Disney, Warner Bros. Celebrate 100th Anniversaries at Oscars 2023

At Sunday night’s 2023 Oscars ceremony, two of the largest studios in the entertainment business — Disney and Warner Brothers — were recognized for celebrating 100 years in the business.

The excitement began when stars Melissa McCarthy and Halle Bailey introduced the trailer for Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid to rapturous applause. Morgan Freeman and Margot Robbie then introduced the tribute to 100 years of Warner Brothers, which featured a video montage highlighting key films from the studio’s history, like A Streetcar Named Desire, The Matrix, The Dark Knight, The Shining, Wonder Woman, Harry Potter and A Star Is Born, while offering a tiny peek at the upcoming Barbie.

Both studios have a long history with the Academy Awards, claiming handsome respective collections of golden statuettes. Walt Disney alone boasts 26 awards to his name, including honorary ones — the most awards for a single individual in history.

Warner Brothers and Disney both have iconic film catalogs. Of its 18 best picture winners, standouts in Warner’s oeuvre include Casablanca, An American in Paris and Ben-Hur — tied with Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (also Warner Bros.) for most Oscars won in a night by a single film: 11. Disney is of course known for both their live-action and animated films — together with Pixar they’ve dominated the animated feature category since its inception in 2001, and were responsible for the first-ever animated best picture nomination with 1991’s Beauty and the Beast. To this day, they’re the only studio to bring animated features into that category, with Up and Toy Story 3 repeating the feat.

Going into the 2023 Academy Awards, Warner Brothers holds 11 nominations — eight for Elvis and three for The Batman. Disney’s reach includes Disney Studios, 20th Century Studios and Searchlight for 22 total, nominations, honoring films including Avatar: The Way of Water, The Banshees of Inisherin and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

See the star-studded Oscars red carpet arrivals.