Infographic: Disney Dominates At The Box Office

Even before this week’s release of the new Star Wars movie, Disney, owner of the Star Wars franchise, is having a blockbuster year. Earlier this month, Disney became the first studio in history to surpass $10 billion in annual box office earnings, shattering its own record set in 2016 ($7.6 billion). Perhaps more impressively, Disney already saw six movies surpass $1 billion in global ticket sales this year, also flying past its own previous milestone of four $1+ billion films in 2016.

With “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” due to be released this week, Disney has one more ace up its sleeve that is likely to carry the company’s 2019 total to even greater heights. The film marks the ninth and final episode of the “Skywalker saga”, i.e. the core story of the Star Wars franchise that started with “Episode IV: A New Hope” in 1977.

As the following chart shows, six of this year’s eight highest-grossing movies have been Disney films, with “Spider-Man: far From Home” (Sony Pictures) and “Joker” (Warner Bros.) the only exceptions.