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Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse & Friends character
Mickey Mouse as he appears in a 1928 poster
First appearance	Steamboat Willie (1928)
Created by	Walt Disney Ub Iwerks
Designed by	Walt Disney Ub Iwerks (original design) Fred Moore (1930s redesign)
Voiced by	Walt Disney (1928–1947, 1955–1962) Carl W. Stalling (1929) Jimmy MacDonald (1947–1978) Wayne Allwine (1977–2009) Bret Iwan (2009–present) Chris Diamantopoulos (2013–present) (see voice actors)
In-universe information
Alias	Sorcerer Mickey Bob Cratchit King Mickey
Species	Mouse
Gender	Male
Family	Mickey Mouse family Pluto (dog)
Significant other	Minnie Mouse

Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white gloves. He is often depicted alongside his girlfriend Minnie Mouse, his pet dog Pluto, his friends Donald Duck and Goofy and his nemesis Pete among others (see Mickey Mouse universe)

Trolls Band Together
Directed by	Walt Dohrn
Screenplay by	Elizabeth Tippet
Based on	Good Luck Trolls by Thomas Dam
Produced by	Gina Shay
Starring	Justin Timberlake Anna Kendrick Eric André Kid Cudi Daveed Diggs Andrew Rannells Amy Schumer Troye Sivan Kenan Thompson NSYNC Camila Cabello
Edited by	Nick Fletcher
Music by	Theodore Shapiro
Production company	DreamWorks Animation
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	October 12, 2023 (2023-10-12) (Denmark) November 17, 2023 (2023-11-17) (United States)
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$95 million
Box office	$209.6 million

Trolls Band Together is a 2023 American animated jukebox musical comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures, based on the Good Luck Trolls dolls from Thomas Dam. It serves as the sequel to Trolls World Tour (2020), and the third installment in the Trolls franchise. The film was directed by Walt Dohrn and co-directed by Tim Heitz (in his feature directorial debut), from a screenplay written by Elizabeth Tippet. Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, who wrote the screenplays for the previous installments, returned to serve as executive producers alongside Dannie Festa. Justin Timberlake, Anna Kendrick, Zooey Deschanel, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Icona Pop, Anderson .Paak, Ron Funches, Kenan Thompson, Kunal Nayyar and Dohrn reprise their voice roles from previous films, with newcomers Eric André, Kid Cudi, Daveed Diggs, Troye Sivan, Camila Cabello, Amy Schumer, Andrew Rannells, RuPaul and Zosia Mamet joining the ensemble voice cast. In the film, Branch (Timberlake) and Poppy (Kendrick), who are officially a couple, attempt to rescue Floyd (Sivan) while reuniting Branch's brothers after the boyband phenomenon, BroZone, was disbanded.

Ideas for a third Trolls film began prior to the release of Trolls World Tour in April 2020, when Timberlake expressed interest in participating during his Apple Music takeover. DreamWorks Animation officially confirmed the third film's development in November 2021. New characters for the film were announced in March 2023, along with new cast members and the title. Despite being predominantly CGI animation, with some additional animation by DNEG, the film includes some 2D animation sequences with animation styles inspired by Yellow Submarine (1968) and Fantasia (1940). Theodore Shapiro, who previously composed the score for Trolls World Tour, returned to compose the score for this film.

Trolls Band Together was theatrically released in Denmark on October 12, 2023, and in the United States on November 17. The film has grossed $209 million worldwide and received positive reviews from critics and audiences.

Plot

Years ago, Branch and his four older brothers John Dory, Spruce, Clay and Floyd perform as a boyband called BroZone. Their hesitations and stress of maintaining their boyband images prevent them from performing the "Perfect Family Harmony", a powerful ability that a family of Trolls can achieve when they are in complete sync. After a failed concert, John Dory, Spruce and Clay argue, break up the band and go their separate ways, breaking Floyd and Branch's hearts. Floyd, Branch's closest brother, also leaves, but not before saying goodbye to Branch and promising to come back one day. Branch is left alone to be raised by his grandmother Rosiepuff.

In the present, Branch and Poppy attend Bridget and Gristle's wedding in Bergen Town. They are interrupted by John Dory, who says that Floyd has been captured by Velvet and Veneer, two Mount Rageon teenagers who wish to be pop stars. The siblings have imprisoned Floyd in a diamond perfume bottle, which they use to extract his essence and improve their singing, but the process could eventually kill him. As the Perfect Family Harmony is the only thing that can shatter diamond, Branch reluctantly agrees to help John Dory find their brothers and rescue Floyd. Along with Poppy and Tiny Diamond, they set out in John Dory's armadillo-like portable van named Rhonda while Bridget and Gristle go on their honeymoon.

They find Spruce at the Vacay Island resort, where he has changed his name to Bruce and started a family. Spruce is reluctant to help, until his wife and 13 kids, after a successful practice concert, convince him to do so. The group later finds Clay, who quickly decided to help, at an abandoned Bergen miniature golf course, inhabited by a hidden colony of Pop Trolls who do not know that the Bergens are no longer their enemies, having been separated from the other Pop Trolls when they fled the final Trollstice. Viva, the colony's leader, reveals herself to be Poppy's long-lost sister. At first, Poppy is delighted, but the visit turns sour when Viva refuses to believe the Bergens have changed, and tries to stop Poppy's group from leaving the golf course. They manage to escape thanks to Clay, and Poppy and Viva separate with broken hearts.

Meanwhile, Velvet and Veneer continue to strip Floyd of his essence, and Velvet reveals that she forged a letter in order to bait Floyd's brothers to come and rescue him. Furthermore, the siblings' assistant Crimp invents shoulder-pad suits that enhance the extraction, which they plan to use when they capture all of BroZone.

The Trolls make it to Mount Rageous, but once again argue and fail to reach Perfect Family Harmony. When his brothers decide they will split up again after saving Floyd, Branch scolds them for abandoning their family and treating him like a baby, revealing to them that he lived his whole life alone after their grandmother got eaten by a Bergen. Branch, Poppy and Tiny leave to rescue Floyd on their own, leaving John Dory, Spruce and Clay feeling guilty for their past actions, having second thoughts in splitting up again and in shock about their grandmother's fate. The trio finally find Floyd, but Velvet and Veneer capture John Dory, Spruce and Clay, making a rescue even more difficult. Meanwhile, Bridget and Gristle stumble onto the golf course, where they are attacked by the Putt-Putt trolls until Viva notices them and convinces them to help her sister.

Branch and Poppy confront Velvet and Veneer when they start mingling with a crowd of fans, prompting them to drive away in their limo. During the ensuing chase, Velvet and Veneer begin using the shoulder-pads to extract the essence from Branch's brothers in order to put on a show. Branch and Poppy are soon helped by Viva, Bridget and Gristle, and they save Branch's brothers, except Floyd.

Seeing that Floyd is just about out of essence, Branch tells his three brothers that they do not need to be perfect in order to be in harmony and they just have to be as they are as a family. Taking Branch's words to heart and accepting he has grown up, John Dory, Spruce and Clay decide to follow his lead. They, along with Poppy and Viva, perform the Perfect Family Harmony and break free of their prisons just as Floyd loses the last of his essence and dies, but he is quickly revived by his brothers' essences and love. Veneer, who had been second-guessing Velvet's machinations, publicly confesses their crimes, simultaneously enraging his sister and sending themselves to prison. Shortly after this happens, Poppy kisses Branch.

The Trolls return to Vacay Island and witness BroZone's comeback concert, joined by Kismet, another band Branch was once part of. Later, Poppy and Viva join BroZone, under Branch's proposal, as honorary members.

Voice cast

Main

• Justin Timberlake as Branch, a survivalist Pop Troll and Poppy's boyfriend
  • Iris Dohrn as Baby Branch. Dohrn had previously voiced young Poppy in the first film.
• Anna Kendrick as Poppy, queen of the Pop Trolls and Branch's girlfriend
• Kenan Thompson as Tiny Diamond, a baby glittery Hip-Hop Troll and Guy Diamond's son
• Walt Dohrn as:
  • King Peppy, the former king of the Pop Trolls and Poppy and Viva's father
  • Cloud Guy, an anthropomorphic cloud
  • Interdimensional Hustle Traveler
• Ron Funches as Cooper, one of the princes of the Funk Trolls
• Anderson .Paak as Darnell, one of the princes of the Funk Trolls and Cooper's younger twin brother
• Kunal Nayyar as Guy Diamond, a glittery Pop Troll and Tiny Diamond's single father
• David Fynn as Biggie, a large, friendly British Pop Troll and the owner of Mr. Dinkles. He replaced James Corden from the first 2 films.
• Kevin Michael Richardson as Mr. Dinkles, Biggie's pet worm
• Eric André as John Dory, the oldest of Branch's brothers and the former leader of BroZone
• Daveed Diggs as Spruce, the second oldest of Branch's brothers and a former member of BroZone
• Kid Cudi as Clay, the third oldest of Branch's brothers and a former member of BroZone.
• Troye Sivan as Floyd, the fourth oldest of Branch's brothers and a former member of BroZone
• Camila Cabello as Viva, Poppy's long-lost older sister and the leader of the Putt-Putt Trolls
• Zosia Mamet as Crimp, an assistant to Velvet and Veneer
• Amy Schumer as Velvet, a Mount Rageon and Veneer’s older twin sister
  • Brianna Mazzola as Velvet’s singing voice
• Andrew Rannells as Veneer, a Mount Rageon and Velvet's younger twin brother
• Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Gristle, the king of the Bergens and Bridget's fiancé-turned-husband
• Zooey Deschanel as Bridget, a former scullery maid, the queen of the Bergens and Gristle's fiancé-turned-wife
• Aino Jawo as Satin and Caroline Hjelt as Chenille, twin Pop Trolls that are conjoined by their hair who loves fashion
• RuPaul Charles as Miss Maxine, the wedding officiant for the wedding between King Gristle Jr. and Bridget
• Dillon Francis as Kid Ritz, a DJ from Mount Rageous
• GloZell Green as Grandma Rosiepuff, the grandmother of Branch and his brothers
• Patti Harrison as Brandy, Spruce's wife on Vacay Island
• Lance Bass as Boom, a member of the band Kismet
• JC Chasez as Hype, a member of the band Kismet
• Joey Fatone as Ablaze, a member of the band Kismet
• Chris Kirkpatrick as Trickee, a member of the band Kismet

Additional

• Nina Bakshi as BroZone fangirl
• Melissa Mabie as Aunt Smeed
• James Ryan as a Mount Rageous stage manager
• Tim Heitz as Lone Pooper
• Ryan Naylor as radio announcer
• Nick Fletcher as a concert announcer
• Secunda Wood as:
  • BroZone stagehand
  • Mount Rageon fangirl
• Roger Craig Smith as:
  • A rock climbing instructor
  • Lenny
  • Mount Rageon fan
• Fred Tatasciore as a Vacaytioner with nachos
• Nick Kishiyama as:
  • Cove
  • Freddy
• Jakari Fraser as Windy
• Kayla Melikian as LaBreezey
• Titus Blake as Rainy
• Nicole Lynn Evans as a Putt-Putt Troll

Production

On April 9, 2020, Justin Timberlake expressed interest in participating in the future Trolls films during his Apple Music takeover, "I hope we make, like, seven Trolls movies, because it literally is the gift that keeps on giving". On November 22, 2021, it was announced that a third Trolls film would be released in theaters on November 17, 2023. Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake were confirmed to reprise their voice roles as Poppy and Branch, respectively. On March 28, 2023, with the release of the first official trailer, new cast members of the film were officially announced, including Eric André, Kid Cudi, Daveed Diggs, Troye Sivan, Camila Cabello, Amy Schumer, Andrew Rannells, RuPaul, and Zosia Mamet. Walt Dohrn returned to direct the third film after doing so in its predecessor, while Gina Shay returned to serve as producer. Tim Heitz was later announced as co-director. The same day of these announcements, DreamWorks Animation revealed the official title, Trolls Band Together.

According to Shay, the idea for the film came about right after Trolls (2016). Although Trolls Band Together was predominantly CGI animation, the film includes some 2D animation sequences done by Titmouse, Inc., with animation styles inspired by Yellow Submarine (1968) and Fantasia (1940). Additional animation was done by DNEG.

Music

Main article: Trolls Band Together (soundtrack)

On March 6, 2023, Theodore Shapiro was confirmed to compose the score for Trolls Band Together, returning from its predecessor. On September 14, 2023, following the release of the second trailer, DreamWorks announced that NSYNC would perform an original song for the film, called "Better Place" marking the group's first song in 22 years.

Release

Marketing

Universal and DreamWorks collaborated with several brands and product partnerships to promote the film for its marketing campaign, including ShineWater Beverages, ICEE, Shake Shack, Southwest Airlines, Candy, CAMP Store, and Puma, as well as the international brands such as Zing Flowers.

A video game based on the film, titled Trolls: Remix Rescue, was released on October 27, 2023 by DreamWorks Animation and Game Mill Entertainment for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X, Nintendo Switch, and PC. In this game, which takes place after the events of the second film Trolls World Tour, Poppy, Branch, and the player character must embark on a quest to save the Troll Kingdom from Chaz the Smooth Jazz Troll when he tries to take over the place by hypnotizing the residents with his saxophone.

Theatrical

Trolls Band Together began releasing in international markets, starting with Denmark on October 12, 2023, and was later released in the United States on November 17. After Trolls World Tour (2020) was simultaneously released on video on demand in addition to a limited number of theaters due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this film returned to being released exclusively in theaters.

Home media

Trolls Band Together was released on VOD on December 19, 2023. The film was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K UHD on January 16, 2024.

It was added to Peacock on March 15, 2024. As part of Universal's deal with Netflix, the film will stream on Peacock for the first four months starting on of the pay-TV window, before moving to Netflix for the next ten starting in July 2024, and returning to Peacock for the remaining four starting in January 2025.

Reception

Box office

Trolls Band Together grossed $103 million in the United States and Canada, and $106.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross of $209.5 million.

In the United States and Canada, Trolls Band Together was released alongside Next Goal Wins, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, and Thanksgiving, and was projected to gross $27–32 million from 3,800 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $9.4 million on its first day, including $1.3 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut $30.6 million, finishing second behind The Hunger Games. The film made $17.8 million in its second weekend (a drop of 40.6%), finishing in fourth.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 63% of 91 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "Trolls Band Together serves up another amusing, eye-catching outing that should entertain young fans of the franchise while remaining perfectly painless for parents." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 53 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, same as the first film, while those polled by PostTrak gave it an 85% overall positive score, with 67% saying they would definitely recommend the film.

Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, writing, "Elizabeth Tippet's screenplay garners laughs thanks to the sheer volume of jokes (the hit-to-miss ratio is pretty unbalanced), and there are several amusing one-liners about the music business." Tatiana Hullender of Screen Rant rated the film 2.5 out of 5 score, writing "Trolls Band Together shows clear signs of franchise fatigue, but a few new songs and vivid animation choices keep it afloat a little longer."

Accolades

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
Hollywood Music in Media Awards	November 15, 2023	Original Song – Animated Film	"Better Place" – Shellback, Justin Timberlake, and Amy Allen	Won
		Song – Onscreen Performance (Film)	NSYNC – "Better Place"	Nominated
		Music Supervision – Film	Angela Leus	Won
		Music Themed Film or Musical	Trolls Band Together	Won
		Soundtrack Album	Trolls Band Together	Nominated
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	July 13, 2024	Favorite Animated Movie	Trolls Band Together	Nominated
		Favorite Female Voice from an Animated Movie	Anna Kendrick	Won
		Favorite Male Voice from an Animated Movie	Justin Timberlake	Nominated
		Favorite Villain	Amy Schumer	Nominated

Main article: Criticism of the Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company has been criticized for making purportedly sexist and racist content in the past, putting LGBT+ elements in their films, and not having enough LGBT+ representation. There have been controversies over alleged plagiarism, poor pay and working conditions, and poor treatment of animals. Disney has also been criticised for filming in the autonomous region of Xinjiang, where human rights abuses are taking place.

Racism

Several of Disney's films have been considered to be racist; one of the company's most-controversial films Song of the South was criticized for portraying racial stereotypes. For that reason, the film was never released to home video in the U.S. or Disney+. Other characters that have been called racist are Sunflower, a black centaurette who serves a white centaurette in Fantasia; the Siamese cats in Lady and the Tramp, who are considered to be overexaggerated as Asians, stereotypes of Native Americans in Peter Pan; and crows in Dumbo, who are depicted as African Americans who use jive talk, with their leader being named Jim Crow, believed to be in reference to racial segregation laws in the U.S. When watching a film on Disney+ considered to have wrongful racist stereotypes, Disney added a disclaimer before the film starts to help avoid controversies.

Plagiarism

Disney has also been accused a number of times of plagiarizing already existing works in its films. Most notably, The Lion King has many similarities in its characters and events to an animated series called Kimba the White Lion by animator Osamu Tezuka. Atlantis: The Lost Empire also has many similarities to the anime show Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water that were considered so prevalent the latter show's creator Gainax was planning to sue Disney but was stopped by its series' network NHK. Kelly Wilson, creator of the short The Snowman (2014), filed two lawsuits, one which came after the first was rescinded, against Disney for copyright infringement in Disney's animated film Frozen. Disney later settled the lawsuit with Wilson, allowing the company to create a sequel to Frozen. Screenwriter Gary L. Goldman sued Disney over its film Zootopia, claiming he had earlier pitched an identical, same-titled story to the company. A judge dismissed the lawsuit, stating there was not enough evidence to prove any plagiarism.

