DAVID ADAMS looks at some facts and figures about the century-old Disney…
Disney is celebrating its 100th anniversary and to mark the occasion, here’s some facts and figures about the organisation...
• The Disney Brothers Cartoon Studios were founded on 16th October, 1923, in Los Angeles by brothers Walt and Roy O Disney, who came from Kansas City, Missouri.
• The 1928 film Steamboat Willie heralded the debut of Mickey and Minnie Mouse (featuring synchronised sound, it was the third to be produced but the first to secure a distribution deal).
A statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, US. PICTURE: Travis Gergen/Unsplash
• Disney’s first feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, was released in 1937. It secured eight Oscar nominations and won two – for best original score and for best original song, Heigh-Ho. To date, the studio has won a total of 23 Academy Awards.
• The first completely live action Disney film was Treasure Island which was released in 1950.
• The Mickey Mouse Club debuted on US TV in 1955.
• The first Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California, in 1955 (Walt Disney had an apartment built for his family above the Fire Department on Main Street). It was followed by Disney World in Florida in 1971, the EPCOT Center in 1982, Tokyo Disneyland in 1983, Disneyland Paris in 1992. Other parks and resorts have followed.
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• The most financially successful Disney film to date is the 2019 live action remake of 1994 animated film The Lion King which has topped $US1.6 billion in box office taking.
• Disney now owns some of the most valuable production assets in the world including The Muppets, which it acquired in 2004 for $US75 million; Pixar Animation Studios which it acquired in 2006 for $US7.4 billion; Marvel which it acquired in 2009 for $US4 billion and Lucasfilm, which owns the Star Wars franchise, which it acquired in 2012 for $US4 billion.
• The Disney+ streaming service was launched on 12th November, 2019. It reportedly now has about 150 million subscribers around the world.
• The Walt Disney Company today reportedly has more than 200,000 employees and a market capitalisation of more than $US150 billion.
