DreamWorks, LLC, also known as DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks SKG, or DreamWorks Studios is a major American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games, and television programming. It has produced or distributed more than ten films with box-office grosses totalling more than $100 million each. Its most successful title to date is Shrek 2.

　　It began as an ambitious attempt by media moguls Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen to create a new Hollywood studio, but in December 2005, the founders agreed to sell the studio to Viacom, the parent company of Paramount Pictures. The sale was completed in February 2006. DreamWorks' animation arm was spun-off in 2004, into DreamWorks Animation SKG, as such it will remain independent of Paramount/Viacom, however its films will be distributed worldwide by Paramount. In 2007, the winner of the reality film competition On the Lot will win a million-dollar development deal with DreamWorks.

Overview

　　The company was founded following Katzenberg's forced resignation from The Walt Disney Company in 1994. At the suggestion of Spielberg's friend, the two made an agreement with long-time Katzenberg collaborator Geffen to start their own studio. The studio was officially founded on October 12, 1994 with financial backing of $33 million from each of the three main partners and $500 million from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

　　The first feature length DreamWorks film to be released was The Peacemaker, in 1997, although a failed TV pilot called Dear Diary was put into limited theatrical release in 1996. It went on to win an Oscar for Best Short Film.

　　In 1999, 2000 and 2001, DreamWorks won three consecutive best picture Oscars for American Beauty, Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind (the latter two with Universal).

　　DreamWorks Records, the company's record label (the first project of which was George Michael's Older), never lived up to expectations, and was sold in October 2003 to Universal Music Group, which operated the label as DreamWorks Nashville. That label was shut down in 2005 when its flagship artist, Toby Keith, departed to form his own label.

　　The studio has had its greatest financial success with movies, specifically animated movies. DreamWorks Animation teamed up with Pacific Data Images (now known as PDI/DreamWorks) in 1996 to create some of the highest grossing animated hits of all time, such as Antz (1998), Shrek (2001), its sequel Shrek 2 (2004), Shark Tale (2004), Madagascar (2005), Over the Hedge (2006), and Flushed Away (2006). Based on their success, DreamWorks Animation has spun off as its own publicly traded company. In fact, PDI/DreamWorks has emerged as the main competitor to Pixar in the age of computer-generated animation, and is based in Redwood City, California.

　　In recent years DreamWorks has scaled back. It stopped plans to build a high-tech studio, sold its music division, and only produces one television series, Las Vegas.

　　In December 2005, Viacom's Paramount Pictures agreed to purchase the live-action studio. The deal is valued at approximately $1.6 billion, an amount that includes about $400 million in debt assumptions. The company completed its acquisition on February 1, 2006.

　　On March 17, 2006 Paramount agreed to sell the DreamWorks live-action library (through September 17, 2005) to a group led by George Soros for $900 million. Paramount will retain distribution rights, as well as various auxiliary rights, including music publishing, sequels, and merchandising -- this includes films that had been made by Paramount and DreamWorks, so now Paramount will have worldwide distribution rights to these films. The sale was completed on May 8, 2006.

http://www.dreamworks.com/

　　The founder of Universal, Carl Laemmle, was a German Jewish immigrant who settled in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he managed a clothing store. On a 1905 buying trip to Chicago, he was struck by the popularity of nickelodeons. One story has Laemmle watching a box office for hours, counting patrons and calculating the take for the day. Within weeks of his Chicago trip, he gave up dry goods to buy the first of several nickelodeons. For Laemmle and other such entrepreneurs, the creation in 1908 of the Edison-backed Motion Picture Trust meant that exhibitors were expected to pay fees for any Trust-produced film they showed. On the basis of Edison's patent on the electric motor used in cameras and projectors, along with other patents, the Trust collected fees on all aspects of movie production and exhibition, and also held a monopoly on distribution.

　　Soon Laemmle and other disgruntled nickelodeon owners decided to avoid paying Edison by producing their own pictures. In June 1909, Laemmle started the Yankee Film Company with partners Abe and Julius Stern. That company quickly evolved into the Independent Moving Picture Company, or IMP. Laemmle broke with Edison's custom of refusing credit to actors. By naming the stars of films, he was able to attract many of the leading players of the time, and contributed to the creation of the star system. Most notably, in 1910, he actively promoted Florence Lawrence, then known as the "Biograph girl", in what may be the first instance of a studio using a film star in its marketing.

