Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Axios
Axios
Business
Dion Rabouin

Disney smashes box office records with more blockbusters to come

Data: Investing.com; Chart: Axios Visuals

Disney's 2019 movie run has broken the all-time annual global box office record just 7 months into the year. And with more big-budget blockbusters still to come this year, and already in possession of more than a third of the world's total box office receipts, the company seems unstoppable.

What's happening: Disney's acquisitions of LucasFilm and Marvel have delivered huge wins for the company, but it's been the ability to produce live-action remakes from its own catalogue that has set the table over the last decade.


  • "The Lion King" is the latest Disney release to become the No. 1 film in the world, and it held onto the crown this weekend, having generated nearly $1 billion worldwide in just 2 weeks.
  • The company has made $7 billion at the box office from the remakes since the release of "Alice in Wonderland" in March 2010, per CNBC.

What's next: Disney is releasing a sequel to “Maleficent” in October and a live-action version of "Lady and the Tramp" in November. The company has also announced a live-action remake of “Mulan” in 2020.

Of note: Disney broke its own box office record this year, which it set in 2016 when the studio recorded the first ever $3 billion domestic box office haul and brought in a total of $7.61 billion worldwide.

  • Its 36.7% share of total box office receipts so far this year is far and away the highest ever for a studio. The previous record, also held by Disney, was almost 10 percentage points lower, according to data from Nash Information Services.

Go deeper: "Avengers" surpasses "Avatar" as highest-grossing film of all time

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.