LGBT+ representation

Disney has been criticized for both putting LGBT+ elements into its films and for having insufficient LGBT+ representation in its media. In the live-action film Beauty and the Beast, director Bill Condon announced LeFou would be depicted as a gay character, prompting Kuwait, Malaysia, and a theater in Alabama to ban the film, and Russia to give it a stricter rating. In Russia and several Middle Eastern countries, the Pixar movie Onward was banned for having Disney's first openly lesbian character Officer Specter, while others said Disney needed more representation of LGBT+ persons in its media. Because of a scene featuring two lesbians kissing, Pixar's Lightyear was banned in 13 predominantly Muslim countries, and barely broke even at the box office. In a leaked video of a Disney meeting, participants talked about pushing LGBT+ themes in the company's media, angering some people, who say the company is "trying to sexualize children", while others applauded its actions.

Sexism

Some Disney Princess films have been considered to be sexist toward women. Snow White is said to be too worried about her appearance while Cinderella is deemed to have no talents. Aurora is also said to be weak because she is always waiting to be rescued. In some of the princess films, men have more dialogue, and there are more speaking male characters than female. Disney's more-recent films are considered to be less sexist than its earlier films.

Animal cruelty and working conditions

In 1990, Disney paid $95,000 to avoid legal action over 16 animal-cruelty charges for beating vultures to death, shooting at birds, and starving some birds at Discovery Island. The company took these actions because they were attacking other animals and taking their food. When Animal Kingdom first opened, there were concerns about the animals because a few of them died. Animal rights groups protested but the United States Department of Agriculture found no violations of animal-welfare regulations. Disney has been accused of having poor working conditions. A protest by 2,000 workers at Disneyland in 2022 accused the company of poor pay at an average of $13 an hour, with some saying they were evicted from their homes. In 2010, at a factory in China where Disney products were being made, workers experienced working hours three times longer than those prescribed by law, and one of the workers committed suicide.

Possible sequels

Justin Timberlake claimed in April 2020 that a total of seven Trolls films were intended.

In an interview, it was confirmed in regards to the comment from Timberlake that this will not be the last movie as there is a never-ending source material for the franchise. In a later interview, it was confirmed that a Trolls 4 is highly possible if wanted. For the next movie, they wanted to reunite One Direction.

Company units

For a more comprehensive list, see List of assets owned by the Walt Disney Company and List of libraries owned by the Walt Disney Company.

The Walt Disney Company operates three primary business segments:

• Disney Entertainment oversees the company's full portfolio of entertainment media and content businesses globally, including Walt Disney Studios, Disney General Entertainment Content, Disney Streaming and Disney Platform Distribution. The division is led by Alan Bergman and Dana Walden.
• ESPN is responsible for the management and supervision of the company's portfolio of sports content, products, and experiences across all of Disney's platforms worldwide, including its international sports channels. The division is led by James Pitaro.
• Disney Experiences is responsible for theme parks and resorts, cruise and vacation experiences, and consumer products such as toys, apparel, books, and video games. The division is led by Josh D'Amaro.

Leadership

Team Disney – The Michael D. Eisner Building, the main building at the Walt Disney Studios, which houses the offices of Disney's CEO and several other senior corporate officials.

Current

Board of directors

• Mark Parker (Chairman)
• Mary Barra
• Amy Chang
• Jeremy Darroch
• Carolyn Everson
• Michael Froman
• James P. Gorman
• Bob Iger
• Maria Elena Lagomasino
• Calvin McDonald
• Derica W. Rice

Executives

• Bob Iger, Chief Executive Officer
  • Asad Ayaz, Chief Brand Officer
  • Alan Bergman, Co-Chairman, Disney Entertainment
  • Sonia Coleman, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer
    • Tinisha Agramonte, Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer
    • David Bowdich, Senior Vice President and Chief Security Officer
  • Josh D'Amaro, Chairman, Disney Experiences
  • Horacio Gutierrez, Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer
    • Jolene Negre, Associate General Counsel and Secretary
  • Hugh Johnston, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
    • Carlos A. Gómez, Executive Vice President, Corporate Finance and Treasurer
    • Alexia S. Quadrani, Executive Vice President, Investor Relations
    • Brent Woodford, Executive Vice President, Controllership, Finance and Tax
  • James Pitaro, Chairman, ESPN
  • Kristina Schake, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Communications Officer
  • Dana Walden, Co-Chairman, Disney Entertainment

Past leadership

• Executive chairmen
  • Bob Iger (2020–2021)
• Chairmen
  • Walt Disney (1945–1960)
  • Roy O. Disney (1964–1971)
  • Donn Tatum (1971–1980)
  • Card Walker (1980–1983)
  • Raymond Watson (1983–1984)
  • Michael Eisner (1984–2004)
  • George J. Mitchell (2004–2006)
  • John E. Pepper Jr. (2007–2012)
  • Bob Iger (2012–2021)
  • Susan Arnold (2022–2023)
  • Mark Parker (2023–present)
• Vice chairmen
  • Roy E. Disney (1984–2003)
  • Sanford Litvack (1999–2000)
• Presidents
  • Walt Disney (1923–1945)
  • Roy O. Disney (1945–1968)
  • Donn Tatum (1968–1971)
  • Card Walker (1971–1980)
  • Ron W. Miller (1980–1984)
  • Frank Wells (1984–1994)
  • Michael Ovitz (1995–1997)
  • Michael Eisner (1997–2000)
  • Bob Iger (2000–2012)
• Chief executive officers (CEO)
  • Roy O. Disney (1929–1971)
  • Donn Tatum (1971–1976)
  • Card Walker (1976–1983)
  • Ron W. Miller (1983–1984)
  • Michael Eisner (1984–2005)
  • Bob Iger (2005–2020; 2022–present)
  • Bob Chapek (2020–2022)
• Chief operating officers (COO)
  • Card Walker (1968–1976)
  • Ron W. Miller (1980–1984)
  • Frank Wells (1984–1994)
  • Thomas O. Staggs (2015–2016)

Awards and nominations

See also: List of Academy Awards for Walt Disney

As of 2022, the Walt Disney Company has won 135 Academy Awards, 32 of them were awarded to Walt. The company has won 16 Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film, 16 for Best Original Song, 15 for Best Animated Feature, 11 for Best Original Score, 5 for Best Documentary Feature, 5 for Best Visual Effects, and several others as well special awards. Disney has also won 29 Golden Globe Awards, 51 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards, and 36 Grammy Awards as of 2022.

Financial data

Revenues

Annual gross revenues of the Walt Disney Company (in millions USD)

Year	Studio Entertainment	Disney Consumer Products	Disney Interactive Media	Parks & Resorts	Disney Media Networks	Total	Source
1991	2,593.0	724		2,794.0		6,111
1992	3,115	1,081		3,306		7,502
1993	3,673.4	1,415.1		3,440.7		8,529
1994	4,793	1,798.2		3,463.6	359	10,414
1995	6,001.5	2,150		3,959.8	414	12,525
1996	10,095			4,502	4,142	18,739
1997	6,981	3,782	174	5,014	6,522	22,473
1998	6,849	3,193	260	5,532	7,142	22,976
1999	6,548	3,030	206	6,106	7,512	23,435
2000	5,994	2,602	368	6,803	9,615	25,402
2001	7,004	2,590		6,009	9,569	25,790
2002	6,465	2,440		6,691	9,733	25,360
2003	7,364	2,344		6,412	10,941	27,061
2004	8,713	2,511		7,750	11,778	30,752
2005	7,587	2,127		9,023	13,207	31,944
2006	7,529	2,193		9,925	14,368	34,285
2007	7,491	2,347		10,626	15,046	35,510
2008	7,348	2,415	719	11,504	15,857	37,843
2009	6,136	2,425	712	10,667	16,209	36,149
2010	6,701	2,678	761	10,761	17,162	38,063
2011	6,351	3,049	982	11,797	18,714	40,893
2012	5,825	3,252	845	12,920	19,436	42,278
2013	5,979	3,555	1,064	14,087	20,356	45,041
2014	7,278	3,985	1,299	15,099	21,152	48,813
2015	7,366	4,499	1,174	16,162	23,264	52,465
2016	9,441	5,528		16,974	23,689	55,632
2017	8,379	4,833		18,415	23,510	55,137
2018	9,987	4,651		20,296	24,500	59,434

Annual gross revenues of the Walt Disney Company (Re-segmented) (in millions USD)

Year	Studio Entertainment	Direct-to-Consumer & International	Parks, Experiences and Products	Media Networks	Total	Source
2018	10,065	3,414	24,701	21,922	59,434
2019	11,127	9,349	26,225	24,827	69,570
2020	9,636	16,967	16,502	28,393	65,388

Annual gross revenues of the Walt Disney Company (Re-segmented) (in millions USD)

Year	Media and Entertainment Distribution	Parks, Experiences and Products	Total	Source
2021	50,866	16,552	67,418
2022	55,040	28,705	83,745

Annual gross revenues of the Walt Disney Company (Re-segmented) (in millions USD)

Year	Entertainment	Sports	Experiences	Total	Source
2023	40,635	17,111	32,549	88,898

Operating income

Annual Operating income of the Walt Disney Company (in millions USD)

Year	Studio Entertainment	Disney Consumer Products	Disney Interactive Media	Parks and Resorts	Disney Media Networks	Total	Source
1991	318	229		546		1,094
1992	508	283		644		1,435
1993	622	355		746		1,724
1994	779	425		684	77	1,965
1995	998	510		860	76	2,445
1996	1,596		−300	990	747	3,033
1997	1,079	893	−56	1,136	1,699	4,312
1998	769	801	−94	1,288	1,746	4,079
1999	116	607	−93	1,446	1,611	3,231
2000	110	455	−402	1,620	2,298	4,081
2001	260	401		1,586	1,758	4,214
2002	273	394		1,169	986	2,826
2003	620	384		957	1,213	3,174
2004	662	534		1,123	2 169	4,488
2005	207	543		1,178	3,209	5,137
2006	729	618		1,534	3,610	6,491
2007	1,201	631		1,710	4,285	7,827
2008	1,086	778	−258	1,897	4,942	8,445
2009	175	609	−295	1,418	4,765	6,672
2010	693	677	−234	1,318	5,132	7,586
2011	618	816	−308	1,553	6,146	8,825
2012	722	937	−216	1,902	6,619	9,964
2013	661	1,112	−87	2,220	6,818	10,724
2014	1,549	1,356	116	2,663	7,321	13,005
2015	1,973	1,752	132	3,031	7,793	14,681
2016	2,703	1,965		3,298	7,755	15,721
2017	2,355	1,744		3,774	6,902	14,775
2018	2,980	1,632		4,469	6,625	15,706

Annual Operating income of the Walt Disney Company (Re-segmented) (in millions USD)

Year	Studio Entertainment	Direct-to-Consumer & International	Parks, Experiences and Products		Disney Media Networks	Total	Source
2018	3,004	−738	6,095		7,338	15,689
2019	2,686	−1,814	6,758		7,479	14,868
2020	2,501	−2,806	−81		9,022	8,108

Annual Operating income of the Walt Disney Company (Re-segmented) (in millions USD)

Year	Media and Entertainment Distribution	Parks, Experiences and Products	Total	Source
2021	7,295	471	7,766
2022	4,216	7,905	12,121

Annual Operating income of the Walt Disney Company (Re-segmented) (in millions USD)

Year	Entertainment	Sports	Experiences	Total	Source
2023	1,444	2,465	8,954	12,863

History

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of the Walt Disney Company.

1923–1934: Founding, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Mickey Mouse, and Silly Symphonies

Walt Disney (left) and his brother Roy O. Disney (right) co-founded the Disney Brothers Studios in 1923, which later became the Walt Disney Company.

In 1921, American animators Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks founded Laugh-O-Gram Studio in Kansas City, Missouri. Iwerks and Disney went on to create short films at the studio. The final one, in 1923, was entitled Alice's Wonderland and depicted child actress Virginia Davis interacting with animated characters. While Laugh-O-Gram's shorts were popular in Kansas City, the studio went bankrupt in 1923 and Disney moved to Los Angeles, to join his brother Roy O. Disney, who was recovering from tuberculosis. Shortly after Walt's move, New York film distributor Margaret J. Winkler purchased Alice's Wonderland, which began to gain popularity. Disney signed a contract with Winkler for $1,500, to create six series of Alice Comedies, with an option for two more six-episode series. Walt and Roy Disney founded Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio on October 16, 1923, to produce the films. In January 1926, the Disneys moved into a new studio on Hyperion Street and the studio's name was changed to Walt Disney Studio.

One of Disney's first animated characters Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which Disney lost the rights to until 2006.

After producing Alice films over the next 4 years, Winkler handed the role of distributing the studio's shorts to her husband, Charles Mintz. In 1927, Mintz asked for a new series, and Disney created his first series of fully animated shorts, starring a character named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The series was produced by Winkler Pictures and distributed by Universal Pictures. Walt Disney Studios completed 26 Oswald shorts.

In 1928, Disney and Mintz entered into a contract dispute, with Disney asking for a larger fee, while Mintz sought to reduce the price. Disney discovered Universal Pictures owned the intellectual property rights to Oswald, and Mintz threatened to produce the shorts without him if he did not accept the reduction in payment. Disney declined and Mintz signed 4 of Walt Disney Studio's primary animators to start his own studio; Iwerks was the only top animator to remain with the Disney brothers. Disney and Iwerks replaced Oswald with a mouse character originally named Mortimer Mouse, before Disney's wife urged him to change the name to Mickey Mouse. In May 1928, Mickey Mouse debuted in test screenings of the shorts Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho. Later that year, the studio produced Steamboat Willie, its first sound film and third short in the Mickey Mouse series, which was made using synchronized sound, becoming the first post-produced sound cartoon. The sound was created using Powers' Cinephone system, which used Lee de Forest's Phonofilm system. Pat Powers' company distributed Steamboat Willie, which was an immediate hit. In 1929, the company successfully re-released the two earlier films with synchronized sound.

After the release of Steamboat Willie at the Colony Theater in New York, Mickey Mouse became an immensely popular character. Disney Brothers Studio made several cartoons featuring Mickey and other characters. In August 1929, the company began making the Silly Symphony series with Columbia Pictures as the distributor, because the Disney brothers felt they were not receiving their share of profits from Powers. Powers ended his contract with Iwerks, who later started his own studio. Carl W. Stalling played an important role in starting the series, and composed the music for early films but left the company after Iwerks' departure. In September, theater manager Harry Woodin requested permission to start a Mickey Mouse Club at his theater the Fox Dome to boost attendance. Disney agreed, but David E. Dow started the first-such club at Elsinore Theatre before Woodin could start his. On December 21, the first meeting at Elsinore Theatre was attended by around 1,200 children. On July 24, 1930, Joseph Conley, president of King Features Syndicate, wrote to the Disney studio and asked the company to produce a Mickey Mouse comic strip; production started in November and samples were sent to King Features. On December 16, 1930, the Walt Disney Studios partnership was reorganized as a corporation with the name Walt Disney Productions, Limited, which had a merchandising division named Walt Disney Enterprises, and subsidiaries called Disney Film Recording Company, Limited and Liled Realty and Investment Company; the latter of which managed real estate holdings. Walt Disney and his wife held 60% (6,000 shares) of the company, and Roy Disney owned 40%.

Excerpt of Steamboat Willie (1928), the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon.

The comic strip Mickey Mouse debuted on January 13, 1930, in New York Daily Mirror and by 1931, the strip was published in 60 newspapers in the US, and in 20 other countries. After realizing releasing merchandise based on the characters would generate more revenue, a man in New York offered Disney $300 for license to put Mickey Mouse on writing tablets he was manufacturing. Disney accepted and Mickey Mouse became the first licensed character. In 1933, Disney asked Kay Kamen, the owner of an Kansas City advertising firm, to run Disney's merchandising; Kamen agreed and transformed Disney's merchandising. Within a year, Kamen had 40 licenses for Mickey Mouse and within two years, had made $35 million worth of sales. In 1934, Disney said he made more money from the merchandising of Mickey Mouse than from the character's films.

The Waterbury Clock Company created a Mickey Mouse watch, which became so popular it saved the company from bankruptcy during the Great Depression. During a promotional event at Macy's, 11,000 Mickey Mouse watches sold in one day; and within two years, two-and-a-half million watches were sold. As Mickey Mouse become a heroic character rather than a mischievous one, Disney needed another character that could produce gags. Disney invited radio presenter Clarence Nash to the animation studio; Disney wanted to use Nash to play Donald Duck, a talking duck that would be the studio's new gag character. Donald Duck made his first appearance in 1934 in The Wise Little Hen. Though he did not become popular as quickly as Mickey had, Donald Duck had a featured role in Donald and Pluto (1936), and was given his own series.

After a disagreement with Columbia Pictures about the Silly Symphony cartoons, Disney signed a distribution contract with United Artists from 1932 to 1937 to distribute them. In 1932, Disney signed an exclusive contract with Technicolor to produce cartoons in color until the end of 1935, beginning with the Silly Symphony short Flowers and Trees (1932). The film was the first full-color cartoon and won the Academy Award for Best Cartoon. In 1933, The Three Little Pigs, another popular Silly Symphony short, was released and also won the Academy Award for Best Cartoon. The song from the film "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", which was composed by Frank Churchill—who wrote other Silly Symphonies songs—became popular and remained so throughout the 1930s, and became one of the best-known Disney songs. Other Silly Symphonies films won the Best Cartoon award from 1931 to 1939, except for 1938, when another Disney film, Ferdinand the Bull, won it.

1934–1949: Golden Age of Animation, strike, and wartime era

The original animation building at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, which they fully moved into in 1940

In 1934, Walt Disney announced a feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It would be the first cel animated feature and the first animated feature produced in the US. Its novelty made it a risky venture; Roy tried to persuade Walt not to produce it, arguing it would bankrupt the studio, and while widely anticipated by the public, it was referred to by some critics as "Disney's Folly". Walt directed the animators to take a realistic approach, creating scenes as though they were live action. While making the film, the company created the multiplane camera, consisting of pieces of glass upon which drawings were placed at different distances to create an illusion of depth in the backgrounds. After United Artists attempted to attain future television rights to the Disney shorts, Walt signed a distribution contract with RKO Radio Pictures on March 2, 1936. Walt Disney Productions exceeded its original budget of $150,000 for Snow White by ten times; its production eventually cost the company $1.5 million.

