Media giant Walt Disney Co DIS hopes a string of upcoming movie releases put an end to a box office streak that took a step back in 2023.
Here's a look ahead at the importance "Inside Out 2," "Moana 2" and "Deadpool & Wolverine" could have for movie fans, Disney investors and Disney executives.
Box Office Struggles: While the 2024 year is far from over, Disney had minimal success at the box office, a move that follows a 2023 year that saw overall disappointment for many films from the company.
Disney's only top 10 hit this year is "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes," which ranked fourth domestically with $151.5 million at the box office.
In 2023, Disney ranked second at the box office, trailing Comcast Corp CMCSA. This marked the first time since 2016 that Disney was not number one for the global box office by studio.
Disney also saw a streak of having at least one $1 billion grossing film globally each year end in 2023. The streak went back to 2014, when taking out the 2020 and 2021 COVID-19 pandemic-impacted years and included movies from hit franchises like Marvel and Star Wars.
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" was Disney's top 2023 film with $359.0 million at the domestic box office and $845.6 million globally. The company also had top 10 hits with "The Little Mermaid" and "Elemental." Two movies ("Barbie," "Super Mario Bros. Movie") that came from other studios hit the $1 billion figure globally for the year.
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Good News Ahead?: Disney will attempt its box office rebound this weekend with the highly anticipated "Inside Out 2" sequel.
The film follows the 2015 hit Pixar film, which grossed $356.9 million domestically and $858.9 million worldwide.
Disney's new film is looking to open with $85 million at the domestic box office, according to estimates reported by Variety. The estimate would make the film the highest opening movie domestically on the year, beating "Dune: Part Two" ($82.5 million). Estimates see another $50 million coming from international markets this weekend.
"Inside Out 2" could be incredibly important for the Pixar arm of Disney, which has had a string of box office misses.
While "Elemental" rebounded and grossed nearly $500 million worldwide, the film's domestic open of $29.6 million was the lowest in the modern era of Pixar. "Lightyear" and "Onward" were also recent misses for Disney. Other Pixar films created in recent years got the straight-to-streaming treatment landing on the Disney+ platform.
What's Next: Disney will release a third Deadpool movie titled "Deadpool & Wolverine" on July 26. The film will be the first Marvel movie rated R under Disney's ownership, and based on the success of the first two Deadpool movies, could be one of the highest-grossing R rated movies.
The trailer for "Deadpool 3" was viewed 365 million times in its first 24 hours, thanks in part to a teaser airing during Super Bowl LVIII.
“Deadpool” grossed $363.1 million domestically and $782.8 million worldwide, while the sequel grossed $324.6 million domestically and $785.9 million worldwide.
The movies trail “Joker” as the highest-grossing R-rated movie worldwide, which brought in $1.06 billion. Hit 2023 movie “Oppenheimer” grossed $959.2 million worldwide, ranking second all-time for R-rated movies.
“Deadpool” ranks second for domestic box office among R-rated movies, trailing only “The Passion of the Christ,” which grossed $370.8 million.
Given the success of the first two movies, the anticipation for the third movie and the record-breaking trailer, “Deadpool 3” has a shot at breaking some records.
First-day ticket sales of "Deadpool & Wolverine" set R-rated movie records, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with around $8.9 million in theatrical gross already represented.
AMC Entertainment Holdings AMC CEO Adam Aron recently said the movie theater company saw strong ticket sales for the upcoming Disney movie.
"Some 200,000 movie fans have bought their AMC tickets already. This is more Day 1 ticket sales at AMC than for any other R-rated movie ever," Aron previously tweeted.
Another upcoming Disney theatrical release is "Moana 2," which will hit theaters in November during the highly coveted Thanksgiving Day week, which has often been a strong box office week and weekend.
The film follows the 2016 film, which grossed $248.8 million domestically and $643.3 million worldwide.
Anticipation for "Moana 2," is high with the first trailer breaking the Disney record for the most viewed trailer for a Disney or Pixar animated film in the first 24 hours, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
The 178 million views passed the previous record holder "Inside Out 2," which had 157 million views in the first 24 hours.
"Moana 2" could be another big test for Disney as the concept was originally planned to be a series on Disney+ before it was turned into a theatrical sequel. "Moana" was the most streamed movie in 2023 across all platforms according to data from Nielsen.
Strong results of the three movies above could help Disney shares in the future and also help the overall box office and companies like AMC.
Read Next: Global Box Office To Decline 5% In 2023: Bad News For AMC, Cinemark?
Photos: Courtesy Disney
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