Robert Iger (CEO, Walt Disney) :
CEO: Of course. All of us at Disney are really proud of Walt, and we salute him for whatever he's created throughout his lifetime.

Kathleen Kennedy (CEO, Lucas Films) :
Lucas: Not just the man, but even his team. Lucas Films gave the world movies like Star World, but Walt Disney and his current team's vision and management is not much talked about.

Kathleen Kennedy (CEO, Lucas Films) :
Lucas: People outside the industry have no idea how big they are.

James Murdoch (CEO, 21st Century) :
21 Century: Definitely. Although 21st Century and Disney are competitors, they are better than us. But unfortunately, people still just see them as a cartoon company.

Robert Iger (CEO, Walt Disney) :
CEO: When I say Disney, some of you might think of classic cartoons & modern-day movie masterpieces, others a grand theme park or a mass media holding company and others still a man. All of you are correct.

Dawn Hudson (CEO, Oscars) :
Oscar: Walt Disney was a pure genius, but the details of his life and the aspects that made him different from others are hazy to most.

James Murdoch (CEO, 21st Century) :
21 Century: Walt was a pretty regular kid. It was only after his father got the boys in drawing lessons that he subsequently started drawing for his high school paper.

James Murdoch (CEO, 21st Century) :
21 Century: The thing was nobody thought of him as a particularly great artist.

Kathleen Kennedy (CEO, Lucas Films) :
Lucas: Don’t forget Walt decided to send some of his drawings to magazines for publication at 17 years but they were all rejected. Rejection and persistence would be all too familiar to Walt over the next few years.

Dawn Hudson (CEO, Oscars) :
Oscar: Pesmen-Ruben Commercial Art Studio fired him, and his ideas at Kansas City film company were rejected by owners. So He brought a book on animation and a camera and began to start shooting his own cartoons in a shed behind his house.

Robert Iger (CEO, Walt Disney) :
CEO: That’s when he created Laugh-O-Gram. Most people would be conservative with their first business venture, but Walt was passionate.

Robert Iger (CEO, Walt Disney) :
CEO: He went out and spent all his investment money on hiring animators for a film called Alice's Wonderland based on the 1865 novel 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.'

Kathleen Kennedy (CEO, Lucas Films) :
Lucas: This project was one of the first instances of Walt’s creative genius. He took animation to another level. Unfortunately, Walt’s grand plant didn’t catch and halfway through production in 1923, the studio went into bankruptcy.

James Murdoch (CEO, 21st Century) :
21 Century: He quoted, "it's important to have a failure when you're young." and was definitely right.

Kathleen Kennedy (CEO, Lucas Films) :
Lucas: If anyone knew not to take failure to heart, it was that man. At such a time he traveled to LA to visit his sick brother. While searching for jobs there, he asked all the big studios to take him on, and they all said no.

Dawn Hudson (CEO, Oscars) :
Oscar: Walt finally got lucky when he managed to sell a half-finished version of Alice's Wonderland to a New York film distributor and founded Disney Brothers' Studio with his brother.

James Murdoch (CEO, 21st Century) :
21 Century: That was a good beginning, wasn't it?

Robert Iger (CEO, Walt Disney) :
CEO: Don't disrespect our founder, James. You very well know that didn't work out. His new character (rabbit) Oswald was bought by Universal, and they refused to renew his contract because they already had rights.

Kathleen Kennedy (CEO, Lucas Films) :
Lucas: He did hit rock bottom, didn't he?

Dawn Hudson (CEO, Oscars) :
Oscar: Yeah, and now there was just one direction to move in - ahead. When all this drama unfolded in 1928, Disney hit the jackpot when their hard work paid off in the form of a rodent.

Kathleen Kennedy (CEO, Lucas Films) :
Lucas: Yeah, here comes Mickey Mouse!

Robert Iger (CEO, Walt Disney) :
CEO: Yes, Mickey Mouse is almost 90 years old. But that wasn't his original name. Walt was going to name him 'Mortimer', but his wife suggested otherwise. Disney owes its success to that character.

James Murdoch (CEO, 21st Century) :
21 Century: The character was definitely good, but he capitalized on a brand new technology that had just been incorporated into the film industry. Y'all very well know what it is.

Dawn Hudson (CEO, Oscars) :
Oscar: Sound.

Dawn Hudson (CEO, Oscars) :
Oscar: At that point in time, there were no dubbing-like techniques. People wouldn't have been able to comprehend that an animated character can whistle, sing and have corresponding sounds on film.

James Murdoch (CEO, 21st Century) :
21 Century: Not to forget his strategy - until 1935, only he had rights to use technicolor in animation films. That gave Disney quite a lead.

James Murdoch (CEO, 21st Century) :
21 Century: He was able to create Snow White at the cost of whopping 1.5 million dollars.