Snow White took 3 years to make, premiering on December 12, 1937. It was an immediate critical and commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing film up to that point, grossing $8 million (equivalent to $169,555,556 in 2023 dollars); after re-releases, it grossed a total of $998,440,000 in the US adjusted for inflation. Using the profits from Snow White, Disney financed the construction of a new 51-acre studio complex in Burbank, which the company fully moved into in 1940 and where the company is still headquartered. In April 1940, Disney Productions had its initial public offering, with the common stock remaining with Disney and his family. Disney did not want to go public but the company needed the money.

Shortly before Snow White's release, work began on the company's next features, Pinocchio and Bambi. Pinocchio was released in February 1940 while Bambi was postponed. Despite Pinocchio's critical acclaim (it won the Academy Awards for Best Song and Best Score and was lauded for groundbreaking achievements in animation), the film performed poorly at the box office, due to World War II affecting the international box office.

The company's third feature Fantasia (1940) introduced groundbreaking advancements in cinema technology, chiefly Fantasound, an early surround sound system making it the first commercial film to be shown in stereo. However, Fantasia similarly performed poorly at the box office. In 1941, the company experienced a major setback when 300 of its 800 animators, led by one of the top animators Art Babbitt, went on strike for 5 weeks for unionization and higher pay. Walt Disney publicly accused the strikers of being party to a communist conspiracy, and fired many of them, including some of the studio's best. Roy unsuccessfully attempted to persuade the company's main distributors to invest in the studio, which could no longer afford to offset production costs with employee layoffs. The anthology film The Reluctant Dragon (1941), ran $100,000 short of its production cost, contributing to the studio's financial woes.

Walt (right) dressed as a gaucho next to Donald Duck in Argentina while on the company's South American goodwill trip in 1941.

While negotiations to end the strike were underway, Walt and studio animators embarked on a 12-week goodwill visit to South America, funded by the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. During the trip, the animators began plotting films, taking inspiration from the local environments and music. As a result of the strike, federal mediators compelled the studio to recognize the Screen Cartoonist's Guild and several animators left, leaving it with 694 employees. To recover from their financial losses, Disney rushed into production the studio's 4th animated feature Dumbo (1941) on a cheaper budget, which performed well at the box office, infusing the studio with much needed cash. After US entry into World War II, many of the company's animators were drafted into the army. 500 United States Army soldiers occupied the studio for 8 months to protect a nearby Lockheed aircraft plant. While they were there, the soldiers fixed equipment in large soundstages and converted storage sheds into ammunition depots. The United States Navy asked Disney to produce propaganda films to gain support for the war, and with the studio badly in need of profits, Disney agreed, signing a contract for 20 war-related shorts for $90,000. Most of the company's employees worked on the project, which spawned films such as Victory Through Air Power, and others which included some of the company's characters.

In August 1942, Bambi was finally released as Disney's 5th feature after 5 years in development, performing poorly at the box office. Later, as products of the South American trip, the studio released the features Saludos Amigos (1942) and The Three Caballeros (1944); which showcased the studio's new strategy of releasing package films, collections of short cartoons grouped to make feature films. Both performed poorly. Disney released more package films through the rest of the decade, including Make Mine Music (1946), Fun and Fancy Free (1947), Melody Time (1948), and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949), to try to recover from its financial losses. The studio began producing less-expensive live-action films mixed with animation, beginning with Song of the South (1946) which would become one of Disney's most controversial films. As a result financial issues, Disney began re-releasing its feature films in 1944. In 1948, the studio began premiering the nature documentary series, True-Life Adventures, which ran until 1960, winning 8 Academy Awards. In 1949, the Walt Disney Music Company was founded to help with profits for merchandising.

1950–1967: Live-action films, television, Disneyland, and Walt Disney's death

In the 1950s, Disney returned to producing full-length animated feature films, beginning with Cinderella (1950), the studio's first in 8 years. A critical and commercial success, Cinderella saved the studio after the financial pitfalls of the wartime era; it was Disney's most financially successful film since Snow White, making $8 million in its first year. Walt began to reduce his involvement with the studio's animation, focusing his attention on the company's increasingly diverse portfolio of projects including live-action films (of which Treasure Island was the studio's first), television and amusement parks. In 1950 the company made its first foray into television when NBC aired "One Hour in Wonderland", a promotional program for Disney's next animated film, Alice in Wonderland (1951), and sponsored by Coca-Cola. Alice was financially unsuccessful, falling $1 million short of the production budget. In February 1953, Disney's next animated film Peter Pan was released to financial success; it was the last Disney film distributed by RKO after Disney ended its contract and created its own distribution company Buena Vista Distribution.

Walt (center) showing the plans of Disneyland to officials from Orange County in December 1954

According to Walt, he first had the idea of building an amusement park during a visit to Griffith Park with his daughters. He said he watched them ride a carousel and thought there "should be ... some kind of amusement enterprise built where the parents and the children could have fun together". Initially planning the construction of an eight-acre (3.2 ha) Mickey Mouse Park near the Burbank studio, Walt changed the planned amusement park's name to Disneylandia, then to Disneyland. A new company, WED Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering), was formed in 1952 to design and construct the park. Drawing inspiration from amusement parks in the US and Europe, Walt approached the design of Disneyland with an emphasis on thematic storytelling and cleanliness, innovative approaches for amusement parks of the time. The plan to build the park in Burbank was abandoned when Walt realized 8 acres would not be enough to accomplish his vision. Disney acquired 160 acres (65 ha) of orange groves in Anaheim, southeast of LA in neighboring Orange County, at $6,200 per acre to build the park. Construction began in July 1954.

To finance the construction of Disneyland, Disney sold his home at Smoke Tree Ranch in Palm Springs and the company promoted it with a television series of the same name aired on ABC. The Disneyland television series, which would be the first in a long-running series of successful anthology television programs for the company, was a success and garnered over 50% of viewers in its time slot, along with praise from critics. In August, Walt formed another company Disneyland, Inc. to finance the park, whose construction costs totaled $17 million.

(left to right) Cast for The Mickey Mouse Club, which over 10 million children would watch every day, and Fess Parker as Davy Crockett in the show of the same name, which sold 10 million Crockett coonskin caps and over 10 million records of its theme song

In October, with the success of Disneyland, ABC allowed Disney to produce The Mickey Mouse Club, a variety show for children; the show included a daily Disney cartoon, a children's newsreel, and a talent show. It was presented by a host, and talented children and adults called "Mousketeers" and "Mooseketeers", respectively. After the first season, over ten million children and five million adults watched it daily; and two million Mickey Mouse ears, which the cast wore, were sold. In December 1954, the five-part miniseries Davy Crockett, premiered as part of Disneyland, starring Fess Parker. According to writer Neal Gabler, "[It] became an overnight national sensation", selling 10 million Crockett coonskin caps. The show's theme song "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" became part of American pop culture, selling 10 million records. Los Angeles Times called it "the greatest merchandising fad the world had ever seen". In June 1955, Disney's 15th animated film Lady and the Tramp was released and performed better at the box office than any other Disney films since Snow White.

Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955; it was a major media event, broadcast live on ABC with actors Art Linkletter, Bob Cummings, and Ronald Reagan hosting. It garnered over 90 million viewers, becoming the most-watched live broadcast to that date. While the park's opening day was disastrous (restaurants ran out of food, the Mark Twain Riverboat began to sink, other rides malfunctioned, and the drinking fountains were not working in the 100 °F. (38 °C) heat), the park became a success with 161,657 visitors in its first week and 20,000 visitors a day in its first month. After its first year, 3.6 million people had visited, and after its second year, four million more guests came, making it more popular than the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park. That year, the company earned a gross total of $24.5 million compared to the $11 million the previous year.

The Sherman Brothers in 2002. They composed many Disney songs in the 1960s.

Disney continued to delegate much of the animation work to the studio's top animators, known as the Nine Old Men. The company produced an average of five films per year throughout the 1950s and 60s. Animated features of this period included Sleeping Beauty (1959), One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), and The Sword in the Stone (1963). Sleeping Beauty was a financial loss for the company, and at $6 million, had the highest production costs up to that point. One Hundred and One Dalmatians introduced an animation technique using the xerography process to electromagnetically transfer the drawings to animation cels, resulting in a transformed art style for the studio's animated films. In 1956, the Sherman Brothers, Robert and Richard, were asked to produce a theme song for the television series Zorro. The company hired them as exclusive staff songwriters, an arrangement that lasted 10 years. They wrote many songs for Disney's films and theme parks, and several were commercial hits. In the late 1950s, Disney ventured into comedy with the live-action films The Shaggy Dog (1959), which became the highest-grossing film in the US and Canada for Disney at over $9 million, and The Absent Minded Professor (1961), both starring Fred MacMurray.

(left to right) Hayley Mills and Kurt Russell were two of Disney's most prominent child actors in the 1960s.

Disney also made live-action films based on children's books including Pollyanna (1960) and Swiss Family Robinson (1960). Child actor Hayley Mills starred in Pollyanna, for which she won an Academy Juvenile Award. Mills starred in 5 other Disney films, including a dual role as the twins in The Parent Trap (1961). Another child actor, Kevin Corcoran, was prominent in many Disney live-action films, first appearing in a serial for The Mickey Mouse Club, where he would play a boy named Moochie. He worked alongside Mills in Pollyanna, and starred in features such as Old Yeller (1957), Toby Tyler (1960), and Swiss Family Robinson. In 1964, the live action/animation musical film Mary Poppins was released to major commercial success and rapturous critical acclaim, becoming the year's highest-grossing film and winning five Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Julie Andrews as Poppins and Best Song for the Sherman Brothers', who also won Best Score for the film's "Chim Chim Cher-ee".

(left to right) Dean Jones, "the figure who most represented Walt Disney Productions in the 1960s", and Fred MacMurray, who starred in Disney comedies in the 1960s

Throughout the 1960s, Dean Jones, whom The Guardian called "the figure who most represented Walt Disney Productions in the 1960s", starred in 10 Disney films, including That Darn Cat! (1965), The Ugly Dachshund (1966), and The Love Bug (1968). Disney's last child actor of the 1960s was Kurt Russell, who had signed a ten-year contract. He featured in films such as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit (1968) alongside Dean Jones, The Barefoot Executive (1971), and The Strongest Man in the World (1975).

In late 1959, Walt had an idea to build another park in Palm Beach, Florida, called the City of Tomorrow, a city that would be full of technological improvements. In 1964, the company chose land southwest of Orlando, Florida to build the park and acquired 27,000 acres (10,927 ha). On November 15, 1965, Walt, along with Roy and Florida's governor Haydon Burns, announced plans for a park called Disney World, which included Magic Kingdom—‌a larger version of Disneyland‍—‌and the City of Tomorrow, at the park's center. By 1967, the company had made expansions to Disneyland, and more rides were added in 1966 and 1967, at a cost of $20 million. The new rides included Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, which was the first attraction to use Audio-Animatronics; Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress, which debuted at the 1964 New York World's Fair before moving to Disneyland in 1967; and Dumbo the Flying Elephant.

Walt, Florida Governor W. Haydon Burns, and Roy announcing the plans for Disney World in November 1965

On November 20, 1964, Walt sold most of WED Enterprise to Walt Disney Productions for $3.8 million after being persuaded by Roy, who thought Walt having his own company would cause legal problems. Walt formed a new company called Retlaw to handle his personal business, primarily Disneyland Railroad and Disneyland Monorail. When the company started looking for a sponsor for the project, Walt renamed the City of Tomorrow, Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (Epcot). Walt, who had been a heavy smoker since World War I, fell very sick and he died on December 15, 1966, aged 65, of lung cancer, at St. Joseph Hospital across the street from the studio.

1967–1984: Roy O. Disney's leadership and death, Walt Disney World, animation industry decline, and Touchstone Pictures

In 1967, the last two films Walt had worked on were released; the animated film The Jungle Book, which was Disney's most successful film for the next two decades, and the live-action musical The Happiest Millionaire. After Walt's death, the company largely abandoned animation, but made several live-action films. Its animation staff declined from 500 to 125 employees, with the company only hiring 21 people from 1970-77.

Disney's first post-Walt animated film The Aristocats was released in 1970; according to Dave Kehr of Chicago Tribune, "the absence of his [Walt's] hand is evident". The following year, the anti-fascist musical Bedknobs and Broomsticks was released and won the Oscar for Best Special Visual Effects. At the time of Walt's death, Roy was ready to retire but wanted to keep Walt's legacy alive; he became the first CEO and chairman of the company. In May 1967, Roy had legislation passed by Florida's legislatures to grant Disney World its own quasi-government agency in an area called Reedy Creek Improvement District. Roy changed Disney World's name to Walt Disney World to remind people it was Walt's dream. EPCOT became less the City of Tomorrow, and more another amusement park.

After 18 months of construction at a cost of around $400 million, Walt Disney World's first park the Magic Kingdom, along with Disney's Contemporary Resort and Disney's Polynesian Resort, opened on October 1, 1971, with 10,400 visitors. A parade with over 1,000 band members, 4,000 Disney entertainers, and a choir from the US Army marched down Main Street. The icon of the park was the Cinderella Castle. On Thanksgiving Day, cars traveling to the Magic Kingdom caused traffic jams along interstate roads.

On December 21, 1971, Roy died of cerebral hemorrhage at St. Joseph Hospital. Donn Tatum, a senior executive and former president of Disney, became the first non-Disney-family-member to become CEO and chairman. Card Walker, who had been with the company since 1938, became its president. By June 30, 1973, Disney had over 23,000 employees and a gross revenue of $257,751,000 over a nine-month period, compared to the year before when it made $220,026,000. In November, Disney released the animated film Robin Hood (1973), which became Disney's biggest international-grossing movie at $18 million. Throughout the 1970s, Disney released live-action films such as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes' sequel Now You See Him, Now You Don't; The Love Bug sequels Herbie Rides Again (1974) and Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977); Escape to Witch Mountain (1975); and Freaky Friday (1976). In 1976, Card Walker became CEO of the company, with Tatum remaining chairman until 1980, when Walker replaced him. In 1977, Roy E. Disney, Roy O. Disney's son and the only Disney working for the company, resigned as an executive because of disagreements with company decisions.

In 1977, Disney released the successful animated film The Rescuers, which grossed $48 million. The live-acton/animated musical Pete's Dragon was released in 1977, grossing $16 million in the US and Canada, but was a disappointment to the company. In 1979, Disney's first PG-rated film and most expensive film to that point at $26 million The Black Hole was released, showing Disney could use special effects. It grossed $35 million, a disappointment to the company, which thought it would be a hit like Star Wars (1977). The Black Hole was a response to other Science fiction films of the era.

In September, 12 animators, which was over 15% of the department, resigned. Led by Don Bluth, they left because of a conflict with the training program and the atmosphere, and started their own company Don Bluth Productions. In 1981, Disney released Dumbo to VHS and Alice in Wonderland the following year, leading Disney to eventually release all its films on home media. On July 24, Walt Disney's World on Ice, a two-year tour of ice shows featuring Disney charters, made its premiere at the Brendan Byrne Meadowlands Arena after Disney licensed its characters to Feld Entertainment. The same month, Disney's animated film The Fox and the Hound was released and became the highest-grossing animated film to that point at $40 million. It was the first film that did not involve Walt and the last major work done by Disney's Nine Old Men, who were replaced with younger animators.

(left to right) Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle, Magic Kingdom's Cinderella Castle, and Epcot's Spaceship Earth are each park's main icon.

As profits started to decline, on October 1, 1982, Epcot, then known as EPCOT Center, opened as the second theme park in Walt Disney World, with around 10,000 people in attendance during the opening. The park cost over $900 million to construct, and consisted of the Future World pavilion and World Showcase representing Mexico, China, Germany, Italy, America, Japan, France, the UK, and Canada; Morocco and Norway were added in 1984 and 1988, respectively. The animation industry continued to decline and 69% of the company's profits were from its theme parks; in 1982, there were 12 million visitors to Walt Disney World, a figure that declined by 5% the following June. On July 9, 1982, Disney released Tron, one of the first films to extensively use computer-generated imagery (CGI). It was a big influence on other CGI movies, though it received mixed reviews. In 1982, the company lost $27 million.

On April 15, 1983, Disney's first park outside the US, Tokyo Disneyland, opened in Urayasu. Costing around $1.4 billion, construction started in 1979 when Disney and The Oriental Land Company agreed to build a park together. Within its first ten years, the park had over 140 million visitors. After an investment of $100 million, on April 18, Disney started a pay-to-watch cable television channel called Disney Channel, a 16-hours-a-day service showing Disney films, twelve programs, and two magazines shows for adults. Although it was expected to do well, the company lost $48 million after its first year, with around 916,000 subscribers.

In 1983, Walt's son-in-law Ron W. Miller, who had been president since 1978, became its CEO, and Raymond Watson became chairman. Miller wanted the studio to produce more content for mature audiences, and Disney founded film distribution label Touchstone Pictures to produce movies geared toward adults and teenagers in 1984. Splash (1984) was the first film released under the label, and a much-needed success, grossing over $6 million in its first week. Disney's first R-rated film Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986) was released and was another hit, grossing $62 million. The following year, Disney's first PG-13 rated film Adventures in Babysitting was released. In 1984, Saul Steinberg attempted to buy out the company, holding 11% of the stocks. He offered to buy 49% for $1.3 billion or the entire company for $2.75 billion. Disney, which had less than $10 million, rejected Steinberg's offer and offered to buy all of his stock for $326 million. Steinberg agreed, and Disney paid it all with part of a $1.3 billion bank loan, putting the company $866 million in debt.

