Disney's 100th-anniversary celebration highlights the creations of Walt Disney, including all the films and television shows that his company has developed since its inception. That said, the best-known Disney projects are the studio's vast canon of animated movies, which have been critically acclaimed and have won numerous Oscars and Emmys. Most of them form a quiet bedrock to the Disney+ streaming service, where they remain fixtures without the periodic jumping to other services like many other films do.

As the celebration kicked off in early 2023, fans of Disney are revisiting the animated movies that made the company the entertainment powerhouse it is today. But with so many movies, it is hard to remember which movies came first. Disney's earliest works established iconic characters and rewrote centuries-old fairy tales that used to have grim endings to having a happily ever after. They also encompass some of the most important films in the company's canon, as well as a few that are notable for entirely different reasons.

Updated on April 20, 2024, by Ajay Aravind and Robert Vaux: Disney is directly responsible for creating some of the most iconic and memorable animated movies of all time — and that's excluding its involvement in countless other projects. It's safe to say that Disney films are a global phenomenon, but very few people are aware of the earliest productions. As such, we've updated this list of the oldest Disney movies with ten more entries. In addition, the formatting has been adjusted to match CBR's current standards.

20 Peter Pan Cemented the Company's Legacy

Released in 1953, Peter Pan became one of the company's biggest hits to date and firmly established it as an ongoing animation powerhouse. J.M. Barrie's famous play was apparently very dear to Walt Disney's heart, and he went to great lengths to secure the rights. He originally intended to make it his second animated feature after the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but the company suffered financial setbacks in the 1940s that delayed production for several years.

The resulting film takes some big licenses with the story, as other Disney animated features were wont to do. Parts of it have aged poorly as well (the film's Native American characters are shockingly racist.) Nevertheless, the movie remains many people's go-to version of the story, and the company's strategy of periodic theatrical re-releases engendered new generations of fans over the years.

19 The Story of Robin Hood Has Been Eclipsed by the Animated Version

Mention Robin Hood and Walt Disney, and most people immediately think of the amiable 1973 animated film featuring a fox in the starring role. But that wasn't the company's first crack at the Robin Hood story. In 1952, they attempted to capitalize on the success of Treasure Island with a new live-action version starring Richard Todd as the legendary outlaw.

The film did reasonably well at the box office, but suffered from stilted acting and a pro forma approach to the story. It couldn't compare with the earlier The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn, and Disney had to wait for the animated version to find a Hood they could truly call their own. The Story of Robin Hood is available on Disney+ alongside the animated version for fans who wish to compare them.

18 Alice in Wonderland is a Minor Disney Classic

Disney was never shy about appropriating properties in the public domain and Alice in Wonderland is no exception. Walt Disney himself first gained notice as a filmmaker with his Alice shorts in the 1920s, based loosely on the famous books by Lewis Carroll. Disney wanted to make a feature-length version of the story after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, emulating the format of his Alice shorts. The title character would be played by a live actor and the remainder of the story animated around her. That was eventually abandoned, and the all-animated Alice opened in 1951.

The film was a mild financial success, but while Disney's version of Carroll's famous characters are eternally charming, the film lacks the satirical bite of the book. Nevertheless, the company scored a big success -- once again -- with a re-release in 1974. Disney actively played up the psychedelic elements -- even running commercials using the Jefferson Airplane song "White Rabbit" -- and reaped strong box office numbers as a result.

17 Treasure Island Became a Live-Action Hit

Disney began to dabble in live action towards the end of the 1940s, producing a series of nature documentary shorts that kicked into overdrive in the 1950s. At the same time, the studio released its first-ever live-action film: an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island that proved to be another big hit for them.

Like Peter Pan, Disney's version became the go-to adaptation for decades, despite numerous other adaptations with strong reputations. Its status as the first version of the story to be filmed in color may have something to do with it. While it definitely shows its age, it maintains a rousing tone and a lot of respect for the book it's based on. With live-action movies now fully in play, the studio could expand in new directions.

16 Cinderella Began The Disney Princess Phase in Earnest

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was Disney's first princess movie, launching the studio's fortunes as well as becoming a landmark in animation. The studio was slow to return to the format, however: going over a decade before returning to the format. Cinderella broke the cold streak and proved to be another massive hit for the studio. The princess movie had properly arrived.

Cinderella has undergone considerable critical revision over the years, particularly its heroine who appears very passive and helpless from a modern perspective. Its dirty secret is that the subplot involving the mice is more interesting than Cinderella herself. The gorgeous character design and toe-tapping Fair Godmother's song go a long way, and in 1950, it was more than enough to hand the studio another big win.

15 The Adventures Of Ichabod and Mr. Toad Is an Evergreen Double Bill

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad was released one year before Cinderella, but this Disney movie deserves just as much attention. The film is divided into two separate stories, each adapted from preexisting literature. The first segment revolves around Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, whereas the next one is loosely adapted from Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Although the Tim Burton version of Sleepy Hollow is better known to moviegoers, the portrayal of the Headless Horseman in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad remains as terrifying as ever, and is more accurate to the original short story to boot. Mr. Toad is perhaps best known today for one of the Disney theme parks' most enduring rides.

14 So Dear To My Heart

Disney has been creating live-action narratives for quite some time, as evidenced by 1948's So Dear to My Heart. This film was adapted from Midnight and Jeremiah, a children's book published in 1943. Incorporating both live-action and animation segments, So Dear to My Heart follows the story of Jeremiah and his beloved black lamb named Midnight.

Walt Disney frequently referred to it as one of his favorite movies, stating that it matched the life he experienced "as [a] kid out in Missouri." So Dear to My Heart also received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song.

13 Melody Time Assembles Multiple Short Vignettes

Unlike most modern Disney movies, Melody Time is a Disney package movie with seven individual sections known as vignettes. These include Once Upon a Wintertime, Little Toot, Pecos Bill, Trees, The Legend of Johnny Appleseed, Blame It on the Samba, and Bumble Boogie.

Every vignette is a self-contained narrative, involving concepts like dreamy bumblebee battles, tender poem recitals, and legendary cowboys. Melody Time features several iconic stars of the era, from Roy Rogers and Dennis Day to Buddy Clark and Frances Longford. The vignettes were consequently split up into 7 short films.

12 Fun and Fancy Free Lives Up to Its Title

The forties were a difficult time for America — money was tight, and Disney decided to pool their resources into creating anthology movies. Fun and Fancy Free was one of the most critically acclaimed Disney anthology films of its time. Unlike Melody Time, Fun and Fancy Free had only two narratives, adapted from "Jack and the Beanstalk" and Sinclair Lewis' Little Bear Blue, respectively. All things considered, not everyone enjoyed Fun and Fancy Free — several critics derided Walt Disney's attempts, with The New Yorker's John McCarten describing it as less than mediocre.

11 Song Of The South Remains Controversial Today