biography animation movies

• History & Society
• Science & Tech
• Biographies
• Animals & Nature
• Geography & Travel
• Arts & Culture
• Games & Quizzes
• On This Day
• One Good Fact
• New Articles
• Lifestyles & Social Issues
• Philosophy & Religion
• Politics, Law & Government
• World History
• Health & Medicine
• Browse Biographies
• Birds, Reptiles & Other Vertebrates
• Bugs, Mollusks & Other Invertebrates
• Environment
• Fossils & Geologic Time
• Entertainment & Pop Culture
• Sports & Recreation
• Visual Arts
• Demystified
• Image Galleries
• Infographics
• Top Questions
• Britannica Kids
• Saving Earth
• Space Next 50
• Student Center
• Introduction

First animated cartoons

• Feature-length cartoons
• Major films and television productions

• What character was featured in the first series of fully animated films by the Disney Company?
• What theme parks does the Disney Company own?
• What are some of the major film festivals?

Walt Disney

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

• AllMusic - Biography of Walt Disney
• Turner Classic Movies - Walt Disney
• Walt Disney - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
• Walt Disney - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
• Table Of Contents

Recent News

Walt Disney (born December 5, 1901, Chicago , Illinois , U.S.—died December 15, 1966, Burbank , California) was an American motion-picture and television producer and showman, famous as a pioneer of animated cartoon films and as the creator of such cartoon characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck . He also planned and built Disneyland , a huge amusement park that opened near Los Angeles in 1955, and before his death he had begun building a second such park, Walt Disney World , near Orlando , Florida. The Disney Company he founded has become one of the world’s largest entertainment conglomerates.

Walter Elias Disney was the fourth son of Elias Disney, a peripatetic carpenter, farmer, and building contractor, and his wife, Flora Call, who had been a public school teacher. When Walt was little more than an infant, the family moved to a farm near Marceline, Missouri, a typical small Midwestern town, which is said to have furnished the inspiration and model for the Main Street, U.S.A., of Disneyland. There Walt began his schooling and first showed a taste and aptitude for drawing and painting with crayons and watercolours.

His restless father soon abandoned his efforts at farming and moved the family to Kansas City , Missouri, where he bought a morning newspaper route and compelled his young sons to assist him in delivering papers. Walt later said that many of the habits and compulsions of his adult life stemmed from the disciplines and discomforts of helping his father with the paper route. In Kansas City the young Walt began to study cartooning with a correspondence school and later took classes at the Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design.

In 1917 the Disneys moved back to Chicago, and Walt entered McKinley High School, where he took photographs, made drawings for the school paper, and studied cartooning on the side, for he was hopeful of eventually achieving a job as a newspaper cartoonist. His progress was interrupted by World War I , in which he participated as an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross in France and Germany.

Returning to Kansas City in 1919, he found occasional employment as a draftsman and inker in commercial art studios, where he met Ub Iwerks , a young artist whose talents contributed greatly to Walt’s early success.

Dissatisfied with their progress, Disney and Iwerks started a small studio of their own in 1922 and acquired a secondhand movie camera with which they made one and two-minute animated advertising films for distribution to local movie theatres. They also did a series of animated cartoon sketches called Laugh-O-grams and the pilot film for a series of seven-minute fairy tales that combined both live action and animation , Alice in Cartoonland . A New York film distributor cheated the young producers, and Disney was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1923. He moved to California to pursue a career as a cinematographer, but the surprise success of the first Alice film compelled Disney and his brother Roy —a lifelong business partner—to reopen shop in Hollywood.

With Roy as business manager, Disney resumed the Alice series, persuading Iwerks to join him and assist with the drawing of the cartoons. They invented a character called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit , contracted for distribution of the films at $1,500 each, and propitiously launched their small enterprise. In 1927, just before the transition to sound in motion pictures, Disney and Iwerks experimented with a new character—a cheerful, energetic, and mischievous mouse called Mickey. They had planned two shorts, called Plane Crazy and Gallopin’ Gaucho , that were to introduce Mickey Mouse when The Jazz Singer , a motion picture with the popular singer Al Jolson , brought the novelty of sound to the movies. Fully recognizing the possibilities for sound in animated-cartoon films, Disney quickly produced a third Mickey Mouse cartoon equipped with voices and music, entitled Steamboat Willie , and cast aside the other two soundless cartoon films. When it appeared in 1928, Steamboat Willie was a sensation.