1984–2005: Michael Eisner's leadership, the Disney Renaissance, merger, and acquisitions

Michael Eisner replaced Ron Miller as CEO.

In 1984, shareholders Roy E. Disney, Sid Bass, Lillian and Diane Disney, and Irwin L. Jacobs—who together owned about 36% of the shares, forced out CEO Miller and replaced him with Michael Eisner, a former president of Paramount Pictures, and appointed Frank Wells as president. Eisner's first act was to make it a major film studio, which at the time it was not considered. Eisner appointed Jeffrey Katzenberg as chairman and Roy E. Disney as head of animation. Eisner wanted to produce an animated film every 18 months rather than four years, as the company had been doing. To help with the film division, the company started making Saturday-morning cartoons to create new Disney characters for merchandising, and produced films through Touchstone. Under Eisner, Disney became more involved with television, creating Touchstone Television and producing the television sitcom The Golden Girls, which was a hit. The company spent $15 million promoting its theme parks, raising visitor numbers by 10%. In 1984, Disney produced The Black Cauldron, then the most-expensive animated movie at $40 million, their first animated film to feature computer-generated imagery, and their first PG-rated animation because of its adult themes. The film was a box-office failure, leading the company to move the animation department from the studio in Burbank to a warehouse in Glendale, California. The film-financing partnership Silver Screen Partners II, which was organized in 1985, financed films for Disney with $193 million. In January 1987, Silver Screen Partners III began financing movies for Disney with $300 million raised by E.F. Hutton, the largest amount raised for a film-financing limited partnership. Silver Screen IV was also set up to finance Disney's studios.

In 1986, the company changed its name from Walt Disney Productions to the Walt Disney Company, stating the old name only referred to the film industry. With Disney's animation industry declining, the animation department needed its next movie The Great Mouse Detective to be a success. It grossed $25 million at the box office, becoming a much-needed financial success. To generate more revenue from merchandising, the company opened its first retail store Disney Store in Glendale in 1987. Because of its success, the company opened two more in California, and by 1990, it had 215 throughout the US In 1989, the company garnered $411 million in revenue and made a profit of $187 million. In 1987, the company signed an agreement with the Government of France to build a resort named Euro Disneyland in Paris; it would consist of two theme parks named Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park, a golf course, and 6 hotels.

Hollywood Studios' park icon, the Chinese Theatre

In 1988, Disney's 27th animated film Oliver & Company was released the same day as that of former Disney animator Don Bluth's The Land Before Time. Oliver & Company out-competed The Land Before Time, becoming the first animated film to gross over $100 million in its initial release, and the highest-grossing animated film in its initial run. Disney became the box-office-leading Hollywood studio for the first time, with films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Three Men and a Baby (1987), and Good Morning, Vietnam (1987). The company's gross revenue went from $165 million in 1983 to $876 million in 1987, and operating income went from −$33 million in 1983 to +130 million in 1987. The studio's net income rose by 66%, along with a 26% growth in revenue. Los Angeles Times called Disney's recovery "a real rarity in the corporate world". On May 1, 1989, Disney opened Disney-MGM Studios, its third amusement park at Walt Disney World, and later became Hollywood Studios. The new park demonstrated to visitors the movie-making process, until 2008, when it was changed to make guests feel they are in movies. Following the opening of Disney-MGM Studios, Disney opened the water park Typhoon Lagoon in June 1989; in 2022 it had 1.9 million visitors and was the most popular water park in the world. Also in 1989, Disney signed an agreement-in-principle to acquire The Jim Henson Company from its founder. The deal included Henson's programming library and Muppet characters—excluding the Muppets created for Sesame Street—as well as Henson's personal creative services. Henson, however, died in May 1990 before the deal was completed, resulting in the companies terminating merger negotiations.

On November 17, 1989, Disney released The Little Mermaid, which was the start of the Disney Renaissance, a period in which the company released hugely successful and critically acclaimed animated films. The Little Mermaid became the animated film with the highest gross from its initial run and garnered $233 million at the box office; it won two Academy Awards; Best Original Score and Best Original Song for "Under the Sea". During the Disney Renaissance, composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman wrote several Disney songs until Ashman died in 1991. Together they wrote 6 songs nominated for Academy Awards; with two winning songs—"Under the Sea" and "Beauty and the Beast". To produce music geared for the mainstream, including music for movie soundtracks, Disney founded the recording label Hollywood Records on January 1, 1990. In September 1990, Disney arranged for financing of up to $200 million by a unit of Nomura Securities for Interscope films made for Disney. On October 23, Disney formed Touchwood Pacific Partners, which replaced the Silver Screen Partnership series as the company's movie studios' primary source of funding. Disney's first animated sequel The Rescuers Down Under was released on November 16, 1990, and created using Computer Animation Production System (CAPS), digital software developed by Disney and Pixar—the computer division of Lucasfilm—becoming the first feature film to be entirely created digitally. Although the film struggled in the box office, grossing $47 million, it received positive reviews. In 1991, Disney and Pixar agreed to a deal to make three films together, the first one being Toy Story.

Dow Jones & Company, wanting to replace 3 companies in its industrial average, chose to add Disney in May 1991, stating Disney "reflects the importance of entertainment and leisure activities in the economy". Disney's next animated film Beauty and the Beast was released on November 13, 1991, and grossed nearly $430 million. It was the first animated film to win a Golden Globe for Best Picture, and it received 6 Academy Award nominations, becoming the first animation nominated for Best Picture; it won Best Score, Best Sound, and Best Song. The film was critically acclaimed, with some critics considering it to be the best Disney film. To coincide with the 1992 release of The Mighty Ducks, Disney founded the National Hockey League team The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Disney's next animated feature Aladdin was released on November 11, 1992, and grossed $504 million, becoming the highest-grossing animated film to that point, and the first animated film to gross a half-billion dollars. It won two Academy Awards—Best Song for "A Whole New World" and Best Score; and "A Whole New World" was the first-and-only Disney song to win the Grammy for Song of the Year. For $60 million, Disney broadened its range of mature-audience films by acquiring independent film distributor Miramax Films in 1993. The same year, in a venture with The Nature Conservancy, Disney purchased 8,500 acres (3,439 ha) of Everglades headwaters in Florida to protect native animals and plant species, establishing the Disney Wilderness Preserve.

Jeffrey Katzenberg was chairman of Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1995.

On April 3, 1994, Frank Wells died in a helicopter crash; he, Eisner, and Katzenberg helped the company's market value go from $2 billion to $22 billion since taking office in 1984. On June 15 the same year, The Lion King was released and was a massive success, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of all time behind Jurassic Park and the highest-grossing animated film of all time, with a gross total of $969 million. It was critically praised and garnered two Academy Awards—Best Score and Best Song for "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". Soon after its release, Katzenberg left the company after Eisner refused to promote him to president. After leaving, he co-founded film studio DreamWorks SKG. Wells was later replaced with one of Eisner's friends Michael Ovitz on August 13, 1995. In 1994, Disney wanted to buy one of the major U.S. television networks ABC, NBC, or CBS, which would give the company guaranteed distribution for its programming. Eisner planned to buy NBC but the deal was canceled because General Electric wanted to keep a majority stake. In 1994, Disney's annual revenue reached $10 billion, 48% coming from film, 34% from theme parks, and 18% from merchandising. Disney's total net income was up 25% from the previous year at $1.1 billion. Grossing over $346 million, Pocahontas was released on June 16, garnering the Academy Awards for Best Musical or Comedy Score and Best Song for "Colors of the Wind". Pixar's and Disney's first co-release was the first-ever fully computer-generated film Toy Story, which was released on November 19, 1995, to critical acclaim and an end-run gross total of $361 million. The film won the Special Achievement Academy Award and was the first animated film to be nominated for Best Original Screenplay.

In 1995, Disney announced the $19 billion acquisition of television network Capital Cities/ABC Inc., which was then the 2nd-largest corporate takeover in US history. Through the deal, Disney would obtain broadcast network ABC, an 80% majority stake in sports networks ESPN and ESPN 2, 50% in Lifetime Television, a majority stake of DIC Entertainment, and a 38% minority stake in A&E Television Networks. Following the deal, the company started Radio Disney, a youth-focused radio program on ABC Radio Network, on November 18, 1996. The Walt Disney Company launched its official website disney.com on February 22, 1996, mainly to promote its theme parks and merchandise. On June 19, the company's next animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame was released, grossing $325 million at the box office. Because Ovitz's management style was different from Eisner's, Ovitz was fired as the company's president in 1996. Disney lost a $10.4 million lawsuit in September 1997 to Marsu B.V. over Disney's failure to produce as contracted 13 half-hour Marsupilami cartoon shows. Instead, Disney felt other internal "hot properties" deserved the company's attention. Disney, which since 1996 had owned a 25% stake in the Major League Baseball team California Angels, bought out the team in 1998 for $110 million, renamed it Anaheim Angels and renovated the stadium for $100 million. Hercules (1997) was released on June 13, and underperformed compared to earlier films, grossing $252 million. On February 24, Disney and Pixar signed a ten-year contract to make five films, with Disney as distributor. They would share the cost, profits, and logo credits, calling the films Disney-Pixar productions. During the Disney Renaissance, film division Touchstone also saw success with film such as Pretty Woman (1990), which has the highest number of ticket sales in the U.S. for a romantic comedy and grossed $432 million; Sister Act (1992), which was one of the financially successful comedies of the early 1990s, grossing $231 million; action film Con Air (1997), which grossed $224 million; and the highest-grossing film of 1998 at $553 million Armageddon.

(left to right) Disney's Animal Kingdom's, the largest theme park, main icon the Tree of Life, and Disney Cruise Line's first cruise ship Disney Magic, which first set sail on July 30, 1998

At Disney World, the company opened Disney's Animal Kingdom, the largest theme park in the world covering 580 acres (230 ha) on Earth Day, April 22, 1998. It had six animal-themed lands, over 2,000 animals, and the Tree of Life at its center. Receiving positive reviews, Disney's next animated films Mulan and Disney-Pixar film A Bug's Life were released on June 5 and November 20, 1998. Mulan became the year's sixth-highest-grossing film at $304 million, and A Bug's Life was the year's fifth-highest at $363 million. In a $770-million transaction, on June 18, Disney bought a 43% stake of Internet search engine Infoseek for $70 million, also giving it Infoseek-acquired Starwave. Starting web portal Go.com in a joint venture with Infoseek in January 1999, Disney acquired the rest of Infoseek later that year. After unsuccessful negotiations with cruise lines Carnival and Royal Caribbean International, in 1994, Disney announced it would start its own cruise-line operation in 1998. The first two ships of the Disney Cruise Line were named Disney Magic and Disney Wonder, and built by Fincantieri in Italy. To accompany the cruises, Disney bought Gorda Cay as the line's private island, and spent $25 million remodeling it and renaming it Castaway Cay. On July 30, 1998, Disney Magic set sail as the line's first voyage.

Roy E. Disney, Roy O. Disney's son, was head of the animation department until 2003.

Marking the end of the Disney Renaissance, Tarzan (1999) was released on June 12, garnering $448 million at the box office and critical acclaim; it claimed the Academy Award for Best Original Song for Phil Collins' "You'll Be in My Heart". Disney-Pixar film Toy Story 2 was released on November 13, garnering praise and $511 million at the box office. To replace Ovitz, Eisner named ABC network chief Bob Iger Disney's president and chief operating officer in January 2000. In November, Disney sold DIC Entertainment back to Andy Heyward. Disney had another huge success with Pixar when they released Monsters, Inc. in 2001. Later, Disney bought children's cable network Fox Family Worldwide for $3 billion and the assumption of $2.3 billion in debt. The deal included a 76% stake in Fox Kids Europe, Latin American channel Fox Kids, more than 6,500 episodes from Saban Entertainment's programming library, and Fox Family Channel. In 2001, Disney's operations had a net loss of $158 million after a decline in viewership of the ABC television network, as well as decreased tourism due to the September 11 attacks. Disney earnings in fiscal 2001 were $120 million compared with the previous year's $920 million. To help reduce costs, Disney announced it would lay off 4,000 employees and close 300-400 Disney stores. After winning the World Series in 2002, Disney sold the Anaheim Angels for $180 million in 2003. In 2003, Disney became the first studio to garner $3 billion in a year at the box office. The same year, Roy Disney announced his retirement because of how the company was being run, calling on Eisner to retire; the same week, board member Stanley Gold retired for the same reasons. Gold and Disney formed the "Save Disney" campaign.

Disney bought The Muppets from the Jim Henson Company in 2004.

In 2004, at the company's annual meeting, the shareholders in a 43% vote voted Eisner out as chairman. On March 4, George J. Mitchell, who was a member of the board, was named as replacement. In April, Disney purchased the Muppets franchise from the Jim Henson Company for $75 million, founding Muppets Holding Company, LLC. Following the success of Disney-Pixar films Finding Nemo (2003), which became the second highest-grossing animated film of all time at $936 million, and The Incredibles (2004), Pixar looked for a new distributor once its deal with Disney ended in 2004. Disney sold the loss-making Disney Stores chain of 313 stores to Children's Place on October 20. Disney also sold the NHL team Mighty Ducks in 2005. Roy E. Disney decided to rejoin the company and was given the role of consultant with the title "Director Emeritus".

2005–2020: Bob Iger's first tenure, expansion and Disney+

In March 2005, Bob Iger, president of the company, became CEO after Eisner's retirement in September; Iger was officially named head of the company on October 1. Disney's eleventh theme park Hong Kong Disneyland opened on September 12, costing the company $3.5 billion to construct. On January 24, 2006, Disney began talks to acquire Pixar from Steve Jobs for $7.4 billion, and Iger appointed Pixar chief creative officer (CCO) John Lasseter and president Edwin Catmull the heads of the Walt Disney Animation Studios. A week later, Disney traded ABC Sports commentator Al Michaels to NBCUniversal, in exchange for the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and 26 cartoons featuring the character. On February 6, the company announced it would be merging its ABC Radio networks and 22 stations with Citadel Broadcasting in a $2.7 billion deal, though which Disney acquired 52% of television broadcasting company Citadel Communications. The Disney Channel movie High School Musical aired and its soundtrack was certified triple platinum, becoming the first Disney Channel film to do so.

Bob Iger became CEO of Disney in 2005, expanding the company's properties

Disney's 2006 live-action film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was Disney's biggest hit to that date and the third-highest-grossing film ever, making $1 billion at the box office. On June 28, the company announced it was replacing George Mitchell as chairman with a board members and former CEO of P&G John E. Pepper Jr.. The sequel High School Musical 2 was released in 2007 on Disney Channel and broke several cable rating records. In April 2007, the Muppets Holding Company was moved from Disney Consumer Products to the Walt Disney Studios division and renamed the Muppets Studios to relaunch the division. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End became the highest-grossing film of 2007 at $960 million. Disney-Pixar films Ratatouille (2007) and WALL-E (2008) were a tremendous success, with WALL-E winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. After acquiring most of Jetix Europe through the acquisition of Fox Family Worldwide, Disney bought the remainder of the company in 2008 for $318 million.

Iger introduced D23 in 2009 as Disney's official fan club. In February, Disney announced a deal with DreamWorks Pictures to distribute 30 of their films over the next five years through Touchstone Pictures, with Disney getting 10% of the gross. The 2009 film Up garnered Disney $735 million at the box office, and the film won Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards. Later that year, Disney launched a television channel named Disney XD, aimed at older children. The company bought Marvel Entertainment and its assets for $4 billion in August, adding Marvel's comic-book characters to its merchandising line-up. In September, Disney partnered with News Corporation and NBCUniversal in a deal in which all parties would obtain 27% equity in streaming service Hulu, and Disney added ABC Family and Disney Channel to the streaming service. On December 16, Roy E. Disney died of stomach cancer; he was the last member of the Disney family to work for Disney. In March 2010, Haim Saban reacquired from Disney the Power Rangers franchise, including its 700-episode library, for around $100 million. Shortly after, Disney sold Miramax Films to an investment group headed by Ronald Tutor for $660 million. During that time, Disney released the live-action Alice in Wonderland and the Disney-Pixar film Toy Story 3, both of which grossed a little over $1 billion, making them the sixth-and-seventh films to do so; and Toy Story 3 became the first animated film to make over $1 billion and the highest-grossing animated film. That year, Disney became the first studio to release two $1-billion-dollar-earning films in one calendar year. In 2010, the company announced ImageMovers Digital, which it started in partnership with ImageMovers in 2007, would be closing by 2011.

Pixar had been making films with Disney from 1995 to 2005, until Disney bought them out in 2006 as one of their subsidiaries.

Marvel became a subsidiary of Disney in 2009 after Disney acquired them for $4 billion.

After purchasing Lucasfilm in 2012, Disney vowed to make more Star Wars films.

In 2019, as Disney's biggest move yet, they bought most of 21st Century Fox's assets for $71 billion, rebranding some of them like the studio 20th Century Fox as 20th Century Studios.

The following year, Disney released its last traditionally animated film Winnie the Pooh to theaters. The release of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides garnered a little over $1 billion, making it the eighth film to do so and Disney's highest-grossing film internationally, as well as the third-highest ever. In January 2011, the size of Disney Interactive Studios was reduced and 200 employees laid off. In April, Disney began constructing its new theme park Shanghai Disney Resort, costing $4.4 billion. In August, Iger stated after the success of the Pixar and Marvel purchases, he and the Walt Disney Company were planning to "buy either new characters or businesses that are capable of creating great characters and great stories". On October 30, 2012, Disney announced it would buy Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion from George Lucas. Through the deal, Disney gained access to franchises such as Star Wars, for which Disney said it would make a new film for every two-to-three years, with the first being released in 2015. The deal gave Disney access to the Indiana Jones franchise, visual-effects studio Industrial Light & Magic, and video game developer LucasArts.

