Disney is king of the box office: Record-breaking global sales with 'Lion King' at $1B
Disney’s films collected a record-smashing $7.67 billion in global revenue by Sunday, annihilating the previous industry record of $7.61 billion – set by itself in 2016 – which includes $5.09 billion from overseas ticket sales. This will be the first time any Hollywood studio has surpassed the $5 billion threshold internationally.
Disney's live-action “Aladdin” surpassed $1 billion last week and the star-studded “Lion King” remake boasted a worldwide total of $962.7 million after just two weeks in theaters.
Even before August, Disney-brand titles have crossed $1 billion worldwide, and Disney-owned Marvel Studios' “Avengers: Endgame” took home $2.79 billion, passing Avatar to become the top-grossing film of all time. Marvel’s “Captain Marvel,” released earlier this year, left theaters with $1.23 billion.
Also contributing to this success is Disney/Pixar's “Toy Story 4”, which will sneak away with $1 billion in the coming weeks. By the end of the year, Disney will set another record of for the number of $1 billion-plus films released in a given year, destroying the previous record of four, which it set in 2016.
In the midst of such success this weekend, Disney’s CEO, Bob Iger, acknowledged the passing of Russi Taylor, the iconic voice of Minnie Mouse.
Disney commands 45 percent of the more than $16 billion in global revenue from movies released on more than 1,000 screens, including revenue from titles acquired from the Disney-Fox merger, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Its next closest competitor, Warner Bros., pales in comparison with nearly $2 billion.
As Disney looks ahead for the rest of the slated year, “Frozen 2” is set to be released for Thanksgiving and the holiday release “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” is projected to be a box-office conqueror.
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When “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” premiered in 2017, it earned $1.33 billion globally, only beat by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which made $2.07 billion in December 2015. Analysts expect the ninth and final installment will crush $1 billion.
As Walt Disney once said, “I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.”
