The Walt Disney Company: The Entertainment King - Essay Example

? The Walt Disney Company: The Entertainment King Introduction The roots of Disney's success were in “his will power, courage and fierce determination” ((Rukstad, and Collis, 7). He always found ways to restore his forces and beliefs after failure. Disney was Promethean personality; he suffered gigantomania. These characteristics allowed him to benefit from everything with unquenchable zeal. For the sake of the future, Disney was always ready to pawn all his present property; he just loved creating new things, especially when presented such opportunity presented. Thus, it was not a problem for him to get the money for his new creations. Due to these character features, many works of Disney are called works of genius of the most valuable film eras. But, according to Johnston and Thomas, “this also kept a studio on the verge of bankruptcy for years, during this period, the company could not pay the bills” (Johnston, and Thomas 278). The reason was that the purpose of Disney was not to make big money, but to create masterpieces. Thus, one film could be recognized as a hit, and another one used to fail miserably. It is known that Disney founded his own studio, which created an image of Oswald Rabbit, but he did not register copyright for it. The idea and the image itself were unceremoniously stolen. It was a lesson for Disney, which made him deal not only with art. He became very cautious, especially in matters of copyrights. Therefore, at the early stage of Disney work, he was more artist than businessman, but at a later stage (in the late 40's - early 50's) - more businessman than an artist. It so happened that in the most difficult moments in history of U.S., the Disney Company sought commercial success. The period of the Great Depression, ironically, was the beginning of the financial heyday of Walt Disney Studios, the movies of which won the victory over the global film market. At the beginning of the thirties, Disney was able to recruit talented young artists, animators; Yub Ayverks also was one of them. Each catastrophe experienced by Disney was replaced with success. The incredibly popular "Snow White" was followed by two pictures of a disaster – “Pinocchio” and "Fantasia”, which, in turn, were followed by the success of “Dumbo”. When in 1943, “Bambi” was released and then flopped at the box-office, Disney was saved by the re-hire of “Snow White” a year later. Then it occurred to Walt to return to his inspired idea about “Alice in Wonderland”. After the re-release of “Snow White”, the studio unexpectedly gained high profit, and Disney launched “Alice” in production. The picture did not only eat all the cash, but also brought 2 million losses. Walt fell into a deep depression, started drinking and quit his job, which only complicated the problem. But a few years later Disneyland put an end to feverish existence of the company and gave the Disney the necessary stability and cash flow. Of course, Walt Disney one of the first, who realized that movies and television could successfully work together, complementing each other. The Disney was the first of the Hollywood studios, which started making TV serials. In 1954, Disney signed a contract with ABC on the production of a weekly TV broadcast called “Disneyland” So, the weekly Disney series on ABC channels, without exaggeration, determined the further way of coexistence of Hollywood and television. Disney is keenly aware of how to attract the attention of every category of American viewers. The Americans got the impression that they were engaged in the creation of Disneyland. Walt Disney skillfully prepared the market for his new offspring. In the mid-nineties, the Disney Company became a conglomerate of entertainment market, dominating the production of movies, television and video. Within five years, since 1988, the company was able to dispose of personal film library of Walt Disney. At the time, the Disney received huge profits from the rental of cartoons that failed at the premiere: “Fantasia” brought 25 million annual income; “Bambi” - 29 million, “101 Dalmatians” - 61 million, “Pinocchio” - 1.9 million and “Snow White” - 41 million. Walt Disney would be especially pleased to learn that in 1994, sixty films made by the company brought 4 billion in revenue. On October 25, 1994 “Snow White” was released, it became an instant bestseller among the movies - the greatest recognition ever obtained by “crazy Disney”. In 1995 the company employed 100,000 people, and on July 31 that same year Michael Eisner threw the business world into shock by announcing the purchase of ABC. That purchase, which cost $ 19 billion to the company, turned the Disney into the most powerful empire in the world of entertainment. It occupied a dominant position in television broadcasting, sports (it owns the team of “Los Angeles Angels” and “Ducks”), the production of films and television shows, theme parks. The purchase of ABC was an appropriate deal, since in the mid-fifties, thanks to this company, Disneyland became a reality. Nowadays among the new projects there are so-called “Disney-centers” or “small Disneylands”, which can be located within one building only. There, children and adults will be offered entertainment, based on the latest technologies. Thus, Disney entered some new types of entertainment. The company also successfully uses the Internet for distributing their film library (Rukstad, and Collis 13). T-shirts with a picture of Mickey Mouse flash at every airport of the world - such are the power and influence of Walt Disney. Theme parks in Anaheim, Orlando, Tokyo and Paris are the most successful businesses of their kind. Every year they are visited by 65 million people. Park in Orlando is called “the city built by Mickey”. Only “Walt Disney World”, MGM, and “City of Tomorrow”, attracting 30 million visitors every year, expanded the company of Disney to the size of contemporary empire. Conclusion The works of Disney were not always successful, but when success came, it was really resounding. One of the greatest ideas was the creation of Disney's “timeless" characters”. He insisted on all references to a topic or age being removed of the films. Now, when watching these masterpieces, you experience a sense of the transcendental, which allows you to escape to the world of fantasy. These cartoons are never outdated. Therefore, these films are just a brilliant economic progress for the Disney Company. Disney's formula of success was described by Disney himself, “Our way of thinking, our judgments and experience - that's what distinguishes us from others. To all, what we do, we have developed a psychological approach. Think we know how and when to play the strings of the soul "(Johnston, and Thomas 278). Works Cited Johnston, Ollie, and Thomas Franklin. Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life. New York: Abbeville Press, 1981. Print. Rukstad, Michael, and Collis, David. The Walt Disney Company: The Entertainment King. Rev. Harvard Business School. 5 January 2009: 2-13. Web. 16 June 2011. Read More