On April 3, 1994, Frank Wells died in a helicopter crash, while on a vacation to go skiing.

He, Eisner, and Katzenburg helped the company's market value go from $2 billion to $22
billion since taking office in 1984. [241] On June 15, The Lion King was released and was a
massive success. It became the second highest-grossing film of all time behind Jurassic
Park and the highest-grossing animated film of all time, with a gross total of $968.5
million.[242][243] It garnered two Academy Awards for Best Score and Best Song for "Can
You Feel the Love Tonight" and was critically praised.[244][245] Soon after its release,
Katzenburg left the company after Eisner would not promote him to president. After
leaving, he co-founded film studio DreamWorks SKG.[246] Wells' spot was later replaced by
one of Eisner's friends Michael Ovitz on August 13, 1995.[247][248] In 1994, Disney had been
looking to buy one of the big three networks, ABC, NBC, or CBS, which would give them
guaranteed distribution for its programming. Eisner sought out to buy NBC, but the deal
was cancelled once he heard General Electric wanted to keep a majority stake.[249][250] In
1994, Disney reached $10.1 billion in revenue, with the film industry being 48% of the
total, the theme parks being 34%, and 18% of it from merchandising. Disney's total net
income was up 25% from the year before at $1.1 billion. [251] Grossing over $346
million, Pocahontas was released on June 16, garnering the Academy Awards for Best
Musical or Comedy Score and Best Song for "Colors of the Wind".[252][253] Pixar and
Disney's first release together was the first-ever fully computer-generated film Toy
Story. It was released on November 19, 1995, to critical acclaim and an end-run gross
total of $361 million. The film won the Special Achievement Academy Award, as well as
being the first animated film to be nominated for Best Original Screenplay.[254][255]
In 1995, Disney announced a $19 billion merger of equals with Capital Cities/ABC Inc.,
which at the time was the second largest corporate takeover. Through the deal, Disney
would obtain broadcast network ABC, an 80% majority stake in sports
network ESPN and ESPN 2, 50% in Lifetime Television, a majority stake of DIC
Entertainment, and a 37.5% minority stake in A&E Television Networks.[251][256][257] Following
the deal, the company started a radio program focused for youth on ABC Radio
Network called Radio Disney on November 18, 1996.[258][259] The Walt Disney Company
launched its official website disney.com on February 22, mainly to promote their theme
parks and give information on its merchandise. [260] On June 19, the company's next
animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame was released, grossing $325 million at the
box office.[261] Because Ovitz's management style was different from Eisner's, Ovitz was
fired as president of the company in 1996.[262] Disney lost a $10.4 million lawsuit in
September 1997 to Marsu B.V. over Disney's failure to produce as contracted 13 half-
hour Marsupilami cartoon shows. Instead, Disney felt other internal "hot properties"
deserved the company's attention. [263] With a 25% stake in the California Angels, Disney
bought out the team in 1998 for $110 million, renaming the team the Anaheim Angels
and renovating their stadium for $100 million.[264][265] Hercules was released on June 13
and underperformed at the box office compared to the previous films, grossing $252
million.[266] On February 24, Disney and Pixar signed a ten-year contract to make 5 films
together, with Disney as the distributor. They would share the cost, profits, and logo
credits, calling the films a Disney-Pixar production. [267] During the Disney Renaissance,
film division Touchstone Pictures also saw success, with film such as Pretty
Woman (1990), which has the highest number of ticket sales in the U.S. for a romantic
comedy and grossed $432 million;[268][269] Sister Act (1992), which was one of the more
financially successful comedies of the early 1990s, grossing $231 million; [270] action
film Con Air (1997), which grossed $224 million; [271] and the highest-grossing film of 1998
at $553 million Armageddon (1998).[272]