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An error has ocurred. Please try againI created this because I couldn't find something that wove together films from their more obvious studios (Walt Disney Pictures, Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm) along with brands often less directly associated with Disney (20th Century, Searchlight, Buena Vista International, Touchstone, Hollywood, Miramax and Dimension). So while this list is less focused solely on the company's storied core brand, it's also arguably a far more vivid reflection of the diverse universe of movies that have fallen within the walls of the mouse house over the years. I've also included a note below each title explaining how it ties back to the company and its estimated global theatrical box office.
Please remain seated, keeping your hands, arms, feet and legs inside your screen at all times. Away we go...
Reviews
Pulp Fiction (1994)
A landmark Disney movie. You read that right.
Not so well known fact: this was the highest grossing live-action Disney movie of 1994. It hauled in over $200 million worldwide, and the only other mouse house film to compel more people to sit in a dark box that year was The Lion King. I'd argue that Pulp's release is among the most pivotal moments in Disney's century-long history, and certainly one of its most overlooked.
In some ways, this single film paved the way for Disney's immense buying spree throughout the last quarter century and its explosion into becoming the largest entertainment company in the world. Pulp's artistic and cultural impact has been well litigated, but its influence on emboldening a new approach to growth at Disney is effectively forgotten.
This is the very first Miramax movie greenlit under Disney ownership after they bought the studio for $60 million in 1993. And its box office likely paid for the entire acquisition all by itself. Since this was the first time Disney had ever acquired another studio, without Pulp's sparkplug success there's a chance their future string of additions like ABC, ESPN, A&E, Lifetime, History, Freeform, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 20th Century, Searchlight and Hulu might have never occurred as forcefully as it did. In retrospect, it's arguable that this one movie was the opening salvo in what became a $100 billion+ acquisition spree.
As Disney structurally held Miramax at a significant distance, Harvey Weinstein turned it into his own devastatingly predatory, financially reckless fiefdom. It obviously became an extremely troubled purchase, and they parted ways with him in 2005, selling off the studio entirely in 2010. While they now haven't owned Pulp for over a decade, it did technically originate as a Disney movie and remained one for 15+ years. That Disney largely ignores the Miramax era is an inevitability of the nature of a publicly traded media behemoth. However, in a stroke of quiet irony, Disney-controlled Hulu released Untouchable - a notable documentary about the brave women who endured Harvey's trail of radioactive waste - in 2019.
As a result of Disney effectively writing Miramax out of their corporate narrative, Pulp Fiction's role in the company's modern history has essentially evaporated. It likely provided early proof-of-concept to them that acquisitions can work, paving the way for the "Disney" we know today. There's a fairly direct line from Pulp Fiction in 1994 to Avengers: Endgame 25 years later. Both were critical and commercial triumphs of their genres, and each were stewarded by Disney's aggressive post-Walt growth ambitions. Some act like the company's record-shattering, acquisition-driven 2019 box office came out of nowhere, but I think the early seeds of it were being planted at Jack Rabbit Slim's 25 years earlier. That Disney no longer owns this movie but now owns The Seven Year Itch, a film paid homage to in that infamous restaurant, is a quiet encapsulation of what a central role Disney has played in stewarding popular culture past and present.
Outside of its commercial success and unique place in entertainment history, the watershed release of Pulp Fiction simply remains a quietly singular moment in Disney's increasingly labyrinthine history. That they were creaking out middling Don Knotts movies not that long before this as the company stumbled toward being nearly smashed into oblivion by corporate raiders is a whiplash-inducing gear shift in retrospect. For better or worse, in 1994 the little mouse began to roar, and it wasn't just because of a lion cub.
Captain Marvel (2019)
"NOW That's What I Call Marvel"
Had absolutely no clue what was going on half the time, but the very pointed needle drops hit this '90s kid straight in the nostalgia gut.
Magic Camp (2020)
Classically Disney stuff
After years of Iron Man and Darth Vader bashing each other with massive bags of Disney cash and fanbois shrieking endlessly about it, it's a real breath of fresh air to see that the mouse house can still make a "regular" family film. Nothing wrong with a bunch of kids noodling around at summer camp, playing with magic tricks and generally having an absolute blast. A near-perfect modernization of the live-action Disney movies of decades ago.
Bite Size Halloween: Old Maid (2020)
An unassuming gem
A simultaneously mournful and sly meditation on the effect "married vs. Unmarried" has had on so many women's lives throughout history. How either can seemingly alter the spaces they inhabit, yet the world arguably remains determined to confine them in one way or another regardless. What a poignant emotional arc, eerily mirroring (quite literally) an insidious horror of human culture.
The jump scare with its tongue ever-so-slightly-in-cheek is both effective and affecting, a genuine rarity. Deeply impressive considering its three minute runtime. Ryan Jennifer Jones has quietly crafted one of the best shorts, animated or otherwise, ever produced by Disney in their near-century of existence. Wow.