Thanks to a record number of billion-dollar blockbusters, Disney has become the first studio in history to surpass $10 billion at the worldwide box office.

Disney’s record for the highest box office in a calendar year has been absolutely crushed… by Disney. The Mouse House crossed the $10 billion threshold at the 2019 worldwide box office this weekend, bolstered by the continued success of Frozen II, solidifying its record for the highest box office in a calendar year. Disney smashed its own global box office milestone — set in 2016 with $7.6 billion — back in July after the success of “Avengers: Endgame” and “The Lion King.”

And that insane $10 billion doesn’t even count Fox’s box office, which officially became part of Disney this year. If you add in the Fox receipts, Disney’s total worldwide box office in 2019 amounts to $11.94 billion. And this is all before Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens on December 20th, which will boost Disney’s numbers even higher.

In August, Disney established a new record for having five movies — “Avengers: Endgame,” “Aladdin,” “Toy Story 4,” “The Lion King” and “Captain Marvel” — cross $1 billion in a single year. “Frozen 2” has earned $928 million to date and will soon become the sixth title to join the elusive club in 2019, while “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” could make it seven.

Disney’s sequel to the 2013 animated blockbuster exceeded all expectations in its debut, including setting a slew of new box office milestones.

Walt Disney Animation’s Frozen 2 created a global blizzard in its box office debut, grossing an estimated $130 million in North America and $228.2 million internationally for a worldwide start of $358.2 million.

Here are the records and highlights of Frozen 2‘s debut:

Biggest Global Opening of All Time for an Animated Film

The previous champ was Pixar and Disney’s Toy Story 4 earlier this year with $240.9 million.

Top International Opening of All Time for an Animated Film

Frozen 2 wrested the crown from 2009’s Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ($152 million).

Biggest Domestic November Opening for an Animated Film

In North America, Frozen held the previous record with a five-day Thanksgiving debut of $93 million, including $67 million for the three-day weekend (the pic debuted the Wednesday before the holiday).

Biggest Imax Opening for an Animated Film

The large-format exhibitor generated $18 million in global ticket sales.

Third-Biggest Domestic Animated Opening of All Time

Frozen 2 ranks behind Incredibles 2 ($182.7 million) and Finding Dory ($135.1 million), both from Pixar/Disney. Before now, no animated film launching outside of summer has crossed the $100 million mark in its launch.

Third-Biggest Industry Opening of All Time in South Korea for Any Film

Princess Anna and Queen Elsa skated to $31.5 million in South Korea. Earlier this year, Avengers: Endgame set an all-time record when debuting to $46.9 million, eclipsing the $46 million debut of South Korean pic Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days in 2018.

Top Three-Day Domestic Opening for Walt Disney Animation Studios

Frozen 2 beat out Zootopia, which started off with $75.1 million over the March 4-6 weekend in 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Hollywood Reporter)

Yet again, it took another Disney film to energize the weekend box office as this was the first weekend in the last six to top the same weekend last year and it’s all thanks to Disney’s The Lion King, which topped the weekend box office with a record $185 million, surpassing the total gross for the same weekend last year all on its own.

With an estimated $185 million, Disney’s The Lion King topped the weekend box office with a record opening weekend for the month of July, topping the previous record held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($169.1m). The debut is the second largest opening of the year so far and seventh largest of all-time. The film’s debut in 4,725 locations was also a record and the debut was also the largest ever for a PG-rated film.

Internationally, The Lion King took in  $346 million for a global box office of  $531 million.

This pass weekend, Disney Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame  the massive conclusion to Marvel’s Infinity Saga topped  James Cameron’s Avatar to become the highest-grossing worldwide release of all time, with an estimated $2.79 billion in worldwide grosses in just 13 weeks.

“Avatar” held onto the record for a decade at $2.789 billion.

Walt Disney Co.’s superhero epic “Avengers: Endgame” became the first movie to gross more than $1 billion in its debut at the world-wide box office.

Heading into the weekend it was a foregone conclusion that Avengers: Endgame would deliver the largest opening weekend of all-time, both domestically and globally, but to deliver a three-day domestic gross totaling an estimated $350 million and a global weekend over $1 billion was almost inconceivable. Today that figure has become a reality as Endgame not only delivered an estimated $350 million over the course of its first three days in domestic release, but a massive $1.2 billion at the global box office in just its first five days in release.

Disney and Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame obliterated numerous records in its $1.2 billion worldwide launch — a mind-boggling opening that came in nearly $600 million ahead of the previous mark set a year ago by Avengers: Infinity War.

The superhero pic is the culmination of the previous 21 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a blockbuster series that commenced with Iron Man in 2008.

Getting back to the film’s weekend performance, a look at the the records Avengers: Endgame broke this weekend at the domestic box office include:

• Largest Thursday Previews: $60 million
  Previous Record: $57 million (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)
• Widest Opening: 4,662 theaters
  Previous Record: 4,529 theaters (Despicable Me 3)
• Largest Friday, Opening Day and Single Day: $156.7 million
  Previous Record: $119.1 million (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)
• Largest Saturday: $109 million
  Previous Record: $82.1 million (Avengers: Infinity War)
• Largest Sunday: $84.3 million
  Previous Record: $69.2 million (Avengers: Infinity War)
• Domestic Opening Weekend: $350 million
  Previous Record: $257.69 million (Avengers: Infinity War)
• #1 Movie Market Share: 90%
  Previous Record: 84.5% (Avengers: Age of Ultron)
• Highest Per Theater Average (Wide Opening): $75,075 / 4,662 theaters
  Previous Record: $59,982 / 4,134 theaters ()
• Largest April Opening, Spring Opening, PG-13 Opening and 3-Day Gross: $350 million
  Previous Record: $257.69 million (Avengers: Infinity War)
• Biggest Weekend Overall (Top 12 Gross): $389 million
  Previous Record: $305.55 million (Dec. 18–20, 2015)
• Fastest to $100 Million: 1 Day
  Previous Record: 1 Day (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)
• Fastest to $150 Million: 1 Day
  Previous Record: 2 Days (Avengers: Infinity War)
• Fastest to $200 Million: 2 Days
  Previous Record: 3 Days (Avengers: Infinity War)
• Fastest to $250 Million: 3 Days
  Previous Record: 3 Days (Avengers: Infinity War)
• Fastest to $300 Million: 3 Days
  Previous Record: 5 Days (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)
• Fastest to $350 Million: 3 Days
  Previous Record: 6 Days (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)
• International Opening Weekend: $859 million
  Previous Record: $443.15 million (The Fate of the Furious)
• Worldwide Opening Weekend: $1.2 billion
  Previous Record: $640.5 million (Avengers: Infinity War)
• Global 3D Opening Record: ~$540 million
  Previous Record: ~$366 million (Avengers: Infinity War)
• Global IMAX Opening Record: $91.5 million
  Previous Record: $47.6 million (Star War: The Force Awakens)

As already mentioned, it wasn’t only domestic records that fell this weekend. Endgame‘s $859 million international opening is over $400 million more than the previous record set by The Fate of the Furious and the $1.2 billion in global ticket sales is nearly double the previous record of $640.5 million set by Avengers: Infinity War just last year. The film is the fastest film to ever top $1 billion globally, doing so after just five days, and it already ranks as the 18th largest worldwide release ever and the sixth largest worldwide release in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Speaking of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the franchise’s 22 films have now grossed over $19.8 billion worldwide, of which nine have topped $1 billion at the global box office.