FOR SALE:
An awesome Disney Parks souvenir drink cup and promotional movie button
2018 INFINITY WAR THANOS GAUNTLET (GLOVE) SIPPER CUP W/ STRAW & 2019 AVENGERS: ENDGAME BUTTON
DETAILS:
A Disney Parks drink souvenir in the shape of Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet and it's wearable!
Put your hand in and harness the unstoppable force of all 6 Infinity Stones while enjoying your favorite cold beverage. Comes with a bendy straw for easy drinking. This is the original Infinity Gauntlet sipper cup sold, for a very short time, exclusively in Disney Parks in 2018.
Promotional only Avengers: Endgame button!
This 3" button (or badge, pin) is a promo only product given, while limited supplies lasted, exclusively to Disney Parks attendees on the official release date (April 26th, 2019) of the epic finale. The button features the Avengers: Endgame poster art.
CONDITION:
New. Please see photos.
*Shipped in a box. To ensure safe delivery items will be carefully packaged before shipping.*
THANK YOU FOR LOOKING. QUESTIONS? JUST ASK.
*ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT ARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF SIDEWAYS STAIRS CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.*
"Avengers: Infinity War is a 2018 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to 2012's The Avengers and 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron, and the nineteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and features an ensemble cast including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Josh Brolin, and Chris Pratt. In the film, the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy attempt to stop Thanos from amassing the all-powerful Infinity Stones.
The film was announced in October 2014 as Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1. The Russo brothers came on board to direct in April 2015 and by May, Markus and McFeely had signed on to write the script for the film, which drew inspiration from Jim Starlin's 1991 The Infinity Gauntlet comic and Jonathan Hickman's 2013 Infinity comic. In 2016, Marvel shortened the title to Avengers: Infinity War. Filming began in January 2017 at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia, with a large cast consisting mostly of actors reprising their roles from previous MCU films, including Brolin as Thanos. The production lasted until July 2017, shooting back-to-back with a direct sequel, Avengers: Endgame. Additional filming took place in Scotland, England, the Downtown Atlanta area, and New York City. With an estimated budget in the range of $316–400 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made.
Avengers: Infinity War held its world premiere on April 23, 2018 in Los Angeles and was released in the United States on April 27, 2018, in IMAX and 3D. The film received praise for the performances of the cast (particularly Brolin's) and the emotional weight of the story, as well as the visual effects and action sequences. It was the fourth film and the first superhero film to gross over $2 billion worldwide, breaking numerous box office records and becoming the highest-grossing film of 2018, as well as the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time and in the United States and Canada. The film received Academy Award and BAFTA nominations for achievements in visual effects. The sequel, Avengers: Endgame, was released in April 2019....
Having acquired the Power Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones, from the planet Xandar, Thanos and his lieutenants—Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian, Proxima Midnight, and Corvus Glaive—intercept the spaceship carrying surviving Asgardians.[N 1] As they extract the Space Stone from the Tesseract, Thanos subdues Thor, overpowers Hulk, and kills Loki. Heimdall sends Hulk to Earth using the Bifröst before being killed. Thanos departs with his lieutenants and destroys the ship.
Hulk crash-lands at the Sanctum Sanctorum in New York City, reverting to Bruce Banner. He warns Stephen Strange and Wong about Thanos's plan to kill half of all life in the universe; subsequently, Strange and Banner ask Tony Stark for help. Maw and Obsidian arrive to retrieve the Time Stone from Strange, drawing the attention of Peter Parker. Maw captures Strange, but fails to take the Time Stone due to an enchantment. Stark and Parker pursue Maw's spaceship, Banner contacts Steve Rogers, and Wong stays behind to guard the Sanctum.
