Development on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" began in early 1934, and in June 1934, Walt Disney announced the production of his first feature to the "New York Times". Before "Snow White", the Disney studio had been mainly involved in the production of highly successful animated shorts in the "Mickey Mouse" and "Silly Symphonies" series. Disney hoped to enlarge his studio's reputation and money by moving into features, and estimated that "Snow White" could be produced for a budget of $250,000 - ten times the budget of an average "Silly Symphony".