Disney Studios has been ruling the industry for quite some time now. A key reason behind the studio’s success was none other than the amazing performance of Marvel Cinematic Universe movies at the box office.
In 2023, multiple Marvel movies failed at the box office, such as The Marvels and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. On top of that, films like The Little Mermaid and Strange World didn’t help much either.
Disney Gets Dethroned as the Highest-Grossing Movie Studio of 2023
Ever since the rise of the MCU, Disney has remained one of the highest grossing movie studios in the world. However, according to a report by Variety (via @DiscussingFilm), Disney has lost its top place to Universal Pictures, which released films such as Oppenheimer and Super Mario Bros. in 2023.
Universal Pictures is the highest grossing studio at the 2023 box office.
First time since 2015 that Disney has not been #1. pic.twitter.com/ifq22kv00H
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) January 2, 2024
As mentioned in the above-attached tweet, it’s the first time since 2015 that Disney has failed to become the top-performing movie studio in the world. Movie fanatics had various reactions to the news on Twitter.
Universal pictures deserves it… they gave different range of movies
— V.S (@vishal070393) January 2, 2024
Universal is better than Disney
— karmarcher (@_twohitwonder) January 2, 2024
Disney fell off.
— Isiah (@forevertawl) January 2, 2024
That’s wild tbh
— Truly Pete (72%)👽 🔜 Some Rave Eventually (@AStateofPete) January 2, 2024
Disney didn’t help itself with a few ‘direct to Disney +’ releases.
Let’s hope each studio (and indy films!) do better in 2024.
— Ben Everard (@beneverard) January 3, 2024
A plethora of fans pointed out that Disney’s demise is only to blame for themselves. After all, the studio didn’t release a wide range of movies in 2023. On the other hand, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. didn’t make this mistake.
Although Disney had an underwhelming year by their standards, they still managed to clinch second place on the list of the top-performing movie studios in 2023. Keeping that in mind, if the studio can focus more on delivering quality movies in 2024, they may regain the top spot.
One of the most anticipated movies under the banner of 2024 is none other than Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s Deadpool 3. Apart from that, a prequel to Lion King and a new Alien movie on the slate has fans on the edge of anticipation this year.
Disney Failed to Even Have a Single Movie in the Top 3 Spots in 2023
It’s one thing to lose their top spot to Universal Pictures, it’s another to fail to land even one movie in the top 3 spots in 2023. Well, as per the aforementioned report by Variety, none of Disney’s flicks managed to cross the $1 billion mark at the box office.
But for the first time in a long time, Disney didn’t have one of the top three movies — those spots belong to Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” ($1.4 billion) and Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” ($1.3 billion) and “Oppenheimer” ($950 million). It’s also the first time since 2014 (except for the pandemic-stricken 2020 and 2021) that none of Disney’s movies crossed the $1 billion benchmark.
One of the only triumphs for Disney was none other than Chris Pratt’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which raked in $845 million for the decorated movie studio.
Amidst the rivalry of Universal Pictures and Disney, Warner Bros. quietly clinched the third spot on the list. The biggest hit by the studio was none other than Barbie, which made $1.4 billion globally and became the highest-grossing movie of 2023.
Which studio will win the war for being the highest-grossing movie studio in 2024? The audience will find out with time.