In Edinburgh, Midnight and Glaive ambush Wanda Maximoff and Vision in order to retrieve the Mind Stone in Vision's forehead. Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Sam Wilson rescue them and take shelter with James Rhodes and Banner at the Avengers Facility. Vision offers to sacrifice himself by having Maximoff destroy the Mind Stone to keep Thanos from retrieving it. Rogers suggests they travel to Wakanda, which he believes has the resources to remove the stone without destroying Vision.
The Guardians of the Galaxy respond to a distress call from the Asgardian ship and rescue Thor, who surmises that Thanos seeks the Reality Stone, which is in the possession of the Collector on Knowhere. Rocket and Groot accompany Thor to Nidavellir, where they and Eitri create Stormbreaker, a battle-axe capable of killing Thanos. On Knowhere, Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax, and Mantis find Thanos with the Reality Stone already in his possession. Thanos kidnaps Gamora, his adopted daughter, who reveals the location of the Soul Stone to save her captive adopted sister Nebula from torture. Thanos and Gamora travel to Vormir, where Red Skull, keeper of the Soul Stone, informs him the stone can only be retrieved by sacrificing someone he loves. Thanos reluctantly kills Gamora, earning the stone.
Nebula escapes captivity and asks the remaining Guardians to meet her on Thanos's destroyed homeworld, Titan. Stark and Parker kill Maw and rescue Strange. Landing on Titan, they meet Quill, Drax, and Mantis. The group forms a plan to remove Thanos's Infinity Gauntlet after Strange uses the Time Stone to view millions of possible futures, seeing only one in which Thanos loses. Thanos arrives, justifying his plans as necessary to ensure the survival of a universe threatened by overpopulation. The group subdues him until Nebula deduces that Thanos has killed Gamora. Enraged, Quill attacks him, allowing Thanos to break the group's hold and overpower them. Stark is seriously wounded by Thanos, but is spared because Strange surrenders the Time Stone to Thanos.
In Wakanda, Rogers reunites with Bucky Barnes before Thanos's army invades. The Avengers, alongside T'Challa and the Wakandan forces, mount a defense while Shuri works to extract the Mind Stone from Vision. Banner, unable to transform into the Hulk, fights in Stark's Hulkbuster armor. Thor, Rocket, and Groot arrive to reinforce the Avengers; Midnight, Obsidian, and Glaive are killed and their army is routed. Thanos arrives and despite Maximoff's attempt to destroy the Mind Stone, removes it from Vision's head, killing him.
Thor severely wounds Thanos, but Thanos activates the completed Infinity Gauntlet and teleports away. Half of all life across the universe disintegrates, including Barnes, T'Challa, Groot, Maximoff, Wilson, Mantis, Drax, Quill, Strange, and Parker, as well as Maria Hill and Nick Fury, although Fury is able to transmit an emergency signal first.[N 2] Stark and Nebula remain on Titan while Banner, M'Baku, Okoye, Rhodes, Rocket, Rogers, Romanoff, and Thor are left on the Wakandan battlefield. Meanwhile, Thanos watches a sunrise on another planet." (wikipedia.org)
"Avengers: Endgame is a 2019 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to 2012's The Avengers, 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron and 2018's Avengers: Infinity War, and the 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely and features an ensemble cast including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Danai Gurira, Bradley Cooper, and Josh Brolin. In the film, the surviving members of the Avengers and their allies work to reverse the damage caused by Thanos in Infinity War.
The film was announced in October 2014 as Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2. The Russo brothers came on board to direct in April 2015, and by May, Markus and McFeely signed on to script the film. In July 2016, Marvel removed the title, referring to it simply as Untitled Avengers film. Filming began in August 2017 at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia, shooting back-to-back with Infinity War, and ended in January 2018. Additional filming took place in the Metro and Downtown Atlanta areas and New York. The official title was revealed in December 2018.
Avengers: Endgame was widely anticipated, and Disney backed the film with extensive marketing campaigns. It premiered in Los Angeles on April 22, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on April 26, 2019, in IMAX and 3D. The film received praise for its direction, acting, entertainment value and emotional weight, with critics lauding its culmination of the 22-film story. It also broke numerous box office records, and has grossed $305 million worldwide, becoming the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2019....
