In a year that hasn’t had any major blockbuster hits at the box office, Disney continues to lead the way. This comes after the releases of Elemental, The Little Mermaid, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. None of these have had stellar runs at the box office compared to movies of other years from Disney. The one relative hit of the year was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 which garnered $838.3 million.
According to Deadline, Disney has brought in $3.4 billion worldwide with $1.35 domestically between January 1st and July 2, 2023. This puts Disney over three times heads ahead of its nearest rivals. For example, Paramount is at $871 million, Warner Bros. Discovery has garnered $898 million, and Sony is at $1.1 billion.
Disney still has several movies coming out this year that include Haunted Mansion, The Marvels, Wish, and an untitled film. Last year Disney brought in $4.9 billion at the global box office. This included Avatar: The Way of Water which led the box office last year and became the third most successful movie of all time.
At this point it appears that barring any surprises, Disney will be the studio to win at the box office for 2022. However, this win may not be as sweet as previous years with no titles crossing the billion dollar mark and no runaway hits. While Disney is being successful in terms of overall box office numbers, it also is releasing a lot of films so the profit levels may not be what the company hopes for.
The box office continues to react and recover from the global pandemic. During this time audiences were trained to watch movies on streaming services. Year over year, the theatrical box office has seen growth. It remains to be seen if the box office will return to pre-pandemic numbers. However, movies like Avatar: The Way of Water indicate that there is a chance for continued success for movies in theaters.
What do you think about the global box office numbers for Disney this year? What do you think is behind the numbers? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!
