a history of the institution...how has it developed or changed...

History

Founding and early success (1922–1957)

• 1923: Walt signed a contract with M.J. Winkler to produce a series of Alice Comedies - October 16 - the date used as the start of the Disney company. Originally know as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, with brothers Walt and Roy Disney, as equal partners.
• 1924: First Alice Comedy "Alice's Day at Sea" released.
• 1926: At Roy's suggestion, the company changed its name to the Walt Disney Studio shortly after moving into the new studio on Hyperion Avenue in the Silver Lake district.
• 1927: The Alice series ends; first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon.
• 1928: Walt loses the Oswald series contract; first Mickey Mouse cartoon Steamboat Willie released at the Colony Theatre in New York, the first cartoon with sound on November 18.
• 1929: First Silly Symphony: The Skeleton Dance. On December 16, the original partnership formed in 1923 is replaced by Walt Disney Productions, Ltd. Three other companies, Walt Disney Enterprises, Disney Film Recording Company, and Liled Realty and Investment Company, are also formed.
• 1930: First appearance of Pluto.
• 1932: First three-strip Technicolor short released: Flowers and Trees; first appearance of Goofy.
• 1934: First appearance of Donald Duck.
• 1937: Studio produces its first full-length feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The film is also the first American animated feature film in history, and is the highest-grossing film of all time until 1939's Gone with the Wind.
• 1938: On September 29, Walt Disney Enterprises, Disney Film Recording Company, and Liled Realty and Investment Company are merged into Walt Disney Productions.
• 1940: Studio moves to the Burbank, California buildings where it is located to this day. Release of animated features Pinocchio, the first animated film to win both Best Original Score and Best Song Academy Awards, and Fantasia, the world's first film to be recorded in stereophonic sound ("Fantasound").
• 1941: A bitter animators' strike occurs; as the USA enters World War II, the studio begins making morale-boosting propaganda films for the government.
• 1942: Saludos Amigos marks the beginning of a series of low-budget "package" animated films that would continue until 1950. Bambi is also released, after a six-year production period.
• 1944: The company is short on cash; a theatrical re-release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs generates much-needed revenue and begins a reissue pattern for the animated feature films.
• 1945: For the first time, the studio hires live actors for a feature film (Song of the South).
• 1949: The studio begins production on its first all-live action feature, Treasure Island; the popular True-Life Adventures series begins.
• 1950: Cinderella is released, ending the series of "package" animated films and reviving Disney feature animation.
• 1952: Walt Disney forms WED Enterprises on December 16 to design his theme park.
• 1953: Walt Disney forms Retlaw Enterprises on April 6 to control the rights to his name. It will later own and operate several attractions inside Disneyland, including the MonorailDisneyland Railroad. and the
• 1954: The studio founds Buena Vista Distribution to distribute its feature films; beginning of the Disneyland TV program, which runs for decades under several different titles. Disney becomes one of the first American theatrical TV producers to show his recent films on television, although most of them are first shown in truncated versions to fit a one-hour time slot. Others are divided into two or more one-hour segments over several weeks, so that they can be shown on Disney's TV show.
• 1955: Disneyland Resort opens in Anaheim, California. Lady and the Tramp, the first animated film in history to be shot in widescreen, is released
• 1957: Walt Disney Productions went public on November 12.

[edit] After Walt's death

• 1967: Construction begins on Walt Disney World Resort; the underlying governmental structure (see Reedy Creek Improvement District) is signed into law. The Jungle Book, the last animated film involved with Walt Disney himself, is released.
• 1971: The Walt Disney World Resort opens in Orlando, Florida; Roy Oliver Disney dies; Donn Tatum becomes chairman and Card Walker becomes president.
• 1976: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954 film) becomes the first movie made by the studio to be shown on TV complete in one evening, as opposed to the way the Disney films were divided into weekly segments on his television show.
• 1977: Roy Edward Disney, son of Roy and nephew of Walt, resigns from the company citing a decline in overall product quality and issues with management.
• 1978: The studio licenses several minor titles to MCA Discovision for laserdisc release; only TV compilations of cartoons ever see the light of day through this deal.
• 1979: Don Bluth and a number of his allies leave the animation division; the studio releases its first PG-rated films, Take Down and The Black Hole.
• 1980: Tom Wilhite becomes head of the film division with the intent of modernizing studio product; a home video division is created.
• 1981: Plans for a cable network are announced. Dumbo hits the shelves for video retail, making it the first animated Disney feature available on video.
• 1982: EPCOT Center opens at Walt Disney World Resort; Walt Disney's son-in-law Ron W. Miller succeeds Card Walker as CEO.
• 1983: As the anthology series is canceled, Disney Channel begins operation on US cable systems. Tom Wilhite resigns his post as head of the film division. Tokyo Disneyland opens in Japan.