The following year Disney started a new series called Silly Symphonies with a picture entitled The Skeleton Dance , in which a skeleton rises from the graveyard and does a grotesque , clattering dance set to music based on classical themes. Original and briskly syncopated, the film ensured popular acclaim for the series, but, with costs mounting because of the more complicated drawing and technical work, Disney’s operation was continually in peril.

The growing popularity of Mickey Mouse and his girlfriend, Minnie, however, attested to the public’s taste for the fantasy of little creatures with the speech, skills, and personality traits of human beings. (Disney himself provided the voice for Mickey until 1947.) This popularity led to the invention of other animal characters, such as Donald Duck and the dogs Pluto and Goofy. In 1933 Disney produced a short, The Three Little Pigs , which arrived in the midst of the Great Depression and took the country by storm. Its treatment of the fairy tale of the little pig who works hard and builds his house of brick against the huffing and puffing of a threatening wolf suited the need for fortitude in the face of economic disaster, and its song “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”was a happy taunting of adversity. It was in this period of economic hard times in the early 1930s that Disney fully endeared himself and his cartoons to audiences all over the world, and his operation began making money in spite of the Depression.

Disney had by that time gathered a staff of creative young people, who were headed by Iwerks. Colour was introduced in the Academy Award-winning Silly Symphonies film Flowers and Trees (1932), while other animal characters came and went in films such as The Grasshopper and the Ants (1934) and The Tortoise and the Hare (1935). Roy franchised tie-in sales with the cartoons of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck—watches, dolls , shirts, and tops—and reaped more wealth for the company.

The 10 Best Movies Based On Poems, Ranked

Your changes have been saved

Email Is sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

Over the years, many films have provided audiences with intriguing adaptations of literary works — most commonly novels — spanning various genres. This has become something of a common practice, and it's not difficult to understand why, especially when books often provide readers with some of the most immersive and compelling stories that translate incredibly well to the big screen.

While many literary film adaptations are based on books, some readers may be surprised to learn that quite a few popular movies are inspired by acclaimed poetry works, even if this is less common than novels or even play adaptations. From Beowulf to O Brother, Where Art Thou? , we look back at some of the most successful and overall best movies based on poems .

10 'Beowulf' (2007)

Director: robert zemeckis.

Set on 6th-century Sjaelland Island, Beowulf tells the story of the legendary Geatish titular warrior ( Ray Winstone ), depicting his defeat of the demon Grendel ( Crispin Glover ), who haunted King Hrothgar's ( Sir Anthony Hopkins ) kingdom, and his quest to stop Grendel's unstoppable mother ( Angelina Jolie ) who begins killing out of revenge.

Although directed by Back to the Future and Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis , Beowulf turned out to be a disappointment when it was released, gathering mixed reviews from critics and audiences alike. Nonetheless, it is still a solid effort, especially for its ambitious motion-capture animation, which was groundbreaking at the time of release, and strong performances , resulting in an entertaining adaptation of the epic Old English poem .

Watch on Amazon Prime

9 'Jabberwocky' (1977)

Director: terry gilliam.

Blending the comedy and fantasy genres with interesting results, Terry Gilliam 's Jabberwocky centers around Dennis Cooper ( Michael Palin ), a young man with no interest in adventure, who accidentally becomes a hero as he sets out for a face-to-face with the monster Jabberwock, saving a decaying kingdom and the countryside in the meantime.

Gilliam's imaginative movie is loosely adapted from the poem of the same name by Lewis Carroll in his iconic novel Through the Looking-Glass . Even though it is somewhat of an underrated, overshadowed gem (it certainly is a niche film that may not appeal to everyone), Gilliam's movie is worthwhile and has gathered something of a cult following from fans of the iconic filmmaker, particularly for its absurdist elements.

Jabberwocky

8 'troy' (2004), director: wolfgang petersen.

Starring Brad Pitt in the lead role, this Wolfgang Petersen adventure drama illustrates the story of the Trojan War, particularly focusing on some of its key figures, like Achilles (Pitt), Hector ( Eric Bana ), and Paris ( Orlando Bloom ). The film mostly depicts the assault on Troy by the United Greek forces, chronicling the fates of those involved.

Based on Homar's epic poem The Iliad , Troy is a movie worth watching for audiences who enjoy the genre . Despite the fact that it is by no means a masterpiece in the category nor a critically acclaimed picture, it is an engaging film highly praised for its action sequences and well-choreographed battle scenes . Furthermore, Troy 's star-studded cast and impeccable production design are also worth noting.

7 'Bright Star' (2009)

Director: jane campion.

