L.A. Law

One of the central tenets of the contract signed between MGM and Disney was that the latter company could use the MGM name for theme parks. Once Disney learned of MGM’s plan to sue to break the contract, they targeted their opponent’s flank. It was an open secret in the tourism industry that MGM planned to build a 4,000-room resort in Las Vegas. Part of their new project would involve a fake studio tour, exactly the sort of thing they’d contractually agreed to let Disney build using the MGM name.

In the annals of corporate intrigue, this situation was one of the most cut and dried from a legal perspective. Disney had licensing rights for MGM, which meant that any attempt by the latter company to build anything with even surface level similarity to Disney-MGM Studios would violate terms of the agreement. The Vegas resort including a studio tour was a flimsy argument, but it was still an unmistakable contract violation. Disney sued in September of 1989, a month ahead of the $100 million countersuit from MGM that they’d anticipated for the body of three years.

The matter wasn’t settled for good until October of 1992. At that point, a judge ruled in Disney’s favor. They could continue to use the MGM name and logo per the contract agreement. The judge also sided with MGM with regards to what we now know as the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Disney couldn’t block its opening although Eisner himself pointedly stated that his company might sue again if the studio tour became too much like anything from Disney-MGM Studios.

Legal experts agreed that the judge’s ruling heavily favored Disney, and the outcome of the entire situation was that both corporations wasted a tremendous amount of money on legal fees for what was a clearly defined contractual issue. MGM simply wanted to get out from under the contract or get paid more from Disney. Ultimately, they failed on both counts.

Visitation rights

The problem with any divorce is that it has a detrimental impact on the children. In the case of MGM vs. Disney, the moment MGM tried to break their ironclad contract with Disney, the die was cast. Disney-MGM Studios, ostensibly a joint venture between two of the most iconic movie studios ever, was revealed as another petty Hollywood squabble between power players. Disney’s third gate suffered from the beginning due to this awkward schism in the relationship.

On May 1, 1989, Disney-MGM Studios opened. With six months, the two principal studios involved were suing each other for an incomprehensible amount of money. You can imagine the turmoil this caused behind the scenes at the park. Many of the ideas including MGM properties underwent obscene amounts of scrutiny to guarantee that they didn’t provide MGM additional wiggle room in the legal battle. In the end, virtually all ties to MGM beyond the name, logo, and The Great Movie Ride inclusions were stripped from the initial attractions. And there were only two of those.

Despite all the grand ambitions Eisner and Sklar had for their new park, the legal wrangling negated many options. When Disney-MGM Studios debuted, theme park tourists enjoyed precisely two options. They could board The Great Movie Ride or they could take the Studio Backlot Tour. For all the criticism the park we now know as Disney’s Hollywood Studios receives today, its 1989 debut was dramatically worse. The studios involved were embroiled in a classic Hollywood feud that caused both parties to behave in self-destructive fashion.

Image: Disney

The Great Movie Ride, which had once stood out as a grand idea for an EPCOT Center pavilion, instead became the signature attraction at Disney-MGM Studios. And even its presence was awkward. Many of the ride’s high points celebrated MGM classics such as The Wizard of Oz. By the time the ride opened, Disney execs hated the thought of giving MGM that sort of credit for their library. Even worse, some of the early parts of The Great Movie Ride suffered from technical malfunctions that were difficult to correct. As unbelievable as this statement may sound, in the early days of Disney-MGM Studios, the greatest unsullied accomplishment was an Ernest Goes To… movie.

Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. Since Florida lacked a natural film presence at the time, Disney execs scrambled to put their new space to good use. They wound up rebooting the Mickey Mouse Club with new episodes filming at Disney-MGM Studios. They also offered park visitors the opportunity to watch various animated projects unfold. A few lucky folks can honestly say that they watched Lilo & Stitch during the illustration process.

The other odd type of television production during the early days of the third gate involved professional wrestling. Ted Turner, Disney’s former partner for a few months in the endeavor, acquired World Championship Wrestling, too. His advisors asked if they could hold WCW television tapings at the park. Disney’s newest development offered better television production values than southern arenas. Starting in 1993, WCW filmed several weeks’ worth of television tapings for upcoming shows. Since wrestling outcomes are determined in advance, guests attending these live shows would know upcoming wrestling champions well ahead of the rest of the fans.

Of course, wrestling icons such as Sting, Macho Man Randy Savage, and Hulk Hogan weren’t the most famous celebrities working at Disney-MGM Studios. The aforementioned Mickey Mouse Club dominated the A-List, although nobody realized it at the time. Disney cast members from the reboot of the Walt Disney television show included Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling, Keri Russell, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake. In hindsight, that was the greatest achievement during the early days of the park.