　　On June 8, 1912, Laemmle merged IMP with eight smaller companies to form the Universal Film Manufacturing Company, introducing the word "universal" into the organization's name. Laemmle was the primary figure in a partnership that included Mark Dintinfass, Charles Baumann, Adam Kessel, and Pat Powers. Eventually all would be bought out by Laemmle. The new studio was a horizontally integrated company, with both movie production and distribution capacity (though the company lacked a major circuit of exhibtion venues, ownership of which would become a central element of film industry integration in the following decade). The name was later changed to Universal Pictures Company, Inc.

　　Following the westward trend of the industry, by the end of 1912 the company was focusing its production efforts in the Hollywood area. In 1915, Laemmle opened the world's largest motion picture production facility, Universal City Studios, on a 230-acre (0.9-km²) converted farm just over the Cahuenga Pass from Hollywood. Studio management now became the third facet of Universal's operations, with the studio incorporated as a distinct subsidiary organization. Unlike other movie moguls, Laemmle opened his studio to tourists. Universal became the biggest studio in Hollywood, and remained so for a decade. However, it sought an audience mostly in small towns, producing mostly melodramas, cheap westerns, and serials.

　　Despite Laemmle's role as an innovator, he was an extremely cautious studio chief. Unlike rivals Adolph Zukor, William Fox, and Marcus Loew, Laemmle chose not to develop a theater chain. He also financed all of his own films, refusing to take on debt. By 1925, Universal had lost its role as the biggest studio to MGM. This was in part due to the talents of a former Universal producer, Irving Thalberg, who left after MGM offered him more money. By the end of the 1920s, Universal was a second-tier studio and would remain so for several decades.

　　In 1926, Universal also opened a production unit in Germany, Deutsche Universal-Film AG, under the direction of Joe Pasternak. This unit produced 3 to 4 films per year until 1936, migrating to Hungary and then Austria in the face of Hitler's increasing domination of central Europe. With the advent of sound, these productions were made in the German language or, occasionally, Hungarian or Polish. In the U.S., Universal Pictures did not distribute any of this subsidiary's films, but at least some of them were exhibited through other, independent, foreign-language film distributors based in New York, without benefit of English subtitles. Nazi persecution and a change in ownership for the parent Universal Pictures organization resulted in the dissolution of this subsidiary.

　　Universal, like any other major movie studio, owns a considerable library. It owns almost every feature and short produced by the company, as well as almost all TV shows Revue/Universal made. In addition, Universal owns almost all of the pre-1950 sound features originally made by Paramount Pictures—these films came under Universal ownership when MCA purchased the films in 1957 via its in-name only division EMKA, Ltd. (This library also includes the 1948 MGM film State of the Union, which was acquired by Paramount after its purchase of Liberty Films), as well as a few Alfred Hitchcock features originally released by Paramount.

　　The company owns the libraries of Focus Features' ancestors USA Films, October Films, and the 1996-1999 films by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (MGM owns most of the pre-1996 PolyGram library, though Universal owns a few films from that era as well) and its subsidiaries, as well as (through parent NBC Universal) much of the post-1973 NBC library of shows and made-for-TV movies.

　　It also owns several films made by others, including some pre-1952 United Artists material, an Alfred Hitchcock feature originally released by Warner Bros. - Rope, and the UK rights to most of the RKO Pictures library.

http://www.universalstudios.com/

　　The company is the result of a 1935 merger of two entities, Fox Film Corporation founded by William Fox in 1915, and Twentieth Century Pictures, begun in 1933 by Darryl F. Zanuck, Joseph Schenck, Raymond Griffith and William Goetz. William Fox, a pioneer in creating the theater "chain", began producing films in 1914. In 1917 he introduced Theda Bara, one of the most popular screen actresses of the time. Always more of an entrepreneur than a showman, Fox concentrated on acquiring and building theaters; pictures were secondary. With the introduction of sound Fox acquired the rights to a German sound-on-film process which he dubbed "Movietone" and in 1926 began offering films with a music-and- effects track. The following year he began the weekly "Fox Movietone News" feature, which ran until 1963. The growing company needed space, and in 1926 Fox acquired three-hundred acres in the open country west of Beverly Hills and built "Movietone City", the best-equipped studio of its time.

