Over the last 2 decades Disney went from a huge world-wide company, to a MASSIVE world-wide company. Since Bob Iger stepped in as CEO in 2005, The Walt Disney Company went on a shopping spree to different franchises and acquired some of the most prestigious ones. Today in 2021, Disney is no longer only known for it’s classic animation and live-action films, but it is also known for the legendary computer animated Pixar films, making the Marvel Cinematic Universe into an international phenomenon, and reviving Lucasfilm’s Star Wars franchise.

Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic logos. Image from: https://theplaylist.net/disney-new-marvel-lucasfilm-pixar-projects-20201207/

Acquiring Pixar (2006)

In 2004, former CEO Michael Eisner had a falling out with Pixar CEO Steve Jobs over the working relationship between the 2 studios. Jobs felt that Pixar was being overworked and overlooked even though they were producing highly successful content for both companies. Steve Jobs didn’t renew the contract in 2004, and Eisner began work on the opening of a new studio, Circle 7 Animation, to continue creating Pixar sequels without Pixar.

This new studio did not last long though, as the same year that Eisner opened it, he also stepped down as CEO. Bob Iger stepped in to become the new Chief Executive Officer in October 2005. One of his first goals with his new leadership role was to rebuild the relationship that had been broken with Pixar.

Iger and Jobs had a meeting together where they discussed the advantages and disadvantages of merging the 2 studios together. Their partnership was much more promising and Steve knew that the benefits would outweigh the negatives in the end, as both studios could share their resources to create some really progressive films. After convincing Pixar’s board of directors, Disney acquired Pixar in January 2006 for $7.4 billion.

“I’ve been thinking about our respective futures,” I said. “What do you think about the idea of Disney buying Pixar?” I waited for [Steve] to hang up or to erupt in laughter. The quiet before his response seemed endless. Instead, he said, “You know, that’s not the craziest idea in the world.”

— Bob Iger

Acquiring Marvel (2009)

Though many people discovered Marvel around the time of the first Iron Man film in 2008, the Marvel universe had been around for 69 years before then. In 1939, Martin Goodman created a new publication company called Timely Publications. Here, they published the very first Marvel comic titled “Marvel Comics #1”. It was highly successful right from the beginning, and the company began hiring more staff to work on this new comic series. One of the first characters that has gone on to still lead the Marvel crew is Captain America, who first appeared in comics in 1940. Around the same time, Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, and Stanley Lieber (better known as Stan Lee), were hired to write and create these stories. Stan Lee eventually stepped up into leadership at the now Timely Comics, and made the stories that we know so well today.

Stan Lee with comic books. Image from: https://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/news/2018/11/12/comics-icon-stan-lee-dies-at-95.html

The comic book market had seen many ups, especially when DC comics began to popularize super heroes again, but had also seen many downs as the entertainment industry shifted toward television and movies. In 1996, the Marvel Entertainment Group filed for bankruptcy. In order to preserve it, they had to sell off the movie rights to some of their most popular characters, like Spider-Man. Marvel opened up their own studio, Marvel Studios, in 1996 to create films based on their characters too. The first film was Blade in 1998. The first film to launch the MCU was Iron Man in 2008.

After just a few short years as CEO, Bob Iger then made the remarkable decision to purchase Marvel Entertainment with cash and stocks. In August 2009, Disney purchased Marvel for $4 billion. The very first Disney-distributed Marvel film was The Avengers in 2012. Since acquiring Marvel, Disney has built it up into one of the, if not the most, successful film franchise of all time. Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame is the 2nd highest grossing film of all time, bringing in $2,797,501,328 in 2019. The franchise as a whole has brought in over $22 billion. Safe to say, Iger made his money back!

“When we first bought Marvel in 2009, one of the things that we discovered right away was just how enthusiastic, how committed, how involved, how interested in Marvel the fans were.”

— Bob Iger

The Avengers (2012). Image from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBqqI6NMeaM

Acquiring Lucasfilm Ltd. (2012)

In 1971, George Lucas plants a seed of a film studio that would eventually grow into a sci-fi ridden tree, that branches out into the evolution of computer effects. The year that Lucasfilm Ltd. was incorporated, they produced their very first film, THX 1138. With the hope of revolutionizing the science fiction industry, Lucasfilm opened Industrial Light and Magic, a separate company that would focus on creating visual effects for their next upcoming film. This film happened to be the legendary Star Wars in 1977. Lucasfilm becomes highly regarded and is extremely successful. Outside of just being known for Star Wars, it also becomes well known for producing Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. George Lucas remained the 100% owner of Lucasfilm throughout it’s entire run until 2012. He is also credited with the founding of the subsidiaries THX, Skywalker Sound, and Lucasfilm Animation.

Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Image from: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/steven-spielberg-george-lucas-early-years-detailed-new-podcast-series-1201060/

Before being a part of Disney, Lucasfilm had a tie to both Pixar and Marvel. Pixar was originally owned under Lucasfilm Ltd., starting out as a separate computer division in 1979. Pixar became its own entity in 1986. Marvel Comics, which was a branch of Timely Comics, produced Star Wars comics from 1977 to 1987. Lucasfilm also produced Howard the Duck, a Marvel story in 1986.

In October of 2012, still under the leadership of Bob Iger, Disney bought Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion in cash and stocks. Although the transaction didn’t happen until 2012, the 2 companies had been working closely on one of their most beloved projects, Star Tours in Disneyland.

“This transaction combines a world-class portfolio of content including Star Wars, one of the greatest family entertainment franchises of all time, with Disney’s unique and unparalleled creativity across multiple platforms, businesses, and markets to generate sustained growth and drive significant long-term value.”

— Bob Iger

Reference List:

https://thenerdd.com/2018/09/17/the-history-of-marvel-comics/

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/business/media/01disney.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/21/disney-has-made-more-than-18-billion-from-marvel-films-since-2012.html

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/chart/top_lifetime_gross/?area=XWW

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/70920/10-highest-grossing-movie-franchises-all-time

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_the_Duck_(film)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_comics

https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-to-acquire-lucasfilm-ltd/

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/lucasfilm-ltd-history/

https://www.lucasfilm.com/who-we-are/our-story/