, Walt Disney and his brother Roy O. Disney decided to create their own company. They called it Buena Vista Film Distribution Company, Inc. (BVDC). This company would release Disney's movies in North America.

The name "Buena Vista" came from a street in Burbank, California, where the Walt Disney Studios are located. The first movie released by Buena Vista was The Living Desert on November 10, 1953. It even won an Academy Award! Their first animated movie was Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom.

Over the years, Buena Vista released many other films. In April 1960, the company shortened its name to Buena Vista Distribution Company, Inc. In 1961, Disney started Buena Vista International (BVI) to release movies in other countries.

In July 1987, the company changed its name again to Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. (BVPD).

In the late 1980s, Disney helped renovate two theaters in Hollywood: the El Capitan Theatre and the Crest. The El Capitan Theatre reopened with the movie The Rocketeer in 1991.

In 1996, Disney bought Capital Cities/ABC, and Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. became part of ABC, Inc. In 1998, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution bought the Hollywood Masonic Temple building. They used it for special events and promotions for their movies.

Disney also made deals with other film companies. For example, in 1996, Disney and Tokuma Shoten Publishing agreed that Disney would release Studio Ghibli animated films, like Spirited Away. Disney helped make the English versions of these films.

Becoming Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

On April 25, 2007, Disney stopped using the "Buena Vista" name for its main movie distribution. That's when it became Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

In 2009, Disney made a deal to release movies from DreamWorks. They planned to release about 30 films over five years. Most of these were released under Disney's Touchstone label. This deal ended in 2016.

On December 14, 2017, The Walt Disney Company announced plans to buy 21st Century Fox. This big purchase included 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures. The deal was completed on March 20, 2019. After this, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures started releasing 20th Century Studios films in the United States. Its international branch, Buena Vista International, releases these films in other countries.

In 2020 and 2021, Disney changed how its studios were organized. But in February 2023, the CEO, Bob Iger, changed it back. Now, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is again a division under The Walt Disney Studios.

How Disney Distributes Movies

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures releases films from all the different parts of Walt Disney Studios. The only exception is Searchlight Pictures, which handles its own movie releases and advertising.

Disney movies have won many awards! They have produced or released 35 films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Five of these films actually won the Best Picture award: The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, Chicago, No Country for Old Men, and Nomadland.

Here's a look at the different studios Disney works with:

Movies Around the World

Buena Vista International, Inc.

Logo used 1993–present in the international territories and 1993–2022 in Latin America and Brazil.
Trade name	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International (for Disney branded films only) Buena Vista International (non-US and non-Disney and non-Star Studios theatrical movies in countries outside the United States only)
Former type	Division
Industry	Film
Successor	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International (original) Star Distribution (Latin American and Brazilian branch)
Founded	1961; 64 years ago (1961)
Founder	Walt Disney
Defunct	February 11, 2022; 3 years ago (2022-02-11) (Latin American branch) November 3, 2022; 2 years ago (2022-11-03) (Brazilian branch)
Headquarters	United States Spain Latin America Brazil Mexico
Area served	Worldwide
Parent	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Star Distribution, Inc.

Logo used since 2022.
Trade name	Star Distribution
Formerly	Buena Vista International Latin America (1961–2022) Buena Vista International Brazil (1961–2022)
Type	Division
Industry	Film
Predecessor	Fox International Productions Latin America/Brazil
Founded	1961; 64 years ago (1961)
Founder	Walt Disney
Headquarters	Malaver 550 Vicente López, Buenos Aires , Argentina
Area served	Latin America
Parent	The Walt Disney Company Latin America Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Divisions	Patagonik Film Group (33.3%)

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International started in 1961 as Buena Vista International. This part of the company handles releasing Disney movies in countries all over the world.

For a while, Disney worked with Warner Bros. International to release its films in many countries outside the U.S. This deal started in 1987. However, Disney decided to start releasing its own films internationally in 1992, starting with Aladdin.

Disney also works with local companies in different countries. For example, in Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries, Italia Film helps release Disney movies. In Taiwan, Buena Vista started its own operations in 1995.

In some parts of Europe, like Germany and Austria, Buena Vista International started releasing films from Universum Film in 2005. In the UK, Disney used to work with 20th Century Fox. In Australia and New Zealand, Disney now distributes its own films after a deal with Roadshow ended in 1998.

Disney and Sony Pictures even had joint companies to release films in Southeast Asia, Brazil, Mexico, and other places. These partnerships ended over time, with Sony taking over its own operations.

In China, things are a bit different because of local rules. All Disney films there are released by Chinese companies like China Film Co., Ltd. But Disney still handles all the advertising for its movies.

Recently, in 2022, the Buena Vista International branches in Latin America and Brazil changed their names to Star Distribution. This was part of a bigger change where the "Star" brand replaced "Buena Vista" in those regions.

Disney's Most Popular Movies

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures has released many incredibly successful films. They have released more movies that earned over $1 billion worldwide than any other major Hollywood studio! Twenty-six of their films have reached this huge milestone.

Thirteen of the twenty highest-grossing films of all time were released by Disney. This includes the highest-grossing film in North America, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Four of these films have even earned over $2 billion worldwide! Disney directly released three of the top five highest-grossing films ever: Avengers: Endgame, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Disney is also the only studio to have seven films earn over $1 billion in a single year, which happened in 2019. In that same year, Disney made a record-breaking $13.2 billion at the global box office!

Here are some of the highest-grossing films released by Disney:

     Indicates films playing in theaters in the week commencing 20 June 2025.

^‡—Includes theatrical reissue(s)

See also

In Spanish: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures para niños