Disney Will Have Seven $1-Billion-Plus 2019 Releases

by Ray Keating

News

DisneyBizJournal.com

December 16, 2019

Over the weekend, Disney’s Frozen 2 topped $1 billion in box office receipts. That makes the sixth Disney release in 2019 to exceed the billion-dollar mark.

According to BoxOfficeMojo.com, Frozen 2 has now raked in $1.03 billion worldwide. The other five billion-dollar babies so far this year for Disney have been:

• Captain Marvel at $1.13 billion

• Aladdin at $1.07 billion

• The Lion King at $1.66 billion

• Avengers: Endgame at $2.8 billion

• Toy Story 4 at $1.07 billion

But, of course, the next billion-dollar earner opens later this week – Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. That, too, will top a billion (perhaps $2 billion?).

Much has been made of Disney fumbling Star Wars. But The Mandalorian on Disney+ and the huge demand for the Disney World ride Rise of the Resistance tell another story. If director J.J. Abrams erases the failure (or at least reduces the sting) of Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi, most negative talk about Star Wars will give way to excitement about what’s next.

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of The Disney Planner 2020: The TO DO List Solution and the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.