[9] The name "Buena Vista" came from the eponymous street in Burbank, California, where the Walt Disney Studios was located (and remains to this day).

[10] Notable subsequent releases included the Austrian film Victoria in Dover, the Japanese Daiei film Princess Yang Kwei Fei (Most Noble Lady), released in US theaters in September 1956,[11][12][13] The Missouri Traveler in March 1958,[10] and The Big Fisherman in July 1959 (the first third-party production financed by Disney).

[8] In 1961, Disney incorporated Buena Vista International (BVI),[15] distributing its first PG-rated film, Take Down, in January 1979.

[27] In September 1996, following Disney's acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. was merged[8] into ABC, Inc.,[28] the parent company of that group.

[29] On July 17, 1998, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution purchased the Hollywood Masonic Temple building to continue using it as a promotional venue.

[23] Buena Vista International agreed to a distribution deal with MegaStar Joint Venture Company Limited in April 2006 for the Vietnam market.

However, Disney only handles home video distribution of the company's films in Japan and formerly Taiwan and China.

[39][40] Disney took complete ownership rights of those 14 DreamWorks films from Amblin Partners in exchange for loans made to that company.

[46][48][49][50] Of those nominated films, five films—Miramax's The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, Chicago, No Country for Old Men, and Searchlight's Nomadland—have won Best Picture.

[46][51][52] Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures currently distributes films from across all units of Walt Disney Studios with the exception of Searchlight Pictures, which maintains its own autonomous distribution and marketing operations for releases in the United States and select markets.

In those territories from 1993 to 2007, Disney reactivated the Buena Vista International name, and also sent distribution under it in countries that did not have any current arrangements with other companies.

[80] Rights to Disney's films in West Germany were originally released by MGM (under CIC in the early 1970s) and later to 20th Century Fox, and then to United International Pictures[81] before the Warner Bros. joint venture.

Disney and Sony Pictures formed in 1997 a film distribution joint venture in Southeast Asia.

[84] By December 2006, 14 joint distribution ventures with Sony Pictures Releasing International were formed and exist in countries including Brazil, Mexico, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.

[84] On January 31, 2019, in anticipation of the then-pending acquisition of the most 21st Century Fox assets (which includes 20th Century Fox), Disney agreed to sell its stake in the Mexican joint venture named Walt Disney Studios Sony Pictures Releasing de México to Sony Pictures Releasing.

Disney distributed the 2008 Indian Tamil film Dasavathaaram in Canada under the Buena Vista International banner.

[89] The UK-produced film Patrick was also released in 2018 by Disney under the Buena Vista International label in the UK.

[90] Missing Link was also released by Disney under Buena Vista International in Latin America, Russia and some countries in Asia.

[97] In addition, Disney is the first of only three studios that have released at least two billion-dollar films in the same year (the others being Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures).

In the same year, Disney broke the previous records by making an unprecedented $13.2 billion at the global box office.