In February 2012, Disney completed its acquisition of UTV Software Communications, expanding its market into India and the rest of Asia. By March, Iger became Disney's chairman. Marvel film The Avengers became the third-highest-grossing film of all time with an initial-release gross of $1.3 billion. Making over $1.2 billion at the box office, the Marvel film Iron Man 3 was released in 2013. The same year, Disney's animated film Frozen was released and became the highest-grossing animated film of all time at $1.2 billion. Merchandising for the film became so popular it made the company $1 billion within a year, and a global shortage of merchandise for the film occurred. In March 2013, Iger announced Disney had no 2D animation films in development, and a month, later the hand-drawn animnation division was closed, and several veteran animators were laid off. On March 24, 2014, Disney acquired Maker Studios, an active multi-channel network on YouTube, for $950 million.

In June 2015, the company stated its consumer products and interactive divisions would merge to become new a subsidiary called Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media. In August, Marvel Studios was placed under the division Walt Disney Studios. The company's 2015 releases include the successful animated film Inside Out, which grossed over $800 million, and the Marvel film Avengers: Age of Ultron, which grossed over $1.4 billion. Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released and grossed over $2 billion, making it the third-highest-grossing film of all time. On April 4, 2016, Disney announced COO Thomas O. Staggs, who was thought to be next in line after Iger, would leave in May, ending his 26-year career with Disney. Shanghai Disneyland opened on June 16, 2016, as the company's sixth theme-park resort. In a move to start a streaming service, Disney bought 33% of the stock in Major League Baseball technology company Bamtech for $1 billion in August. In 2016, four Disney film releases made over $1 billion; these were the animated film Zootopia, Marvel film Captain America: Civil War, Pixar film Finding Dory, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, making Disney the first studio to surpass $3 billion at the domestic box office. Disney made an attempt to buy social media platform Twitter to market their content and merchandise but canceled the deal. Iger stated this was because he thought Disney would be taking on responsibilities it did not need and that it did not "feel Disney" to him.

On March 23, 2017, Disney announced Iger had agreed to a one-year extension as CEO to July 2019, and to remain as a consultant for three years. On August 8, 2017, Disney announced it would be ending its distribution deal with Netflix, with the intent of launching its own streaming platform by 2019. During that time, Disney paid $1.5 billion to acquire a 75% stake in BAMtech. Disney planned to start an ESPN streaming service with about "10,000 live regional, national, and international games and events a year" by 2018. In November, CCO John Lasseter said he would take a 6-month absence because of "missteps", reported to be sexual misconduct allegations. The same month, Disney and 21st Century Fox started negotiating a deal in which Disney would acquire most of Fox's assets. Beginning in March 2018, a reorganization of the company led to the creation of business segments Disney Parks, Experiences and Products and Direct-to-Consumer & International. Parks & Consumer Products was primarily a merger of Parks & Resorts and Consumer Products & Interactive Media, while Direct-to-Consumer & International took over for Disney International and global sales, distribution, and streaming units from Disney-ABC TV Group and Studios Entertainment plus Disney Digital Network. Iger described it as "strategically positioning our businesses" while according to The New York Times, the reorganization was done in expectation of the 21st Century Fox purchase.

In 2017, two of Disney's films had revenues of over $1 billion; the live-action Beauty and the Beast and Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Disney launched subscription sports streaming service ESPN+ on April 12. In June 2018, Lasseter's departure by the end of the year was announced; he would stay as a consultant until then. To replace him; Disney promoted Jennifer Lee, co-director of Frozen and co-writer of Wreck-It Ralph (2012), as head of Walt Disney Animation Studios; and Pete Docter, who had been with Pixar since 1990 and directed Up,Monsters, Inc., and Inside Out, as head of Pixar. Comcast offered to buy 21st Century Fox for $65 billion over Disney's $51 billion bid but withdrew its offer after Disney countered with a $71 billion bid. Disney obtained antitrust approval from the United States Department of Justice to acquire Fox. Disney again made $7 billion at the box office with three film that made $1 billion; Marvel films Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War—the latter taking over $2 billion and becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film ever— and Pixar film Incredibles 2.

Disney's video streaming subscription service Disney+ was launched in 2019, which has a total of over 135 million subscriptions as of June 2022.

On March 20, 2019, Disney acquired 21st Century Fox's assets for $71 billion from Rupert Murdoch, making it the biggest acquisition in Disney's history. After the purchase, The New York Times described Disney as "an entertainment colossus the size of which the world has never seen". Through the acquisition, Disney gained 20th Century Fox; 20th Century Fox Television; Fox Searchlight Pictures; National Geographic Partners; Fox Networks Group; Indian television broadcaster Star India; streaming service Hotstar; and a 30% stake in Hulu, bringing its ownership on Hulu to 60%. Fox Corporation and its assets were excluded from the deal because of antitrust laws. Disney became the first film studio to have seven films gross $1 billion: Marvel's Captain Marvel, the live action Aladdin, Pixar's Toy Story 4, the CGI remake of The Lion King, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and the highest-grossing film of all time up to that point at $2.8 billion Avengers: Endgame. On November 12, Disney's subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service Disney+, which had 500 movies and 7,500 episodes of television shows from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and other brands, was launched in the US, Canada and the Netherlands. Within the first day, the streaming platform had over 10 million subscriptions; and by 2022 it had over 135 million and was available in over 190 countries. At the beginning of 2020, Disney removed the Fox name from its assets, rebranding them as 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures.

2020–present: Bob Chapek's leadership, COVID-19 pandemic, Iger's return & 100th anniversary

Further information: Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Walt Disney Company

Bob Chapek, who had been with the company for 18 years and was chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, became CEO after Iger resigned on February 25, 2020. Iger said he would stay as an Executive chairman until December 31, 2021, to help with its creative strategy. In April, Iger resumed operational duties as executive chairman to help the company during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Chapek was appointed to the board of directors. During the pandemic, Disney temporarily closed all its theme parks, delayed the release of several movies, and stopped all cruises. Due to the closures, Disney announced it would stop paying 100,000 employees but still provide healthcare benefits, and urged US employees to apply for government benefits, saving the company $500 million a month. Iger gave up his $47 million salary and Chapek took a 50% salary reduction.

In the company's second fiscal quarter of 2020, Disney reported a $1.4 billion loss, with a fall in earnings of 91% to $475 million from the previous year's $5.4 billion. By August, two-thirds of the company was owned by large financial institutions. In September, the company dismissed 28,000 employees, 67% of whom were part-time, from its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Chairman of the division Josh D'Amaro wrote; "We initially hoped that this situation would be short-lived, and that we would recover quickly and return to normal. Seven months later, we find that has not been the case." Disney lost $4.7 billion in its fiscal third quarter of 2020. In November, Disney laid off another 4,000 employees, raising the total to 32,000 employees. The following month, Disney named Alan Bergman as chairman of its Disney Studios Content division to oversee its film studios. Due to the COVID-19 recession, Touchstone Television ceased operations in December, Disney announced in March 2021 it would be launching a new division called 20th Television Animation to focus on mature audiences, and Disney closed its third animation studio Blue Sky Studios in April 2021. Later that month, Disney and Sony agreed a multi-year licensing deal that would give Disney access to Sony's films from 2022 to 2026 to televise or stream on Disney+ once Sony's deal with Netflix ended. Although it performed poorly at the box office because of Covid, Disney's animated film Encanto (2021) was one of the biggest hits during the pandemic, with its song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" topping the US Billboard Hot 100 charts.

After Iger's term as executive chairman ended on December 31, he announced he would resign as chairman. The company brought in an operating executive at The Carlyle Group and former board member Susan Arnold as Disney's first female chairperson. On March 10, Disney ceased operations in Russia because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and was the first major Hollywood studio to halt release of a major picture due to Russia's invasion; other movie studios followed. In March 2022, around 60 employees protested the company's silence on the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act that was dubbed the Don't Say Gay Bill, and prohibits non-age-appropriate classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida's public-school districts. The protest was dubbed the "Disney Do Better Walkout"; employees protested near a Disney Studios lot, and other employees voiced their concerns through social media. Employees called on Disney to stop campaign contributions to Florida politicians who supported the bill, to help protect employees from it, and to stop construction at Walt Disney World in Florida. Chapek responded by stating the company had made a mistake by staying silent and said; "We pledge our ongoing support of the LGBTQ+ community". Amid Disney's response to the bill, the Florida Legislature passed a bill to remove Disney's quasi-government district Reedy Creek.

On June 28, Disney's board members unanimously agreed to give Chapek a three-year contract extension. In August, Disney Streaming exceeded Netflix in total subscriptions with 221 million subscribers compared to Netflix's 220 million.

On November 20, 2022, Iger accepted the position of Disney's CEO after Chapek was dismissed following poor earnings performance and decisions unpopular with other executives. The board announced Iger would serve for two years with a mandate to develop a strategy for renewed growth and help identify a successor.

In November 2022, a group of YouTube TV subscribers in four states filed a class-action antitrust lawsuit against Disney, alleging that Disney’s control of both ESPN and Hulu allowed the company to "inflate prices marketwise by raising the prices of its own products" and by requiring streaming services including YouTube TV and Sling TV to include ESPN in base packages, forcing subscribers to pay more for subscriptions than they would in a competitive market.

In January 2023, Disney announced that Mark Parker would replace Arnold as the company's chairperson. In February 2023, Disney announced that it would be cutting $5.5 billion in costs, which includes eliminating 7,000 jobs representing 3% of its workforce. Disney reorganized into three divisions: Entertainment, ESPN, and Parks, Experiences and Products. In April 2023, Disney implemented the second and largest wave of job cuts, affecting Disney Parks, Disney Entertainment, ESPN, and the Experiences and Product division. This move was part of the plan to cut costs by $5.5 billion.

Disney's promotional logo for its centennial.

In 2023, Disney began its "100 Years of Wonder" campaign in celebration of the centennial anniversary of the company's founding. This included a new animated centennial logo intro for the Walt Disney Pictures division, a touring exhibition, events at the parks and a commemorative commercial that aired during Super Bowl LVII.

In October 2023, Disney announced its entrance into sports betting through a partnership with Penn Entertainment, launching the ESPN Bet app, despite internal debates and concerns over brand image. This move marked a significant pivot from Iger's earlier stance against gambling, driven by the potential to attract younger audiences and secure a financial future for ESPN, amidst declining traditional TV viewership and increasing online sports gambling revenue. In November 2023, Disney shortened the lengthy name of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products to Disney Experiences.

In February 2024, Debra O'Connell, a longtime executive at Disney, was appointed president of a new news division that would include ABC News and local stations. O'Connell is responsible for ABC News's signature properties, including "Good Morning America" and "World News Tonight". It will serve as an intermediary between Dana Walden, co-chair of Disney Entertainment and Kim Godwin, the ABC News president. Other online news units have similar processes. In February, Walt Disney and Reliance Industries announced the merger of their India TV and streaming media assets.

In July 2024, a hacker group called "NullBulge" allegedly stole and leaked over a terabyte of the company's Slack messages. The motive for the breach appeared to be the group's dislike of art generated by artificial intelligence.

Mickey was created as a replacement for a prior Disney character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The character was originally to be named "Mortimer Mouse", until Walt Disney's wife, Lillian, suggested "Mickey". Mickey first appeared in two 1928 shorts Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho (which were not picked up for distribution) before his public debut in Steamboat Willie (1928). The character went on to appear in over 130 films, mostly shorts as well as features such as Fantasia (1940). Since 1930, Mickey has been featured extensively in comic strips (including the Mickey Mouse comic strip, which ran for 45 years) and comic books (such as Mickey Mouse). The character has also been featured in television series such as The Mickey Mouse Club (1955–1996).

Inspired by such silent film personalities as Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, Mickey is traditionally characterized as a sympathetic underdog who gets by on pluck and ingenuity in the face of challenges bigger than himself. The character's depiction as a small mouse is personified through his diminutive stature and falsetto voice, the latter of which was originally provided by Walt Disney. Though originally characterized as a cheeky lovable rogue, Mickey was rebranded over time as a nice guy, usually seen as a spirited, yet impulsive hero.

Mickey also appears in media such as video games as well as merchandising and is a meetable character at the Disney parks. He is one of the world's most recognizable and universally acclaimed fictional characters. Ten of Mickey's cartoons were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, one of which, Lend a Paw, won the award in 1941. In 1978, Mickey became the first cartoon character to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

"Disney" redirects here. For the company's co-founder, see Walt Disney. For other uses, see Disney (disambiguation).

The Walt Disney Company

Walt Disney Studios, the company's headquarters in Burbank, California, 2016
Formerly	Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio (1923–1926) Walt Disney Studio (1926–1929) Walt Disney Productions (1929–1986)
Company type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: DIS DJIA component S&P 100 component S&P 500 component
ISIN	US2546871060
Industry	Media Entertainment
Predecessor	Laugh-O-Gram Studio
Founded	October 16, 1923 (1923-10-16)
Founders	Walt Disney Roy O. Disney
Headquarters	Walt Disney Studios, Burbank, California , United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Mark Parker (chairman) Bob Iger (CEO)
Revenue	US$88.898 billion (FY23)
Operating income	US$12.863 billion (FY23)
Net income	US$2.354 billion (FY23)
Total assets	US$205.579 billion (FY23)
Total equity	US$103.957 billion (FY23)
Number of employees	225,000 (FY23)
Divisions	Disney Entertainment Disney Experiences ESPN (80%)
Subsidiaries	National Geographic Partners (73%)
Website	thewaltdisneycompany.com
Footnotes / references Financials as of fiscal year ended September 30, 2023. References:

The Walt Disney Company is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate that is headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Disney as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio; it also operated under the names Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before changing its name to the Walt Disney Company in 1986. In 1928, Disney established itself as a leader in the animation industry with the short film Steamboat Willie. The film used synchronized sound to become the first post-produced sound cartoon, and popularized Mickey Mouse, who became Disney's mascot and corporate icon.

After becoming a major success by the early 1940s, Disney diversified into live-action films, television, and theme parks in the 1950s. However, following Walt Disney's death in 1966, the company's profits, especially in the animation division, began to decline. In 1984, Disney's shareholders voted Michael Eisner as CEO, who led a reversal of the company's decline through a combination of international theme park expansion and the highly successful Disney Renaissance period of animation in the 1990s. In 2005, under new CEO Bob Iger, the company continued to expand into a major entertainment conglomerate with the acquisitions of Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Studios. In 2020, Bob Chapek became the head of Disney after Iger's retirement. However, Chapek was ousted in 2022 and Iger was reinstated as CEO.

The company is known for its film studio division Walt Disney Studios, which includes Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, 20th Century Animation, and Searchlight Pictures. Disney's other main business units include divisions in television, broadcasting, streaming media, theme park resorts, consumer products, publishing, and international operations. Through these divisions, Disney owns and operates the ABC television network; cable television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN, Freeform, FX, and National Geographic; publishing, merchandising, music, and theater divisions; direct-to-consumer streaming services such as Disney+, Star+, ESPN+, Hulu, and Hotstar; and Disney Experiences, which includes several theme parks, resort hotels, and cruise lines around the world.

Disney is one of the biggest and best-known companies in the world and has been ranked number 53 on the 2022 Fortune 500 list of biggest companies in the United States by revenue. In 2023, the company's seat in Forbes Global 2000 was 87. Since its founding, the company has won 135 Academy Awards, 26 of which have been awarded to Walt. The company has been said to have produced some of the greatest films of all time, as well as revolutionizing the theme park industry. The company, which has been public since 1940, trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with ticker symbol DIS and has been a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 1991. In August 2020, about two-thirds of the stock was owned by large financial institutions. The company celebrated their 100th anniversary on October 16, 2023.

Creation

The earliest known concept art of Mickey and Minnie Mouse from early 1928, largely attributed to Ub Iwerks, but speculated to include work from Walt Disney or Les Clark; The Walt Disney Family Museum collection

Mickey Mouse was created as a replacement for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, an earlier cartoon character that was created by the Disney studio but owned at the time by Universal Pictures. Charles Mintz served as a middleman producer between Disney and Universal through his company, Winkler Pictures, for the series of cartoons starring Oswald. In a February 1928 meeting with Mintz to renew the Oswald contract, Disney was met by a disappointing budget cut proposal, along with Mintz's revelation that several of the most important Disney animators were coming over to his studio. Among the few who stayed at the Disney studio were animator Ub Iwerks, apprentice artist Les Clark, and Wilfred Jackson.

A new character was workshopped out of necessity and in relative secret. Various myths exist of Walt Disney's inspiration for Mickey (including some which were likely ghostwritten), such as that the starving artist drew inspiration from a tame mouse (or pair of mice) at his desk at Laugh-O-Gram Studio in Kansas City, Missouri, or that he undertook a romantic search for inspiration on the train ride home from his disappointing meeting with Mintz. At Disney's behest, Iwerks sketched new character ideas based on various animals such as dogs and cats, but none of these appealed to Disney. A female cow and male horse were rejected, as was a male frog. In 1925, Hugh Harman drew some sketches of mice around a photograph of Walt Disney, reputedly based on Disney's own designs (similar to those he included on family birthday cards). These inspired Iwerks to create a new mouse character for Disney.

"Mortimer Mouse" had been Disney's original name for the character before his wife, Lillian, convinced him to change it. It has been speculated that Disney saw the name on a similarly named Performo toy. Additionally, actor Mickey Rooney claimed that during his time performing as the title character of the Mickey McGuire film series (1927–1934), he met Walt Disney at the Warner Bros. studio, inspiring Disney to name the character after him; however, Disney Studios was located on Hyperion Avenue at the time, with Disney conducting no business at Warner Bros.

