Walt Disney, owner of the Disney, Miramax and Touchstone film studios, is to ban cigarette smoking in all of its films.
The move will see all Disney-branded films become smoke-free and the company actively "discourage depictions" of cigarette smoking in movies made by the Miramax and Touchstone studios.
In addition, Disney intends to place anti-smoking promotional films on DVDs of any future film that does depict smoking.
The entertainment company also intends to "work with theatre owners" to encourage the exhibition of an anti-smoking promo before any of its films that do show smoking.
"We discourage depictions of cigarette smoking in Disney, Touchstone and Miramax films," said Disney president and chief executive, Robert Iger. "In particular, we expect that depictions of cigarette smoking in future Disney branded films will be non-existent."
The company has made the commitment following a suggestion from Edward Markey, chairman of the US house of representatives subcommittee on telecommunications and the internet.
"Now it's time for other media companies to similarly kick the habit and follow Disney's lead," he said.
Disney's three movie studios have been responsible for films including Russell Crowe's the Insider, which tells the story of a tobacco industry whistleblower and the making of a 60 Minutes expose, The English Patient, The Queen, Con Air, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
In August last year Turner Broadcasting moved to edit out scenes where smoking appeared to be condoned from 1,700 episodes of Hanna Barbera cartoons including Tom & Jerry, Scooby Doo, the Jetsons and the Flintstones.
· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 7239 9857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 7278 2332.
· If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
Disney studios have pledged to leave all forms of smoking out of their family films in a bid to discourage the habit.

In a letter to US Congressman Edward Markey, Chief Executive Robert A. Iger stated that smoking in Disney brands will be "non-existent" from now on. He also stated that DVD's that show cigarettes will now carry anti-smoking messages.

Mr Markey said that he is pleased that "Disney is embracing a policy that is consistent with the long-term public health of the nation", and called the move by the media giant "groundbreaking".

"Now it's time for other media companies to similarly kick the habit and follow Disney's lead."

Disney films have rarely depicted smoking in recent years, although several instances in the past exist. For example, in the 1953 Disney film Peter Pan, there is a scene depicting smoking at a Native American camp.