Walt Before Mickey
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Khoa Le |
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| Screenplay by |
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| Based on |
Walt Before Mickey: Disney's Early Years, 1919–1928 by Timothy S. Susanin |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Jeremy Rubolino |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Voltage Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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110 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Walt Before Mickey is an independent 2015 biographical drama film about the early years of Walt Disney and the book Walt Before Mickey: Disney's Early Years, 1919–1928 by Timothy S. Susanin. The film stars Thomas Ian Nicholas as Walt Disney, Armando Gutierrez as Ub Iwerks, and Jon Heder as Roy Disney. The film is based on the book of the same title by Timothy Susanin, with a foreword by Diane Disney Miller published by the University Press of Mississippi.
The film covers Walt Disney's early years in business, during which he started various businesses including Laugh-O-Gram Studio and The Walt Disney Company with fellow animator Ub Iwerks and Roy Disney.
Walt Before Mickey is about Walt Disney (Thomas Ian Nicholas) and his early beginnings in Marceline, Missouri. The story follows his poor beginnings and eventual move, after wartime service, to Kansas City, where he created his first animation studio Laugh-O-Gram Studio. There he hired Rudy Ising (David Henrie) and Ub Iwerks (Armando Gutierrez) to help start his business. Walt had various minor successes. Frank Newman (Arthur L. Bernstein) promoted Walt's animations as Newman Laugh-O-Grams, which were an instant success. However, due to Disney's carelessness in selling the animations at cost (with no profit), he was forced to have Laugh-O-Gram file for bankruptcy, leaving him homeless. Iwerks then gave Walt his camera which he later sold to purchase a train ticket to Los Angeles.
Walt Disney moved to Los Angeles and began working as an extra on various movies. Later he convinced his brother Roy Disney (Jon Heder) to help fund his new company, Disney Brothers. Disney Brothers quickly sold an animation called Alice Comedies to a distributor named Margaret Winkler (Flora Bonfanti). The animation provided the Disney brothers with minor success. Walt then rehired his original team of animators which included Ub Iwerks, Fred Harmon, Rudy Ising, Hugh Harman (Hunter Gomez), and Friz Freleng (Taylor Gray). The Disney brothers then began work on both the Alice Comedies and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit for their distributor Margaret Winkler. The company shortly thereafter began having disagreements with its distributor and lost the rights to both the Alice Comedies and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Various employees left Disney Brothers except for Ub Iwerks.
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