　　When rival Marcus Loew died in 1927, Fox offered to buy the Loew family's holdings; Loew's Inc. controlled more than two-hundred theaters as well as the MGM studio (whose films are currently distributed internationally by Fox -- see below). When the family agreed to the sale, the merger of Fox and Loew's Inc. was announced in 1929. But MGM studio-boss Louis B. Mayer, not included in the deal, fought back; using political connections, he called on the Justice Department's anti-trust unit to block the merger. Fate favoured Mayer; Fox was badly injured in a car crash and by the time he recovered the 1929 stock market crash had taken most of his fortune, putting an end to the Loew's merger.

　　Over-extended and close to bankruptcy, Fox was stripped of his empire and even ended up in jail. Fox Film, with more than five-hundred theatres, was placed in receivership; a bank-mandated reorganisation propped the company up for a time, but it was clear a merger was the only way Fox Film could survive.

Twentieth Century Pictures foundation

　　Twentieth Century Pictures was an independent Hollywood motion picture production company created in 1932 by Joseph Schenck, the former president of United Artists, Darryl F. Zanuck from Warner Brothers, William Goetz from Fox Films, and Raymond Griffith. Financial backing came from Schenck's older brother Nicholas Schenck and the father-in-law of Goetz, Louis B. Mayer, the head of MGM Studios. Company product was distributed by United Artists, and was filmed at various studios.

　　Zanuck was named president and Goetz served as vice-president. Successful from the very beginning, their 1934 production, The House of Rothschild was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. In 1935, they produced the classic film Les Miserables, from Victor Hugo's novel, which was also nominated for Best Picture. That same year, they merged with the financially strapped Fox Film Corporation to create 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. which eventually dropped the hyphen in 1985, around the same time the studio was taken over by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

http://www.foxstudios.com/

The "Columbia Lady" who has worn her toga and held her torch high for most of Columbia Pictures' seventy-five year history, has a history of her own, although the facts get a little fuzzy in places and are completely missing in others.

The logo first appeared in 1924, and though multiple models have come forward over the years and claimed to have posed as the original lady, Columbia Pictures themselves (now owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment) says they have no records or documentation to verify any of the claims.

In Bette Davis' 1962 autobiography The Lonely Life, she makes a passing reference to "Little Claudia Dell", an actress from the 1930s and early '40s, "whose image," Bette remarks, "was used as Columbia Pictures' signature for years." But there are others. In 1987, People Magazine reported that a Texas-born model and Columbia bit-player named Amelia Batchler had modeled for the logo in 1933. And a February 2001 article in the Chicago Sun-Times reported claims by a local woman named Jane Bartholomew, who worked as an extra at Columbia in the 1930s, that she was the model for the version of the logo that appeared late in that decade. Given the many incarnations of the woman in the logo over the years, it is even possible that all three of these women posed as Miss Liberty at some point, each for a different version of the image.

The Columbia Lady introducing IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934).

The logo as it appears at the beginning of IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) is without clouds. The lady is featured with a dark bob and a kind of Cleopatra-like headdress across her forehead, standing (no feet or pedestal visible) under an arch of chiseled though square-shaped letters reading "A Columbia Production". She is draped in an American flag complete with the stars on her left shoulder and the stripes coming across her middle, supported by her left arm, and hanging down her right side. Her torch is displayed with a rather primitive, flickering style of animation emitting lines of light as rays.

The Columbia Lady introducing MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939).

By the opening of MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON in 1939 however, the woman with the torch appeared completely different. Much more refined, ethereal and goddess-like, her facial features became less pronounced and she looked away (up and to the right) instead of straight ahead. Her headdress was removed and her hair swept back instead of hanging by the sides of her face. The drape over her shoulder became somewhat less-obviously an American flag, the stars on the left shoulder having been toned down in a shadow, and the stripes visible only on the portion of the drape hanging down her right side. "A Columbia Production" was replaced with the tall chiseled letters of "Columbia" running straight across the top section of the screen, with the lady's torch glowing in front of the "U" and clouds appearing for the first time in the background. A new form of animation was used on the logo as well, with a torch that radiates light instead of flickers.

The Columbia lady as she appeared before THE GUNS OF NAVARONE (1961).

In 1941 the logo underwent another makeover. As the new logo appeared to introduce ALL THE KING'S MEN (1949), the lady looked much as she had in 1939, only the stripes were removed, and the flag became simply a drape without markings, dark on the left shoulder but only the shadows of the folds differentiating the rest of it from the lady's white gown on her right side. The "Columbia" lettering was also modified in 1941, still chiseled but less bold, and with darker shadowing.

