Statistically, 2025 was a flat year at the box office as the overall number of tickets sold failed to meet estimates.
The conversation around whether the movie industry will ever return to pre-pandemic numbers has changed from "when" to "if" in the wake of streaming's current dominance of the entertainment zeitgeist.
Still, there's one movie studio celebrating 2025 as a banner year, Disney.
Thanks to Zootopia 2, Lilo & Stitch, and Avatar: Fire and Ash, the Mickey Mouse brand amassed $6.5 billion at the box office last year, a number not seen since 2019 - which was the most successful year in the history of Walt Disney Studios thanks to Avengers: Endgame, Frozen II, Captain Marvel, Aladdin (live-action), The Lion King (live-action), Toy Story 4, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. It was the first time that a studio had eclipsed the $10 billion mark in a calendar year.
Still, 2025's numbers are no small feat as by comparison, even a hypothetical merger between Warner Bros. and Paramount would have still come up roughly $1 billion short of Disney’s total box office haul in 2025.
In a press release, Alan Bergman, Co-Chairman, Disney Entertainment stated, "This has been a fantastic year for our Studio as we’ll ultimately have three billion-dollar hits from three different studios, plus a number of other strong performers throughout the year."
"It showcases the strength of storytelling across our creative teams and the great work of our marketing and distribution teams, along with everyone who helps make these successes possible. I’m thankful to our Studio team, and the amazing talent we’re fortunate to work with – as well as audiences all around the world."
The Top 12 grossing films for Disney and its subsidiary studios (worldwide) in 2025 are as follows:
- Zootopia 2 - $1.46 billion (and counting)
- Lilo and Stitch - $1.03 billion
- Avatar Fire and Ash - $860 million (and counting)
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps - $521.9 million
- Captain America: Brave New World - $415 million
- Thunderbolts* - $382.4 million
- Snow White - $205 million
- Predator: Badlands - $184.2 million
- Elio - $154.3 million
- Freakier Friday - $153.1million
- Tron: Ares - $145.1 million
- The Amatuer - $96.0 million
As you can see from the list, Disney's earnings are very top heavy and the once-dominant Marvel Studios, once the undisputed powerhouse of Disney’s slate, fell several notches compared to its typical annual performance, with all of its releases failing to reach the billion-dollar mark, a feat that was previously considered a given, pre-Avengers: Endgame.
It's also worth noting that Moana 2 and Mufasa: The Lion King were moderate earners for Disney in 2025 but we're leaving those films off the list as they were released in 2024.
Looking forward to 2026, Disney should surpass its current $6.5 billion mark farily easily with heavyhitters such as:
- The Devil Wears Prada 2 (May 1, 2026)
- The Mandalorian and Grogu (May 22, 2026)
- Toy Story 5 (June 19, 2026)
- Moana: live-action (July 10, 2026)
- *Spider-Man: Brand New Day (July 31, 2026)
- Hexed (November 25, 2026)
- Avengers: Doomsday (December 18, 2026)
*Note: Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a joint venture between Sony and Marvel Studios. It's a reported 75%/25% split - with Sony putting up 75% of the production and marketing costs and keeping 75% of the box office revenue and vice versa.