Since being founded in 1923, theWalt Disney Companyhas become one of the most well-known and powerful media conglomerates in the world. Walt Disney’s entertainment machine includes many moving parts, like its animation studio, its worldwide resorts and theme parks, and its various subsidiaries like Pixar, Marvel Entertainment, and Lucasfilm. But for many of us, Disney’s films feel like a decline from what we used to see from the House of Mouse. And that’s largely because the entertainment conglomerate has strayed from its founder’s original vision and ideas.
Walt Disney Favored Originality and Innovation
Say what you will about Walt Disney, but there’s no denying that the man was an innovator and a creative genius. He was always looking to produce original ideas and stories. And if the idea itself wasn’t original (like many of the fairy tales that he adapted to the silver screen), then Walt would at least look for a unique way to tell that story. It wasn’t just the movies he made; it washowWalt made those movies. He and his animators were always coming up with innovative techniques that most people in the 21st century could barely imagine.
Back in the 1920s, animations weren’t synchronized to sound. Since everything was hand-drawn and sound was a relatively new technology at the time, it seemed like an impossible task to draw a cartoon in such a way that it synced up perfectly with sound. Disney’s 1928 animated short film,the iconicSteamboat Willie,is one of the first fully synchronized sound cartoons. It’s also widely regarded as the public debut of Disney’s flagship character Mickey Mouse, whose tremendous popularity helped catapult Walt’s company to new heights.
“Disney’s Folly” Proves Naysayers Wrong
During this time, animation was featured primarily in short films likeSteamboat Willie. It wasn’t a medium to be taken seriously and was used mostly for comedic gags. People scoffed when Walt announced that he’d be making the first full-length, traditionally animated feature film:Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Everyone instead called it “Disney’s folly,” especially when news spread about the film’s recurring delays and overblown budget.
In the end, though,Snow Whitewas a tremendous hit. It proved that animation could be a serious and lucrative genre in filmmaking. And thanks to “Disney’s folly,” animation remains a staple of Hollywood, while other classic Hollywood genres, like the musical, have fallen largely by the wayside.
Walt Disney: The World’s Worst Boss
Before you assume that Walt Disney could unite the world, think again. He was the most despised man on his own studio lot.
The examples of Disney’s moviemaking magic don’t stop there.Fantasiais a one-of-a-kind, experimental, concert film that consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music. The sound system that Disney used to makeFantasiaserved as the precursor to surround sound. WithPinocchio,Disney and his animators invented an entirely new filmmaking technique: the multiplane technique, which used layers of animation to create the illusion of depth. Over the years, his studio produced several movies, most notablyMary Poppins,that blended live-action and animation, a technique that Disney experimented with even before makingSteamboat Willie.
Only One Sequel Was Produced While Walt Disney Was Alive
Between 1937 and Walt’s death in 1966, his film studio only made one theatrically released, live-action sequel (The Son of Flubber,the sequel toThe Absent-Minded Professor)and zero animated sequels. And there’s a reason for that. As a self-described “born experimenter,” Disney didn’t believe in sequels. He favored originality and creativityover expanding upon stories that had already been told. His studio stuck to this way of thinking in the years following Disney’s death. Their first theatrically released, animated sequel didn’t come until 1990’sThe Rescuers Down Under.
Sequels and Remakes Are Most of What Disney Produces Now
And now? Now Disney movies rarely boast original titles. The number of remakes and sequels that the studio’s produced since 1990 is nearly incalculable. Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, a franchise that was practically built from sequels, has dominated the film industry since 2008’sIron Man,changing the way that Hollywood makes movies. The bulk of their live-action films are nothing more than live-action adaptations of Disney’s own animated classics, a stark reminder of a bygone era.
Some of them, likethe Lion King,are lifeless carbon copies of the original movie, a shot-for-shot replica that brings nothing new to the table.Disney still produces original animated movies. But for every original story, it feels like we get two sequels; for everyWish,we get aMoana 2and aFrozen 3.Even Pixar, who used to focus on standalone animated films aside fromToy Story,has since opened the floodgates to sequels. Do we really need aToy Story 5?Especially when Pixar already had the perfect ending withToy Story 3.Disney films are sorely lacking the innovation and creativity that made them so special to begin with.
It Was About the Dream, Not the Money
There’s a reason why Disney and its current CEO, Bob Iger, are consuming every media franchise they can get their hands on and are pumping out sequel after sequel, reboot after reboot. Money. The goal of any film studio, of course, is to make money. But for Walt, it wasn’t just about money. It was about the vision, the dream. Dreams are the very essence of what makes Disney, well, Disney. It’s integrated into the company’s DNA. Even when it came to his theme parks, Walt didn’t charge an arm and a leg for park admission. He wanted his resorts to be affordable, so everyone could experience his dream.
Walt also had a notorious disregard for money. He often blew past budgets and relied on his brother Roy, the financial genius of the operation, to round up the cash that could fund his artistic endeavors and bring his dreams to life. Disney in 2024 shouldn’t make films with such reckless abandon. Obviously, Hollywood isn’t what it used to be; the film industry and its audiences have changed significantly since Walt’s time.
But the Disney of today feels more focused on making money than making dreams; more focused on expanding upon franchises with established fanbases, banking on nostalgia and fanfare to fill theater seats. Producerscangenerate cashflow while also making quality, original movies. The problem is, Disney has been struggling to do that lately.
10 Disney Sequels That Are As Good As The Original
These Disney sequels make us feel like kids again and remind us that old adventures can be just as rich and poignant when explored again.
Except forDeadpool & Wolverine,the last few Marvel films have been poorly received, partly because of superhero fatigue and partly because they just weren’t very good. Disney bought Lucasfilm and has since inundated us with mediocreStar Warscontent, beating the franchise to death. At this point, they’ve struck out more times than they’ve scored home runs, withthe recently canceledThe Acolytebeing their latest misfire in that galaxy far, far away.
If Disney makes original, quality products, audiences will come flocking.FrozenandEncantoare evidence of that. The House of Mouse needs to get back to its roots and remember what really built it. Not a man or a mouse, but a dream.