Al Jolson as a minstrel in The Jazz Singer (1927)

The first feature-length movie with dialogue sequences, The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson, was released on October 6, 1927. Several additional talkies followed, and movie theaters began installing the necessary equipment. Walt Disney reputedly discussed making sound cartoons in late May 1928. After composer Carl W. Stalling initially voiced Mickey for the 1929 talkie shorts The Karnival Kid and Wild Waves, Disney himself provided the shy, falsetto voice—a large part of the character's onscreen persona.

Design

Walt Disney with a cutout of Mickey as he was drawn by the end of 1928

Mickey's original design strongly resembled Oswald the Rabbit, save for the ears, nose, and tail. Ub Iwerks designed Mickey's body out of circles (distinctly, the ears) to make the character easy to animate. Upon his creation, Mickey's features shared similarities to a number of his cartoon predecessors with large eyes and mouth on a black body (e.g. Oswald and Felix the Cat). From early 1929, Mickey also wore white gloves (similar to those appearing on later characters, e.g. Bosko and Bimbo). Several sources state that this scheme evolved from blackface caricatures used in minstrel shows. Additionally, Mickey's original black hands could not be seen if they passed in front of his torso. This limitation encouraged animators to base their poses on silhouette, much in the manner of Charlie Chaplin films.

Minnie Mouse was designed similarly to Mickey, with only superficial details being different. In the 1930s, animator Fred Moore tried giving Mickey's body more of a pear shape to increase his acting range; Walt Disney liked this adaptation and declared, "that's the way I want Mickey to be drawn from now on." Moore maintained that the character should always be drawn from a pleasing angle, ears included, as opposed to depicting Mickey as a realistic 3D character.

Mickey's eyes were originally large and white with black outlines, with the tops able to deform like eyebrows; the pupil was circular (with a triangle cut out in poster close-ups to simulate reflected light). Starting with Steamboat Willie, the bottom portion of the black outlines was removed, often making the pupil placement look strange. The pupils began to be treated as stationary, dotlike eyes, requiring the entire head to be moved to make Mickey look around. During the production of Fantasia in the late 1930s, Fred Moore redesigned Mickey with small white pupilled eyes, with the redefined facial area being given a light skin color. Distinct, lined eyebrows were eventually added.

Besides Mickey's gloves and shoes, he typically wears only a pair of shorts with two large buttons in the front. Before Mickey was seen regularly in color animation, Mickey's shorts were either red or a dull blue-green. With the advent of Mickey's color films, the shorts were always red. When Mickey is not wearing his red shorts, he is often still wearing red clothing. Due to budgetary limits imposed by World War II, Mickey temporarily lost his tail, e.g. in The Little Whirlwind (1941).

Appearances

Film

See also: Mickey Mouse (film series)

Debut (1928)

Mickey's first appearance in Steamboat Willie (1928)

Mickey was first seen in a test screening of the cartoon short Plane Crazy, on May 15, 1928, but it failed to impress the audience and Walt could not find a distributor for it. Walt went on to produce a second Mickey short, The Gallopin' Gaucho, which was also not released for lack of a distributor.

Steamboat Willie was first released on November 18, 1928, in New York. It was co-directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Iwerks again served as the head animator, assisted by Les Clark, Johnny Cannon, Wilfred Jackson and Dick Lundy. This short was a nod to Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill, Jr., released earlier that year. Although it was the third Mickey cartoon produced, it was the first to find a distributor, and thus is considered by The Disney Company as Mickey's debut. It also featured some design refinements, and included the use of a bouncing ball on the film print to allow conductors and musicians to match the tempo of their music with the film.

The cartoon was not the first cartoon to feature a soundtrack connected to the action. Fleischer Studios, headed by brothers Dave and Max Fleischer, had already released a number of sound cartoons using the DeForest system in the mid-1920s. However, these cartoons did not keep the sound synchronized throughout the film. For Willie, Disney had the sound recorded with a click track that kept the musicians on the beat. This precise timing is apparent during the "Turkey in the Straw" sequence when Mickey's actions exactly match the accompanying instruments. Animation historians have long debated who had served as the composer for the film's original music. This role has been variously attributed to Wilfred Jackson, Carl Stalling and Bert Lewis, but identification remains uncertain. Walt Disney himself was voice actor for both Mickey and Minnie and would remain the source of Mickey's voice through 1946 for theatrical cartoons. Jimmy MacDonald took over the role in 1946, but Walt provided Mickey's voice again from 1955 to 1959 for The Mickey Mouse Club television series on ABC.

Audiences at the time of Steamboat Willie's release were reportedly impressed by the use of sound for comedic purposes. Sound films or "talkies" were still considered innovative. Most other cartoon studios were still producing silent products and so were unable to effectively act as competition to Disney. As a result, Mickey would soon become the most prominent animated character of the time. Walt Disney soon worked on adding sound to both Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho (which had originally been silent releases) and their new release added to Mickey's success and popularity. A fourth Mickey short, The Barn Dance, was also put into production; however, Mickey does not actually speak until The Karnival Kid (1929). After Steamboat Willie was released, Mickey became a close competitor to Felix the Cat, and his popularity would grow as he was continuously featured in sound cartoons. By 1929, Felix would lose popularity among theater audiences, and Pat Sullivan decided to produce all future Felix cartoons in sound as a result. Audiences did not respond well to Felix's transition to sound and by 1930, Felix had faded from the screen.

Black and white films (1929–1935)

Poster of the 1933 short The Mad Doctor.

In Mickey's early films he was often characterized not as a hero, but as an ineffective young suitor to Minnie Mouse. The Barn Dance (March 14, 1929) is the first time in which Mickey is turned down by Minnie in favor of Pete. The Opry House (March 28, 1929) was the first time in which Mickey wore his white gloves. Mickey wears them in almost all of his subsequent appearances and many other characters followed suit. The three lines on the back of Mickey's gloves represent darts in the gloves' fabric extending from between the digits of the hand, typical of glove design of the era.

When the Cat's Away (April 18, 1929), essentially a remake of the Alice Comedy, "Alice Rattled by Rats", was an unusual appearance for Mickey. Although Mickey and Minnie still maintained their anthropomorphic characteristics, they were depicted as the size of regular mice and living with a community of many other mice as pests in a home. Mickey and Minnie would later appear the size of regular humans in their own setting. In appearances with real humans, Mickey has been shown to be about two to three feet high. The next Mickey short was also unusual. The Barnyard Battle (April 25, 1929) was the only film to depict Mickey as a soldier and also the first to place him in combat. The Karnival Kid (1929) was the first time Mickey spoke. Before this he had only whistled, laughed, and grunted. His first words were "Hot dogs! Hot dogs!" said while trying to sell hot dogs at a carnival. Mickey's Follies (1929) introduced the song "Minnie's Yoo-Hoo" which would become the theme song for Mickey Mouse films until 1935. The same song sequence was also later reused with different background animation as its own special short shown only at the commencement of 1930s theater-based Mickey Mouse Clubs. Mickey's dog Pluto first appeared as Mickey's pet in The Moose Hunt (1931) after previously appearing as Minnie's dog "Rover" in The Picnic (1930).

Wild Waves was the last Mickey Mouse cartoon to be animated by Ub Iwerks. Iwerks left to start his own studio, bankrolled by Disney's then-distributor Pat Powers. Powers and Disney had a falling out over money due Disney from the distribution deal. It was in response to losing the right to distribute Disney's cartoons that Powers made the deal with Iwerks, who had long harbored a desire to head his own studio. The departure is considered a turning point in Mickey's career, as well as that of Walt Disney. Walt lost the man who served as his closest colleague and confidant since 1919. Mickey lost the man responsible for his original design and for the direction or animation of several of the shorts released till this point. Advertising for the early Mickey Mouse cartoons credited them as "A Walt Disney Comic, drawn by Ub Iwerks". Later Disney Company reissues of the early cartoons tend to credit Walt Disney alone. Wild Waves was also composer Carl Stalling's last film with the Walt Disney Studio. Stalling joined Iwerks at his new studio.

Disney and his remaining staff continued the production of the Mickey series, and he was able to eventually find a number of animators to replace Iwerks. As the Great Depression progressed and Felix the Cat faded from the movie screen, Mickey's popularity would rise, and by 1932 The Mickey Mouse Club would have one million members. At the 5th Academy Awards in 1932, Mickey received his first Academy Award nomination, received for Mickey's Orphans (1931). Walt Disney also received an honorary Academy Award for the creation of Mickey Mouse. Despite being eclipsed by the Silly Symphony short the Three Little Pigs in 1933, Mickey still maintained great popularity among theater audiences too, until 1935, when polls showed that Popeye was more popular than Mickey. By 1934, Mickey merchandise had earned $600,000 a year. In 1935, Disney began to phase out the Mickey Mouse Clubs, due to administration problems.

About this time, story artists at Disney were finding it increasingly difficult to write material for Mickey. As he had developed into a role model for children, they were limited in the types of gags they could present. This led to Mickey taking more of a secondary role in some of his next films, allowing for more emphasis on other characters. In Orphan's Benefit (1934), Mickey first appeared with Donald Duck who had been introduced earlier that year in the Silly Symphony series. The tempestuous duck would provide Disney with seemingly endless story ideas and would remain a recurring character in Mickey's cartoons.

Color films (1935–1953)

Mickey first appeared animated in color in Parade of the Award Nominees in 1932; however, the film strip was created for the 5th Academy Awards ceremony and was not released to the public. Mickey's official first color film came in 1935 with The Band Concert. The Technicolor film process was used in the film production. Here Mickey conducted the William Tell Overture, but the band is swept up by a tornado. It is said that conductor Arturo Toscanini so loved this short that, upon first seeing it, he asked the projectionist to run it again. In 1994, The Band Concert was voted the third-greatest cartoon of all time in a poll of animation professionals. By colorizing and partially redesigning Mickey, Walt put Mickey back on top once again. Mickey reach new heights of popularity. Also in 1935, Walt would receive a special award from the League of Nations for creating Mickey.

The second half of the 1930s saw the character Goofy reintroduced as a series regular. Together, Mickey, Donald Duck, and Goofy would go on several adventures together. Several of the films by the comic trio are some of Mickey's most critically acclaimed films, including Mickey's Fire Brigade (1935), Moose Hunters (1937), Clock Cleaners (1937), Lonesome Ghosts (1937), Boat Builders (1938), and Mickey's Trailer (1938). Also during this era, Mickey was the star in Brave Little Tailor (1938), an adaptation of The Valiant Little Tailor, which was nominated for an Academy Award.

In 1939, Mickey appeared in Mickey's Surprise Party, along with Minnie, with a new design, which included pupils. Later on, in 1940, the character appeared in his first feature-length film, Fantasia. The film used the redesigned version of Mickey with the pupils. His screen role as The Sorcerer's Apprentice, set to the symphonic poem of the same name by Paul Dukas, is perhaps the most famous segment of the film and one of Mickey's most iconic roles. The apprentice (Mickey), not willing to do his chores, puts on the sorcerer's magic hat after the sorcerer goes to bed and casts a spell on a broom, which causes the broom to come to life and perform the most tiring chore—filling up a deep well using two buckets of water. When the well eventually overflows, Mickey finds himself unable to control the broom, leading to a near-flood. After the segment ends, Mickey is seen in silhouette shaking hands with conductor Leopold Stokowski. Mickey has often been pictured in the red robe and blue sorcerer's hat in merchandising. It was also featured into the climax of Fantasmic!, an attraction at the Disney theme parks.

After 1940, Mickey's popularity declined until his 1955 re-emergence as a daily children's television personality. Despite this, the character continued to appear regularly in animated shorts until 1943 (winning his only competitive Academy Award—with canine companion Pluto—for the short subject Lend a Paw) and again from 1946 to 1952. In these later cartoons, Mickey was often just a supporting character in his own shorts. Pluto was instead used as the main character.

The last regular installment of the Mickey Mouse film series came in 1953 with The Simple Things in which Mickey and Pluto go fishing and are pestered by a flock of seagulls.

Television and later films

In the 1950s, Mickey became more known for his appearances on television, particularly with The Mickey Mouse Club. Many of his theatrical cartoon shorts were rereleased on television series such as Ink & Paint Club, various forms of the Walt Disney anthology television series, and on home video. Mickey returned to theatrical animation in 1983 with Mickey's Christmas Carol, an adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol in which Mickey played Bob Cratchit. This was followed up in 1990 with The Prince and the Pauper.

Throughout the decades, Mickey Mouse competed with Warner Bros.' Bugs Bunny for animated popularity. But in 1988, the two rivals finally shared screen time in the Robert Zemeckis Disney/Amblin film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Disney and Warner signed an agreement stating that each character had the same amount of screen time in the scene.

Similar to his animated inclusion into a live-action film in Roger Rabbit, Mickey made a featured cameo appearance in the 1990 television special The Muppets at Walt Disney World where he met Kermit the Frog. The two are established in the story as having been old friends, although they have not made any other appearance together outside of this.

His most recent theatrical cartoon short was 2013's Get a Horse! which was preceded by 1995's Runaway Brain, while from 1999 to 2004, he appeared in direct-to-video features like Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers and Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas.

Many television series have centered on Mickey, such as the ABC shows Mickey Mouse Works (1999–2000), House of Mouse (2001–2003), Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (2006–2016), Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures (2017–2021) and Mickey Mouse Funhouse (2021–present). Prior to all these, Mickey was also featured as an unseen character in the Bonkers episode "You Oughta Be In Toons".

In 2013, Disney Channel started airing new 3-minute Mickey Mouse shorts, with animator Paul Rudish at the helm, incorporating elements of Mickey's late twenties-early thirties look with a contemporary twist. On November 10, 2020, the series was revived as The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse and premiered on Disney+. Furthermore, The creative team behind the 2017 DuckTales reboot had hoped to have Mickey Mouse in the series, but this idea was rejected by Disney executives. However, a watermelon bearing Mickey's physical likeness appears in one episode as a ventriloquist dummy companion to Donald Duck.

In August 2018, ABC television announced a two-hour prime time special, Mickey's 90th Spectacular, in honor of Mickey's 90th birthday. The program featured never-before-seen short videos and several other celebrities who wanted to share their memories about Mickey Mouse and performed some of the Disney songs to impress Mickey. The show took place at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles and was produced and directed by Don Mischer on November 4, 2018. On November 18, 2018, a 90th anniversary event for the character was celebrated around the world. In December 2019, both Mickey and Minnie served as special co-hosts of Wheel of Fortune for two weeks while Vanna White served as the main host during Pat Sajak's absence.

Mickey is the subject of the 2022 documentary film Mickey: The Story of a Mouse, directed by Jeff Malmberg. Premiering at the South by Southwest film festival prior to its premiere on the Disney+ streaming service, the documentary examines the history and cultural impact of Mickey Mouse. The feature is accompanied by an original, hand-drawn animated short film starring Mickey titled Mickey in a Minute.

Mickey appeared in Walt Disney Animation Studios' centennial short film, Once Upon a Studio, in which he corrals the characters of Disney's animated features to take a group picture.

Comics

Main articles: Mickey Mouse (comic strip) and Mickey Mouse (comic book)

See also: Disney comics and David McKay Publications

Mickey first appeared in comics after he had appeared in 15 commercially successful animated shorts and was easily recognized by the public. Walt Disney was approached by King Features Syndicate with the offer to license Mickey and his supporting characters for use in a comic strip. Disney accepted and Mickey Mouse made its first appearance on January 13, 1930. The comical plot was credited to Disney himself, art to Ub Iwerks and inking to Win Smith. The first week or so of the strip featured a loose adaptation of Plane Crazy. Minnie soon became the first addition to the cast. The strips first released between January 13, 1930, and March 31, 1930, have been occasionally reprinted in comic book form under the collective title Lost on a Desert Island. Animation historian Jim Korkis notes, "After the eighteenth strip, Iwerks left and his inker, Win Smith, continued drawing the gag-a-day format."

In early 1930, after Iwerks' departure, Disney was at first content to continue scripting the Mickey Mouse comic strip, assigning the art to Win Smith. However, Disney's focus had always been in animation and Smith was soon assigned with the scripting as well. Smith was apparently discontent at the prospect of having to script, draw, and ink a series by himself as evidenced by his sudden resignation.

Disney then searched for a replacement among the remaining staff of the Studio. He selected Floyd Gottfredson, a recently hired employee. At the time Gottfredson was reportedly eager to work in animation and somewhat reluctant to accept his new assignment. Disney had to assure him the assignment was only temporary and that he would eventually return to animation. Gottfredson accepted and ended up holding this "temporary" assignment from May 5, 1930, to November 15, 1975.

Walt Disney's last script for the strip appeared May 17, 1930. Gottfredson's first task was to finish the storyline Disney had started on April 1, 1930. The storyline was completed on September 20, 1930, and later reprinted in comic book form as Mickey Mouse in Death Valley. This early adventure expanded the cast of the strip which to this point only included Mickey and Minnie. Among the characters who had their first comic strip appearances in this story were Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar, and Black Pete as well as the debuts of corrupted lawyer Sylvester Shyster and Minnie's uncle Mortimer Mouse. The Death Valley narrative was followed by Mr. Slicker and the Egg Robbers, first printed between September 22 and December 26, 1930, which introduced Marcus Mouse and his wife as Minnie's parents.

Starting with these two early comic strip stories, Mickey's versions in animation and comics are considered to have diverged from each other. While Disney and his cartoon shorts would continue to focus on comedy, the comic strip effectively combined comedy and adventure. This adventurous version of Mickey would continue to appear in comic strips and later comic books throughout the 20th and into the 21st century.