Sometime in the 1950s, the Columbia Lady's robe was redrawn and shaded so as to emphasize the plunging neckline. By the end of the 1960s she had lost her slipper-clad foot peeking out from the bottom of her robe as it divided just above the pedestal. Also in the 1960s, the clouds behind the logo became concentrated in the center and more billowy in shape.

In 1975 the Columbia Lady was dropped from the logo altogether and replaced with a simple sunburst representing the beams from her torch. She returned in 1989 however, smoother in appearance and with much less detail. "Columbia" became "Columbia Pictures" on either side of the base of her pedestal, and in a less conspicuous rounded font. Some even described the lady's smoother body shape as resembling a Coke bottle. (Coca-Cola had bought the studio in 1982.)

The 1993 logo designed by Michael J. Deas.

The logo's most recent overhaul was undertaken in 1993 when Sony Pictures Entertainment (which bought Columbia in 1989) commissioned illustrator Michael J. Deas to redesign the lady and return her to her "classic" look. The result, based on Deas' sessions with Mandeville, Louisiana homemaker Jenny Joseph who posed for him with a makeshift robe and torch, was a taller, slimmer Columbia Lady with lighter, curlier hair and a dimmer torch. Rather than use Joseph's face however, Deas constructed a composite face made up of several computer-generated features.

Deas returned the giant chiseled letters to the logo, but the design was also updated for the 1990s. In the animated logo that appears before Columbia films on the big screen, the torch sparkles, the background clouds move across the sky, and a ring of light shimmers around the lady.

© 2001 Reel Classics, L.L.C.

Paramount Pictures began its operations in 1912 as the Famous Players Film Company, and was founded by Adolph Zukor (1873-1976). Adolph Zukor was born in in Austria-Hungary and came to New York when he was 15 years old. He started in the fur business in Chicago where he entered the new film entertainment business by buying a nickelodeon in 1903. Two years later, Zukor had a business partner named Marcus Loew. Shortly thereafter, Zukor became the treasurer for Loew's growing chain of movie theaters.

With profits from a film distribution deal, Zukor branched out on his own to found the Famous Players studio. It was Zukor who then hired Famous Players' key to success, a young actress named Mary Pickford. She was soon known as "America's Sweetheart." In 1916 Famous Players merged with Jesse L. Lasky's Feature Play Company to form Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. (Lasky's partners were Samuel Goldfish [later Goldwyn] and Cecil B. DeMille.) After several more name changes, mergers, management shuffles, and a bankruptcy, the newly reorganized Paramount Pictures, Inc. emerged in 1935. In the 1930s and '40s, Paramount was known for its big stars: Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Ray Milland, Marlene Dietrich, Maurice Chevalier, and the Marx brothers.

Paramount became involved with anti trust problems began when the Federal Trade Commission investigated block booking in 1921. In a complaint filed on August 30 of that year, the FTC charged Famous Players-Lasky with restraint of trade by forcing exhibitors to buy unwanted films. Though the case focused on block booking, the investigation also brought studio-ownership of theaters under fire, and accused Famous Players-Lasky of using theater acquisition to intimidate exhibitors into block booking arrangements for Paramount movies.

After 17,000 pages of testimony and 15,000 pages of exhibits, the FTC concluded in 1927 that block booking was indeed an unfair trade practice. The case Federal Trade Commission v. Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, et al resulted in a cease and desist order for block booking on July 9, 1927, as well as a demand for reform on Paramount theater purchasing. The three respondents —Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, Adolph Zukor, and Jesse L. Lasky— were given 60 days to comply with the findings.

Paramount debuted its wide-screen VistaVision in 1954 to compete with Fox's CinemaScope. The 1950s were good to Paramount. Popular stars and well-known directors made the Paramount logo very familiar to moviegoers. The studio became a subsidiary of the Gulf + Western conglomerate in 1966. A bitter takeover struggle between QVC and Viacom in 1993 ended with Paramount becoming part of the Viacom Corporation.



Paramount Landmarks

1912 - Adolph Zukor founds the Famous Players Film Company.

1914 - First feature film made in Hollywood, The Squaw Man by Paramount precursor Feature Play Co.

1916 - Zukor becomes president of the Famous Players-Lasky Corp. merger.

1927 - New company name is Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation.

1930 - Name change: Paramount Publix Corporation.

1935 - Paramount Publix Corp. goes bankrupt. Reorganized as Paramount Pictures, Inc. under Adolph Zukor.

1940s & '50s - Prestigious reputation with directors DeMille, Hitchcock, Sturges, Wilder, and Wyler.

1970s - Big hits with "Grease" and "Saturday Night Fever."