[edit] Eisner era (1984–2005)

• 1984: Touchstone Films is created after the studio narrowly escapes a buyout attempt by Saul Steinberg, and releases their first film Splash. Roy Edward Disney and his business partner, Stanley Gold, remove Ron W. Miller as CEO and president, replacing him with Michael Eisner and Frank Wells. The Walt Disney Classics and Masterpiece video collection starts up.
• 1985: The studio begins making cartoons for television beginning with Adventures of the Gummi Bears and The Wuzzles. The Black Cauldron, the studio's first PG-rated animated film, is released, but is a box office failure. The home video release of Pinocchio becomes a best-seller.
• 1986: The company's name is changed on February 6 from Walt Disney Productions to The Walt Disney Company. Disney's first R-rated film, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, is released under the Touchstone banner.
• 1987: The company and the French government sign an agreement for the creation of the first Disney Resort in Europe: the Euro Disney project starts. The company opens up a Hall of Fame with Fred MacMurray as the first induction.
• 1989: Disney offers a deal to buy Jim Henson's Muppets and have the famed puppeteer work with Disney resources; the Disney-MGM Studios open at Walt Disney World; The Little Mermaid sparks a Disney animation renaissance.
• 1990: Jim Henson's death sours the deal to buy his holdings; the anthology series is canceled for the second time.
• 1991: Beauty and the Beast is released, becoming the first animated film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
• 1992: The controversial Euro Disney Resort opens outside Paris, France. Aladdin is released for the first time ever and becomes the animated movie with the most Golden Globe nominations, as well as the only traditionally animated movie to be nominated for the MTV Movie Award for best picture.
• 1992: The Disney Company is granted permission for a National Hockey League expansion franchise. The team is named the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim to coincide with the release of The Mighty Ducks.
• 1993: Disney acquires independent film distributor Miramax Films; Winnie the PoohMickey Mouse merchandise for the first time; the policy of periodic theatrical re-issues ends with this year's re-issue of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs merchandise outsells but is augmented for video.
• 1994: Frank Wells is killed in a helicopter crash. Jeffrey Katzenberg resigns to co-found his own studio, DreamWorks SKG. Plans for Disney's America, a historical theme park in Haymarket, Virginia, are abruptly dropped. No explanation is given, and Disney announces a search for an alternate location. Euro Disneyland is renamed Disneyland Paris. The Lion King, the highest-grossing traditionally animated film in history (unadjusted for inflation), is released.
• 1995: In October, the company hires Hollywood super agent, Michael Ovitz, to be president. The world's first computer animated feature film Toy Story, produced by Pixar Animation Studios, is released by Disney, and becomes the year's top-grossing film.
• 1996: The company takes on the Disney Enterprises name and acquires the Capital Cities/ABC group, renaming it ABC, Inc. To celebrate the pairing, ABC's first Super Soap Weekend is held at Walt Disney World. Disney makes deal with Tokuma Shoten for dubbing and releasing of Studio Ghibli films in the U.S. In December, Michael Ovitz, president of the company, leaves "by mutual consent."
• 1997: The anthology series is revived again; the home video division releases its first DVDs. The Southern Baptist Convention votes to boycott The Walt Disney Company over opposition to the latter offering equal health and other benefits to gays and lesbians, as well as Disney allowing outside organizers to have "Gay and Lesbian Days" at Walt Disney World. Disney ignored the boycott, which failed and was withdrawn by the SBC on June 22, 2005.^[2]
• 1998: Disney's Animal Kingdom opens at Walt Disney World. Kiki's Delivery Service, the first Studio Ghibli film under the Disney/Ghibli deal, is released on video.
• 2000: Disney-owned TV channels are pulled from Time Warner Cable briefly during a dispute over carriage fees; Robert Iger becomes president. Disney begins their Gold Classic Collection and Platinum Edition DVD line, replacing their Classic and Masterpiece Collection series.
• 2001: Disney's California Adventure and Tokyo DisneySea open to the public; Disney begins releasing Walt Disney Treasures DVD box sets for the collector's market. Disney buys Fox Family for $3 billion in July, giving Disney programming and cable network reaching 81 million homes.
• 2001: Fort Worth billionaire Sid Bass is forced to sell his Disney holdings due to a margin call caused partially by the stockmarket fall that followed the 9/11 attacks. Bass didn't own his shares outright but had bought them on margin was unknown and a shock when it was revealed. Losing Bass is a blow to Eisner - Bass had been a major backer of Eisner and he had recruited Eisner to Disney.
• 2002: Walt Disney Studios open near Disneyland Paris (renamed Disneyland Park). The entire area is now called Disneyland Resort Paris. Disney finishes negotiations to acquire Saban Entertainment, owner of children's entertainment juggernaut Power Rangers. Subsidiary Miramax acquires the USA rights to the Pokémon movies starting with the fourth movie.
• 2002: Disney teams up with famous video game company Squaresoft (later known as Square-Enix) to release their first ever role-playing game with various Disney characters, Kingdom Hearts. Disney begins joint venture business with Sanrio for Sanrio's greeting cards.
• 2002: Disney's movie Treasure Planet is released in theaters.
• 2003: Roy E. Disney resigns as the chairman of Feature Animation and from the board of directors, citing similar reasons to those that drove him off 26 years earlier; fellow director Stanley Gold resigns with him; they establish "SaveDisney" to apply public pressure to oust Michael Eisner. Pixar computer animated film Finding Nemo is released by Disney, becoming the highest-grossing animated film in history until 2004's DreamWorks film Shrek 2. Live-action film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is released, becoming the first film released under the Disney label with a PG-13 rating.
• 2004: Comcast makes an unsuccessful hostile bid for the company. CEO Michael Eisner is replaced by George J. Mitchell as chairman of the board after a 43% vote of no confidence. Disney turns down distributing controversial documentary film Fahrenheit 9/11, which ends up making $100 million. On February 17, Disney buys the Muppets (excluding the Sesame Street characters).
• 2005: On July 8 Roy E. Disney rejoins the company as a consultant with the title of Director Emeritus.
• 2005: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is released in the US breaking many box office records. The film King Kong was also released the same weekend.
• 2005: Disneyland celebrates its 50th anniversary on July 17. Hong Kong DisneylandSeptember 12. officially opens on