Directed by the skilled Oscar-winning director Jane Campion , Bright Star is a romantic tale of love and loss that centers around the relationship between poet John Keats ( Ben Whishaw ) and Fanny Brawne ( Abbie Cornish ), which explores how love perseveres despite Keats's financial struggles and deteriorating health.

Although the film is mostly based on the last three years of the poet's life, Bright Star draws inspiration — particularly seen through its title — from the poem Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art . The performances by the two leads are a standout aspect in this Jane Campion picture, although the impeccable directing and visually striking visuals are obviously also worth noting. Furthermore, Bright Star also tackles the creative process and showcases how personal relationships influence it.

Bright Star

Rent on Apple TV

6 'Braveheart' (1995)

Director: mel gibson.

Directed by and starring Mel Gibson , the well-known Braveheart draws inspiration from the poem The Wallace by Blind Harry . The plot centers around real-life Scottish warrior William Wallace , who leads his countrymen in a rebellious quest for freedom alongside his homeland from the dictatorship of King Edward I of England .

Exploring independence, sacrifice, vengeance, and shedding light on the importance of fighting for what one believes in (especially freedom) with a compelling hero at its center, Braveheart ultimately does great justice to its eye-catching title. It is a generally well-liked movie known for its epic narrative, memorable battle sequences, and powerful performances, and has even earned five Academy Awards upon its release, including Best Picture and Best Director for Gibson, as a result.

Watch on Paramount Plus

5 'Mulan' (1998)

Directors: tony bancroft, barry cook.

One of Disney's fan-favorites is Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook 's Mulan , which has revolutionized the "Disney princess" film genre by breaking the mold of traditional Disney female characters and offering audiences a self-reliant, fearless warrior instead. The plot centers around a young Chinese woman who disguises herself as a man to take her father's place in the army.

By the time it was released, this groundbreaking animation feature provided audiences with food for thought by reflecting and challenging traditional gender roles and how difficult it is for a woman to fit in a patriarch society. It also deals with universal themes of honor, identity, and personal duty as Mulan embarks on an enriching self-discovery journey. The iconic character is based on the Chinese legend Hua Mulan from the poem The Ballad of Mulan .

Mulan (1998)

Watch on Disney+

4 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' (1993)

Director: henry selick.

Henry Selick 's Christmas/Halloween stop-motion essential is beloved by audiences of all ages, and it is far from difficult to understand why. Equal parts entertaining and visually absorbing, The Nightmare Before Christmas tells the story of Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town. When he becomes bored with his annual routine, Jack unearths a new obsession: Christmas Town.

Praised for its unique style and flawless animation (on top of the amazing soundtrack), Selick's movie is an excellent meditation on identity and purpose, analyzing the consequences that come with stepping out of one's comfort zone and trying new things. What some may not be aware of, though, is that The Nightmare Before Christmas draws inspiration from Tim Burton's original poem of the same name .

The Nightmare Before Christmas

3 'the wind will carry us' (1999), director: abbas kiarostami.

Analyzing the passage of time as well as life and death, Abbas Kiarostami 's The Wind Will Carry Us is an Iranian drama focusing on a city engineer ( Behzad Dorani ) who, after coming to a rural village to keep vigil for a dying relative, attempts to fit in with the local community.

With a stunning minimalist style and slow-paced but engaging narrative, this must-see arthouse movie — regarded as a masterpiece of Iranian cinema — is based on the poem of the same name by Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad , and is certainly well worth the watch. The film essentially deals with themes of life and death and the unstoppable passage of time, also shedding light on the contrast between urban and rural lives and their values.

The Wind Will Carry Us (1999)

Rent on Amazon

2 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' (2000)

Director: ethan coen, joel coen.

Directed by the Coen Brothers , O Brother, Where Art Thou is a comedy crime drama set in the Deep South during the 1930s. It follows three escaped ex-convicts' journey to find hidden treasure while a lawman pursues them. The cast includes George Clooney , John Turturro , John Goodman , and Tim Blake Nelson .

Even if it takes some creative liberties (with the addition of American folklore and southern culture), O Brother, Where Art Thou is based on Homer's The Odyssey , which is widely regarded as one of the greatest works of literature of all time. Much like the poem from which it is inspired, this Coen Brothers picture is layered and complex, with great character development and dealing with themes of redemption and identity while also providing a thoughtful social commentary in the meantime.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Watch on Hulu

1 'The Set-Up' (1949)

Director: robert wise.

