Timeline Description: This list of Disney films includes discussion of Disney's full-length animation feature films. Disney's animations have remained a key part of the Disney corporation, and continue to be so today. While many of these are hand animated, others are works of computer animation; however, this list does not include productions combining animation and live action, or those released by Pixar Studios.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| December 21, 1937 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Disney's first major animated film was released in December 1937. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first animated, full-length feature film. |
| February 7, 1940 | Pinocchio Disney's second full-length animated film was not a box-office success, but was the first animated film to receive an Academy Award. Pinocchio won both Best Music-Original Score and Best Music-Original Song. |
| October 23, 1941 | Dumbo 1941's Dumbo was made to recoup the financial losses of Fantasia, a film combining animation with traditional film techniques. It is the shortest full-length Disney film, at only 64 minutes. |
| August 13, 1942 | Bambi Disney's Bambi is ranked third in the American Film Institute's list of ten best animated feature films. Bambi won three Academy Awards, including Best Sound, Best Song and Best Original Music Score. |
| 1940 | Package Films(1940s) With much of the staff called to serve in World War II, these films are an assemblage of unfinished shorts and songs, combined to produce a full-length film. There were several package films, including Make Mine Music in 1946 and the Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad in 1949. |
| February 15, 1950 | Cinderella Cinderella was the most commercially successful Disney film since Snow White. The film, based on the story Cendrillon by Charles Perrault, saved the studio from bankruptcy, infusing new life into Disney. |
| July 28, 1951 | Alice in Wonderland Based on Lewis Carroll's Alice novels, Alice in Wonderland is widely considered one of the best adaptations of Carroll's work and one of the best examples of animation in film history. |
| February 5, 1953 | Peter Pan Disney's Peter Pan is the last animated film released prior to the creation of Disney's own film company, Buena Vista Studios. It is also the last film produced by Disney's original team of animators. |
| June 22, 1955 | Lady and the Tramp Disney's Lady and the Tramp was the first widescreen animated feature film. The film tells the story of the adventures of a purebred cocker spaniel and a mutt, Tramp. |
| December 25, 1958 | Sleeping Beauty While widely considered one of the best animated films today, Sleeping Beauty received a poor critical and box office reception, leading Disney to abandon the fairytale genre for a number of years. |
| January 25, 1961 | One Hundred and One Dalmations One Hundred and One Dalmations was an economic success for Disney. The film was produced fairly inexpensively, with new production techniques and did well in the theaters. |
| December 25, 1963 | The Sword in the Stone The Sword in the Stone is the last film made before the death of Walt Disney. This film tells the tale of King Arthur as a young boy. |
| October 19, 1967 | The Jungle Book Based on Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, Disney's The Jungle Book was well-received critically and by the public. It was a financial success. |
| December 24, 1970 | The Aristocats The Aristocats is the story of a well-born mother cat and her kittens. Placed in peril after the owner's death, the cat and her kittens are assisted by a stray cat. |
| November 8, 1973 | Robin Hood Based on the traditional story of Robin Hood, this film uses anthropomorphic animals in place of human characters. |
| March 11, 1977 | The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh This film is derived from several small Pooh featurettes previously released by Disney. The film has spawned a number of Pooh-related toys, television programs and more. |
| June 22, 1977 | The Rescuers The Rescuers is about a mouse rescue organization, operating internationally. The Rescue Aid Society is based in the United Nations. |
| July 10, 1981 | The Fox and the Hound The most expensive animated film produced at the time, The Fox and the Hound is an animated take on a buddy film, with two unlikely friends at the center of the story. |
| July 24, 1985 | The Black Cauldron The Black Cauldron is a dark fantasy film, based on novels by Lloyd Prydain. The Black Cauldron was a financial failure. |
| July 2, 1986 | The Great Mouse Detective Following the failure of The Black Cauldron, the much lower-budget Great Mouse Detective was a success, eventually leading to the renaissance of Disney animation. |
| November 18, 1988 | Oliver & Company Inspired by Dickens' Oliver Twist, Oliver & Company features a kitten and pack of stray dogs in 1980s New York City. |
