Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is an American film distributor within the Disney Entertainment division of the Walt Disney Company.[5] It handles theatrical and occasional digital distribution, marketing and promotion for films produced and released by the Walt Disney Studios, including Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, and internationally Searchlight Pictures; which operates its own autonomous theatrical distribution and marketing unit in the United States.[6]
The company was originally established by Walt Disney in 1953 as Buena Vista Film Distribution Company Inc. (later renamed Buena Vista Distribution Inc. and Buena Vista Pictures Distribution Inc.). It took on its current name in late 2007.[7][8]
Before in 1953, Disney's productions were previously distributed by:
A dispute with RKO Pictures in 1953 over the distribution of The Living Desert, Disney's first full-length film in the True-Life Adventures series,[9] led Walt and his older brother Roy O. Disney to form its wholly owned subsidiary, the Buena Vista Film Distribution Company, Inc. (BVDC), to handle North American distribution of their own products.[7] RKO refused to distribute the film.[9] The name "Buena Vista" came from the eponymus street in Burbank, California, where the Walt Disney Studios was located (and remains to this day). Buena Vista's first release was the Academy Award-winning live-action feature The Living Desert on November 10, 1953, along with Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom, Buena Vista's first animated release.[10] Notable subsequent releases included the Austrian film Victoria in Dover, the Japanese Daiei film Princess Yang Kwei Fei (Most Noble Lady), released in US theaters in September 1956,[11][12][13] The Missouri Traveler in March 1958,[10] and The Big Fisherman in July 1959 (the first third-party production financed by Disney).[10]
By July 5, 1957, RKO Japan, Ltd. was sold to Disney Productions and British Commonwealth Film Corporation. In allocating the foreign film licenses to the company, Disney would use 5 and Commonwealth 8.[14]
In April 1960, the company dropped "Film" from its name.[8] In 1961, Disney incorporated Buena Vista International (BVI),[15] distributing its first PG-rated film, Take Down, in January 1979.[10] The low-budget movie was not produced by the Disney studios and was acquired from an independent studio, making The Black Hole the first PG-rated Disney film.[16] In July 1987, Buena Vista changed its name to Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. (BVPD).[8]
Late in the 1980s, Disney purchased a controlling stake in one of Pacific Theatres' chains[17] leading to Disney's Buena Vista Theaters and Pacific to renovate the El Capitan Theatre and the Crest by 1989.[18] The Crest was finished first while El Capitan opened with the premiere of The Rocketeer film on June 19, 1991.[19]
In 1992, Buena Vista made production loans totaling $5.6 million to Cinergi Pictures for its film Medicine Man and its 1994 films Renaissance Man and Color of Night and were distributing Cinergi's films. The corporation purchased a 12.8% share in Cinergi with its initial public offering in 1994.[20] Soon, BVPD signed a 25 picture distribution deal with Cinergi.[21][22]
The Gaumont Film Company and Disney formed Gaumont Buena Vista International, a joint venture in French distribution, in 1993.[23] In August 1996, Disney and Tokuma Shoten Publishing agreed that Disney would distribute Studio Ghibli animated films and provide 10% of the production cost of the studio's current in-production film, Spirited Away.[24][25][26] Disney would go on to produce the English dubs and distribute 15 of Ghibli's films, through the Walt Disney Pictures, Buena Vista Home Video, Miramax and Touchstone Pictures banners.[27]
In September 1996, following Disney's acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. was merged[8] into ABC, Inc.,[28] the parent company of that group.
For the November 1995 premiere of Toy Story, Disney rented the Hollywood Masonic Temple—adjacent to the El Capitan Theatre—for Totally Toy Story, a multimedia funhouse and a promotional event for the movie.[29] On July 17, 1998, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution purchased the Hollywood Masonic Temple building to continue using it as a promotional venue.[30]
By 1997, BVPD's share in Cinergi dropped to 5%. After nine films were delivered under the agreement, Cinergi sold on November 22, 1997 all of its 12-film library with the exception of Die Hard with a Vengeance to Disney, plus $20 million in exchange for Disney's Cinergi share holdings, production advances of $35.4 million and other loans.[31][22] In 2002, Disney signed a four animated film deal with Vanguard Animation;[32] however, only one film was released under that negotiation.[33]
In 2004, BVI and Gaumont dissolved their French distribution joint venture, Gaumont Buena Vista International.[23] Buena Vista International agreed to a distribution deal with MegaStar Joint Venture Company Limited in April 2006 for the Vietnam market.[34]
On April 25, 2007, Disney discontinued the usage of the Buena Vista brand in its distribution branding.[7]
In early 2009, Disney entered a distribution agreement with a reorganized DreamWorks; the deal called for an estimated 30 films over a five-year period from DreamWorks and they would be released through the Touchstone banner.[35] In 2011, GKIDS acquired the North American theatrical distribution rights of the Ghibli films, with Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment retaining the home video rights until July 2017 when Shout! Factory took over the home video rights. However, Disney only handles home video distribution of the company's films in Japan and formerly Taiwan and China.[36][37]
Disney's distribution deal with DreamWorks expired in August 2016, after the two studios decided to not renew their agreement on December 16, 2015, with Universal Pictures replacing Disney as DreamWorks' distributor.[38][39] By the end of the deal, Disney had distributed 14 of DreamWorks's original 30-picture agreement; thirteen through Touchstone and one through Walt Disney Pictures.[40][41] Disney took complete ownership rights of those 14 DreamWorks films from Amblin Partners in exchange for loans made to that company.[42] The Light Between Oceans, the final film in that distribution deal, was also the last film released under Touchstone.
On December 14, 2017, the Walt Disney Company announced plans to purchase 21st Century Fox, which included 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures. On March 20, 2019, the acquisition of 21st Century Fox was completed.[43] Following the reorganization and renaming of the acquired film units, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures began distributing 20th Century Studios films in the United States, while Searchlight continued to operate their autonomous distribution unit.[44][6]
In late 2020 and early 2021, Disney reorganized the studio, placing it under the Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution unit which also oversees distribution to Disney+.[45] Under this structure, the Theatrical Distribution unit oversaw the domestic and international films produced by all the studios within the Walt Disney Studios umbrella.[46] In February 2023, returning CEO Bob Iger reversed this decision and reorganized the studio again, returning it as a division under the purview of The Walt Disney Studios.
Walt Disney Studios has produced or distributed 35 films that have received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture: fifteen from its former Miramax division,[47] six from Touchstone Pictures, five from Searchlight Pictures,[a] four from Walt Disney Pictures, three from 20th Century Studios,[b] two from Hollywood Pictures, and one from Marvel Studios.[47][49][50][51] Of those nominated films, five films—Miramax's The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, Chicago, No Country for Old Men, and Searchlight's Nomadland—have won Best Picture.[47][52][53]
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures currently distributes films from across all units of Walt Disney Studios with the exception of Searchlight Pictures, which maintains its own autonomous distribution and marketing operations for releases in select markets.[44][6] Other Disney film units and some third-party studios including: