Disney Box Office Boom

Celine Curtis

“Inside Out 2” was the hero Disney needed this summer. The movie was a raving success, grossing over $1.5 billion in box office revenue, and was crowned the highest-grossing animated film in history, ahead of “Frozen 2.”

Following suit was “Deadpool & Wolverine,” crossing the billion-dollar threshold in only 19 days after a $211 million debut. It has become the highest-grossing R-rated film in history, overtaking “Joker” which previously held that record.

Though meager by comparison, “Alien: Romulus,” even brought in $314 million globally, far surpassing its $120 million budget.

Up until this summer, though, the head Mouse was in hot water. Social media was not kind to Disney’s slew of live-action remakes, and their box office performance has been lackluster since COVID. Disney’s animated movie “Wish” was created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the company, but was reported to have a net loss of $131 million. To make matters worse, “The Marvels,” released just before “Wish,” ended up being the lowest-grossing movie in MCU history. So it was no surprise when in April, as a desperate measure to secure the future of the company, Disney underwent a proxy battle for the CEO position between Bob Iger, the previous and current CEO, and Nelson Peltz, a billionaire investor. Though Iger won the battle, doubt remained as to the future of the company.

That was all before summer 2024.

With this summer’s success stories, Disney has proven that they can connect with audiences and satisfy their shareholders. The only question now is: Will Disney be able to keep up the winning streak? 

Its next film, “Moana 2,” is slated to be released this November. However, online audiences’ doubts have exceeded their anticipation due to the messy production of the film thus far. Originally, the production was set to be a TV mini-series for Disney Plus, titled “Moana: The Series.” Then, in February, Disney suddenly announced it would be reworked into a full-feature film instead, set to release only 8 months later. 

Pixar has changed direction, too. Pete Docter, writer of “Toy Story,” “Monsters Inc.” and “Up,” recently said in an interview with Bloomberg that Pixar will focus on creating the “most relatable” films, rather than those that are personal to their directors, citing “Luca” and “Elemental” as films not to be replicated. 

This approach of “mass appeal” is the method the larger Disney company seems to be relying on for future success. Its movie lineup so far includes sequels and remakes of audience favorites: “Mufasa: The Lion King,” the highly anticipated “Snow White,” “Toy Story 5,” “Frozen 3” and “Avengers: Doomsday.” The success of the sequels released this summer seems to have only solidified that mantra in the eyes of Disney executives.

Will audiences connect with these films as much as they have connected with “Inside Out 2”? Or will sequel-fatigue soon set in? Will the success of “Inside Out 2” be Disney’s new standard or the exception? Only time will tell how audiences respond in the long run.