2026 is almost here! During the last few days of 2025, Daps Magic is looking at some of the biggest stories of the year. In the last few days, this has included the beginning of an era of transformation at Walt Disney World Resort, the Disneyland Resort 70th Celebration, and the announcement that a Disney resort is being built in Abu Dhabi. In total, Daps Magic will reveal the top 5 stories of 2025!
There are quite a few things that are taken into consideration when picking these stories. This includes the 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. These are just a few of the big-picture thoughts that were taken into account when picking the Top 5 Stories of 2025. With all of that in mind, let’s look at today’s story!
#2 – The Walt Disney Studios Passes $6 Billion at the Global Box Office
This year, The Walt Disney Studios passed $6 billion at the global box office. This is the first time that the company has done this since before the pandemic. Anyone who has even remotely been paying attention has undoubtedly been aware of how much of an impact the pandemic had on the theater-going experience. In 2019, before the pandemic disrupted the world, Disney made over $13 million at the global box office. In the years leading up to the pandemic, Disney surpassed the $6 billion mark for four years running (including 2019).
Since the pandemic, Disney has gone through quite a few ups and downs. On top of dealing with the impact of the pandemic, Disney also had to deal with the fallout of a fired CEO who was focused on quantity over quality of content. As Disney was gearing up its streaming services, its studios were pushed to supply plenty of content. However, this only led to short-term gain. Soon, the company found itself putting out movies that people didn’t want to see in theaters. Part of this was because of the stigma and fear that were now associated with theaters after the pandemic. Another part of this was that the movies just weren’t that good. This milestone of $6 billion shows that Disney is once again producing films that will draw people into theaters.
The other important indicator of this milestone is that it shows Disney is once again on a growth trajectory. Next year, Disney will have a Star Wars movie, a new Toy Story movie, the live-action Moana, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Hexed, and Avengers: Doomsday arriving in theaters. There is a very distinct possibility that several of these movies could pass the $1 billion box office mark and help Disney once again hit the $6 billion milestone in 2026.
Perhaps the most important thing about Disney hitting $6 billion at the global box office in 2025 is that it shows that Disney appears to once again be on solid footing. As Disney CEO Bob Iger is set to retire at the end of 2026, this shows that Disney is in a place that is similar to where it was the last time he retired. The process of picking a new CEO is very different this time. With this, hopefully the outcome will be different as well. This will determine the future of The Walt Disney Company and also solidify Iger’s legacy. Disney’s box office success in 2026 seems to be an indicator that the foundation is solidly in place for future success.
The $6 billion box office milestone by The Walt Disney Studios is just one of the top five stories of the year that were covered by Daps Magic. In the coming days, we will work our way up to the top story of the year! Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media so as not to miss any of the other four.
What do you think the top five stories of the year should include? What would you put at number five? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!