| November 17, 1989 | The Little Mermaid The Little Mermaid, an adaptation of the story by the same name by Hans Christian Andersen, began the Disney Renaissance, marking the start of an era of successful animated releases. |
| 1990 | Rescuers Down Under The Rescuers Down Under was a sequel to the 1977 Rescuers, and was the first animated sequel released by Disney. |
| November 22, 1991 | Beauty and the Beast The musical Beauty and the Beast was the second fairy tale film in the Disney Renaissance. Beauty and the Beast earned more than 425 million dollars at the box office. |
| November 25, 1992 | Aladdin Aladdin is based on a tale from the Arabian Nights, and included, most notably, the voice of Robin Williams as the genie. |
| June 24, 1994 | The Lion King Disney's The Lion King was the highest grossing film of 1994. Re-released in 2011, the film is the highest grossing hand-drawn animated film in history. |
| 1995 | The Goofy Movie & Pocahontas In the spring of 1995, The Goofy Movie, a story about the long-time character, Goofy, was released. On June 23, 1995, Disney released Pocahontas, the story of a young Native American girl and her encounter with Europeans. |
| June 21, 1996 | The Hunchback of Notre Dame Well-received by both critics and the public, Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame explores surprisingly dark themes, including lust and sin. |
| June 27, 1997 | Hercules While Hercules was well-liked by critics, it did relatively poorly in the box office. The story eventually inspired a spin-off television series. |
| June 19, 1998 | Mulan Mulan was one of only three films produced at the Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida. Mulan tells the story of a Han Dynasty young woman in China. |
| June 18, 1999 | Tarzan Disney's Tarzan was the first animated version of the well-known story, inspiring a number of other productions, including a Broadway play. |
| May 19, 2000 | Dinosaur Unlike most of the films in the traditional canon of hand-drawn animation, Dinosaur is a computer-animated film; however, it was released by Walt Disney Feature Animation. |
| December 15, 2000 | The Emperor's New Groove In The Emperor's New Groove, Disney returned to the buddy movie genre. The Emperor's New Groove was a box office success and was nominated for an Academy Award. |
| June 15, 2001 | Atlantis: The Lost Empire Shot in an anamorphic style, Atlantis: The Lost Empire has the look of a comic book. The film did not perform well at the box office. |
| 2002 | Lilo and Stitch & Treasure Planet On June 21, 2002, Disney released Lilo & Stitch, a well-liked film about a Hawaiian girl and her alien companion. On November 27, 2002, the more expensive Treasure Planet came out, with a search for hidden treasure. |
| November 1, 2003 | Brother Bear This is the final film produced at the studio in Orlando, Florida. With a growing interest in computer animation, hand-drawn films were of less value and were not doing as well in the box office. |
| October 2, 2004 | Home on the Range Disney's Home on the Range was the last hand-drawn film released for some years, until the Princess and the Frog. It did poorly at the box office. |
| November 4, 2005 | Chicken Little Chicken Little was Disney's first full-length 3D animated film. It came after the release of Pixar films; however, those films were produced by Pixar, rather than Disney. |
| March 30, 2007 | Meet the Robinsons Meet the Robinsons is a computer-animated film, sharing the comic story of a boy and his family. |
| November 21, 2008 | Bolt While Bolt did relatively poorly at the box office, it was well-liked by critics. This film adapts the road trip film genre to animation, featuring a dog who has spent his entire life on a television set. |
| December 11, 2009 | The Princess and the Frog The Princess and the Frog is a traditionally hand-animated film. The film features a hard-working young woman making her way in the world. This character, Tiana, is the first African-American Disney princess. |
| November 24, 2010 | Tangled Tangled is a computer-animated feature length film. This adaptation of the traditional story of Rapunzel was the most expensive animated film made to date. |
| July 15, 2011 | Winnie the Pooh In 2011's Winnie the Pooh, Disney returned to the characters from the Hundred-Acre Wood. In this film, the characters must rescue Christopher Robin. |
| November 2, 2012 | Wreck-It Ralph Disney's Wreck-It Ralph is the computer-animated story of a video game villain who wants to become a hero. |
| November 27, 2013 | Frozen Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen, Frozen earned 1.3 billion dollars worldwide, and was hailed as one of the best films since the Disney Renaissance. |
| November 7, 2014 | Big Hero 6 Based on a Marvel Comics story, Big Hero 6 tells the story of a robot and his maker as both friends and superheroes. |