Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is an American film distributor owned by The Walt Disney Company. It handles theatrical distribution, marketing and promotion for films produced and released by the Walt Disney Studios, including Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, Disneynature, Fox 2000 Pictures and Blue Sky Studios, while Searchlight Pictures operates its own autonomous distribution unit for its films.
The company was originally established in 1953 as Buena Vista Film Distribution Company, Inc. (later renamed to Buena Vista Distribution Company, Inc. and Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc.) It took on its current name in 2007.
Before 1953, Walt Disney's productions were distributed by Winkler Pictures, Powers Pictures, Universal Pictures (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts), Columbia Pictures (1929–1932), United Artists (1932–1937) and RKO Radio Pictures (1937–1956).