[edit] Iger era (2005–Present)

• 2005: Bob Iger replaces Michael Eisner as CEO on October 1. Also on October 1, MiramaxBob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein left the company to form their own studio. co-founders
• 2006: The Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical airs on January 20.Becomes most successful movie at its time with 7.7 million viewers in its premiere broadcast in the US. Soundtrack was released on January 10, 2006 and was the best selling album of 2006, selling 6,469 copies in its first week and climbed to #1 on the Billboard album chart in early March and again in late March of 2006.
• 2006: On January 23, Disney announces a deal to purchase Pixar Animation Studios in an all-stock transaction worth $7.4 billion. The deal is finalized on May 5. In the process, former Pixar CEO, and current Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs, becomes the single largest individual Disney shareholder, holding 7% of outstanding shares. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is released, breaking multiple box office records, including highest-grossing opening day and opening weekend. The film also becomes the third film in motion picture history to gross over US$1 billion, when unadjusted for inflation.
• 2006: Disney sets record for number of people to visit its parks. A record 112 million people visited Disney parks in 2006.
• 2006: Disney reacquires the rights to the Walt Disney-era Oswald the Lucky Rabbit films from NBC Universal.
• 2006: Disney releases the Cars computer animated movie by Pixar on June 9.
• 2007: Disney released their first non-movie or TV show related media – Spectrobes, a video game for the Nintendo DS.
• 2007: The revival of the Disney/Amblin Entertainment partnership and the Roger RabbitDisney/MGM Studios area, a Roger Rabbit sequel, and more. franchise which may lead to new theme park appearances, new theme park rides for the
• 2007: The Walt Disney Company Buys Supermarket Sweep.
• 2007: The Walt Disney Company Partners With Club Penguin
• 2007: The Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical 2 airs on August 17. The film set a new basic cable record upon its premiere, with a total of 17.24 million viewers tuning in, almost 10 million more than the debut of High School Musical. This made it the highest-rated basic cable broadcast of all time.