Star Wars & Marvel Lead Disney Past $1 Billion at the USA’s Box Office.

disney-marvel-star-wars

With the continued success of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens and the recent estimated $181 million opening weekend haul of Captain America: Civil War, the Walt Disney Company has crossed the annual $1 billion mark in the United States faster than any other film company in history. In addition, the company has crossed $2 billion internationally, meaning that the total revenues generated by Disney’s films have eclipsed $3 billion worldwide in record time.

 

According to Box Office Mojo, Universal Studios was the fastest movie company to reach $1 billion at the domestic box office in 165 days in the year 2015.

 

Was.

 

However, in the wake of the triumphant return of the Star Wars franchise and the continued success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney was able to reach that magic billion-dollar milestone in only 128 days – roughly a third of the year, and 46 days earlier than Disney reached that milestone in 2015 (on June 14).

 

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

 

Disney started the year off with a bang by gaining an additional $284 million from Star Wars: The Force Awakens – which by itself would be an impressive domestic run for any major movie on its own, without even getting into the $651 million it brought into its short tenure in 2015. The company would also gain another $14 million from the two other movies held over from the previous year (Bridge Of Spies and The Good Dinosaur). The yearly total would reach $326 million, with a mere $28 million of that coming from the disappointing returns on The Finest Hours.

 

Jungle-Book-Zootopia

 

However, the critical underperformance of The Finest Hours would more than be made up for in the form of two overperforming movies that resonated with families: Zootopia and The Jungle Book, which have, as of this writing, made an estimated $327 million and $285 million respectively. The films also happen to be the second-best performance for a Disney animated film and a Disney live-action remake, only being surpassed by their individual counterparts Frozen and Alice In Wonderland. A total of $938 million in the bag between the 6 Disney films playing in 2016 is no small feat, especially considering that only 3 of the movies were first released in 2016.

 

Captain America Civil War - Airport Fight

 

Which, of course, brings us to the estimated $181 million gross of Captain America: Civil War. Midway through the second day of the film’s release, helped Disney cross the billion-dollar mark; with the remaining time in the weekend, the total annual cume of Disney’s movies is over $1,119 million. Just for frame of reference, that’s nearly half of what Disney made by the end of last year ($2,280 million), and we’re only at the end of the first full week of May!

 

The record-breaking doesn’t stop there, though. According to Deadline, Disney’s movies have crossed $2 billion internationally and $3 billion globally in the same 128-day time-span, which surpasses the records that Universal set last year (162 days and 165 days, respectively). And Disney is only getting started – in addition to the remainder of the financial runs of Zootopia, The Jungle Book, and Captain America: Civil War, Disney has the solid release slate of films – including Alice Through The Looking Glass, Finding Dory, Doctor Strange, Moana, and (most importantly) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – to release in the remaining 237 days of the year.

 

At the current rate, it seems likely that Disney will be looking at a record-shattering year that ends with them taking anywhere between $2.5 billion and $3 billion home in American ticket sales alone. For now, it seems safe to say that Star Wars and Marvel will continue to lead the way for Disney for the foreseeable future, with the former bookending this year and the next, and the latter conquering the Summer and Autumn seasons.

 

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Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

27 thoughts on “Star Wars & Marvel Lead Disney Past $1 Billion at the USA’s Box Office.

  • May 9, 2016 at 7:32 am
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    The Jungle Book was great, Civil War not so much. Hope Rogue One is better than both.

    • May 9, 2016 at 6:48 pm
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      Really? Because I hear a lot of people saying the opposite.

      I loved CW, why didn’t you like it?

      • May 10, 2016 at 2:34 pm
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        Yeah, It’s the TFA of the MCU. What I had a problem with…..

        Tom Holland looks and sounds like he’s 12 and is only there for fan service and comic relief.

        Marisa Tomei looks like she’s in her early 40’s even today and in no way fits the spinster image of Aunt May. Why are they in an apartment too? He’s always lived in a house in Forest Hills.

        The score was completely flat. Not one time did they use the Avengers or Cap theme.

        Zemo is Zemo in name only and I couldn’t feel any sympathy for him considering he was a former secret police officer.

        Tony Stark is a giant hypocrite in it as well as Thunderbolt Ross who lecture everyone on morality when they’ve killed millions between them as part of the military industrail complex.

        Ross created the fucking Hulk AND Abomination yet he is now Secretary Of State?! He’s a war criminal!

        No explanation of where Black Panther got his suit or skills

        Next to zero motivation for any of the Avengers duking it out aside from Cap, Iron Man, and BP.

