Disney loses spot as Hollywood's top-grossing studio at the 2023 box office

Universal Studios came in as the highest-grossing studio at the 2023 box office, topping Disney for the first time since 2016, according to a report in Variety magazine, published Tuesday.

The entertainment giants duked it out at the cinema last year, with Disney bringing out the latest installment in the Indiana Jones franchise along with a live-action rendition of "The Little Mermaid" and additions to the already-lengthy list of Marvel films, while Universal churned out major motion pictures like "Super Mario Bros.," "Oppenheimer" and "M3GAN."

According to Variety, Universal emerged victorious in the battle with global earnings of $4.91 billion, edging out Disney, which came in second with approximately $4.83 billion.

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"Being the No. 1 studio globally for seven consecutive years out of the last eight is pretty remarkable by any measure and is something of which we are all incredibly proud," said Tony Chambers, Disney's chief of global distribution, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

FOX Business reached out to Disney for additional comment but has yet to receive a response.

Worldwide box office figures, meanwhile, showed Disney films absent from the top three, as Warner Bros.' "Barbie" and Universal Studios' "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" and "Oppenheimer" dominated the list.

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Disney did, however, secure the most spots in 2023's top ten at the global box office, including "The Little Mermaid," "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," "Elemental" and "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania."

Additionally, sources note that the entertainment giant fell short of Universal in the quantity of films released last year, putting out only 17 films compared to Universal's 24, which is speculated to be behind the reasons Disney's numbers fell short.

The company, meanwhile, remains a box office giant after claiming one of the top two slots for the past nine years.

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Disney did, however, experience struggles last year, including several underperforming films that perhaps led to the shortcoming as well.

Variety also reported that, for the first time since 2014, the company failed to cross the $1 billion benchmark with any of its films.

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