1976 - Adolph Zukor dies at age 103.

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Company Perspectives:

Lions Gate is an ideal platform for launching rapid and exciting growth in the independent filmed entertainment world. We are a nimble and entrepreneurial young company that will opportunistically target and consolidate fresh assets, grow our core businesses and become the first new independent mini-major in years. Instead of competing directly with the major studios, we intend to capitalize on the competitive vacuum in the mini-major arena by creating edgy, provocative and distinctively independent content in our films, television programming and new media initiatives.

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Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a leading independent film and television production company based in Canada. Lions Gate has a number of subsidiaries located in both Canada and the United States, and the company is also a partner in several other ventures. Subsidiaries include Lions Gate Films, which produces and distributes motion pictures, Lions Gate Studios, the largest film and television production facility in Canada, Lions Gate Television, which makes TV series and movies, and Avalanche Films, a video distribution company. Lions Gate also has stakes in Peter Guber's Mandalay Pictures, a producer of theatrical films for release through Paramount, Cine-Groupe, which produces animated television programs, and Sterling Home Entertainment, a video distributor. Lions Gate continues to grow by making acquisitions, including video company Trimark Holdings, which it purchased in 2000. The company's founder, Frank Giustra, stepped down as CEO in June of that year and his place was taken by former Sony Pictures executive Jon Feltheimer.

The Masters Of Warner Bros. Animation worked in a run-down back lot building known as 'Termite Terrace'. Warner Bros. emerged by the 1940's as the dominant studio in animated short subjects, a result of the extraordinary talent of the directors, animators, voice talents, writers and musical direction of their production units.

Tex Avery

Fred "Tex" Avery joined the Leon Schlesinger studio as a director in 1935. Leaning away from imitation Disney cartoons every other studio in Hollywood was producing, Avery made fun of animated cartoon traditions, lampooning fairy tales and creating off-beat wise guy characters. Avery introduced Daffy Duck in 1937, and directed 'A Wild Hare' in 1940, the cartoon which crystallized the personality of Bugs Bunny. Though he left the studio in 1942, his wacky attitude continued to be an inspiration to Warner Bros. animators for years to come.

Mel Blanc

The voice of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, actor Mel Blanc performed all of the classic Warner Bros. characters from 1937 until his death in 1989. Signed to an exclusive contract in 1941, Blanc's amazing voice characterizations also included Foghorn Leghorn, Pepe Le Pew, Marvin The Martian, Tweety, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, and the Tasmanian Devil.

Bob Clampett

Bob Clampett's reputation for directing the zaniest cartoons during the golden age of animation is legendary. Beginning as an artist on the earliest Merrie Melodies cartoons, Clampett moved through the ranks to become a top animator in 1934 and a director in 1937. Instrumental in the development of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, Clampett created many mainstay characters such as Tweety, Beaky Buzzard, Gremlins, and the Do-Do.

Friz Freleng

Isadore "Friz" Freleng began his career in animation for Walt Disney in the 1920's and joined Warner Bros. in 1930, receiving screen credit on their very first cartoon 'Sinkin' In The Bathtub'. Though he specialized in musical cartoons like 'The Three Little Bops' and 'Rhapsody In Rivets', Friz created characters like Porky Pig and Yosemite Sam, and was instrumental in developing the personalities of Daffy Duck, Speedy Gonzalez, and Tweety & Sylvester. Freleng's cartoons have won a total of four Academy Awards®, including Bugs Bunny's Oscar-winner, 'Knighty Knight Bugs'.

Chuck Jones

Jones began his career in the early 1930's as a cel washer at Ub Iwerks studio. Advancing to animator at Warner Bros., under the direction of Tex Avery, Jones worked on the earliest Porky Pig cartoons. Promoted to Director in 1938, Jones was instrumental in developing Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, and Daffy Duck as well as setting the fast-paced tone of Warner Bros. cartoons in general. Among his other creations, Jones is well-known for the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Pepe Le Pew, Michigan J. Frog and Marvin The Martian. More about Chuck Jones.

Robert McKimson

As the creator of the Tasmanian Devil, Foghorn Leghorn and Hippety Hopper, Robert McKimson was one of the chief wizards behind the classic Warner Bros. cartoons. During his career, McKimson earned praise as one of the studio's best animators and character designers, and he piloted many of your favorite cartoons starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Speedy Gonzalez and Sylvester.