Directed by one of the most iconic filmmakers of the Golden Age , the black-and-white film noir The Set-Up tells the story of aging boxer Stoker Thompson, played by Robert Ryan , who, despite riding on a string of failures, never gives up his dreams. Things get seemingly complicated when Stoker wins a brutal fight with serious consequences.

Praised for its realistic depiction of the boxing industry and the incredible direction, The Set-Up is surprisingly based on the 1928 poem of the same name by Joseph Moncure March . It tackles the desperation felt by aging athletes and delves into corruption in sports while also highlighting the unstoppable power of determination. The Set-Up is a highly atmospheric character study guaranteed to immerse audiences in its intense, real-time narrative.

The Set-Up (1949)

NEXT: The 10 Best Film Noir Movies Based on Books, Ranked

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• 77% Twisters Link to Twisters
• 86% Longlegs Link to Longlegs
• 92% National Anthem Link to National Anthem

New TV Tonight

• 85% Cobra Kai: Season 6
• 89% Kite Man: Hell Yeah!: Season 1
• 100% Simone Biles: Rising: Season 1
• 67% Lady in the Lake: Season 1
• 80% Marvel's Hit-Monkey: Season 2
• 59% Those About to Die: Season 1
• 50% Emperor of Ocean Park: Season 1
• -- Mafia Spies: Season 1
• -- The Ark: Season 2
• -- Unprisoned: Season 2

Most Popular TV on RT

• 80% Star Wars: The Acolyte: Season 1
• 93% The Boys: Season 4
• 100% Supacell: Season 1
• 89% The Bear: Season 3
• 76% Presumed Innocent: Season 1
• 89% Sunny: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• 89% Sunny: Season 1 Link to Sunny: Season 1
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

50 Best 1980s Cult Movies & Classics

71 Best Sci-Fi Movies of the 1950s

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

Renewed and Cancelled TV Shows 2024

Cobra Kai : Season 6, Part 1 First Reviews: Funny and Emotional, but Give Us the Rest Already

• Trending on RT
• Disaster Movies
• Cobra Kai First Reviews
• Glenn Powell
• Shows on Amazon Prime
• 80s Fantasy Movies

Best Biography Movies to Stream at Home (2024)

Screen Rant

Every dc animated movie coming in 2024.

Your changes have been saved

Email Is sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

Every DC Animated Universe Movie Ranked Worst To Best

Every dc animated universe show, ranked worst to best, dc's tomorrowverse: what movies are included & how to watch.

• DC's animated movie legacy is strong, with promising 2024 releases like Batman Azteca and Watchmen.
• Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths delivers a faithful adaptation, featuring iconic DC heroes.
• DC Universe, a major comic franchise, competes with Marvel, experiencing revamps under James Gunn.

DC has multiple exciting animated movies in 2024. While the live-action movie side of DC media has had its ups and downs over several decades of projects, the brand has always had a solid and successful footing in the world of animated features. Starting all the way back with Max Fleischer's Superman serials in the 1940s, animation has been a core part of DC's movie and television series release strategy. This has resulted in several now-classic projects, from Batman: The Animated Series to Justice League Dark: Apokolips War , as well as in some DC animated universes, such as the Tomorrowverse .

Warner Bros. regularly releases several DC animated films a year, with some still currently set to arrive in 2024. DC's slate is diverse and promising, hopefully giving viewers a lot to look forward to from 2024's DC animated adventures. Here are all three DC animated movies arriving in 2024 .

From Flashpoint to Apokolips War, the DC Animated Movie Universe timeline brought the New 52 to the screen. Here’s every DCAMU movie, ranked.

Batman Azteca: Choque De Imperios (TBA 2024)

The upcoming animated movie Batman Azteca: Choque De Imperios is a true DC Elseworlds tale, re-imagining the Dark Knight's origin story with a young Aztec boy named Yohualli Coatl (voiced by Horacio Garcia Rojas) in the place of Bruce Wayne. After the murder of his parents by Spanish Conquistadors, Yohualli becomes an ancient, Meso-American version of the Caped Crusader. Batman Azteca is directed and co-written by Juan Jose Meza-Leon, and while few other major details have been revealed about it, the character re-invention it gives to Batman is a unique one that makes it a very intriguing DC animated movie.

From the timeless Batman: The Animated Series to the instant-classic Justice League Unlimited, here is every DC Animated Universe TV show, ranked.

Watchmen Chapter 1& 2

Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's acclaimed graphic novel Watchmen finally made it to the big screen in 2009 in the form of Zack Snyder's first DC movie (albeit with the notoriously adaptation-averse Moore being uncredited). The upcoming animated DC movie Watchmen is set to retell the iconic story for new audiences , in which Rorschach investigates the murder of the Comedian in a world where superheroes have been outlawed, while Dr. Manhattan has become an all-powerful being.

