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How The US Army Occupied Walt Disney Studios and Inadvertently Saved The Company
The only Hollywood studio ever occupied by the military
Disney is one of the largest and most recognizable companies in the world today. It is a household name, a global phenomenon, and one of the best stocks on the market. Disney is worth billions and is in possession of some of the most lucrative intellectual property portfolios of the last fifty years. But Disney was not always the juggernaut that it is today. It is hard to imagine, but there was a point when Disney was on the verge of going under.
In 1940 and 1941, Disney was facing a massive uphill financial climb. It had two movies that vastly underperformed expectations. Pinocchio and Fantasia were both released in 1940 and opened to lackluster reviews and ticket sales. Walt Disney lamented that the war in Europe was hurting his foreign revenue stream. And while that was undoubtedly true, it didn’t change the facts. Disney lost millions on these two films causing them to have to cut their animation studio in half.
Compounding their woes was an animator’s strike, which broke out in 1941. For four weeks, Disney’s studios were shuttered as the company negotiated with the artists. At first, Disney tried to play hardball by firing all of the animators, but that left…