Floyd Gottfredson left his mark with stories such as Mickey Mouse Joins the Foreign Legion (1936) and The Gleam (1942). He also created the Phantom Blot, Eega Beeva, Morty and Ferdie, Captain Churchmouse, and Butch. Besides Gottfredson artists for the strip over the years included Roman Arambula, Rick Hoover, Manuel Gonzales, Carson Van Osten, Jim Engel, Bill Wright, Ted Thwailes and Daan Jippes; writers included Ted Osborne, Merrill De Maris, Bill Walsh, Dick Shaw, Roy Williams, Del Connell, and Floyd Norman.

The next artist to leave his mark on the character was Paul Murry in Dell Comics. His first Mickey tale appeared in 1950 but Mickey did not become a specialty until Murry's first serial for Walt Disney's Comics and Stories in 1953 ("The Last Resort"). In the same period, Romano Scarpa in Italy for the magazine Topolino began to revitalize Mickey in stories that brought back the Phantom Blot and Eega Beeva along with new creations such as the Atomo Bleep-Bleep. While the stories at Western Publishing during the Silver Age emphasized Mickey as a detective in the style of Sherlock Holmes, in the modern era several editors and creators have consciously undertaken to depict a more vigorous Mickey in the mold of the classic Gottfredson adventures. This renaissance has been spearheaded by Byron Erickson, David Gerstein, Noel Van Horn, Michael T. Gilbert and César Ferioli.

In Europe, Mickey Mouse became the main attraction of a number of comics magazines, the most famous being Topolino in Italy from 1932 onward, Le Journal de Mickey in France from 1934 onward, Don Miki in Spain and the Greek Miky Maous.

Mickey was the main character for the series MM Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine, published in Italy from 1999 to 2001.

In 2006, he appeared in the Italian fantasy comic saga Wizards of Mickey.

In 1958, Mickey Mouse was introduced to the Arab world through another comic book called "Sameer". He became very popular in Egypt and got a comic book with his name. Mickey's comics in Egypt are licensed by Disney and were published since 1959 by "Dar Al-Hilal" and they were successful, however Dar Al-Hilal stopped the publication in 2003 because of problems with Disney. The comics were re-released by "Nahdat Masr" in 2004 and the first issues were sold out in less than 8 hours.

Portrayal

Mickey is traditionally characterized as a sympathetic underdog who gets by on pluck and ingenuity in the face of challenges much bigger than himself. As a mouse, an inherently vulnerable creature, Mickey is often depicted as having minimal resources and attributes at his disposal. Consequently, he must rely on sheer wit to overcome obstacles. The character is frequently pitted against larger-than-life villains to accentuate this idea; namely the hulking cat Pegleg Pete, and numerous one-shot antagonists such as the giants of Giantland (1933) and Brave Little Tailor (1938), the king of cards in Thru the Mirror (1936) and Mortimer Mouse in Mickey's Rival (1936). These adversaries were decidedly portrayed as overbearing figures of authority, thusly painting Mickey as a rebellious hero. When not facing an opponent, Mickey is oft placed in situations where his pursuits of grandeur or simple accomplishment lead to disastrous results, typically at the hands of his own impulsivity, as was the case in The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1940) among others. Mickey is not portrayed as a hero in the traditional sense, instead acting as a subversion of the stock archetype. He often fumbles his way through adventures; his small size and misplaced optimism serving as his dominating flaws. His manner of problem-solving is generally unorthodox to comedic effect; in Ye Olden Days (1933), Mickey's jousting horse was an infantile mule. In Shanghaied (1934), Mickey battled with a broadbill in place of a sword. The underdog nature of Mickey's character has been interpreted by historians as a symbolic reflection of Walt Disney's early struggles as a farm boy breaking into the imposing Hollywood industry in the 1920s. It has also been perceived as an allegory for the Great Depression in the United States, with Mickey's unrelenting optimism symbolizing the "American endurance to survive" in the face of economic woes.

Charlie Chaplin, known by audiences of the time for his role as the "Little Tramp", was identified by Disney as a source of inspiration for the Mickey character. Disney himself was a noted admirer of Chaplin's work, ascribing his development as a storytelling to the actor. In The American Magazine for March 1931, Disney explained, "I think we were rather indebted to Charlie Chaplin for the idea [of Mickey Mouse]. We wanted something appealing and we thought of a tiny bit of a mouse that would have something of the wistfulness of Chaplin ... a little fellow trying to do the best he could." American journalist Alva Johnston noted the similarities between the two figures, stating, "Chaplin was a kind of godfather to Mickey Mouse. It is now and always has been the aim of Disney to graft the psychology of Chaplin upon Mickey. The two universal characters have something in common in their approach to their problems. They have the same blend of hero and coward, nitwit and genius, mug and gentleman."

Besides Chaplin, other notable figures of the silent era have been credited to Mickey's characterization. Chief among them was Douglas Fairbanks, whose swashbuckling screen adventures would inspire Mickey's animated epics. Ub Iwerks wrote in 1970, "He was the super-hero of his day, always winning, gallant and swashbuckling. Mickey's action was in that vein. He was never intended to be a sissy, he was always an adventurous character. I thought of him in that respect, and I had him do naturally the sort of thing Doug Fairbanks would do." Disney was also noted to have been influenced by Fairbanks, along with other screen personalities including Harold Lloyd and Fred Astaire.

An adaptive character, Mickey's personality lends itself to function within a multitude of situations, while retaining core elements of its design. He is not bound to a particular formula or motif, and as such, has been portrayed in a variety of settings and occupational roles. His film series, meanwhile, spans numerous genres besides the traditional musical comedy; The Mad Doctor (1933) and Runaway Brain (1995) parody the horror genre, whereas stories such as Mickey's Good Deed (1932) and The Prince and the Pauper (1990) are largely dramatic works. This versatility is said to have attributed to Mickey's popularity with audiences. As expressed by writer Chelsea Tatham, "From his beginnings, Mickey was able to appeal to a wide audience. He catered to neither the 'highbrow' nor the 'hick,' but the ordinary intelligent picturegoer."

There are a number of catchphrases and colloquialisms associated with the character. Mickey's first spoken words, "Hot dog!" from The Karnival Kid (1929), has endured as a recurring phrase for the character, made especially recognizable to modern audiences for its extensive use in the preschool television program Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Mickey's signature closing line, "See ya real soon!", is derived from the "Mickey Mouse March" reprise from the original 1955 run of The Mickey Mouse Club ("M-I-C; see you real soon!").

Other voice actors

Composer Carl W. Stalling was the first person to provide lines for Mickey in the 1929 shorts The Karnival Kid and Wild Waves. From this point on, Mickey was voiced by Walt Disney himself, being a job in which he appeared to take great personal pride.

J. Donald Wilson and Joe Twerp provided the voice in some 1938 broadcasts of The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air, although Disney remained Mickey's official voice during this period. However, by 1946, Disney was becoming too busy with running the studio to do regular voice work which meant he could not do Mickey's voice on a regular basis anymore. It is also speculated that his cigarette habit had damaged his voice over the years. After recording the Mickey and the Beanstalk section of Fun and Fancy Free, Mickey's voice was handed over to veteran Disney musician and actor Jimmy MacDonald. Walt would reprise Mickey's voice occasionally until his passing in 1966, such as in the introductions to the original 1955–1959 run of The Mickey Mouse Club TV series, the "Fourth Anniversary Show" episode of the Walt Disney's Disneyland TV series that aired on September 11, 1957, and the Disneyland USA at Radio City Music Hall show from 1962.

MacDonald voiced Mickey in most of the remaining theatrical shorts and for various television and publicity projects up until his retirement in 1976. However, other actors would occasionally play the role during this era. Clarence Nash, the voice of Donald Duck, provided the voice in three of Mickey's theatrical shorts, The Dognapper, R'coon Dawg, and Pluto's Party. Stan Freberg voiced Mickey in the Freberg-produced record Mickey Mouse's Birthday Party. Alan Young voiced Mickey in the Disneyland record album An Adaptation of Dickens' Christmas Carol, Performed by The Walt Disney Players in 1974.

The 1983 short film Mickey's Christmas Carol marked the theatrical debut of Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse, who was the official voice of Mickey from 1977 until his death in 2009, although MacDonald returned to voice Mickey for an appearance at the 50th Academy Awards in 1978. Allwine once recounted something MacDonald had told him about voicing Mickey: "The main piece of advice that Jim gave me about Mickey helped me keep things in perspective. He said, 'Just remember kid, you're only filling in for the boss.' And that's the way he treated doing Mickey for years and years. From Walt, and now from Jimmy." In 1991, Allwine married Russi Taylor, the voice of Minnie Mouse from 1986 until her death in 2019.

Les Perkins did the voice of Mickey in two TV specials, "Down and Out with Donald Duck" and "DTV Valentine", in the mid-1980s. Peter Renaday voiced Mickey in the 1980s Disney albums Yankee Doodle Mickey and Mickey Mouse Splashdance. He also provided his voice for The Talking Mickey Mouse toy in 1986. Quinton Flynn briefly filled in for Allwine as the voice of Mickey in a few episodes of the first season of Mickey Mouse Works whenever Allwine was unavailable to record.

Bret Iwan, a former Hallmark greeting card artist, is the current official voice of Mickey. Iwan was originally cast as an understudy for Allwine due to the latter's declining health, but Allwine died before Iwan could get a chance to meet him and Iwan became the new official voice of the character at the time. Iwan's early recordings in 2009 included work for the Disney Cruise Line, Mickey toys, the Disney theme parks and the Disney on Ice: Celebrations! ice show. He directly replaced Allwine as Mickey for the Kingdom Hearts video game series and the TV series Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. His first video game voice-over of Mickey Mouse can be heard in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. Iwan also became the first voice actor to portray Mickey during Disney's rebranding of the character, providing the vocal effects of Mickey in Epic Mickey as well as his voice in Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two and the remake of Castle of Illusion. An openly gay man, Iwan is the character's first LGBT+ performer.

In addition to Iwan, Chris Diamantopoulos was cast as Mickey for the Mickey Mouse 2013 animated series developed by Paul Rudish, as the producers were looking for a voice closer to Walt Disney's portrayal of the character in order to match the vintage look of that series. Diamantopoulos is the first voice of Mickey to be nominated for two Emmy Awards and two Annie Awards for his work in the series. He has reprised the role in the 2017 DuckTales reboot (in the form of a watermelon that Donald uses as a ventriloquist dummy), the Walt Disney World attraction Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, and the Disney+ revival of the series, The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse. He voiced Mickey once again for the 2023 short film Once Upon a Studio.

Merchandising

Since his early years, Mickey Mouse has been licensed by Disney to appear on many different kinds of merchandise. Mickey was produced as plush toys and figurines, and Mickey's image has graced almost everything from T-shirts to lunchboxes. Largely responsible for early Disney merchandising was Kay Kamen, Disney's head of merchandise and licensing from 1932 until his death in 1949, who was called a "stickler for quality". Kamen was recognized by The Walt Disney Company as having a significant part in Mickey's rise to stardom and was named a Disney Legend in 1998. At the time of his 80th-anniversary celebration in 2008, Time declared Mickey Mouse one of the world's most recognized characters, even when compared against Santa Claus. Disney officials have stated that 98% of children aged 3–11 around the world are at least aware of the character. Disney expected the Mickey Mouse & Friends brand to make $9 billion in retail sales in 2011.

Disney parks

Minnie and Mickey at Hong Kong Disneyland

Mickey's house at Mickey's Toontown

As the official Walt Disney mascot, Mickey has played a central role in the Disney parks since the opening of Disneyland in 1955. As with other characters, Mickey is often portrayed by a non-speaking costumed actor. In this form, he has participated in ceremonies and countless parades, and poses for photographs with guests. As of the presidency of Barack Obama (who jokingly referred to him as "a world leader who has bigger ears than me") Mickey has met every U.S. president since Harry Truman, with the exception of Lyndon B. Johnson.

Mickey also features in several specific attractions at the Disney parks. Mickey's Toontown (Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland) is a themed land which is a recreation of Mickey's neighborhood. Buildings are built in a cartoon style and guests can visit Mickey or Minnie's houses, Donald Duck's boat, or Goofy's garage. This is a common place to meet the characters.

Mickey's PhilharMagic (Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, Disney California Adventure) is a 4D film which features Mickey in the familiar role of symphony conductor. At Main Street Cinema several of Mickey's short films are shown on a rotating basis; the sixth film is always Steamboat Willie. Mickey plays a central role in Fantasmic! (Disneyland Resort, Disney's Hollywood Studios) a live nighttime show which famously features Mickey in his role as the Sorcerer's Apprentice. Mickey was also a central character in the now-defunct Mickey Mouse Revue (Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland) which was an indoor show featuring animatronic characters. Mickey's face formerly graced the Mickey's Fun Wheel (now Pixar Pal-A-Round) at Disney California Adventure Park, where a figure of him also stands on top of Silly Symphony Swings.

Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway at Disney's Hollywood Studios is a trackless dark ride themed to Mickey Mouse.

In addition to Mickey's overt presence in the parks, numerous images of him are also subtly included in sometimes unexpected places. This phenomenon is known as "Hidden Mickeys", involving hidden images in Disney films, theme parks, and merchandise.

Video games

Main article: List of Disney video games (Mickey Mouse games)

Like many popular characters, Mickey has starred in many video games, including Mickey Mousecapade on the Nintendo Entertainment System, Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse, Mickey's Ultimate Challenge, and Disney's Magical Quest on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse on the Mega Drive/Genesis, Mickey Mouse: Magic Wands! on the Game Boy, and many others. In the 2000s, the Disney's Magical Quest series were ported to the Game Boy Advance, while Mickey made his sixth generation era debut in Disney's Magical Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse, a GameCube title aimed at younger audiences. Mickey plays a major role in the Kingdom Hearts series, as the king of Disney Castle and aided to the protagonist, Sora and his friends. King Mickey wields the Keyblade, a weapon in the form of a key that has the power to open any lock and combat darkness. Epic Mickey, featuring a darker version of the Disney universe, was released in 2010 for the Wii. The game is part of an effort by The Walt Disney Company to re-brand the Mickey Mouse character by moving away from his current squeaky clean image and reintroducing the mischievous side of his personality. Mickey Mouse is a playable character in the mobile game Disney Heroes Battle Mode.

Watches and clock

Mickey was famously featured on wristwatches and alarm clocks, typically utilizing his hands as the actual hands on the face of the clock. The first Mickey Mouse watches were manufactured in 1933 by the Ingersoll Watch Company. The seconds were indicated by a turning disk below Mickey. The first Mickey watch was sold at the Century of Progress in Chicago, 1933 for $3.75 (equivalent to $88 in 2023). Mickey Mouse watches have been sold by other companies and designers throughout the years, including Timex, Elgin, Helbros, Bradley, Lorus, and Gérald Genta. The fictional character Robert Langdon from Dan Brown's novels was said to wear a Mickey Mouse watch as a reminder "to stay young at heart."

Other products

In 1989, Milton Bradley released the electronic talking game titled Mickey Says, with three modes featuring Mickey Mouse as its host. Mickey also appeared in other toys and games, including the Worlds of Wonder released The Talking Mickey Mouse.

Fisher-Price has produced a line of talking animatronic Mickey dolls including "Dance Star Mickey" (2010) and "Rock Star Mickey" (2011).

In total, approximately 40% of Disney's revenues for consumer products are derived from Mickey Mouse merchandise, with revenues peaking in 1997.

Social impact

A display in Asia highlighting the iconic white glove

The silhouette of Mickey Mouse's head has become an iconic image.

Use in protest votes

In the United States, protest votes are often made in order to indicate dissatisfaction with the slate of candidates presented on a particular ballot or to highlight the inadequacies of a particular voting procedure. Since most states' electoral systems do not provide for blank balloting or a choice of "None of the Above", most protest votes take the form of a clearly non-serious candidate's name entered as a write-in vote. Mickey Mouse is often selected for this purpose. As an election supervisor in Georgia observed, "If Mickey Mouse doesn't get votes in our election, it's a bad election." The earliest known mention of Mickey Mouse as a write-in candidate dates back to the 1932 New York City mayoral elections.

Mickey Mouse's name has also been known to appear fraudulently on voter registration lists, such as in the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

Pejorative use of Mickey's name

"Mickey Mouse" is a slang expression meaning small-time, amateurish or trivial. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it also means poor quality or counterfeit. In Poland the phrase "mały Miki", which translates to "small Mickey", means something very simple and trivial – usually used in the comparison between two things. However, in parts of Australia it can mean excellent or very good (rhyming slang for "grouse"). Examples of the negative usages include the following:

• From 1942 to 1945, during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II, the occupying Japanese government issued a new fiat currency which drastically decreased in value towards the war. As a result of hyperinflation, Filipinos at the time would refer to the currency in scorn as "Mickey Mouse money".
• In The Godfather Part II, Fredo's justification of betraying Michael is that his orders in the family usually were "Send Fredo off to do this, send Fredo off to do that! Let Fredo take care of some Mickey Mouse nightclub somewhere!" as opposed to more meaningful tasks.
• In an early episode of the 1978–82 sitcom Mork & Mindy, Mork stated that Pluto was "a Mickey Mouse planet", referring to the future dwarf planet having the same name as Mickey's pet dog Pluto.
• On November 19, 1983, just after an ice hockey game in which Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers beat the New Jersey Devils 13–4, Gretzky was quoted as saying to a reporter, "Well, it's time they got their act together, they're ruining the whole league. They had better stop running a Mickey Mouse organization and put somebody on the ice". Reacting to Gretzky's comment, Devils fans wore Mickey Mouse apparel when the Oilers returned to New Jersey on January 15, 1984, despite a 5–4 Devils loss.
• In the 1996 Warner Bros. film Space Jam, Bugs Bunny derogatorily comments on Daffy Duck's idea for the name of their basketball team, asking: "What kind of Mickey Mouse organization would name a team 'The Ducks?'" (This also referenced the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, an NHL team that was then owned by Disney, as well as the Disney-made The Mighty Ducks movie franchise. This was referencing the Disney/Warner Brothers rivalry.)
• In schools a "Mickey Mouse course", "Mickey Mouse major", or "Mickey Mouse degree" is a class, college major, or degree where very little effort is necessary in order to attain a good grade (especially an A) or one where the subject matter of such a class is not of any importance in the labor market.
• In British football, the term "Mickey Mouse cup" is used to describe competitions that are regarded with lesser prestige than others. It has been used to describe elimination-based season competitions like the EFL Cup or the FIFA Club World Cup, as well as single-match trophies such as the FA Community Shield or UEFA Super Cup.
• In the beginning of the 1980s, then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once called the European Parliament a "Mickey Mouse parliament", meaning a discussion club without influence.