        I found the locations very boring this time around.

        Too much goofy comedy “we’re still friends right?” When it’s called Civil War.

        Total waste of Frank Grillo as Crossbones.

        Completely abandons the accords storyline halfway through the film.

        The whole storyline felt pointless and like the leftovers of Winter Soldier meets an Infinity War trailer.

        The action was pretty pedestrian for the most part.

        Cap having zero chemistry with Agent 13 but kisses her anyway on her Aunt’s funeral who was the love of his life,

        Same writing/directing team as Cap 2 so I blame Disney’s interference for the result.

        • May 10, 2016 at 7:01 pm
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          Keep in mind that the following is based on opinion and I’m in no way trying to make you change yours.

          I loved Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, it was a new take on a twice-done role in the world of cinema and turning Marvel’s frontrunner into a sidekick was a fun turn in my opinion.

          Fair enough that May looks a bit younger here, they did the same thing in the AS-M films and it didn’t bother me much. Besides, a poor family living in an apartment is a much more common occurance in New York than living in a small house in the modern era. Brings an air of realism to it.

          …Yeah, the music sucks.

          I liked Zemo for only one reason, and it’s that his plan actually worked in a sense. The Avengers are broken in half. He got what he wanted.

          This is a point I see brought up a lot, but they DO explain it in the films, though to be fair not very clearly. Yes, they built their careers and fortunes on violence, but in Tony’s case, he’s trying his damnedest to make up for it. He BECAME Iron Man out of the guilt of what he’s done. He’s just making mistakes like anyone else would that’s trying to redeem themselves (granted on a much bigger scale).

          …yeah, no comment. xD

          If these movies have proven anything, it’s that the US Government LOVES treating war criminals well.

          No, but that’s probably saved for the BP movie. Love it or hate it, it’s the Marvel way(TM).

          At least it’s only “next to zero”. There WAS some explanation so this doesn’t bug me.

          …yeah. xD

          Again, it’s the MCU way (TM). I doubt I’d have liked it if it lacked that.

          Yup!

          Yup!

          Totally disagree, it was fun in its own right which is all I really care about.

          Again, disagree, especially in the airport scene.

          That scene was more humorous to me than anything. Mostly because someone in the audience gave a “sexy whistle” during it and got everyone into a laughing fit. xD

          Finally, no comment. ;P

          • May 11, 2016 at 3:08 pm
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            I would have liked to have seen the older Spiderman after two straight HS kids even if they were played by older guys. There are so many more interesting stories that came later in the comics than having to mine all the origin material yet again. I would have preferred Gwen or Morales even whih would have at least been novel.

            Field looks okay for her age but she’s still pretty old, The character should be a senior citizen at the minimum who fits the spinster description which Tomei can’t pass for. It’s too unbelievable that she’d stay single for long at cougar age unless she was recently widowed or had severe mental/emotional problems, Other thing about that is that the house would have been paid off decades ago with an older Aunt May when living in home were more common.

            Should have gone with the Winter Soldier guy long as they were using people or even let John Williams do one before he dies. Only guess is that they were trying to save money there.

            It can’t work for long though since clearly they are together again in Infinity War which is why this film was too hard to tackle to begin with since it’s going to be very hard to buy that they can just move past all this like it never happened especially Iron Man, Captain America, and War Machine. I almost would have preferred another solo Cap adventure and then have Civil War after Infinity War so everyone could go their seperate ways.

            Which is why it wasn’t fair for him to blame Winter Soldier who’s basically as in control of things as a Battle Droid while he and Ross knew exactly what they were doing the whole time. There’s also a recurring anti-Government theme in The Avengers and Winter Soldier in that there’s a reason why public officials can’t be trusted by them as the whole Hydra thing proved. So it was more about Stark’s own guilt than thinking things out rationally which is out of character for him.

            I would have liked to have see some explanation how Ross escaped prison and became a Presidential cabinet member. He basically tore up Brooklyn trying to contain the mess he started in The Incredible Hulk unless they just retconned that whole film. Even his own Daughter all but disowned him by the end of that debacle.

            I hope so. I liked the character but more explanation would have gone a long way here since he was a pretty pivotal one. I also don’t get why nice guy Hawkeye fired for his head after first meeting him without knowing it was protected first.

            I don’t think it’s as bad as Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, or Thor 2 which really don’t hold up well at all but I didn’t like it as much as Iron Man, GOTG, Winter Soldier, Antman, or both Avengers. I felt it being somewhere in the middle like Thor but more let down since this film had far more potential.

