The Walt Disney Company makes a killing every year at the global box office and this year is no exception. Even so, the early numbers are still shocking.
As per Variety, Disney has made nearly $1.3 billion at the global box office in less than two months. The majority of the cash it made comes from Avatar: The Way of Water with a huge helping from Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Titanic.
You don't often see two out of the four highest-grossing films of all time pulling in numbers simultaneously. Now, Disney is reaping all of the benefits. Of course, this wouldn't be possible had Disney not acquired 20th Century Fox four years ago.
If nothing else, the astronomical (and likely continued) success of Disney will help a lot as the Mouse House tries navigating a recent wave of cost-cutting measures amidst global economical turmoil.
The only question now is, how high can Disney go in 2023 at the global box office?
The current box office record belongs to (you guessed it) Disney in 2019, where it raked in $11.12 billion in a twelve-month span in a year that saw Disney release six billion-dollar films, including Avengers: Endgame. Although we won't see the launch of the next Avengers film until 2025 when Avengers: The Kang Dynasty hits theaters, Disney's slate is arguably just as full of heavy hitters for 2023.
Once Quantumania is done with its presumably series-high run, Marvel Studios will roll out Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (May 5) and The Marvels (November 10). In between, Disney will also be making money off of proven IPs like the live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid (May 26) and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (June 30) as well as other "smaller" hits like Haunted Mansion (July 28), Elemental (June 16) and A Hunting in Venice (September 15).
The 2023 slate might just have enough in it to give 2019 a good run for its money, even though it might never surpass its astronomical numbers.
Ultimately, making more than $12 billion in a single year feels more like an eventuality than a fantasy for Disney at the rate it's going. If it doesn't happen this year, it might come when the next Star Wars and Avengers films come out, preferably in the same year. Keep in mind, Disney is still sitting on at least three more Avatar sequels as well as new installments to its three biggest animated film franchises: Frozen, Zootopia, and Toy Story.