Three weeks after Thanos used the Infinity Stones to disintegrate half of all life across the universe,[N 1] Carol Danvers rescues Nebula and Tony Stark from deep space. They return to Earth and join the remaining Avengers—Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, Rocket, Thor, and James Rhodes. They find the now-injured Thanos so they can take the Infinity Stones and reverse his actions, but he has already destroyed them to prevent further use. Thor decapitates Thanos.
Five years later, Scott Lang escapes the quantum realm[N 2] and finds Romanoff and Rogers at the Avengers' compound. Only five hours have passed for Lang instead of years, and he theorizes that the quantum realm can allow time travel. The three ask Stark to help them retrieve the Infinity Stones from the past so they can revert Thanos' actions in the present, but he rejects them out of fear of losing his daughter Morgan. Eventually, Stark relents after reflecting upon the disintegrated Peter Parker, and works with Banner—who has merged his intelligence with the Hulk's strength—to stabilize travel in the quantum realm. Romanoff recruits Clint Barton, now a vigilante following the disintegration of his family, while Banner and Rocket find a drunken, reclusive Thor in Norway.
The reunited Avengers split into several groups. Banner, Rogers, Lang, and Stark travel to New York City in 2012.[N 3] Banner visits the Sanctum Sanctorum and convinces the Ancient One to give him the Time Stone, promising to return it. Rogers overcomes undercover Hydra agents and his 2012 self to retrieve the Mind Stone, but Lang and Stark's attempt to steal the Space Stone fails and Loki escapes with it. Rogers and Stark use the last of their size-altering Pym Particles to travel to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters in 1970; they steal an earlier version of the Space Stone there and vials of Pym Particles from Hank Pym so they can return to the present.
Rocket and Thor travel to Asgard in 2013 to retrieve the Reality Stone from Jane Foster,[N 4] and Thor obtains his hammer, Mjolnir. Barton and Romanoff travel to Vormir in 2014 and learn from the Soul Stone's keeper, the Red Skull, that it can only be acquired by sacrificing someone they love. They briefly fight over which of them should die, before Romanoff sacrifices herself. On Morag in the same year, Nebula and Rhodes steal the Power Stone before Peter Quill can.[N 5] Rhodes returns to the present with the Power Stone, but Nebula is unable to after her cybernetic implants interface with those of her 2014 self. Through this connection, the Thanos of that time learns of present-day events and sends the 2014 Nebula to the present.
With all the Infinity Stones collected in the present, Banner uses them to restore everyone that Thanos disintegrated. The 2014 Nebula uses the time machine to transport Thanos and his ship to the present day, and he attacks the Avengers' compound. Rogers, Thor, and Stark confront Thanos, and Rogers proves worthy to wield Mjolnir. However, Thanos overpowers them and summons his army to lay siege to Earth. Present-day Nebula convinces the 2014 version of her sister Gamora to turn on Thanos, and kills the 2014 version of herself. Now restored, Stephen Strange arrives with his fellow sorcerers, the other restored Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the armies of Asgard, Wakanda, and the Ravagers. They fight Thanos' army, and are eventually joined by Danvers. They attempt to return the Infinity Stones to the past, but Thanos retrieves them and plans to rebuild the universe with life that does not remember his actions. Stark steals the Stones back and disintegrates Thanos and his army. The energy this releases kills Stark.
Following a funeral for Stark, Thor appoints Valkyrie as the queen of New Asgard and joins the Guardians of the Galaxy. Rogers returns the Infinity Stones and Mjolnir to their original places in time before returning to his past to marry Peggy Carter and live out the rest of his life. In the present, an elderly Rogers passes his shield to Sam Wilson." (wikipedia.org)
"Disneyland Park, originally Disneyland, is the first of two theme parks built at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, opened on July 17, 1955. It is the only theme park designed and built to completion under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. It was originally the only attraction on the property; its official name was changed to Disneyland Park to distinguish it from the expanding complex in the 1990s.
