Disney’s Lasting Presence at the Academy Awards
The film industry is all set to honor the year’s top achievers when the Academy Awards airs live on ABC today, March 4th. Best picture, leading actress, and best director contribute to the lengthy list of categories that make up the awards show. This past year, plenty of films’ best and brightest will hope to take home the famous golden statue symbolizing the greatest honor in American film.
Through the years, Walt Disney Studios has made its mark on the film industry in countless ways; its impressive list of Oscars being just one of them. For a Disney buff (read: nerd) like me, Academy Awards season always brings with it thoughts of Walt Disney Studios’ many Oscar-winning film releases, and this year is no different. I chalk it up to the fact that the studio has been recognized more than 5 times this year, with nominations in four vastly different categories. But before we dive into this years’ coming awards show, let’s look back at Disney’s Academy Awards history.
Farmboys? Or Hollywood Icons?
Founded by Roy and Walt Disney in 1923, Walt Disney Studios is one of the oldest American-founded film companies. Like any new company, the brothers had to come up with a way to turn profit to keep their dreams of filmmaking afloat. Not very many people can credit a rodent with the success of a now multi-billion-dollar corporation, but Walt Disney believed in his original concept drawings of Mickey Mouse wholeheartedly and immediately began making shorts starring the legendary character. The rest, as they say, is history.
The success for the studio continued well into the 1930’s, most notably with the release of the first ever feature length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Doing what Disney does best, the company again looked to animation to break barriers and change the way we hear, see and experience films. Years of hand-drawn animation cells blended seamlessly with cinematography, music, voice acting, and direction to make Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs pop on movie screens…so much so that it captured the attention of the Academy.
The first-ever Academy Award for feature length animated film was presented to Walt Disney Studios in 1937. Correction- one Academy Award plus adorably tiny replicas of the statue were presented by Shirley Temple to Walt Disney himself, commemorating the studios’ remarkable achievement of putting up 88 minutes’ worth of hand-drawn animation. Just let that sink in.
94 Years Later…
Just a few years have passed since 1937. Fast-forward to 2018, and its unbelievable to think that a studio founded by two broke brothers would still be in business, let alone be one of the top-grossing film studios in history. In fact, Walt Disney himself has the most Oscars of anyone in history…talk about success! This year, Walt Disney Studios has more Academy Award nominations to add to their already-impressive list. Here are the categories Disney has stake in this year:
ANIMATED FEATURE:
Coco
Studio: Disney/Pixar
SOUNDTRACK:
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Composed by John Williams
COSTUME DESIGN:
Beauty and the Beast
Designed by Jacqueline Durran
SOUND MIXING:
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Stuart Wilson, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick
SOUND EDITING:
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Ren Klyce, Matthew Wood
PRODUCTION DESIGN:
Beauty and the Beast
Sarah Greenwood; Katie Spencer
ORIGINAL SONG:
“Remember Me”, Coco
Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez
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Special thanks to Maria Salerno for writing this article: Hiya pal! I am a NYC-based writer/musician thrilled to be bringing you all things Disney! I’m a WDW Annual Passholder, so you can find me in the parks regularly throughout the year. In addition to being a Disney Parks loving girl, I’m also a Disney toy and merchandise collector, a runDisney enthusiast, and Disney music and movie aficionado. You can follow me on Instagram: NYCtoAP and find me on YouTube: NYCtoAP. Thanks for reading, hope to see ya real soon!
