Disneyate up the media landscape in 2022—and this isn’t even counting earnings from its Disney Plus streaming service—as virtually the only blockbuster kingmaker with global box office returns shy of $5 billion thanks to films likeAvatar: The Way of Water.
$4.9 billion is a number so large, it’s almost impossible to imagine. However, Disney has imagined it and proven to be the global juggernaut in a year that industry insiders are still lamenting as one that hasn’t been great. However, let a studio tuckBlack Panther: Wakanda ForeverorAvatar: The Way of Waterunder their belts, and it makes a huge difference.
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PerDeadline, Disney proved to be the winner of 2022’s box office downturn with $2 billion in domestic revenues and another $2.9 billion globally. However, the biggest gem in Disney’s crown this year was making all that bank off of only 16 produced movies. Even more impressive is that the company won the global box office for the 7th consecutive year in a row starting in 2016. From there the money has only continued to pour in. Debates about the native representation of the sea-going Na’vi inAvatar 2or the people of Talokan inBlack Panther: Wakanda Foreverare rendered moot when both blockbusters are made by the same studio and the money ends up in the same Scrooge McDuck vault.
Just four movies, theAvatarsequel, and three entries in the MCU, includingBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever,Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,andThor: Love and Thunder,contributed to taking 27% of the overall domestic market share and were half of the eight highest-grossing movies of the year. Those four, plusBarbarianandDeath on the Nile, opened up at number 1 in both the US and Canada. Contrast all this with Disney’s closest competitor, Universal, whose $3.9 billion lags behind despite making more movies than Disney in 2022, including the conclusion of theJurassic Worldtrilogy.
Disney is the giant striding across the box office landscape, with miniscule output calculated to have the highest returns compared to every competitor. Warner Bros. is sitting on many popular fantasy franchises (Harry Potter,Game of Thrones, andLord of the Rings) but struggling to keep up, and 2022 was a year for it to be dragged through the mud more for what it cancelled than celebrated for its modest hits.
Meanwhile, Disney has a 2023 slate full of Marvel Studios properties (including third entries forAnt-Manand theGuardians of the Galaxyand aCaptain Marvelsequel) and the fifth and finalIndiana Jonesinstallment. For the company seeingAvatar: The Way of Watercontinuing to dominatein theaters, 2023 is looking bright.