Carl Stalling

The musical soundtracks of Carl W. Stalling have become almost as famous as the Warner Bros. cartoons themselves. Stalling composed music for Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks before joining Warner Bros. in 1937, where he remained until his retirement in 1957. His scores combined popular songs, obscure tunes (most notably from Raymond Scott), classical music, and his own original compositions into abstract, fast-paced arrangements which perfectly fit the zany moods of the cartoons.

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The monarch of this magic kingdom is no man but a mouse -- Mickey Mouse. The Walt Disney Company is the world's #2 media conglomerate (behind Time Warner) with assets encompassing movies, music, publishing, radio, television, and theme parks. Its media networks include the ABC television network and 10 broadcast stations, as well as a portfolio of cable networks, including ABC Family, A&E Television Networks (37%-owned), and ESPN (80%). Its Walt Disney Studios produces films through such imprints as Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone, Pixar, and Miramax. In addition, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts is one of the top theme park operators in the world, anchored by its popular Walt Disney World and Disneyland resorts.

1900s

1901 - Walter E. Disney is born

1920s

1928 - Mickey Mouse is featured for the first time in the short animated film, Steamboat Willie

1929 - Walt Disney Productions formed

1930s

1937 - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is released. It is Disney's first full length animated film

1940s

1940 - Walt Disney Productions offers stock as the company goes public to help lower debt. The company also moves its operations from Hollywood to Burbank, CA.

1941 - Disney animation workers go out on strike for five months. Deal to return back to work is finally brokered by federal mediators

1943 - The American Broadcast Company network is formed after the FCC rules that NBC must sell one of its two radio networks. The NBC Blue network is sold to Edward J. Noble for $8 million. Noble made his money as the creator of Lifesavers candy.

1945 - Walt's brother, Roy, becomes president of company

1947 - Walt Disney testifies in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities

1950s

1951 - Leonard Goldstein and United Paramount Theaters buy ABC for $25 million

1953 - Buena Vista Distribution Company is formed to act as Disney film distributor

1954 - Disneyland, the first weekly television series from the studio debuts on ABC

1955 - Disneyland opens in Anaheim, CA at a cost of $17 million. The ABC television network is partial investor in Disneyland. The Mickey Mouse Club airs on ABC for the first time. Howard Hughes offers to sell Disney the RKO studio but Walt and Roy decline the deal

1960s

1960 - Disney buys out ABC's remaining financial interest in Disneyland

1966 - Walt Disney dies from lung cancer

1970s

1970 - Monday Night Football debuts

1971 - Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, FL.

1979 - ESPN is launched

1980s

1983 - Tokyo Disneyland opens. The Disney Channel makes its debut on cable television

1984 - Michael Eisner becomes the new CEO for Walt Disney Productions. ABC in a deal with Getty Oil acquires ESPN. ABC sells 20% of the sports cable network to Nabisco who in turn later deals the stake to Hearst

1986 - Company changes name from Walt Disney Productions to the Walt Disney Company. Capital Cities Communication, a large broadcasting group, acquires the ABC television network for 3.5 $billion.

1987 - ESPN is awarded the National Football League's first cable broadcasting deal

1990s

1992 - Disney is awarded a National Hockey League expansion team to be called The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim make their league debut. ESPN Radio is launched

1993 - Disney acquires Miramax Films

1995 - Disney announces its intent to purchase Capital Cities/ABC for $19 billion. The deal is the largest media merger in history to the point and the second largest sum of money ever paid for a U.S. company

1996 - Capital Cities/ABC officially becomes part of the Disney Company. Disney.com is launched. Disney gains ownership stake in Major League Baseball's California Angels. Team later changes its name to the Anaheim Angels. Radio Disney is launched

1997 - Knight Ridder purchases Disney's four newspapers (Kansas City Star, Forth Worth Star-Telegram, Wilkes Barre Times Leader, Belleville News-Democrat) for $1.65 billion

1998 - ESPN The Magazine is launched

1999 - Fairchild Publications is sold to Advance Publications. The magazine chains includes such titles as W, Jane, and Women's Wear Daily

2000 - Present

2000 - Robert Iger becomes president and COO

2001 - News Corp. sells Fox Family Worldwide to Disney. Cable channel later becomes known as ABC Family

2002 - ESPN and ABC announce their acquisition of the National Basketball Association's television broadcasting rights

2003 - Anaheim Angels sold to Phoenix businessman Arturo Moreno for just over $180 million

2003 - Roy Disney resigns as vice-chairman of the Walt Disney entertainment
group