Top 5 of 2024: #3 – Disney Box Office

As 2024 wraps up, Daps Magic is taking a look at the top 5 stories that were covered during 2024 from the realm of Disney and positive stuff! So far, this has seen the opening of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resorts along with the approval of DisneylandForward for the Disneyland Resort. There are three more stories to highlight, however. All of them have been picked on their impact of the story on the past, present, and future of The Walt Disney Company, how it impacted the Disney community, and how it impacted the world beyond Disney. Other factors were considered as well, but these are the big ones. The #3 story for this year is how Disney returned to form at the box office.

Disney’s Success at the Box Office

Disney has had a good year once again at the box office. This is something that used to be commonplace. However, the numbers haven’t been what they once were in recent years. Because of the weakness at the box office (and some other factors), activist investors led by Nelson Peltz tried to force changes in The Walt Disney Company, including being put on the board of directors for the company.

These efforts by activist investors did lead to change at Disney. This included billions of dollars in cuts and thousands of jobs eliminated in the last couple of years. All of this was part of efforts by CEO Bob Iger to set Disney on the right path once again when he returned to the role of CEO after Bob Chapek was fired at the end of a disastrous run. Iger then spent the next couple of years restructuring the company and getting it focused on quality and not quantity. During this time, he fended off the efforts of Peltz and other activist investors twice. After being pushed back, Peltz divested from Disney earlier this year. This, followed by a very successful year at the box office, is just a couple of the indicators that Disney is once again on the right track.

With Disney once again on the right track and focusing on quality over quantity, it has surpassed the $2 billion mark at the North American box office and $3 billion internationally. In total, it has garnered over $5 billion at the global box office. With results like this, it is highly unlikely that the company will be seen as a target by activist investors the likes of Nelson Peltz anytime soon.

The focus on quality over quantity has also led to Disney’s streaming services becoming profitable. This comes after billions in investments in recent years. The combined successes both on the big and small screens show that Disney has again gotten back to its core of content creation in a way where things work together as opposed to robbing Peter to pay Paul. Instead, theatrical releases are helping drive traffic on streaming services and vice versa.

The success that Disney has had at the box office this year marks a pivot from an era of recovery from the past to building toward the future. As the company looks toward its next chapter in the world of streaming, it will undoubtedly be faced with new challenges. It will also be doing this with a new CEO in 2026. The success Disney has had at the box office and the successes it is seeing on its streaming services now see it poised for a bright future.

Disney’s success at the box office and all that it signifies in terms of content creation is just one of the top 5 stories that Daps Magic is highlighting this year as part of its “Top 5 of 2024” series. Be sure to come back in the coming days to check out the final two. Subscribe to our newsletter and follow on social media so as not to miss any of the others.

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