Walt Disney came up with the concept of Disneyland after visiting various amusement parks with his daughters in the 1930s and 1940s. He initially envisioned building a tourist attraction adjacent to his studios in Burbank to entertain fans who wished to visit; however, he soon realized that the proposed site was too small. After hiring a consultant to help him determine an appropriate site for his project, Disney bought a 160-acre (65 ha) site near Anaheim in 1953. Construction began in 1954 and the park was unveiled during a special televised press event on the ABC Television Network on July 17, 1955.
Since its opening, Disneyland has undergone expansions and major renovations, including the addition of New Orleans Square in 1966, Bear Country (now Critter Country) in 1972, and Mickey's Toontown in 1993. Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is due to open in 2019.[2] Opened in 2001, Disney California Adventure Park was built on the site of Disneyland's original parking lot.
Disneyland has a larger cumulative attendance than any other theme park in the world, with 708 million visits since it opened (as of December 2017). In 2017, the park had approximately 18.3 million visits, making it the second most visited amusement park in the world that year, behind only Magic Kingdom.[3] According to a March 2005 Disney report, 65,700 jobs are supported by the Disneyland Resort, including about 20,000 direct Disney employees and 3,800 third-party employees (independent contractors or their employees).[4] Disney Announced "Project Stardust" in 2019, which includes major structural renovations to the park to account for higher attendance numbers.[5] Major renovations include widening Main Street, U.S.A. and changing the color scheme and forced perspective of Sleeping Beauty Castle." (wikipedia.org)
"The Disneyland Resort, commonly known as Disneyland, is an entertainment resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division and is home to two theme parks (Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure), three hotels, and a shopping, dining, and entertainment complex known as Downtown Disney.
The resort was developed by Walt Disney in the 1950s. When it opened to guests on July 17, 1955, the property consisted of Disneyland, its 100-acre parking lot (which had 15,167 spaces),[1] and the Disneyland Hotel, owned and operated by Disney's business partner Jack Wrather. After the success with the multi-park, multi-hotel business model at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Disney acquired large parcels of land adjacent to Disneyland to apply the same business model in Anaheim.
During the expansion, the property was named the Disneyland Resort to encompass the entire complex, while the original theme park was named Disneyland Park. The company purchased the Disneyland Hotel from the Wrather Company and the Pan Pacific Hotel from the Tokyu Group. The Pan Pacific Hotel became Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel in 2000. In 2001 the property saw the addition of Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, a second theme park, named Disney California Adventure, and the Downtown Disney shopping, dining, and entertainment area....
Most construction was completed by early 2001, and Disney's California Adventure Park held "preview" openings in January 2001. Word of mouth reviews from Disney employees, annual pass holders, and American Express cardholders were largely negative. It opened to the public on February 8, 2001, though the reviews impacted attendance and the company's initial attendance projections for the park were never met. Much of the park's early years were spent attempting to boost attendance. In the short-term, Disney brought the venerable Main Street Electrical Parade to the park, added Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Play It!, and offered discounted admission and other promotions aimed at boosting attendance. Long-term projects to address the park's early criticisms included the addition of A Bug's Land to add attractions geared towards children, and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror as another E ticket. Some of the park's unsuccessful early attractions were closed within the first year of operation, including the dark ride Superstar Limo, the live show Disney's Steps in Time, and Disney's Eureka! A California Parade.
After the park's opening, new attractions began appearing at Disneyland Park, including The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters; both were modeled after similarly named attractions at the Magic Kingdom. In 2006, the Superstar Limo was replaced by a Monsters, Inc-themed ride titled Mike and Sulley to the Rescue! The original park saw a substantial renovation of the nearly 30-year-old (at the time) Space Mountain, the return of Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, and the introduction of new trains to the Disneyland Monorail System.
