Disney is celebrating its 100th anniversary with commemorative short films and content on TikTok

The international conglomerate Disney will celebrate this on October 16 with various activities where fans of one of the most famous mice in the world are invited to participate in the planned activities.

From next Monday, the short film ‘Once Upon a Studio’ will be available, which starts at the end of the working day at Walt Disney Animation and shows the character Mickey Mouse emerging from a painting for Tinkerbell. The company explained that the last person to leave the studio was Burny Mattinson, who worked for 70 years.

“When the coast is clear, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse emerge from a painting on the wall and ask their animated friends to create an official centennial portrait. “Hand-drawn characters, such as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Merlin, intersect with computer-generated characters, such as Baymax and Rapunzel, as they comically struggle to come together for the group photo,” the report said.

The short film was made by Dan Abraham and Trent Correy and the production proved to be technically complex. More than 100 computer-generated characters appear in the production.

Additionally, in partnership with TikTok, they created a center with clips, questionnaires, and even a collectible card game for fans of their character. The activation will take four weeks.

Company history

Its history dates back to October 16, 1923, when Walt Disney and his brother Roy O. Disney formed The Disney Brothers to continue producing the animated series ‘Alice Comedies’.

Until 1928, the Disney brothers opted for a mouse-shaped character who would change the fate of their lives and infiltrate the childhood of several generations.

First baptized as Mortimer, and later as the famous Mickey Mouse, the mischievous animal would play the leading role in the film “Steambot Willie” (1928), the first retro-produced sound cartoon.

“Walt Disney always wanted to go further in terms of quality. I think from that moment to this day there have been countless, consistent examples of great storytelling, innovation and incredible ingenuity,” said Kevin Kern, one of the archivists who works today at the renowned The Walt Disney Company, in an interview with EFE.

The public’s recognition of the mouse led Walt (Chicago, 1901) to release ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ – the first animated film in his repertoire – in 1937, raising 1.5 million dollars, ten times what they had invested.

The impact on the studio’s coffers was such that the profits were used to build their new base camp in the city of Burbank (California), where they moved in 1940 to continue with other titles that also did not go unnoticed: “Pinocchio ” (1940), “Dumbo” (1941) and “Bambi” (1942).

However, the collateral effects of World War II and the anti-communist fever in the United States left the company reeling with several canceled releases and even a union strike by 300 of Disney’s 800 animators in 1941.

Animation instrumentalized for the war cause. This was Disney’s development over a few years in which the US Navy asked Walt to make propaganda films such as ‘Victory Through Air Power’ in exchange for a contract made for $90,000 demonstrating his power to shape minds .

The end of the war in 1945 brought new films, such as ‘Treasure Island’ (1950) or ‘Cinderella’ (1950).

By that time, television was already presented as an ideal format to broadcast some Disney works or advertising capsules that the company used on the ABC, NBC or CBS networks to promote its first Disneyland theme park in Anaheim (California), that it opened. its doors on July 17, 1955.

The Disney brothers’ studio increasingly began to resemble a media conglomerate with diverse business prospects in film, television and entertainment.

However, lung cancer would end Walt’s life in 1966, aged 65, and that of his brother Roy just five years later due to a brain haemorrhage.

The company was led by several personalities who had held positions of high responsibility during the Disney brothers’ administration and managed to ensure that the popularly known as ‘House of the Mouse’ retained its values ​​and continued to grow.

The beginning of the “Star Wars” saga (1977), the launch of “The Little Mermaid” (1989), the distribution of VHS tapes and the opening of Disneyland Paris in 1992 were some of the company’s milestones in the later decades.

In 1995, the company Capital Cities/ABC Inc. announced. for $19 billion, at the time the second-largest corporate takeover in American history, making it the majority owner of the ABC network and television service. .

New York tycoon Bob Iger has headed the company at various stages since 2005, currently including as CEO.

Under his leadership, the company has developed into a media empire that in recent years has spawned successful franchises such as ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and films such as ‘WALL-E’, winner of the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

In 2019, it acquired the assets of 20th Century Fox for $71.3 billion, the largest acquisition in Disney history, and opened its streaming service, called Disney+, that same year.

But 100 years later, with a global presence, lucrative merchandising products, a workforce of approximately 220,000 employees, annual revenues of more than $82 billion, the creation of production companies such as Lucasfilm or the audiovisual label Marvel, Disney continues to distinguish itself. through his stories. (JO)