Walt Disney Studios went into December on the cusp of attaining a record-breaking $7 billion in international box office takings, and thanks to the strong performance of the year-end release Rogue One: A Star Wars Story it also set an industry first by passing $3 billion domestically.
From Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2016, Disney titles racked up $7.6 billion worldwide ($3.001 billion domestic) with 16 titles — with the biggest moneymakers coming from its animation studios, Marvel and Lucasfilm. 2016 is the studio’s second consecutive record year, with 2015 breaking down to $5.844B worldwide and $2.279B domestic.
Lucasfilm’s Rogue One came from the rear of the release calendar and launched straight into hyperspace, becoming the second-highest grossing movie in the US and edging past Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War with $408.08M over $408M in just a couple weeks.
Disney boasts six of the top 11 films of the year globally, including the top four (billion-dollar club members Civil War, Finding Dory, Zootopia and just-under The Jungle Book). The studio also released seven of the top 12 domestic titles, lead by Finding Dory, Rogue One and Civil War in the top three; and five of the top nine international titles, including top three Civil War, Zootopia and Jungle Book.
