Disney Box Office Tops $7 Billion For 2018, The Studio's Second-Best Year Ever
Hard up for cash? Try to get in good with the House of Mouse. With three weeks left in the fever dream that is 2018, this year's Disney box office has hit $7 billion globally. The reason for such success is obvious – The Nutcracker and the Four Realms! Yes, the Disney fantasy film took in $7 billion dollars at the box office, total! Just kidding – it flopped. But that's okay! Disney can afford a flop with an overall box office return like this.
Disney had a few misfires this year. A Wrinkle in Time took in only $132 million on a $103 million budget. Solo: A Star Wars Story, while no means a total flop, was still the lowest-earning Star Wars film ever. And everyone has likely already forgotten about The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, a fantasy epic that cost a whopping $130 million dollars to make (why?), and only netted about $150 million worldwide. But I doubt Disney is going to sweat much over these underwhelming numbers. Because Variety is reporting the Mouse House is looking at $7 billion at the global box office for 2018.
This is actually the second time Disney has had a haul this impressive – in 2016, their total year box office was $7.6 billion. This year's hits for Disney include Avengers: Infinity War, which sits at the top of the list of worldwide-grossers at $2 billion, Black Panther, sitting at number two with $1.35 billion, and Incredibles 2,which came in at number 4 with $1.24 billion (Universal's Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was number 3, at $1.3 billion; can't win 'em all, Disney).
With all of these numbers, 2018 is now Disney's second-biggest year, and the third-largest year in industry history. And with Mary Poppins Returns about to open on December 19, there's a chance that film's success could put Disney over the top, to make this their best year ever. One could argue Disney has a bit of an unfair advantage here – they own everything. Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar all contribute to this intake. Since Star Wars: The Last Jedi hit theaters in December 2017, it ended up earning $292.9 million of its $1.33 billion global haul in 2018.
It's still too early to tell how 2019 will turn out for Disney, but it's probably a safe bet they'll have another good year. In the approaching new year, they'll be releasing Captain Marvel (March 8), Dumbo (March 29), Avengers: Endgame (April 26), Aladdin (May 24), Toy Story 4 (June 21), The Lion King (July 19), Frozen 2 (November 22), and Star Wars: Episode IX (December 20). I'm exhausted just from typing all of that. Disney is also set to launch their new streaming service, Disney+, next year. In short, it's Disney's world and we're all just living in it.