All hail the Magic Kingdom. Disney notched a major box office milestone, surpassing $6 billion in global ticket sales.
This is Disney’s fifth time crossing the $6 billion benchmark — and first since COVID — having previously achieved these box office heights in 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016. No other studio has managed to reach $6 billion since 2015. Underscoring the significance of Disney’s feat is the reality that the overall box office hasn’t regained its strength since the pandemic-induced reset, with ticket sales still lagging around 20% behind the before times.
Thanks to two billion-dollar behemoths, May’s “Lilo & Stitch” ($1.03 billion) and November’s “Zootopia 2” ($1.3 billion and counting) as well as James Cameron’s juggernaut “Avatar: Fire and Ash” ($450 million after a week of release) and three Marvel sequels, the studio has earned $2.3 billion domestically and $3.65 billion internationally across all titles.
This marks Disney’s biggest year on record since 2019, when the studio had a record seven films that shattered the $1 billion mark: Marvel adventures “Captain Marvel” and “Avengers: Endgame,” the live action “Aladdin” and “The Lion King,” animated sequels “Toy Story 4” and “Frozen II” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”
Not everything that Disney released in 2025 will turn a theatrical profit. Pixar’s “Elio” ($154 million), the live-action “Snow White” ($205 million) and legacy sequel “Tron: Ares” ($142 million) were major money losers against their production budgets that range from $150 million to $250 million. (Studios split ticket sales roughly 50-50 with theater owners, meaning a movie needs to earn at least 2.5 times its production budget to justify its price tag.) Meanwhile, Marvel couldn’t regain its strength with three consecutive commercial duds in “Captain America: Brave New World” ($415 million), “Thunderbolts” ($382 million) and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” ($521 million). Those tallies are a far cry from the days when any installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe could sprint past $1 billion (or get very close!) with ease. Granted, Disney’s misses still outperform most of their rivals biggest wins in terms of sheer box office dollars. And the characters that populate these films can sell hundreds of millions, if not billions in the case of “Lilo & Stitch,” in consumer products.
Disney’s box office dominance likely won’t waver in 2026 with a powerhouse lineup that includes “Avengers: Doomsday, “Toy Story 5,” the live action “Moana,” and “The Devil Wears Prada 2.” It’s good to be Disney.