In 2007, Pirates of the Caribbean was refurbished to add characters from the film franchise. The resort celebrated the 50th anniversary of Disneyland Park from 2005 to 2006 in an 18-month celebration known as the Happiest Homecoming on Earth, part of the larger Happiest Celebration on Earth promotion at all Disney theme parks. It was succeeded by the Year of a Million Dreams promotion, running from 2006 through 2008. The next promotion, What Will You Celebrate?, began January 1, 2009, and offered free admission to visitors on their birthday in 2009. Disney kept this marketing theme in 2010 for its American parks, but no longer offers free admission on a guest's birthday.
In 2007, Disney announced a $1.1 billion expansion project for Disney's California Adventure Park, including construction of a new land based on the Disney-Pixar film Cars, a new evening water show—Disney's World of Color, as well as substantially re-theming and adding new attractions to existing areas. Construction began in 2008, and was completed in phases from 2010 to 2012. Disney's Grand Californian Hotel completed an expansion to add Disney Vacation Club suites, while the Disneyland Hotel started an extensive renovation in the summer of 2009 and completed in 2012. In early 2010, the park was renamed Disney California Adventure. The expansion of Disneyland into the Disneyland Resort later had a similar effect on its sister properties in Japan and France, both of which also were single parks. In 2001, Tokyo Disneyland became Tokyo Disney Resort with the addition of Tokyo DisneySea. The following year, Disneyland Park Paris became Disneyland Resort Paris with the addition of Walt Disney Studios Paris.
In January 2015, Tom Staggs, Disney Parks chair, and Steve Davison, VP of Park Entertainment, announced the upcoming changes being made to the park to celebrate the park's 60th anniversary. The changes began on May 22, 2015, and ran for sixteen months.[5] The updates included an updated World of Color water show, Paint the Night parade, and a new fireworks show titled Disneyland Forever. Disney California Adventure also received a makeover, with Condor Flats remade into Grizzly Peak Airfield and Soarin' Over California equipped with a new laser projection system. Peter Pan's Flight reopened on July 1....
On July 8, 2015, the City of Anaheim granted a 30-year ban on potential ticket taxes that would be charged to theme park visitors in exchange for The Walt Disney Company investing $1 billion in new attractions, a new parking structure, and improvements to infrastructure surrounding the resort.[6] A condition of the city's ban requires that Disney begin construction on resort expansion by 2017, with all construction completed no later than 2024. In August 2015, it was announced that Disneyland Park will receive a 14-acre Star Wars-themed land scheduled to open in 2019.[7]
In October 2017, Disney announced a new Pixar Pals parking structure for the resort, which will include a 6,500-space parking structure, and transportation hub, scheduled for an opening in July 2019.[8] In March 2018, it was announced that A Bug's Land would close in September 2018. It will be replaced by a Marvel-themed land that is set to open in 2020.[9]
Disney announced plans to build a fourth hotel at the resort in 2016, slated for an opening in 2021.[10] In August 2018, the fourth Disneyland Resort hotel was placed on hold indefinitely because of a dispute with the city of Anaheim, which concerned a tax rebate that would have subsidized the hotel's construction.[11][12] Later, the hotel was cancelled as Disney and Anaheim could not come to an agreement on the tax rebate." (wikipedia.org)
"The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Walt Disney or simply Disney (/ˈdɪzni/),[3] (common metonym: Mouse, also Mouse House)[4] is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.
Disney was originally founded on October 16, 1923 by brothers Walt and Roy O. Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio; it also operated under the names The Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before officially changing its name to The Walt Disney Company in 1986. The company established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and theme parks.
