Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group

The Walt Disney Studios (also known as Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group) Is an American entertainment industry company division which develops scripts and oversees theatrical production for The Walt Disney Company's production companies and imprints founded in 1995. The studio, known for its film division, which is one of Hollywood's major film studios, is based at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. Walt Disney Studios' film division is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

Studio structure
Former units include:
 * Hollywood Pictures
 * Miramax Films
 * Dimension Films

Studios
Walt Disney Studios is the main production arm for Disney's motion pictures. Walt Disney Pictures is a film imprint that encompasses the release of its own productions, in addition to films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios. Another film imprint, Touchstone Pictures, releases films for more mature audiences including films produced by DreamWorks Pictures. In 2009, Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment, in addition to purchasing full ownership rights to Marvel Studios' films in 2010. Disneynature is an independent film label devoted to nature documentary productions. In December 2012, Disney purchased Lucasfilm and its intellectual properties.

Hollywood Pictures was another division of Disney, in which, like Touchstone, produced films for mature audiences, but was shut down in 2007. In 1993, Disney acquired Miramax Films, and its Dimension Films label, but Dimension became a part of The Weinstein Company in 2005 and Miramax was sold to Filmyard Holdings in 2010. From 2007 to 2010, Disney and ImageMovers ran a joint motion capture animation facility; ImageMovers Digital.

All film productions mentioned above are distributed theatrically by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and on home media platforms by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

Disney Music Group
Disney Music Group is a music production group led by Ken Bunt, that consists of multiple record labels — Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records — and publishing identities that handle Disney's music.

Disney Theatrical Group
Disney Theatrical Group is the division producing live theatrical and stage events. It is currently under the leadership of Thomas Schumacher. The Disney Theatrical Productions division has been responsible for the production of many different musicals, touring events, ice shows and other live theatrical events. Their shows include: Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aida, Tarzan, Mary Poppins, Newsies and numerous incarnations of Disney On Ice.

History
Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group was formed by Joe Roth in 1998 to unite the Touchstone, Hollywood, and Disney film studios and lead by David Vogel. This was in order to centralize the various production units and to make live-action film production within Disney more cost-efficient.

In 2003, the first PG-13–rated film was released under the Walt Disney Pictures imprint, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, a film based on the famous Disneyland attraction.

Film director M. Night Shyamalan, who had done The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs and The Village with Disney clashed with the Group's executives during pre-production of his 2006 film, Lady in the Water. Shyamalan left the studio after Nina Jacobson and others became, in Shyamalan's eyes, overly critical of his script, which would eventually be produced by Warner Bros. Shyamalan is quoted in a book about the difficult period that he "had witnessed the decay of her creative vision right before his own wide-open eyes. She didn't want iconoclastic directors. She wanted directors who made money." In her own defense, Jacobson said, "in order to have a Hollywood relationship more closely approximate a real relationship, you have to have a genuine back and forth of the good and the bad. Different people have different ideas about respect. For us, being honest is the greatest show of respect for a filmmaker."

In July 2006 Disney announced a shift in strategy of releasing more Disney-branded (i.e. Walt Disney Pictures) films and fewer Touchstone titles. The move was expected to reduce the Group's work force by approximately 650 positions worldwide. In April 2007, Disney retired the Buena Vista brand.

The Studio launched Kingdom Comics division in May 2008 led by writer-actor Ahmet Zappa, TV executive Harris Katleman and writer-editor Christian Beranek. Kingdom was designed to create new properties for possible film development and reimagine and redevelop existing Disney library movies with Disney Publishing Worldwide getting a first look for publishing.

On February 9, 2009, DreamWorks SKG entered a 5-year, 30-picture distribution deal with the Touchstone Pictures imprint starting in 2011.

On December 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company purchased Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. Both Marvel and Disney have stated that the merger would not affect any preexisting deals with other film studios for the time being, although Disney said they will consider distributing future Marvel Studios projects with their own studios once the current deals expire. On October 18, 2010, Disney bought the distribution rights for The Avengers    and Iron Man 3 from Paramount Pictures.

On October 30, 2012, Lucasfilmagreed to be purchased by The Walt Disney Company and a Star Wars sequel trilogy was announced and was finalized on December 4. Disney agreed on December 4th to have Netflix as its exclusive U.S. subscription television service for first run Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios and Disneynature feature movies starting in 2016 to replace its agreement ending in 2015 with Starz.