NEWS: Universal BEAT Disney in the 2023 Box Office For the First Time in 8 Years

As one year ends and a new one begins, we love looking back on all the successes of our favorite films from the previous year.

AMC in Disney Springs

We saw lots of great movies from both Universal and Disney in 2023, but then we got curious. How did the two companies compare in the box office? Well, let’s find out!

Variety compiled all the stats for us, and we were actually quite surprised with the outcome. Universal beat Disney as the highest-grossing studio in 2023!

Universal

Variety said, “The company’s slate — a range of 24 films that included The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Oppenheimer and M3GAN — collected $4.907 billion in worldwide ticket sales. Universal’s victory is notable because it marks the first time since 2015 that Disney was not the global box office leader.”

©Universal

Wow! So, for the first time in 8 years, Disney didn’t reign supreme in the box office. However, the company did fall at second place. With “17 new films, [such as] Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and The Little Mermaid among them, [Disney] raked in $4.827 billion globally.”

©Disney

This underperformance isn’t anything Disney was unaware of, though, and the company even mentioned these pitfalls throughout the year, especially with the box office flops that were Elemental and The Marvels. Disney has shared that their hopes for 2024 include bringing back creativity, and in turn, quality productivity, back to the film studios.