Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

A dispute over the distribution of Disney's first full-length movie, The Living Desert, in the True-Life Adventures series of live-action documentary featurettes[4] in 1953 led to 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.[2] RKO refused to distribute the film.[4] The name "Buena Vista" came from the street in Burbank, California, where the 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.[5] Notable subsequent releases include the foreign film, Princess Yang Kwei Fei (Most Noble Lady), released in US theaters in September 1956,[6][7][8] The Missouri Traveler in March 1958,[5] and The Big Fisherman in July 1959 (the first third-party production financed by Disney).[5]

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.[9]

In April 1960, the company dropped "Film" from its name.[3] In 1961, Disney incorporated Buena Vista International (BVI),[10] distributing its first PG-rated film, Take Down, in January 1979.[5] 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.[11] In July 1987, Buena Vista changed its name to Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. (BVPD).[3]

Late in the 1980s, Disney purchased a controlling stake in one of Pacific Theatres' chains[12] leading to Disney's Buena Vista Theaters and Pacific to renovate the El Capitan Theatre and the Crest by 1989.[13] The Crest was finished first while El Capitan opened with the premiere of The Rocketeer film on June 19, 1991.[14]

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.[15] Soon, BVPD signed a 25 picture distribution deal with Cinergi.[16][17]

The Gaumont Film Company and Disney formed Gaumont Buena Vista International, a joint venture in French distribution, in 1993.[18] In August 1996, Disney and Tokuma Shoten Publishing agreed that Disney would distribute internationally Studio Ghibli animated films and provide 10% of the studio's production costs.[19][20][21] 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.[22]

In September 1996, following Disney's acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. was merged[3] into ABC, Inc.,[23] 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.[24] In July 1998, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution purchased the Hollywood Masonic Temple building to continue using it as a promotional venue.[25]

By 1997, BVPD's share in Cinergi dropped to 5%. After nine films were delivered under the agreement, Cinergi sold Disney on November 22, 1997 all of its 12-film library except for Die Hard with a Vengeance plus $20 million in exchange for Disney's Cinergi share holdings, production advances of $35.4 million and other loans.[26][17] In 2002, Disney signed a four animated film deal with Vanguard Animation;[27] however, only one film was released under that negotiation.[28]

In 2004, BVI and Gaumont dissolved their French distribution joint venture, Gaumont Buena Vista International.[18] Buena Vista International agreed to a distribution deal with MegaStar Joint Venture Company Limited in April 2006 for the Vietnam market.[29]

In April 2007, Disney discontinued the usage of the Buena Vista brand in its distribution branding.[2]

In 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 Pictures label.[30] 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.[31][32]

Disney's distribution deal with DreamWorks ended in 2016, after the two studios decided to not renew their agreement in December 2015, with Universal Pictures replacing Disney as DreamWorks' distributor.[33][34] 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.[35][36] Disney took complete ownership rights of those 14 DreamWorks films from Amblin Partners in exchange for loans made to that company.[37] The Light Between Oceans, the final film in that distribution deal, was also the last film released under the Touchstone banner.

In December 2017, The Walt Disney Company announced plans to purchase 21st Century Fox, which included 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures. In March 2019, the acquisition of 21st Century Fox was completed.[38] Following the reorganization and renaming of the acquired film units, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures began distributing 20th Century Studios films, while Searchlight Pictures continued to operate their autonomous distribution unit.[39]

In late 2020 and early 2021, Disney reorganized the studio, placing Theatrical Distribution under Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution unit which also oversees distribution to Disney+. Under this structure, the Theatrical Distribution unit will oversee the domestic and internation films produced by all the studios within the Walt Disney Studios umbrella — Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, Blue Sky Studios and Searchlight Pictures.[40]

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International was formed in 1961 as Buena Vista International.[5] On May 4, 1987, Disney signed a theatrical distribution agreement with Warner Bros. International for the release of Disney and Touchstone films in overseas markets, with Disney retaining full control of all distribution and marketing decisions on their product.[59] Warner previously had an overseas distribution partnership with Columbia Pictures, but it was dissolved in 1988. In 1992, Disney opted to end their joint venture with Warner Bros. to start autonomously distributing their films in the aforementioned overseas markets. In those territories from 1993 to 2007, Disney reactivated the Buena Vista International name, and also sent distribution under it in countries that did not have any current arrangements with other companies.

Italia Film, a Lebanese film distribution and production company, is Disney's exclusive theatrical film distribution partner for various Middle East and North Africa (MENA) markets since 1993, after making a deal directly with Buena Vista International at the time. Prior to this, Warner Bros. originally handled said MENA markets.[60]

In Taiwan, MGM first handled Disney's distribution followed by Fox and WB. A local distributor called Era Communications took over distribution from 1992 to 1995. At that time, Buena Vista began its Taiwanese operations. Columbia ended its joint distribution unit with Fox and switch to Buena Vista in 1999.[61]

In Germany, Disney distributes films theatrically released by Universum Film.

Beforehand, distribution rights in West Germany were given to MGM (under CIC in the early 1970s) and later to 20th Century Fox before the Warner Bros. joint venture.

In Spain, Disney handles the distribution of films through Filmayer S.A. before the WB joint venture operating as Warner Española S.A.

Disney and Sony Pictures Entertainment formed in 1997 a film distribution joint venture in Southeast Asia.[62] By December 2006, 14 joint distribution ventures with Sony Pictures Releasing International were formed and exist in countries including Brazil, Mexico, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. In January 2007, their fifteenth such partnership began operations in Russia and CIS.[63] In February 2017, Sony starting leaving the Southeast Asia venture with the Philippines. In August 2017, Sony terminated the joint venture agreement for their own operations.[62] On January 31, 2019, in anticipation of the then-pending acquisition of the most 21st Century Fox assets (which includes 20th Century Fox), Disney agreed to sell its stake in the Mexican joint venture named Walt Disney Studios Sony Pictures Releasing de México to Sony Pictures Releasing.[64]

In October 2017, it was announced that Disney would be handling international distribution of M. Night Shyamalan's Glass, released in 2019, through the Buena Vista International banner. The film is a sequel to his earlier films Unbreakable (distributed by Touchstone) and Split (distributed by Universal Pictures). Through an arrangement made with Disney, Universal will retain domestic rights to the film, while Disney will distribute in international territories under the label.[65] The UK-produced film Patrick was also released in 2018 by Disney under the Buena Vista International label in the UK.[66] Missing Link was also released by Disney under Buena Vista International in Latin America and Asia.[67][68]