Since the 1980s, Disney has created and acquired corporate divisions in order to market more mature content than is typically associated with its flagship family-oriented brands. The company is known for its film studio division, Walt Disney Studios, which includes Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures, and Blue Sky Studios. Disney's other main divisions are Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, Disney Media Networks, and Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International. Disney also owns and operates the ABC broadcast network; cable television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN, Freeform, FX, National Geographic network, and A&E Networks; publishing, merchandising, music, and theater divisions; and Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, a group of 14 theme parks around the world.[5][6]
The company has been a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 1991. Cartoon character Mickey Mouse, created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, is one of the world's most recognizable characters,[7] and serves as the company's official mascot....
On July 8, 2005, Walt Disney's nephew, Roy E. Disney, returned to the company as a consultant and as non-voting director emeritus. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts celebrated the 50th anniversary of Disneyland Park on July 17 and opened Hong Kong Disneyland on September 12. Walt Disney Feature Animation released Chicken Little, the company's first film using 3D animation. On October 1, Iger replaced Eisner as CEO. Miramax co-founders Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein also departed the company to form their own studio. On July 25, 2005, Disney announced that it was closing DisneyToon Studios Australia in October 2006 after 17 years of existence.[46]
On January 23, 2006, it was announced that Disney would purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction valued at $7.4 billion. The deal was finalized on May 5; Steve Jobs, who was Pixar's CEO and held a 50.1% ownership stake in the company, transitioned to Disney's board of directors as its largest individual shareholder, with a 7% stake.[47][48] Ed Catmull took over as President of Pixar Animation Studios. Former Executive Vice-President of Pixar, John Lasseter, became Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, its division Disneytoon Studios, and Pixar Animation Studios, as well as assuming the role of Principal Creative Advisor at Walt Disney Imagineering.[48]
In February 2006, Disney acquired the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit from NBC Universal (including the character's intellectual property and the 26 Oswald cartoons produced by Walt Disney) as part of an exchange of minor assets. In return, Disney released sportscaster Al Michaels from his contracts with ABC Sports and ESPN, so he could join NBC Sports and his long-time partner John Madden for NBC's new NFL Sunday Night Football.[49] In April 2007, the Muppets Holding Company was moved from Disney Consumer Products to the Walt Disney Studios division and renamed The Muppets Studio, as part of efforts to re-launch the division.[50][44] In February 2007, the company was accused of human rights violations regarding the working conditions in factories that produce their merchandise.[51][52] On August 31, 2009, Disney announced a deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4.24 billion, in a deal completed on December 31, 2009.[53][54]
Director Emeritus Roy E. Disney died of stomach cancer on December 16, 2009. At the time of his death, he owned roughly 1% of all of Disney which amounted to 16 million shares. He was the last member of the Disney family to be actively involved in the company.[55] In October 2009, Disney Channel president Rich Ross, hired by Iger, replaced Dick Cook as chairman of the company and, in November, began restructuring the company to focus more on family friendly products. Later in January 2010, Disney decided to shut down Miramax after downsizing Touchstone, but one month later, they instead began selling the Miramax brand and its 700-title film library to Filmyard Holdings. In March, ImageMovers Digital, which Disney had established as a joint venture studio with Robert Zemeckis in 2007, was shut down. In April 2010, Lyric Street, Disney's country music label in Nashville, was shut down. The following month, Haim Saban reacquired the Power Rangers franchise, including its 700-episode library.[56] In September 2012, Saban reacquired the Digimon franchise, which, like Power Rangers, was part of the Fox Kids library that Disney acquired in 2001.[57] In January 2011, Disney Interactive Studios was downsized.[58]
