Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment facts for kids
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Logo used since 2012
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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 | February 13, 1987 |
| Headquarters | Walt Disney Studios,
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United States
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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) |
| Brands | |
| Services | Physical distribution (1987–2024), digital distribution |
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Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. is a company that helps bring Disney movies and TV shows to your home. It's also known as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. This company makes sure you can watch your favorite Disney stories on different devices and formats.
For 37 years, this company was in charge of distributing Disney's movies and shows on physical formats. These included VHS tapes, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and 4K discs. It started in 1987 as Buena Vista Home Video. In 1997, its legal name changed to Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. The public name changed to Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment in 2007.
Since 2024, another company, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, helps distribute Disney's physical movies in North America. However, Disney still decides what movies are released and how they look.
History of Disney Home Entertainment
Early Days of Home Video
Before Disney started releasing its own movies for home viewing, it allowed some of its films to be put on a new disc format called LaserDisc. This was done through a company called DiscoVision. Disney's agreement with them ended in 1981.
In 1980, Disney created its own way to distribute videos. It was part of a larger group called Walt Disney Telecommunications and Non-Theatrical Company (WDTNT). At first, Disney didn't think home video would be a big market. This group also handled other small items, like short 8 mm films for home movies.
Disney's first movies on videotape were 13 titles that people could rent from a store called Fotomat. This started on March 4, 1980, in a few cities. Disney was one of the few big studios that allowed rentals. Other studios tried to stop stores from renting their movie tapes.
In the late 1980s, Disney began working with big stores like Target and Wal-Mart. This helped them get their videos to more people.
Walt Disney Home Video Begins
The first Disney animated movie released on videotape was Dumbo on June 28, 1981. You could only rent it at first. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was released for both rental and sale at the same time.
After their deal with DiscoVision ended, Disney started releasing LaserDiscs under the Walt Disney Home Video name in 1982. The first five titles included The Black Hole and The Love Bug.
Dumbo became available for sale on tape in the summer of 1982. By 1982, all Disney video releases were available for both sale and rental. However, they were quite expensive. In 1984, Robin Hood was released, starting the famous Walt Disney Classics collection.
In 1985, Pinocchio was released for home video. It became the best-selling video of that year.
The Buena Vista Home Video Era
The name Buena Vista Home Video started in 1983. It was first used to distribute tapes of old Westerns like Hopalong Cassidy. Soon, this name was used for many different types of content. This included cartoons not made by Disney, like Rocky and Bullwinkle, and music videos.
Buena Vista Home Video officially became a company on February 13, 1987. The "Buena Vista" name came from Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, which also owned the rights for many video tapes.
In 1992, Buena Vista Home Video worked with Jim Henson Productions to create "Jim Henson Video." This company distributed movies and shows featuring The Muppets. This partnership lasted until 1997.
In 1996, Buena Vista Home Video became part of The Walt Disney Studios. In the same year, Disney made a deal with Tokuma Shoten Publishing. This allowed Buena Vista Home Video to distribute Studio Ghibli animated films around the world. Disney then created English versions and distributed 15 of these films.
In 1998, Buena Vista Home Entertainment made a deal with Warner Home Video. Warner Home Video helped distribute over 100 Disney movies on DVD in Europe and Australia until 2000.
In 2002, Disney took over the distribution of shows from Saban Entertainment, which became BVS Entertainment. In 2005, Buena Vista Home Entertainment also signed a deal to distribute 400 films from Roger Corman's New Concorde company.
Becoming Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
In 2007, Buena Vista Home Entertainment changed its public name to Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. This was part of a bigger change across the company. However, the company's legal name remained Buena Vista.
By 2012, Disney started distributing all the movies from Marvel Studios, beginning with The Avengers. In 2013, Disney also gained the rights to the first four Marvel Cinematic Universe movies from Paramount Pictures.
After buying Lucasfilm in 2012, Disney began releasing titles from them. This started in late 2014 with the first series of Star Wars Rebels. In 2019, Disney also acquired the film assets of 21st Century Fox. This meant that movies from 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures also began to be distributed by Disney for home viewing.
Changes in Physical Media Distribution
After Disney+ launched in 2019, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment started to stop distributing physical movies in some parts of the world. In other areas, they let different companies handle the distribution.
In February 2024, Disney made a new agreement with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Sony now handles all the physical production and distribution for Disney's home entertainment in North America. This happened after 37 years of Disney doing it themselves. Even with this change, Disney still decides what movies are released. The first Disney film distributed by Sony was 20th Century's The First Omen on July 30, 2024.
The company now mainly distributes digital media. They used to distribute Blu-ray discs and DVDs themselves.
The Disney Vault Practice
Disney is well-known for something called the "Disney Vault". This is a practice where they temporarily stop selling certain movies. Disney says they do this to control the market and to allow their films to be re-released for new generations of viewers. This practice was also extended to the 20th Century Fox library after Disney bought it in 2019.
Home Video Formats
Disney DVD
Disney DVD is the name used for Disney movies released on DVD. Disney started working on DVD releases in 1997. The first Disney DVD released in the United States was George of the Jungle in 1997. The very last VHS release from Disney was Cars on February 19, 2007.
Disney Blu-ray
Disney Blu-ray is the name for Disney movies released in high-definition on Blu-ray discs. In late 2006, Disney began releasing titles like the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and the National Treasure movies on Blu-ray.
In late 2010, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment started releasing their 3D movies in the Blu-ray 3D format. This began with A Christmas Carol and Alice in Wonderland. In 2017, Disney quietly stopped releasing new 3D titles in North America. However, they still release new 3D titles in other regions, like Europe. In 2023, Disney released Avatar: The Way of Water on Blu-ray 3D.
Disney Second Screen
"Disney Second Screen" was a special feature included with some Blu-ray releases, like Bambi in 2011. You could use a computer or iPad app that synced with the movie. As the film played, you would see extra content like trivia, photo galleries, and animated flipbooks on your second screen. This service was stopped on October 2, 2016.
Ultra HD Blu-ray
Disney began releasing their new films on Ultra HD Blu-ray starting with Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on August 22, 2017. This format offers even higher picture quality. The Prestige was Disney's first older movie released on UHD, on December 19, 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 remakes and adaptations of Disney animated films