            Like I said I like Black Panther, Scarlet Witch/Vision’s relationship, Antman showing he is actually worthwhile in a fight, and the fact that they are leaning towards dumping Paltrow from the MCU like they did with Portman for the ignorant comments they both seem prone to making in public. That aside, There are far more interesting love interests they could go with as well.

            I also thought the 90’s RDJ looked great and gives me hope for seeing the OT cast again in their prime in the ST. They should have done that with Ford honestly in the spinoff.

            Well, That’s what I mean. Considering they are best friends who were both pulling their punches it doesn’t make sense why they would fight in the first place? If I saw a bunch of friends fighting physically, I’d stay out of it rather than make things even worse by taking sides like that.

            It could be Deadpool set the bar too high for me too. I was totally expecting Fox to fuck that one up and they actually wound up nailing it against all odds. I can’t stand Ryan Reynolds in nearly everything he’s in but he was as pitch perfect in that role as RDJ was in the original Iron Man film. Probably since both of their careers depended on it.

            Too bad they look like they squandered that goodwill with Apocalypse where it seems like most of the f/x budget went to J-Law’s salary.

    • May 9, 2016 at 9:34 pm
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      nah civil war was better the jungle book was cool but it is basically a live action remake of the cartoon version

      • May 10, 2016 at 2:25 pm
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        Civi War was a cartoon. No casualities and no lasting wounds aside from Rhidey who will probably be better by the next one. Winter Soldier is better but Deadpool is better than both.

    • May 10, 2016 at 1:49 am
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      You didn’t like something? Weird. Unusual. Totally unexpected.

      Wow.

  • May 9, 2016 at 2:58 pm
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    With the flowery tone of this article, sounds like a certain website is in the pockets of a certain studio…

    • May 9, 2016 at 3:35 pm
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      Ha ha, you got us. Disney is paying us to be fans and run a blog. 😀

      • May 9, 2016 at 4:45 pm
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        Haha, great stuff!

      • May 9, 2016 at 11:17 pm
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        That’s incredibly impressive for a small team of random fans with a journeyman-quality website that occasionally post rumors and opinion pieces instead of 100% Disney advertisements. ;P

    • May 9, 2016 at 9:29 pm
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      It’s a major record that’s been broken recently, and I don’t think it’s going to be broken again for a very long time. Is it really all that wrong for me to say something to the effect of “wow, guys, great job on making all that money”?

      – Pomojema

    • May 9, 2016 at 11:14 pm
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      Leslie, come the hell on. You seem to be here solely to post negative comments and start pointless drama. Either grow up, or move on.

      • May 10, 2016 at 12:43 am
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        Just trolling trolls 😉

    • May 10, 2016 at 1:48 am
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      Take off that tin foil hat, MARSHA.

  • May 9, 2016 at 3:44 pm
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    Civil War was fantastic. By far the best superhero film in a long time.

  • May 9, 2016 at 9:33 pm
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    civil war was amazing the greatest superhero film of all time

    • May 9, 2016 at 10:49 pm
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      …starring Captain America….that came out in 2016…

    • May 9, 2016 at 11:17 pm
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      No way was it the best, but it was very good. A bit confusing maybe, and kind of rushed, especialy considering the pure mass of the source material.

  • May 9, 2016 at 10:16 pm
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    STAR WARS IS DEAD, it’s only now about numbers, no heart or soul, just a money machine, til it breaks, because OT era will be milked until the last drop!…

    • May 10, 2016 at 1:48 am
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      No one cares.

      • May 10, 2016 at 7:52 pm
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        You answered, that’s why is DEAD!…

  • May 10, 2016 at 2:37 am
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    This is just awesome. I’ve only gained more and more respect for how Disney is handling all of this. Not even mentioning star wars, they are crushing it with how awesome the marvel universe and their own properties like the jungle book is doing. Meanwhile star wars is getting a massive surge of comics, movies, shows, and books (games on the way) that I’ve only really disliked about 2 or 3 of.

    Disney may be making a whole ton of money, but they’re also making fantastic and entertaining stories, so they deserve it.

    • May 10, 2016 at 4:24 pm
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      1. Sounds like you’re a fan of outsourcing (as evident by how favorable you talk about Disney).

      2. Are you getting paid by Disney too? Your tone on how you speak about them makes it sound like you do.

      • May 11, 2016 at 4:05 pm
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        I just felt like I wanted to share my optimism for how things are being handled right now, I wish I was getting paid by disney XD

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