Many films have been produced by the world’s most prominent and well-known animation studios. If you’re curious about the history of top animation studios and want to learn how to run your own studio in the future, this blog article is for you.
Walt Disney Animation Studios is based in Burbank, California, in the United States. The studio employs about 800 people.
The company employs both 2D and CG animation. Frozen has received the most awards, with 72. Frozen is also its highest-earning film, grossing $1.287 billion.
Walt Disney Animation Studios was established as a part of Walt Disney Studios, according to Bloop Animation. They intended to produce animated feature films, short films, and television specials. It was initially known as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, then as the Walt Disney Studio, then as Walt Disney Feature Animations in 1986, and ultimately as Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2006. At the same time, Disney formally bought Pixar Animation Studios.
The studio was established in 1923. Walt and Roy Disney began making Alice Comedies cartoons in which a live-action girl interacts with an animated universe.
According to Melissa Hauprich’s YouTube video on Disney’s brief history, Walt Disney invented a lovely and hilarious character named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in 1927. Disney made 26 animated films on him. Unfortunately, their distributor took away their character rights and animation crew.
Walt Disney was later able to create a new character. Perhaps you’ve heard of him: Mickey Mouse is his name. Disney produced some silent cartoons starring the mouse, but they were unsuccessful. Disney’s third Mickey Mouse cartoon, “Steamboat Willie,” was published in 1928 and is regarded as the first sync sound cartoon.
According to Bloop Animation’s page on the studio’s history, Pat Powers released Disney’s Silly Symphonies through Celebrity Productions in 1930. Powers and Disney had a financial disagreement, which prompted Disney to seek an alternative distributor and establish a contract with Columbia Pictures.
Walt Disney made a feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in 1937, which became a box-office success. It was the first vibrant picture in both English and Technicolor.
According to Bloop Animation, it became difficult to obtain equipment and resources during World War II. People didn’t have the money to go to the movies, so Walt Disney made animated military training and propaganda films for the United States Army.
In 1940, Disney released Bambi, Pinnochio, and Fantasia, all of which were flops at the box office. In her video, Hauprich states that many animators went on strike and left the firm owing to a strict hierarchy among animators. Animators with higher positions earned $300 per week in 1941, while those with lower ranks received just $12 per week.
They later created two live-action/animated hybrid films, Song of the South and So Dear To My Heart. In 1948, the company produced another feature-length animated picture, Cinderella, which was a success and had the most significant budget in Disney’s history.
Cinderella’s profits enabled the company to produce other films such as Alice in Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty, Lady and the Tramp, and Peter Pan. According to YouTube’s Imaginerds’ brief history of Disney animation, the style of Disney animation was created over the following three decades using xerox machines. The drawings were printed on cellulite sheets. This was used in The Jungle Book and 101 Dalmatians.
The studio’s leadership was handed down from Disney’s Nine Old Men to other animators. Aristocats, Robin Hood, Winnie the Pooh, and The Rescuers were all released during this period. They fared poorly at the box office.
To carry on the Disney heritage, the animators decided to develop an animated fairytale film, The Little Mermaid, in 1989. This marked the beginning of the Disney Renaissance, which lasted until the late 1990s and includes films such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan, and Tarzan.
According to Neva Guthrie’s film, Walt Disney’s ambition to develop a family theme park was fulfilled in 1955. He desired both parents and children have pleasure together. Walt intended to build a more extensive park after the success of Disneyland, so he acquired land in Florida. Disney died before Walt Disney World, a Florida entertainment park opened. His brother finished the park and named it in his honor. Disney now operates hundreds of theme parks, hotels, and resorts worldwide.
Dissatisfied with the development of films, Don Bluth and other Disney animators quit starting Don Bluth Productions in 1979. This caused specific film productions to be delayed, and Don Bluth and his crew became Walt Disney Studios’ main rival throughout the 1980s.
Pixar brought computer-generated imagery (CGI) to Disney when Bob Iger and John Lasseter became CEOs. Disney attempted to shift from hand-drawn cartoons to CGI, but they had a period of not-so-popular films.
Disney acquired Pixar in 2006 and proceeded to make other films utilizing computer-generated imagery (CGI), which they attempted to perfect. They created bolt, Princess and the Frog, Winnie the Pooh, Tangled, Frozen, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, Moana, and many more.
Top Walt Disney Animation Studios Lesson: Never let failure deter you from attempting to excel.
Despite the studio’s shifting income throughout World War II, Disney never ceased producing short films and feature pictures.
The company lost a lot of personnel and had financial difficulties. Still, the animation studio continuously changed, employing new technology and alternative methods to tell tales to rebound and win popularity, making films that people of all ages from all over the world have grown to enjoy.
