CASE STUDY DISNEY AND NETFLIX: TWO ENTERTAINMENT GIANTS BACKGROUND 5 Answer the questions. Use the Internet if you need to. What type of services do Disney and Netflix offer? Do you know approximately where and when the two companies were created? What are Disney’s and Netflix’s most popular films, series or shows? In your opinion, who is the target market for the two companies? Do you know if the two companies have an online shop for merchandise? CASE PRESENTATION Disney Co. was founded by Walt Disney and his brother Roy as Walt Disney Productions in 1929 to incorporate their cartoon animation studio. It produced short and full-length animated cartoons in the 1930s and 1940s, then expanded in the 1950s to make nature documentaries and live-action films as well as television programmes. The opening of the amusement parks Disneyland (1955) and Walt Disney World (1971) strengthened the company’s dominance of the family entertainment industry in the US. The company declined after Disney’s death in 1966 but was revitalised under new management in the 1980s. As the Walt Disney Co. it expanded its production units to include Touchstone Pictures and Miramax, makers of films for more mature audiences, and revitalised its animation division, producing films such (1995), the first full-length computeranimated film. The company took an active role in reviving and commercialising New York City’s Times Square, including the recreation of some of its animated films, such as (1994), as Broadway musicals. It is one of the world’s largest media and entertainment conglomerates, with such notable as ABC, ESPN, Pixar, Marvel Entertainment and 20th century Fox; it also operates the cable television Disney Channel. Disney Toy Story The Lion King holdings Netflix Inc. is a media-streaming and video-rental company founded in 1997 by American entrepreneurs Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph. In 1999 Netflix began offering an online service through the Internet. Subscribers chose movie and television titles from Netflix’s website; the shows were then mailed to customers in the form of DVDs, along with prepaid return envelopes, from one of more than 100 distribution centres. In 2007 Netflix began offering subscribers the option to stream some of its products directly to their homes through the Internet and then partnered with manufacturers of video game consoles and Blu-ray Disc players in order to enable its videos to be streamed over an Internet connection to those devices. In 2010 Netflix introduced a streaming-only plan that offered unlimited streaming service but no DVDs. Netflix then expanded beyond the United States and by 2016 its streaming service was available in more than 190 countries and territories. Beginning in 2013 with the episodic drama series , the company offered video content produced specifically for its streaming service. Such content became a major focus of Netflix, and by the end of 2021 it had offered more than 2,400 original titles, including series and movies. Adapted from: Netflix subscription House of Cards https://www.britannica.com/topic/ GLOSSARY : subscription abbonamento