Kathleen Kennedy (CEO, Lucas Films) :
Lucas: After Snow White came many meticulously animated masterpieces like Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi.

Kathleen Kennedy (CEO, Lucas Films) :
Lucas: Audiences often underestimate the budget and efforts that go into animated films. 'Tangled' was more expensive than 'Avatar.'

Robert Iger (CEO, Walt Disney) :
CEO: The genius of Walt game out in 1950, when he moved into creating amusement parks. Traditionally amusement parks were only for children leaving tag alone parents with nothing to do. Disney envisioned a place where both children and parents could share fun experiences together.

Dawn Hudson (CEO, Oscars) :
Oscar: He was at a Copenhagen-based park when he thought of venturing into this business. And he was so impressed with the design and layout, that he incorporated the good designs.

Kathleen Kennedy (CEO, Lucas Films) :
Lucas: Not just goo, the designs are great! At Disneyland, it is so very well planned that dustbins are placed at an optimum distance from hot dog carts, at the average number of steps it takes a person to finish a hot dog!

Robert Iger (CEO, Walt Disney) :
CEO: Walt was a perfectionist and often stern with his staff. ‘Man in the forest’ was a code used by animators to warn colleagues to get back to work when Walt Disney was coming down the hallway.

Kathleen Kennedy (CEO, Lucas Films) :
Lucas: In fact, Walt Disney actually decided to do the voice of Mickey Mouse himself because he couldn't find anyone else to do it the way he imagined, in 1929 Mickey was the first animated character to ever talk his first words, ‘hot dog’.

Kathleen Kennedy (CEO, Lucas Films) :
Lucas: The full history can be found here: https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/about/

Dawn Hudson (CEO, Oscars) :
Oscar: But all his hard work paid off, didn't it?

Robert Iger (CEO, Walt Disney) :
CEO: Definitely, today we earn more through our amusement parks than through films. Our parks are spread across continents, and the sheer size is overwhelming.

James Murdoch (CEO, 21st Century) :
21 Century: I remember a few Disney employees boasting how Disneyland in Florida covers 43 square miles and is the size of San Fransisco, twice the size of Manhattan.

Robert Iger (CEO, Walt Disney) :
CEO: Every year the park finds an average of 6,00 cell phones 3500 digital cameras and 18,000 hats. Since 1971 1.6 million pairs of sunglasses have been lost.

Dawn Hudson (CEO, Oscars) :
Oscar: Those are big numbers. Did that attract Steve Jobs to you? You even flew your flag at half mast as a sign of respect when he passed away.

James Murdoch (CEO, 21st Century) :
21 Century: Well, big money always attracted Steve. He was the largest individual shareholder in Disney at 7% stake. His Pixar connection drew him here.

Kathleen Kennedy (CEO, Lucas Films) :
Lucas: Speaking of Pixar, Robert; don't you own it, just like Lucas Films?

Dawn Hudson (CEO, Oscars) :
Oscar: Kathleen, don't forget - Disney owns Marvel and Pixar, ABC, ESPN, A&E, lifetime, the History Channel and the YouTube multi-channel Network maker studios.

James Murdoch (CEO, 21st Century) :
21 Century: That's too much power in one hand. Is it right? Or is it dangerous?

Robert Iger (CEO, Walt Disney) :
CEO: It is what it is. Disney made 52.46 billion dollars in revenue with a net income of 8.38 Billion and currently owns 88 billion dollars in assets. The number of employees 180,000.

Robert Iger (CEO, Walt Disney) :
CEO: I'm sorry James, we can't apologize for being large and profitable.

Dawn Hudson (CEO, Oscars) :
Oscar: Robert, there is nothing to apologize for. Walt had been nominated for Oscars every year and is the person with the highest number of Academy Awards to his name.

Dawn Hudson (CEO, Oscars) :
Oscar: That man was appointed to produce the opening and closing ceremonies of 1960 Winter Olympics. It is just fair that his legacy continues.

James Murdoch (CEO, 21st Century) :
21 Century: And what about the fact that Disney is the 2nd largest buyer of explosives in America?

Kathleen Kennedy (CEO, Lucas Films) :
Lucas: Oh, that's for the fireworks at the parks. I've been to Disney World. It is the size of a city! It is said that we'll take 68 years if we want to sleep in every room there.

Kathleen Kennedy (CEO, Lucas Films) :
Lucas: It is but obvious that a lot of fireworks are required to light up the night sky there.

Dawn Hudson (CEO, Oscars) :
Oscar: Just like the sky, even the future of Walt Disney group is bright. All the very best for all your upcoming projects. Keep entertaining us with great cinema.

Robert Iger (CEO, Walt Disney) :
CEO: Thank you, Dawn, we'll strive our best to live up to your expectations.

Kathleen Kennedy (CEO, Lucas Films) :
Lucas: There is surely a lot that can be learnt from him.