In April 2011, Disney broke ground on Shanghai Disney Resort. Costing $4.4 billion, the resort opened on June 16, 2016.[59] Later, in August 2011, Bob Iger stated on a conference call that after the success of the Pixar and Marvel purchases, he and the Walt Disney Company are looking to "buy either new characters or businesses that are capable of creating great characters and great stories."[60] Later, in early February 2012, Disney completed its acquisition of UTV Software Communications, expanding their market further into India and Asia.[61] On October 30, 2012, Disney announced plans to acquire Lucasfilm in a deal valued at $4.05 billion. Disney announced an intent to leverage the Star Wars franchise across its divisions, and planned to produce a seventh installment in the main film franchise for release in 2015.[62][63] The sale was completed on December 21, 2012.[64] On March 24, 2014, Disney acquired Maker Studios, an active multi-channel network on YouTube, for $500 million.[65] The company was later turned into a new venture called Disney Digital Network in May 2017.[66]
On February 5, 2015, it was announced that Tom Staggs had been promoted to COO.[67] On April 4, 2016, Disney announced that Staggs and the company had mutually agreed to part ways, effective May 2016, ending his 26-year career with the company.[68] In August 2016, Disney acquired a 33% stake in BAMTech, a streaming media provider spun out from Major League Baseball's media division. The company announced plans to eventually use its infrastructure for an ESPN over-the-top service.[69][70]
In September 2016, Disney was considering placing a bid for American online news and social networking service Twitter,[71][72] But they dropped out partly due to concerns over abuse and harassment on the service.[73][74][75]
On March 23, 2017, Disney announced that Iger had agreed to a one-year extension of his term as CEO through July 2, 2019, and had agreed to remain with the company as a consultant for three years after stepping down.[76][77] In August 2017, Disney announced that it had exercised an option to increase its stake in BAMTech to 75%, and would launch a subscription video-on-demand service featuring its entertainment content in 2019, which will replace Netflix as the subscription VOD rights holder of all Disney theatrical film releases.[78][79] In November 2017, Lasseter announced that he was taking a six-month leave of absence from Pixar and Disney Animation after acknowledging "missteps" in his behavior with employees in a memo to staff. According to various news outlets, Lasseter had a history of alleged sexual misconduct towards employees.[80][81]
In November 2017, it was reported by CNBC that Disney had been in negotiations to acquire 21st Century Fox. The negotiations had reportedly resumed around Disney acquiring several of Fox's key media assets. Rumors of a nearing deal continued on December 5, 2017, with additional reports suggesting that the FSN regional sports networks would be included in the resulting new company (assets that would likely be aligned with Disney's ESPN division).[82][83][84][85] On December 14, Disney agreed to acquire assets from 21st Century Fox, including 20th Century Fox, for $52.4 billion.[86] The merger included many of Fox's entertainment assets—including filmed entertainment, cable entertainment, and direct broadcast satellite divisions in the UK, Europe, and Asia[87]—but excluded divisions such as the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Television Stations, the Fox News Channel, the Fox Business Network, Fox Sports 1 and 2, and the Big Ten Network, all of which were to be spun off into an independent company before the merger was complete.[88] The following June, after a counter offer from Comcast worth $65 billion, Disney increased its offer to $71.3 billion.[89] The transaction officially closed on March 20, 2019.[90][91]
Beginning in March 2018, a strategic reorganization of the company saw the creation of two business segments, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products and Direct-to-Consumer & International. Parks & Consumer Products was primarily a merger of Parks & Resorts and Consumer Products & Interactive Media. While Direct-to-Consumer & International took over for Disney International and global sales, distribution and streaming units from Disney-ABC TV Group and Studios Entertainment plus Disney Digital Network.[92] Given that CEO Iger described it as "strategically positioning our businesses for the future", The New York Times considered the reorganization done in expectation of the 21st Century Fox purchase.[93]
On June 8, 2018, Disney announced that Lasseter would be leaving the company by the end of the year, but would take on a consulting role until then.[94] On June 19, 2018, Pete Docter and Jennifer Lee were announced as Lasseter's replacements as chief creative officers of Pixar and Disney Animation, respectively.[95] On June 28, 2018, Disneytoon Studios was shut down, resulting in the layoffs of 75 animators and staff." (wikipedia.org)