The story will be split up into two chapters, with Watchmen Chapter 1 set to release on Digital on August 13, and then August 27 on Blu-Ray and Ultra HD. The second half of the DC movie series currently has no confirmed release date, but is expected to release in 2025.

The animated format of the new Watchmen movie has raised hopes it will be able to be more accurate to the original comic series - with the Watchmen trailer supporting this idea - but whether this will come to fruition or not remains to be seen, and will likely only become concretely clear upon the installment's actual release. This is doubly true given the style of the animation aims for a more 3d-esque look, which is an alteration from the graphic novel's own art style.

Every DC Animated Movie Released In 2024

Justice league: crisis on infinite earths part one, two & three.

DC's famous multiverse story Crisis On Infinite Earths received the animated treatment in Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths . With the Anti-Monitor threatening the stability of the multiverse, it is up to the heroes of multiple DC universes to join forces to stop him.

Crisis On Infinite Earths was previously the basis for the CW's live-action crossover of DC movies and TV shows, but gets a more comic-accurate rendition in the animated adaptation. The movie series also boats a considerable cast full of notable and iconic actors, with the final installment containing Kevin Conroy's final appearance as Batman - and Mark Hamill's final appearance as the Joker, with the actor confirming he wouldn't be reprising the role following Conroy's passing in 2022. Crisis On Infinite Earths ' cast also includes Jensen Ackles, Zachary Quinto, and Alexandra Daddario.

Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths released in three parts, which premiered on January 9, April 23, and July 16 respectively, splitting up the series between seven months of the year. The series is the first animated adaptation of the titular DC comics event and is a part of the Tomorrowverse DC animated timeline .

Every DC Animated TV Show Released & Coming In 2024

• My Adventures with Superman Season 2 & 3 (Ongoing) - My Adventures With Superman details the early days of a young Clark Kent's superhero story, including his arrival at the Daily Planet and his blossoming romance with Lois Lane. The show has been confirmed for a third season, and releases on Adult Swim and Max.
• Suicide Squad ISEKAI (Ongoing) - An anime adaptation of the titular supervillain team, Isekai imagines the group entering a fantasy land, and the chaos that would come with it.
• Kite Man: Hell Yeah! (July 18, 2024) - A spinoff from the Harley Quinn series, the comedy animated series focuses more on the well-meaning but long-suffering Kite Man and his attempts to open and sustain a bar alongside his girlfriend Golden Glider. The show is set to release on Max.
• Batman: Caped Crusader (August 1, 2024) - Helmed by Bruce Timm, Matt Reeves and J.J. Abrams, Caped Crusader follows the Dark Knight in a darker version of Batman: The Animated Series ' story, which is set to reimagine much of the classic Batman cast and explore the complex psychological set-up of its iteration of the hero. Batman: Caped Crusader will release on Prime Video.
• Creature Commandos (December 2024) - The first release of the new DC Universe headed by co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran, Creature Commandos is set to bring a Suicide Squad-like team to the forefront of the franchise in what will also be its first animated adventures. Given animated characters and live-action characters are set to be played by the same actors in the universe, the show is likely to reveal a fair few other DC castings for the new world.

DC Universe

The DC Universe is one of the biggest comic book franchises and often competes with Marvel. DC Comics started as National Allied Publications, founded by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson in 1935. Since then, the franchise has exploded with thousands of comic books, movies, TV shows, and video games. 2013 marked the beginning of the most recent iteration of the superheroes, with Zack Snyder introducing Henry Cavill as Superman. After several movies with mixed reviews, DC underwent a soft reboot under the helm of James Gunn and Peter Safran.

Advanced search

• COLLABORATIONS

Enter full date

or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below

1. The Wind Rises

2. Piece by Piece

3. Persepolis

5. Waltz with Bashir

6. Cobain: Montage of Heck

7. Barefoot Gen

8. Charlotte

9. The Miracle Maker

10. Sabbath Queen

11. Muhammad: The Last Prophet

12. Miss Hokusai

13. Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?

14. Another Day of Life

15. The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol

16. The Giants

17. Who Are You, Charlie Brown?

18. Buddha: The Great Departure

19. November Tenth

20. Buddha 2: The Endless Journey

21. Barefoot Gen 2

22. Tiny Tim: King for a Day

23. Cloud Air: The Movie

24. El Cid: La leyenda

25. Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles

Recently viewed.