Disney’s release of Marvel Studios’s Captain Marvel,  starring Brie Larson, shattered the glass ceiling in its box office debut with $456 million in worldwide ticket sales, including $153 million in North America and gave the domestic box office a much needed jolt after the first two months of the year struggled to compete with 2018. The twenty-first entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe delivered the franchise’s seventh largest opening weekend of all time while grossing more over its first three days than the combined totals of any previous three-day weekend so far this year.

Captain Marvel is the 21st Marvel Studios film, going back to 2008, a year before Disney bought the franchise. They have all come in No. 1 at the North American box office on their opening weekends.

Marvel and Disney’s first comic book adaptation featuring a woman in the lead role made also made cinematic history acquiring the following titles:

• Biggest domestic debut for a female-led comic book superhero movie
• Biggest overseas debut for a female-led movie
• Biggest worldwide debut for a female-fronted movie
• Biggest opening weekend for a female-directed feature

Other stats: Captain Marvel boasts the top domestic opening since Incredibles 2 in June 2018, and the third-biggest ever for the month of March behind Beauty and the Beast, whose worldwide launch included $174.9 million in the U.S., and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice ($166 million), unadjusted. In terms of female-led properties, Beauty and the Beast retains the crown for the all-time top start in North America.

Internationally, the film delivered an estimated $302 million, making it the fifth highest international opening weekend of all-time and the sixth largest worldwide debut ever.

Captain Marvel touched down in virtually every major market, save for Japan. So far internationally, Captain Marvel is pulling in more money than any superhero film introducing a new character.

Costing $150 million to make,  Marvel’s Captain Marvel is another win and a testament to the company’s brand and Disney’s marketing prowess. Moviegoers, undeterred by a campaign to derail the pic with negative audience reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, awarded it with an A CinemaScore and strong exit grades.

 

The biggest winner of the 91st Academy Awards wasn’t the company with the most wins, but the one that stands to gain the most this time next year.

With a $71.3 billion merger between Disney and Fox expected to close in the coming weeks, all eyes are on the combined powerhouse studio and what that might mean for Oscar

Disney hauled in four Oscar wins on Sunday, taking home trophies for costume design and production design as well as the prize for animated short and original score. While it was a good showing for the House of Mouse, the real bonus will come from its $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox.

Owning the film arm of 20th Century Fox not only grants Disney a number of Marvel characters that had been sold off before it acquired Marvel in 2009, but also the powerhouse Fox Searchlight studio. Fox Searchlight is a sister company that operates independently from 20th Century Fox and has produced films like “The Shape of Water,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “12 Years a Slave” and “Birdman,” all of which won best picture at the Oscars in the last decade.

Together 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight won seven Oscars on Sunday, the most of any other company, including best actress and best actor, two of the most prestigious awards of the night.

Fox’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” had the most wins of any film with four Oscars, including for Rami Malek’s portrayal of Freddie Mercury. The film also took home trophies for sound editing, sound mixing and film editing.

From Fox Searchlight, “The Favourite’s” Olivia Colman hoisted the best actress Oscar at the end of the ceremony and “Skin” won for best short film.

Disney’s “Black Panther” earned three Oscars — for costume design, production design and score, while “Bao” took home the award for animated short.

In addition to the prestige of an Academy Awards, “Black Panther,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “The Favourite” together brought in more than $2.3 billion at the global box office, according to Comscore data.

Because of its Marvel, Lucasfilm, Pixar and Disney brands, the studio already set a new industry domestic box office record of $3 billion for 2018, while Fox grabbed $1.23 billion and a Disney/Fox combined worldwide box office is $10.2 billion worldwide.

Looking at its combined slate, Disney/Fox accounts for well over 20 films that will be distributed this year. So, clearly, the merger increases studio’s odds to win more awards next year.

Disney/Marvel’s “Black Panther” went back-to-back into the Oscar history books on Sunday evening.

Ruth E. Carter and Hannah Beachler became the first African-Americans to win in their respective categories. Carter was first up as she took home an Academy Award for costume design, then Beachler followed her with a win in production design at the 91st annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

Beachler and Carter played influential roles in helping “Black Panther” become a cultural phenomenon. Both said they wanted to infuse the pride of the African diaspora into the film.

“Marvel may have created the first black superhero. But through costume design, we turned him into an African king,” said Carter, who drew inspiration for the film’s stylish and colorful garments from her travels to Africa. She spoke with people of the continent to understand the history of each artifact to ensure the different characteristics were represented properly in the film.

Congratulations to this year’s Disney / Marvel Golden Globe nominees:

• Black Panther
• Mary Poppins Returns
• Ralph Breaks The Internet
• Incredibles 2

Not only does Disney once again dominate the Golden Globes animation category but Marvel Studios has earned its first Golden Globe nomination in the best dramatic movie category for its billion-dollar-grossing hit “Black Panther.”

“Black Panther” was nominated for threeGlobes overall, including best original score by Ludwig Goransson and best song for Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “All the Stars.”

The Mouse House is getting a lot bigger.  At special meetings held simultaneously in New York this morning, Disney and 21st Century Fox shareholders overwhelmingly approved the $71.3 billion dollar merger deal first proposed last December.  The deal that will add numerous big-name entertainment properties to Disney’s ever-growing portfolio. A bunch of Marvel Comics characters are coming home.

Fox had the rights for movies starring, among others, the high-profile supergroups X-Men and the Fantastic Four, including associated supporting players and villains. Now the already star-packed Marvel Cinematic Universe is about to go supernova with the possibility of debuting many of them after next year’s “Avengers 4” (May 3) wraps up Phase 3 of the MCU.

In addition, “Avatar”, “Titanic” and TV shows such as “The Simpsons” and “This Is Us” will now be owned by Disney. That adds to an already enviable content stockpile from divisions that include Lucasfilm, Marvel Entertainment and Pixar Animation Studios. The deal also gives Disney the cable networks FX and National Geographic; a controlling stake in the streaming service Hulu, which has more than 20 million subscribers; and Star, one of India’s fastest growing media companies.

The shareholder votes brought to a close a six-month corporate showdown, waged across two continents by Disney and Comcast, for supremacy in the rapidly changing media business. Mr. Murdoch’s trove represented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to gain the bulk needed as a counterattack against the tech giants that have aggressively moved into Hollywood.

The merger will see the creation of New Fox and a separation agreement that transfers to the company assets Disney won’t be involved with, namely a portfolio of 21st Century Fox’s news, sports and broadcast businesses, including the Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Sports, Fox Television Stations Group, and sports cable networks FS1, FS2, Fox Deportes and the Big Ten Network.