In 1908, when Emile Cohl released the first ever hand drawn movie named Fantasmagorie, it took the world by storm. Cohl’s simple idea to make a 2d movie just 13 years after the first movie was released inspired millions of others to follow in his footsteps.
In 1937, when Disney released Snow White, the world was taken by storm for yet a second time. Which, according to PBS, grossed eight million in theaters and 418 million, and from 1937 to 1942, it was nicknamed the golden age of Disney.
This era of Disney consists of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942).
Around this time, World War II was underway. It was really impacting Disney’s finances, so it began “The wartime era.” This was a very scary time for the studio and the world. So, to keep themselves afloat during this time, they decided to release these package films. If you do not already know what package films are, they are basically a bunch of short films condensed into an hour and a half long movie. This era was from 1942 to 1949.
This era has six films only one of those being a full movie and the rest were just package films. The movies were Saludos Amigos (1942), The Three Caballeros (1944), Make Mine Music (1946), Fun and Fancy Free (1947), Melody Time (1948), and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad (1949).
The third era of Disney was named “The Silver era”, which is my personal favorite. Finally, Disney has gotten to the point where they know their formula and have mastered it and released what are now considered classics. This era was from 1950 to 1967.
This era had Disney releasing eight films, which I personally liked all of. Those movies were Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955), Sleeping Beauty (1959), One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), The Sword in the Stone (1963), and The Jungle Book (1967).
The fourth era of Disney was named “The bronze era”, which is also tied with the next era for the least number of films. This had Disney in a scramble because Walt Disney, their founder, had just died. This era was from 1970 to 1977, which is a lot of years compared to the number of films released.
There were four movies released in this period, The Aristocats (1970), Robin Hood (1973), The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh (1977), and The Rescuers (1977).
The next era was by far the worst era of Disney, which isn’t even me just saying it, because the name of it is quite literally “The Dark Ages.” I have to agree with the name, because the only good thing to come out of this age was The Fox and The Hound, which received a rating of 7.2/10 on IMDb and 75% on Rotten Tomatoes.
This era, along with the Bronze Age, has the least number with four movies. Those movies were, The Fox and the Hound (1981), The Black Cauldron (1985), The Great Mouse Detective (1986), and Oliver and Company (1988).
The next era is named “The renaissance era” and seems to be the fan favorite if you could already tell by the name. The renaissance era has literally only what is considered now as classics. This era also made the most amount of money for the studio. Other than one movie that got a 6.8 on IMDb and 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, which was The Rescuers down under. If you are not a history fan, I would still almost guarantee you have heard of most of these.
There were ten movies in this era and those movies were The Little Mermaid (1989), The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), and Tarzan (1999)
The second to last is also the era with most films being named the “Experimental era.” This era broke two, former, key parts of Disney. The first thing is that they were making their first-ever 3d movie, Dinosaurs. Compared to now, you would think the people who made the animation were 50% blind, but for the time, it was the best thing 3d animators had ever seen. The second streak they broke was in Atlantis: The Lost Empire when Disney decided not to make the movie a musical.
The experimental era was meant to, of course, experiment with 3d movies. In this era, they had the second most films out of all the era with 11 films. Those movies were Fantasia 2000 (1999), Dinosaur (2000), The Emperor’s New Groove (2000), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), Lilo & Stitch (2002), Treasure Planet (2002), Brother Bear (2003), Home on the Range (2004), Chicken Little (2005), Meet the Robinsons (2007), and Bolt (2008)
The final era is named the “Revival era.” This era had the last 2d movie Disney would make for the foreseeable future, which was a Winnie and Pooh movie. This new era seems to be prioritizing 3D movies. This era is also the era with the most number of movies, with 15 movies.
This era has The Princess and the Frog (2009), Tangled (2010), Winnie-the-Pooh (2011), Wreck-it Ralph (2012), Frozen (2013), Big Hero 6 (2014), Moana (2016), Zootopia (2016), Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), Frozen II (2019), Raya and The Last Dragon (2021), Encanto (2021), Strange World (2022), Wish (2023), and Moana 2 (2024)
However, even though this is the most recent “era” of Disney, it does not mean that that’s all they did. Of course, they had their own movies that were live action. However, in recent years, they have started to make live action adaptations of pretty much any movie that was popular in 2d.
They also have their upcoming movies, like Zootopia 2, which is coming out on November 26, 2025, and Frozen III, which is projected to come out November 24, 2027.
But Pixar collaborates with Disney for every movie Pixar makes because they are a part of the company. So many movies you might have thought where Disney was most likely Pixar movies.
Disney is also pretty famous for their shorts, like The Skeleton Dance or The Three Little Pigs. The first thing they ever released was a short called Steamboat Willy. It really set the company on the path it would be taking.
On October 16th 1923, when Walt Disney came up with the idea for his company, he probably had no idea how big it would truly get. But against all odds, he managed to keep his company afloat during WWII and the more recent COVID-19 and still managed to be one of the most successful companies of all time.
