Disney Is First Studio to Gross $7 Billion in a Single Year

CBR

By Rob Cave

Published Dec 20, 2016

It's been a bumper year for the House of Mouse, and the success of Rogue One is just the cherry on top of the cake.

It may be that 2016 is widely viewed by many as a pretty terrible year, but for Disney it has been a solid 12-month success story, one that has now seen the company take over $7 billion in ticket receipts at the global box office, becoming the first film studio ever to do so.

The company has been helped to this feat in no small part by a sheer wealth of its big releases over the year, which included "Zootopia," "The Jungle Book" remake and "Finding Dory." Other significant contributions were made by the Marvel Cinematic Universe films "Captain America: Civil War" and "Doctor Strange."

While the domestic US market still accounted for a sizeable $2.7 billion chunk of the year's haul, the other $4.29 billion came from the international box office. "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" was the film that finally tipped the company over into 7-billion territory, with its $290.5 billion international opening weekend.

Hitting this new movie milestone prompted Disney chairman Alan Horn it issue a statement to mark the occasion, which read “this historic achievement is possible because all of our film studios are bringing their absolute best to the table, telling great stories of all kinds that resonate with audiences across borders, gender, and generations. These films work because each one has not only something for everyone, but everything for someone. It’s our honor to be able to create these experiences for audiences, and we’re thankful to them for continuing to come out to the theater with us.”

Disney's latest hit, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Jiang Wen and Forest Whitaker, and is in cinemas now.

(via Entertainment Weekly)