Walt Disney was a textbook example of a polymath: he was an innovator, entrepreneur, cartoonist, voice actor, animator, studio boss, theme park creator/owner and film producer. The company he started (from a cartoon studio set up with his brother Roy in 1923) grew in line with his ambition to reflect his disparate array of talents. An animator first and foremost, Walt created and licensed Mortimer (later Mickey) Mouse in response to losing the rights to his first character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Mickey appeared in a series of short animations including Disney’s first venture into sound: “Steamboat Willie”, voiced by Walt himself. Other popular characters followed, as did the world’s first full-colour commercial cartoon in 1930 before the Walt Disney Company moved on to more ambitious animated feature films. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” in 1937 began an incredibly prolific period spawning the classics “Pinocchio” and “Fantasia” (1940), “Dumbo” (1941) and “Bambi” (1942). The company diversified further in the 1950s, opening the original Disneyland theme park in California.

POP-UP: Walt's diagram An intricate flowchart drawn by Walt in 1957 elegantly lays out the firm’s component parts and strategy, with films at the centre surrounded by theme parks, merchandise, music, publishing and television. It shows how each part provides content and drives sales for the others. After Walt’s death at 65 in 1966, however, the company began to stray from his original model. Disney’s animated output underwent a fallow period, greatly outnumbered by live action titles (only 12 fully-animated features were produced from the 1960s to the late 1980s) and the company plugged the gap by reissuing former triumphs such as “Cinderella” and “Lady & the Tramp” during the 1980s. Disney didn’t sit still for long, however, adding to its empire in the 1980s and 1990s with TV channels (the Disney Channel, ABC/ESPN) and retail stores (the company has always had a firm grasp of the value of merchandising). But by the 2000s it seemed the formerly famous innovative flair of Disney was on ice. Its animation unit stagnated after the departure in 1994 of its studio chief, Jeffrey Katzenberg. The most successful animated films Disney released during this time were computer-drawn pictures made for the company by Pixar, beginning with “Toy Story” in 1995. Meanwhile DreamWorks SKG, co-founded by Mr Katzenberg, began making hit computer-generated animation films as well, including the blockbuster “Shrek” franchise. Unaccustomed to playing second fiddle, Disney appointed a new chief executive with a strong vision in 2005: Bob Iger. He set about reviving founder Walt Disney’s original formula on an even more ambitious scale, putting films back at the heart of the business. A series of shrewd acquisitions followed Mr Iger’s appointment. He cannily revitalised Disney’s own film-making brand by buying Pixar in 2006 and Marvel Entertainment, stable of “The Avengers” franchise (Iron Man, The Hulk et al) in 2009.

Their careers awaken: The professional trajectories of the original Star Wars cast It then bought Lucasfilm for $4.1 billion in 2012, giving it control of the lucrative Star Wars franchise (with the added benefit of all the merchandising and toy sales that come with it). The deal bears its first fruit this week with the release of the “The Force Awakens”, a film that represents more than just the revival of a beloved science-fiction series. It is the latest example of the way Disney has prospered over the past decade to become the envy of the entertainment industry. Profits have more than doubled in the past five years, to $8.4 billion, and Disney’s share price has risen nearly fivefold over the past ten, easily beating its rivals: Comcast, 21st Century Fox, Time Warner and Viacom. Disney is the most valuable of the lot, worth a star-studded $186 billion.

The firm’s ethos and secret of its success—both eight decades ago and today—are best summed up in the words of Walt himself: “Around here we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious...and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths”.

Read more: Our leader “Star Wars, Disney and myth-making”, and briefing “The force is strong in this firm”.