Additionally, the term "Mickey Mousing" refers to the exact synching of a film score to each action depicted onscreen, in reference to the early cartoons that used this technique. Although not inherently a pejorative term, the technique itself has long fallen out of fashion, and the term has taken on a secondary meaning indicating material interpreted as being too simplistic for its target audience.

Parodies and criticism

The 1969 underground protest cartoon Mickey Mouse in Vietnam

Mickey Mouse's global fame has made him both a symbol of The Walt Disney Company and of the United States itself. For this reason, Mickey has been used frequently in anti-American satire, such as the infamous underground cartoon Mickey Mouse in Vietnam (1969) and the Palestinian children's propaganda series Tomorrow's Pioneers where a Mickey Mouse-esque character named Farfour is used to promote Islamic extremism. There have been numerous parodies of Mickey Mouse, such as the two-page parody "Mickey Rodent" by Will Elder (published in Mad #19, 1955) in which the mouse walks around unshaven and jails Donald Duck out of jealousy over the duck's larger popularity. In The Simpsons Movie, Bart Simpson puts a black bra on his head to mimic Mickey Mouse and says: "I'm the mascot of an evil corporation!" The Simpsons would later become Disney property as its distributor Fox was acquired by Disney. In the Comedy Central series South Park, Mickey (voiced by Trey Parker) serves as one of the recurring antagonists, and is depicted as the sadistic, greedy, foul-mouthed boss of The Walt Disney Company, only interested in money. He also appears briefly with Donald Duck in the comic Squeak the Mouse by the Italian cartoonist Massimo Mattioli. Horst Rosenthal created a comic book, Mickey au Camp de Gurs (Mickey Mouse in the Gurs Internment Camp) while detained in the Gurs internment camp during the Second World War; he added "Publié Sans Autorisation de Walt Disney" ("Published without Walt Disney's Permission") to the front cover.

In the 1969 parody novel Bored of the Rings, Mickey Mouse is satirized as Dickey Dragon.

Legal issues

The early design of Mickey Mouse is one of the most notable works that entered the public domain in 2024. The Walt Disney Company had previously lobbied for the extension of copyright length in the United States and other countries in order to prevent this character and others from entering the public domain, resulting in the Copyright Term Extension Act.

Although Mickey Mouse entered the public domain in 2024, the character, like all major Disney characters, remains trademarked. The trademark lasts in perpetuity, as long as it continues to be used commercially by its owner. So, whether or not a particular Disney cartoon goes into the public domain, the characters themselves may not be used as trademarks without authorization.

Due to the Copyright Term Extension Act of the United States (sometimes called the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act" because of extensive lobbying by the Disney corporation) and similar legislation within the European Union and other jurisdictions where copyright terms have been extended, the early Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse cartoons remained under copyright until the end of 2023 but since 2024 are in the U.S. public domain.

Copyright scholars have argued that Disney's copyright on the earliest version of the character may have been invalid due to ambiguity in the copyright notice for Steamboat Willie.

The Walt Disney Company is well known for zealously protecting its trademark on the Mickey Mouse character—whose likeness is synonymous and closely associated with the company. In 1989, Disney threatened legal action against three daycare centers in the Orlando, Florida region (where Walt Disney World is a dominant employer) for having Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters painted on their walls. The characters were removed, and the newly opened rival Universal Studios Florida allowed the centers to use their own cartoon characters with their blessing, to build community goodwill.

Walt Disney Productions v. Air Pirates

In 1971, a group of underground cartoonists calling themselves the Air Pirates, after a group of villains from early Mickey Mouse films, produced a comic called Air Pirates Funnies. In the first issue, cartoonist Dan O'Neill depicted Mickey and Minnie Mouse engaging in explicit sexual behavior and consuming drugs. As O'Neill explained, "The air pirates were...some sort of bizarre concept to steal the air, pirate the air, steal the media....Since we were cartoonists, the logical thing was Disney." Rather than change the appearance or name of the character, which O'Neill felt would dilute the parody, the mouse depicted in Air Pirates Funnies looks like and is named "Mickey Mouse". Disney sued for copyright infringement, and after a series of appeals, O'Neill eventually lost and was ordered to pay Disney $1.9 million. The outcome of the case remains controversial among free-speech advocates. New York Law School professor Edward Samuels said, "The Air Pirates set parody back twenty years."

Copyright status

See also: Works based on a copyright-free Mickey Mouse

Prior to 2024, there here had been multiple attempts to argue that certain versions of Mickey Mouse were in fact in the public domain. In the 1980s, archivist George S. Brown attempted to recreate and sell cels from the 1933 short The Mad Doctor, on the theory that they were in the public domain because Disney had failed to renew the copyright as required by current law. However, Disney successfully sued Brown to prevent such sale, arguing that the lapse in copyright for The Mad Doctor did not put Mickey Mouse in the public domain because of the copyright in the earlier films. Brown attempted to appeal, noting imperfections in the earlier copyright claims, but the court dismissed his argument as untimely.

In 1999, Lauren Vanpelt, a law student at Arizona State University, wrote a paper making a similar argument. Vanpelt points out that copyright law at the time required a copyright notice specify the year of the copyright and the copyright owner's name. The title cards to early Mickey Mouse films Steamboat Willie, Plane Crazy, and Gallopin' Gaucho do not clearly identify the copyright owner, and also misidentify the copyright year. However, Vanpelt notes that copyright cards in other early films may have been done correctly, which could make Mickey Mouse "protected as a component part of the larger copyrighted films".

A 2003 article by Douglas A. Hedenkamp in the Virginia Sports and Entertainment Law Journal analyzed Vanpelt's arguments, and concluded that she is likely correct. Hedenkamp provided additional arguments, and identified some errors in Vanpelt's paper, but still found that due to imperfections in the copyright notice on the title cards, Walt Disney forfeited his copyright in Mickey Mouse. He concluded: "The forfeiture occurred at the moment of publication, and the law of that time was clear: publication without proper notice irrevocably forfeited copyright protection."

Disney threatened to sue Hedenkamp for slander of title, but did not follow through. The claims in Vanpelt and Hedenkamp's articles have not been tested in court.

In a 2023 episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, John Oliver suggested that without copyright protection to stop the unauthorized use of Mickey Mouse, the Walt Disney Company would likely use trademark law to achieve the same results, potentially arguing that Mickey Mouse is so closely associated with their brand that any unauthorized use would cause consumer confusion. Oliver then revealed that Last Week Tonight's opening titles had been using an image from Steamboat Willie since the start of the season and that he would begin to use his own version of Mickey Mouse as a mascot of the show. He stated:

We are staking our claim to Mickey Mouse right now and, I know Disney’s lawyers might argue that this Mickey is closely associated with their brand, although they should know that he's pretty associated with our brand now too.

On January 1, 2024, the copyrights of the first three animated Mickey Mouse cartoons and their portrayal of Mickey Mouse expired, and they entered the public domain. They are the silent versions of the cartoons Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho, as well as the sound cartoon Steamboat Willie. Newer versions of Mickey Mouse will remain copyright protected.

Quinton Hoover, a YouTube user who uploaded a copy of Steamboat Willie after its copyright expired on January 1, 2024, noted that three attempts to upload the short to the service triggered copyright claims from Disney, including one that claimed a copyright on the short's soundtrack. Users of Twitch noted similar behavior in that attempts to stream Steamboat Willie would end up with the audio muted. Disney withdrew a separate copyright strike from a different uploader shortly after it was challenged.

Censorship

In 1930, the German Board of Film Censors prohibited any presentations of the 1929 Mickey Mouse cartoon The Barnyard Battle. The animated short, which features the mouse as a kepi-wearing soldier fighting cat enemies in German-style helmets, was viewed by censors as a negative portrayal of Germany. It was claimed by the board that the film would "reawaken the latest anti-German feeling existing abroad since the War". The Barnyard Battle incident did not incite wider anti-Mickey sentiment in Germany in 1930; however, after Adolf Hitler came to power several years later, the Nazi regime unambiguously propagandized against Disney. A mid-1930s German newspaper article read:

Mickey Mouse is the most miserable ideal ever revealed. Healthy emotions tell every independent young man and every honorable youth that the dirty and filth-covered vermin, the greatest bacteria carrier in the animal kingdom, cannot be the ideal type of animal. Away with Jewish brutalization of the people! Down with Mickey Mouse! Wear the Swastika Cross!

American cartoonist and writer Art Spiegelman would later use this quote on the opening page of the second volume of his graphic novel Maus.

In 1935, Romanian authorities also banned Mickey Mouse films from cinemas, purportedly fearing that children would be "scared to see a ten-foot mouse in the movie theatre". In 1938, based on the Ministry of Popular Culture's recommendation that a reform was necessary "to raise children in the firm and imperialist spirit of the Fascist revolution", the Italian Government banned foreign children's literature except Mickey; Disney characters were exempted from the decree for the "acknowledged artistic merit" of Disney's work. Actually, Mussolini's children were fond of Mickey Mouse, so they managed to delay his ban as long as possible. In 1942, after Italy declared war on the United States, fascism immediately forced Italian publishers to stop printing any Disney stories. Mickey's stories were replaced by the adventures of Tuffolino, a new human character that looked like Mickey, created by Federico Pedrocchi (script) and Pier Lorenzo De Vita (art). After the downfall of Italy's fascist government in 1945, the ban was removed.

Filmography

Main article: List of Mickey Mouse films and appearances

Selected short films

• Steamboat Willie (1928)
• Plane Crazy (1928)
• The Karnival Kid (1929)
• Mickey's Orphans (1931)
• Building a Building (1933)
• The Mad Doctor (1933)
• The Band Concert (1935)
• Thru the Mirror (1936)
• Moving Day (1936)
• Clock Cleaners (1937)
• Lonesome Ghosts (1937)
• Brave Little Tailor (1938)
• The Pointer (1939)
• The Nifty Nineties (1941)
• Lend a Paw (1941)
• Symphony Hour (1942)
• Squatter's Rights (1946)
• Mickey and the Seal (1948)
• The Simple Things (1953)
• Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)
• Runaway Brain (1995)
• Get a Horse! (2013)
• Once Upon a Studio (2023)

Full-length films

• Hollywood Party (cameo, 1934)
• Fantasia (1940)
• Fun and Fancy Free (1947)
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit (cameo, 1988)
• A Goofy Movie (cameo, 1995)
• Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (1999) (DTV)
• Fantasia 2000 (1999)
• Mickey's Magical Christmas (2001) (DTV)
• Mickey's House of Villains (2002) (DTV)
• Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004) (DTV)
• Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas (2004) (DTV)

(Note: DTV means Direct-to-video)

Television series

• The Mickey Mouse Club (1955–1959; 1977–1979)
• Mickey Mouse Works (1999–2000)
• House of Mouse (2001–2003)
• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (2006–2016)
• Mickey Mouse (2013–2019)
• Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures (2017–2021)
• The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse (2020–2023)
• Mickey Mouse Funhouse (2021–present)

Awards and honors

Mickey's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Mickey Mouse has received ten nominations for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. These are Mickey's Orphans (1931), Building a Building (1933), Brave Little Tailor (1938), The Pointer (1939), Lend a Paw (1941), Squatter's Rights (1946), Mickey and the Seal (1948), Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983), Runaway Brain (1995), and Get a Horse! (2013). Among these, Lend a Paw was the only film to actually win the award. Additionally, in 1932 Walt Disney received an honorary Academy Award in recognition of Mickey's creation.

In 1994, four of Mickey's cartoons were included in the book The 50 Greatest Cartoons which listed the greatest cartoons of all time as voted by members of the animation field. The films were The Band Concert (#3), Steamboat Willie (#13), Brave Little Tailor (#26), and Clock Cleaners (#27).

On November 18, 1978, in honor of his 50th anniversary, Mickey became the first cartoon character to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star is located on 6925 Hollywood Blvd.

Melbourne (Australia) runs the annual Moomba festival street procession and appointed Mickey Mouse as their King of Moomba (1977). Although immensely popular with children, there was controversy with the appointment: some Melburnians wanted a "home-grown" choice, e.g. Blinky Bill; when it was revealed that Patricia O'Carroll (from Disneyland's Disney on Parade show) was performing the mouse, Australian newspapers reported "Mickey Mouse is really a girl!"

Mickey was the Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year's Day 2005. He was the first cartoon character to receive the honor and only the second fictional character after Kermit the Frog in 1996.

See also

• Mickey Mouse Adventures, a short-lived comic starring Mickey Mouse as the protagonist
• Mouse Museum, a Russian museum featuring artifacts and memorabilia relating to Mickey Mouse
• Walt Disney (2015 PBS film)

References

Bibliography

• Apgar, Garry (22 December 2015). Mickey Mouse: Emblem of the American Spirit. San Francisco, CA: Weldon Owen. ISBN 978-1-61628-672-9. OCLC 1349253324 – via Internet Archive.
• Korkis, Jim (2012). Who Is Afraid of the Song of the South?: And Other Forbidden Disney Stories. Orlando, Fla.: Theme Park Press. ISBN 978-0984341559. OCLC 823179800.
• Thomas, Frank; Johnston, Ollie (1995) [1981]. Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life. Disney Publishing Worldwide. ISBN 0-7868-6070-7.

External links

• Disney's Mickey Mouse character page
• Travis Jaico R/Sample page at Inducks
• Mickey Mouse on IMDb
• Mickey Mouse's Campaign Website (as archived on August 3, 2008)
• Wayne Allwine Archived August 8, 2018, at the Wayback Machine – Daily Telegraph obituary
• Mickey Mouse comic strip reprints Archived November 11, 2014, at the Wayback Machine at Creators Syndicate
• Mickey Mouse Archived October 16, 2009, at the Portuguese Web Archive at Don Markstein's Toonopedia.

Category:Mickey Mouse Category:Culture of the United States Category:Cartoon mascots Category:Corporate mascots Category:Disney comics characters Category:Disney core universe characters Category:Fictional characters from Calisota Category:Fictional singers Category:Fictional wizards Category:Anthropomorphic mice and rats Category:Film characters introduced in 1928 Category:Film studio mascots ;Category:Mascots introduced in 1928 Category:Magazine mascots Category:Male characters in animation Category:Male characters in advertising Category:Male characters in comics Category:Rodent mascots Category:Animated characters Category:Animated characters introduced in 1928 Category:Characters created by Ub Iwerks Category:Characters created by Walt Disney Category:Articles containing video clips Category:Fictional characters who use magic

"ISS" redirects here. For other uses, see ISS (disambiguation).

International Space Station (ISS)

Oblique underside view in November 2021
International Space Station program insignia, with flags of the original signatory states.
Station statistics
COSPAR ID	1998-067A
SATCAT no.	25544
Call sign	Alpha, Station
Crew	Expedition Expedition: 71 Maximum: 7 Currently aboard: 7 (Soyuz MS-25, Crew-8) Commander: Oleg Kononenko (Roscosmos) Non-expedition Visitors: 2 (Boeing Starliner CFT)
Launch	20 November 1998 (1998-11-20)
Launch pad	Baikonur, Site 1/5, Site 200/39, Site 31/6 and Site 81/23 Kennedy, LC-39 and CCSFS, SLC-40
Mass	450,000 kg (990,000 lb)
Length	109 m (358 ft) (overall length), 94 m (310 ft) (truss length)
Width	73 m (239 ft) (solar array length)
Pressurised volume	1,005.0 m3 (35,491 cu ft)
Atmospheric pressure	101.3 kPa (14.7 psi; 1.0 atm) 79% nitrogen, 21% oxygen
Perigee altitude	413 km (256.6 mi) AMSL
Apogee altitude	422 km (262.2 mi) AMSL
Orbital inclination	51.64°
Orbital speed	7.67 km/s; 27,600 km/h; 17,100 mph
Orbital period	92.9 minutes
Orbits per day	15.5
Orbit epoch	16 August 16:19:30
Days in orbit	25 years, 9 months (20 August 2024)
Days occupied	23 years, 9 months, 18 days (20 August 2024)
No. of orbits	141,117 as of August 2023
Orbital decay	2 km/month
Statistics as of 22 December 2022 (unless noted otherwise) References:
Configuration
Station elements as of December 2022 (exploded view)

The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station assembled and maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada). The ISS is the largest space station ever built. Its primary purpose is to perform microgravity and space environment experiments.

Operationally, the station is divided into two sections: the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) assembled by Roscosmos, and the US Orbital Segment (USOS), assembled by NASA, JAXA, ESA and CSA. A striking feature of the ISS is the Integrated Truss Structure, which connects the large solar panels and radiators to the pressurized modules. The pressurized modules are specialized for research, habitation, storage, spacecraft control, and airlock functions. Visiting spacecraft dock at the station via its eight docking and berthing ports. The ISS maintains an orbit with an average altitude of 400 kilometres (250 mi) and circles the Earth in roughly 93 minutes, completing 15.5 orbits per day.