A History of Disney Acquisitions 1966 to 1996
What Can Fans of Marvel Comics Expect From Disney's Recent Buyout?
The immediate reaction was decidedly mixed – some pundits believed this was the death of comics, as Disney’s moral compass swings wildly from the perceived necessary moral ambiguity of comic books superheroes. Others defended the deal, both advocating a wait-and-see attitude and espousing the virtues of the deal. Perhaps now, with Disney’s capital and marketing infrastructure, Marvel superheroes could stop being treated as the bastard children of pop culture and take their rightful place as multimedia icons.
Although cautious monitoring is probably the way to go, this acquisition did not happen in a vacuum. Disney has a history of buying other companies and adding them to their conglomerate powerhouse. Instead of being automatically mistrustful of their agenda, or immediately lionizing the saintliness of the New Golden Age of Marvel Comics, a look at Disney’s track record is the key to knowing what fans and investors should expect.
1966: A.A. Milne’s Winnie-The-Pooh
The first major character assimilated into the Disney universe was Winnie-The-Pooh. Although the character had been a multi-million dollar industry during his peak in the 1930s, he had fallen out of favor after the death of creator A.A. Milne in 1953.
Disney licensed Winnie-The-Pooh from Milne’s widow in 1966, but failed to exploit the license until the 1977 feature film The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh. Pooh became a licensing juggernaut for Disney, netting approximately one billion dollars a year in revenue.
Pooh’s story is more important than that, because it illustrates two valuable points about Disney’s licensing operations. The first is that, yes, Disney has shown they are able to generate revenue from a pre-existing character without changing much of his or her essential qualities. Second, the rights of the character are routinely contested in a legal boondoggle that involves Disney, the Milne estate, and the estate of Stephen Slesinger (the man who originally licensed the character in the 1930s). This caused Disney to devote themselves to complete ownership of characters created outside their own house, which is an important wrinkle in the Marvel case.
1993: Miramax Films
Of all Disney’s development shingles, such as Paramount and Touchstone, Miramax is the brand they didn’t found themselves. Instead, they purchased the company from founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein.
While under Disney’s thumb, the Weinstein brothers enjoyed more creative freedom than any other division of the company. They ushered in an independent film renaissance with such mature and edgy fare as Pulp Fiction, Clerks, The Piano, and The Crow.
Unfortunately, they still had to report to a corporate head – in this case, Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Although the Weinsteins had an impressive slate of films released while controlled by Disney, they lost some battles. Eisner publicly forced them to drop distribution of some high profile films, including Michael Moore’s Academy Award winning documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 and Kevin Smith’s controversial religious epic Dogma.
Miramax continues to be a standard-bearer of independent film distribution, but they’re no longer shepherded by the once-powerful Weinsteins. Citing creative differences with Disney management, the brothers left in 2005 to found their eponymous The Weinstein Company.
It’s worth noting that since the Weinsteins left, Disney has used Miramax to release high quality fare like There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men, Doubt, and Happy-Go-Lucky.
1995: DIC Entertainment
DIC Entertainment was an independent producer of children’s cartoons until Disney purchased the company in the mid-nineties.
The deal is mostly unnoteworthy, as Disney largely failed to capitalize on the company’s library. Immediately after the announcement of the deal, Disney noted they had begun development of three feature films: Inspector Gadget, Sailor Moon, and Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?. Only one of the films was ever produced – Inspector Gadget. Likewise, the Disney-founded DIC Films banner only produced a single live-action film, Meet The Deedles.
DIC Entertainment was set adrift by Disney in the early 2000s, and is now owned by Cookie Jar Entertainment Group.
1996: American Broadcasting Corporation
Disney bought ABC during one of the greatest ratings declines in the channel’s history. Even though Disney management was reportedly incredibly involved in the direct control of the channel, ratings failed to turn around.
Early attempts by Disney to salvage the channel included an emphasis on a younger demographic with a huge marketing push for the channel’s Friday night, teen-centric comedy block TGIF. Once a powerhouse that included ratings juggernauts Full House, Family Matters, and Boy Meets World, the brand languished under Disney as former shows ended in creative slumps and new shows like Teen Angel, Brother's Keeper, and Olsen Twins vehicle Two of a Kind were met with audience apathy and swift cancellation.
It wasn’t until ABC moved away from Disney-branded material that they found success. ABC is now the second-rated network in the United States, based on the strength of adult-oriented series like Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, and Desperate Housewives.
Disney purchased Fox Family Network in 2001, and rebranded it as ABC Family. The channel experienced similar growing pains as its titular big brother, only becoming a success when it established its own identity by exploiting the teen drama market.
1996: ESPN
The ABC deal included an 80% stake in ESPN. While ESPN had begun expanding years earlier, the brand exploded under Disney’s stewardship. Instead of merely being a channel to watch sports and related highlights, Disney saw ESPN as an entertainment brand in a market devoid of a nationwide leader.
Since 1996, ESPN has monopolized the sports industry. They’ve got branded clothing, restaurants, video games, and theme park attractions. Furthermore, Disney has segued ESPN into an in-house sports juggernaut. Virtually every sports-related product from Walt Disney Corporation is released under the ESPN banner.
In 2006, ABC’s sports coverage was integrated with ESPN as ESPN on ABC. This resulted in ESPN’s acquisition of Monday Night Football, arguably the most powerful televised sports program outside of the Super Bowl.
Disney has long been a leader in creative buyouts.
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