While overall box office revenue won’t make any gains in 2025, the same can’t be said of Disney.
The studios sprawling film empire on Wednesday will cross the $6 billion mark in global box office revenue for the year, having earned $5.967 billion globally through Tuesday, including $2.310 billion domestically and $3.656 billion internationally.
This marks the first time Disney has hit $6 billion since 2019, just before the pandemic struck and decimated moviegoing. Even before COVID, clearing $6 billion was no easy feat. No other studio has done so since 2015, while Disney is a now a five-time multiple offender (2016-2019, 2025).
Disney’s success this year has been fueled by 16 wide releases, led by the only two titles that have crossed $1 billion at the worldwide box office: Zootopia 2, which has earned $1.311 billion to date, and Lilo & Stitch, which topped out at $1.038 billion earlier this year. Thanks to some nifty math, Disney is also reporting that three Marvel Studios’ titles have collectively grossed more than $1.3 billion worldwide, even if not one title did so on its own: The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Thunderbolts* and Captain America: Brave New World.
Other titles helping to propel Disney past $6 billion were Predator: Badlands, Freakier Friday and Elio, albeit at much smaller numbers.
James Cameron‘s Avatar: Fire and Ash is the icing on the cake, grossing $450.1 million at the global box office after only seven days in release, including worldwide earnings of $51 million Tuesday. In North America, it topped Tuesday’s chart with $16.5 million for a domestic tally of $119 million. Overseas, it finished the day with a foreign tally of $331.1 million.
Avatar 3 is easily expected to dominate the long Christmas weekend (Thursday-Sunday) with a four-day gross of $70 million to $75 million, if not more. Sony’s comedic adventure Anaconda, teaming Jack Black and Paul Rudd, opens nationwide Dec. 25 alongside Timothée Chalamet‘s Marty Supreme and Focus Features’ music-infused Song Sung Blue, starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson. They join a crop of films opening last weekend that wanted a jump on the holiday. In addition to Avatar, these include Lionsgate’s femme-skewing The Housemaid, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried; Angel Studios’ faith-based David; and Paramount’s The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, which still hopes to hunt down families after a soft debut.
Anaconda, Song Sung Blue and Marty Supreme — which is expanding nationwide after opening in New York and L.A. last weekend to supremely impressive numbers after a massive marketing blitz by its leading man — will all hold Wednesday previews before opening everywhere Christmas Day, which can be a busy one for moviegoing once presents are unwrapped.
Original Article on Hollywood Reporter