Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Also see: general Walt Disney Pictures or Buena Vista .

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is a motion picture and television feature distribution company owned by Disney Enterprises, Inc. Buena Vista International was the international distribution arm, Buena Vista Home Entertainment was the firm's video and DVD distribution arm, and Buena Vista Television was renamed as Disney-ABC Domestic Television.

In April 2007, Disney decided to retire the Buena Vista brand, although today the Buena Vista name is used only for video and DVD distribution through certain divisions of Disney's home entertainment.

History

Prior to 1953, Walt Disney's productions were distributed by Columbia Pictures (1929–1932), United Artists (1932–1937) and RKO Radio Pictures (1937–1954). However, a dispute over the value of Disney's True-Life Adventures series of live-action documentary featurettes in 1953 led to Walt and his older brother Roy Oliver Disney to form its wholly owned subsidiary the Buena Vista Film Distribution Company, Inc. to handle the U.S. distribution of their own product. Buena Vista's first release was the Academy Award winning live-action feature The Living Desert (1953).Buena Vista International was formed in 1992 after Disney opted to end a joint venture with Warner Bros. to distribute their films in overseas markets.

The BV company name comes from Buena Vista Street, the road on which the current Walt Disney Studios and company headquarters are...
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